When Cher was young she was diagnosed with dyslexia but didn’t let that stop her from her dream in 1941 she saw the movie Dumbo q“and I pead my pants” she realized that she wanted to become a singer and a dancing animal. At the age of 16 Cher dropped out of Fresno high School and headed for Hollywood to start
Born in Brooklyn, New York but raised in Detroit, Aaliyah got her first major exposure appearing on the syndicated television series "Star Search" (1983) where she awed the audience with her amazing voice and talent. Withdrawing from the celebrity scene for a few years, Aaliyah lived the life of a normal teenage girl, attending Detroit's Performing Arts High School where she majored in dance. It was around this same time that Aaliyah met singer/composer R. Kelly. Kelly assisted Aaliyah with the production of her debut album "Age Ain't Nothing But A number" which scored several number hits, specifically "Back and
Celia Cruz was born on October 21, 1924, in the Santo Suarez neighborhood of Havana. Her singing talent was obvious even when she was young, but instead of pursuing a career in singing, she studied to be a teacher. This was because her father told her that he did not believe that singing was a worthwhile profession for a woman. She still went after a career in singing, after encouragement from her mother, teacher and aunt. Cruz first began singing in talent shows and doing recordings for radio stations, but neither were sold for money.
Jett`s life changed direction when she got her first guitar at the age of 13. Already a rebellious teen, a guitar was all she needed to become the Queen of Rock `n` Roll she is today. Her parents signed her up for lessons, but she quickly withdrew, because her teacher wanted her to play folk music; nevertheless, she continued learning on her own. After that, her family moved to West Covina, in Los Angeles County California. Events of that sort gave Jett a chance to explore, and maybe enter the Los Angeles musical scene of the 1970s.
She later changed her name to Fanny Brice and got her first professional job in the chorus of The Talk of the Town but ironicely she got fired during rehearsals by the big current star George M. Cohen. Young Fanny was a strong fighter and didn't give up her dream of entertaining. She then finally landed a spot in The Trans-atlantic Burlesquers where she did an Irving Berlin song, "Sadie Salome, Go Home." She did this in a Yiddish dialect seeing that she looked the way she did. Although she was not Jewish, she quoted " In anything Jewish I ever did, I wasn't standing apart making fun.
She was heavily influenced by no other than the late, great, “Lady of Song,” Ms. Ella Fitzgerald. Ella Fitzgerald was born on April 25, 1918, in Newport News, Virginia, but she spent her youth just outside New York City in Yonkers, New York, and received her musical education in public schools. During elementary school she began singing at her local church, the Bethany African Methodist Episcopal Church. At fifteen her mother died and she was cared for by her aunt in Harlem, a black neighborhood in New York that was rich with jazz music. When only sixteen, she received her first big break at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, when she won an amateur-night contest and impressed saxophonist-bandleader Benny
The 14-year-old girls met musician Johnny Otis. Stories on how they met vary including Otis' version in which James had come to his hotel after one of his performances in the city and persuaded him to audition her. Another story came that Otis spotted the group performing at a Los Angeles nightclub and sought them to record his "answer song" to Hank Ballard's "Work With Me, Annie". Nonetheless, Otis took the group under his wing, helping them sign to Modern Records and changing their name from the Creolettes to the Peaches and gave the singer her stage name reversing Jamesetta into Etta James. James recorded the version, which she was allowed to co-author, in 1954, and the song was released in early 1955 as "Dance with Me, Henry".
She tried to gain employment in the field, but as a woman in the 1950s, she did not fit the profile that the male dominated record companies were looking for even though she already had a degree in music under her belt. However, in 1960, she was hired as a Trainee Assistant Studio Manager at the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation).2 When she found out about the BBC’s Radiophonic Workshop, a department whose purpose was to create new sound effects and music for radio programs, Delia became fixated on working there. Eventually, she convinced the reluctant BBC to allow her to change positions. Derbyshire then went straight to work creating a legacy of new sounds. Delia Derbyshire’s most famous recording, not to mention one of her earliest, is her 1963 theme for the television show, Dr. Who.
Spears divorced Kevin Federline, her back up dancer, and started to devote her life back to her children and producing music for her new album ‘Femme Fatale’. But for her new Femme Fatale, Spears focused on one thing: making a killer dance-pop album. "I knew I wanted to make a dance album that was ahead of everything else out there but unique to me, which is why I was so picky with the recording process” (Grigoriadis). Britney still seemed to manage to turn her life around and start fresh with brand new albums; she is well deserving of our Hall of
But the artist who draws everyone’s attention, everyone has heard of and makes many want to constantly be listening to her and be like her, someone who is a key element of my generation has to be Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga has been making a name for herself as soon as her pop music hit the radio. Her first hit was “Just Dance” release in 2008. Hitting #1 in the billboard charts in 2009 followed by the release of her first album, The Fame. This really got people listening and earned her 8 Grammy nomination and 2 wins.