John Gary (born John Gary Strader; November 29, 1932 – January 4, 1998) was an American singer, recording artist, television host, and performer on the musical stage.
From Watertown, New York, Gary started singing at the age of 5. He joined his older sister, Shirley Strader. At the age of 9, he won a 3-year scholarship to the prestigious Cathedral School of St John in Manhattan. He auditioned for the choir master, Norman Coke-Jeffcott. At the age of 10, Gary had won two (2) pins of distinction from the American Theatre Wing Merchant Seaman's Club for the Stage Door Canteen. Aged 12, he toured the southern states with Frank Pursley, a blind pianist for the Mason Conservatory.
Gary sang in movies, on Broadway, had his own television show, and appeared at Carnegie Hall, with numerous symphonies. He appeared thirty times as a guest on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar, Steve Allen and Johnny Carson. He traveled across the US and Canada with approximately 40 concerts per year. For six years he gave community concerts in over 400 cities and towns. He was a stylized singer, who recorded 23 albums for RCA Victor Records.
Nicole Scherzinger (/niˈkoʊl ˈʃɜːrzɪŋər/; born Nicole Prescovia Elikolani Valiente; June 29, 1978) is an American recording artist, actress and television personality. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, she performed in various singing competitions and musicals before joining American rock band Days of the New as a backing vocalist and later becoming one of the members of the ill-fated girl group Eden's Crush in 2001. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the burlesque troupe turned-recording act, the Pussycat Dolls becoming one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. During their hiatus Scherzinger planned to embark on her solo career with Her Name is Nicole but was later shelved after four singles failed to impact the charts. Following the disbandment of the Pussycat Dolls, Scherzinger became a judge for two seasons of The Sing-Off and in 2010 won the tenth season of Dancing with the Stars.
In 2011 she released her debut studio album, Killer Love to moderate success. It featured the top-ten hits "Don't Hold Your Breath" and "Right There". Later that year she served as a judge during the first season of the American version of The X Factor before heading to the UK version for two years in 2012. Her second studio album, Big Fat Lie (2014) had a minor impact on the charts. Its release was preceded by three singles including, "Your Love". For starring in the 2014 West End revival of the musical Cats Scherzinger garnered a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical.
Craig Ashley David (born 5 May 1981) is an English singer-songwriter who rose to fame in 1999 featuring on the single "Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger. David's debut album, Born to Do It, was released in 2000, after which he has released a further five studio albums and worked with a variety of artists such as Tinchy Stryder, Kano, Jay Sean, Rita Ora and Sting. David has 14 UK Top 10 singles, and six UK Top 20 albums, selling over 13 million records worldwide as a solo artist.
David has been nominated for twelve Brit Awards: three times for Best British Male, and twice received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
David was born in Southampton, Hampshire, the son of Tina (née Loftus), a retail assistant at Superdrug, and George David, a carpenter, and grew up in the Holyrood estate. David's father is Afro-Grenadian and David's mother is Anglo-Jewish and related to the founders of the Accurist watch-making company; David's maternal grandfather was an Orthodox Jew and his maternal grandmother a convert to Judaism. David's parents separated when he was eight and he was raised by his mother. He attended Bellemoor School and Southampton City College.
The Black Parade is the third studio album by American rock band My Chemical Romance. Released on October 23, 2006 through Reprise Records, it was produced by Rob Cavallo, known for having produced multiple albums for Goo Goo Dolls and Green Day. It is a rock opera centering on a dying character with cancer known as "The Patient". The album tells the story of his apparent death, experiences in the afterlife, and subsequent reflections on his life.
Four singles were released from the album: "Welcome to the Black Parade", "Famous Last Words", "I Don't Love You", and "Teenagers".The Black Parade has received generally favorable reviews, and the band achieved its first Number 1 single in the UK with "Welcome to the Black Parade". The album debuted at number two on both the Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart and is also certified as platinum by the RIAA, as well as a Platinum certification in the UK and a Gold certification in Argentina by the CAPIF and in Chile by the IFPI Chile.The Black Parade was given the Platinum Europe Award by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry for 1 million sales in Europe. The limited edition boxed set also earned My Chemical Romance a Grammy Award nomination. In the video game Guitar Hero II (Xbox 360 version), the song "Dead!" was added to the game's track list prior to the earlier PS2 version, and the three songs "Teenagers," "Famous Last Words" and "This Is How I Disappear" are available for download. The Black Parade has sold 1,610,000 copies in the US as of October 2010, and has sold 3,000,000 copies worldwide.
Flood is the third studio album by Brooklyn-based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants, released in January 1990. Flood was the duo's first album on the major label Elektra Records. It generated three singles: "Birdhouse in Your Soul", "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)", and the domestic promotional track "Twisting". The album is generally considered to be the band's definitive release, as it is their best-selling and most recognizable album. Despite minimal stylistic and instrumental differences from previous releases, Flood is distinguished by contributions from seasoned producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. John Linnell and John Flansburgh also took advantage of new equipment and recording techniques, including unconventional, home-recorded samples, which were programmed through Casio FZ-1 synthesizers. The album was recorded in New York City at Skyline Studios, which was better equipped than studios the band had worked in previously.
Promotion for Flood included television appearances, promotional videos, and an international tour. The album's mainstream promotion and success contributed to its status as the band's most well known album. Many fans, including young viewers of Tiny Toon Adventures, were first exposed to They Might Be Giants's music through Flood.
Per Yngve Ohlin (16 January 1969 – 8 April 1991), better known by his stage name Dead, was a Swedish black/death metal vocalist and lyricist best known for his work with Norwegian black metal band Mayhem. He also performed as vocalist of the Swedish death metal band Morbid on their demo December Moon.
Roadrunner Records ranked him No. 48 out of 50 of The Greatest Metal Front-Men of All Time.
Per Ohlin (sometimes called "Pelle") was born in 1969 in Stockholm, Sweden. As a young child, he suffered from sleep apnea. At the age of ten, he suffered internal bleeding when his spleen ruptured, after what he alleged was an ice skating accident. In the Swedish metal book Blod eld död however ('Blood Fire Death', named after Swedish band Bathory's fourth album Blood Fire Death), his brother said in an exclusive interview that Dead was bullied in school and one day the beatings got out of hand causing the ruptured spleen. He had to be rushed to a hospital, where he was for a time clinically dead.