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Mýa (album)
''Mýa'' is the debut studio album by American singer Mýa. It was released by University Music Entertainment and Interscope Records on April 21, 1998, in the United States. Recording of the contemporary R&B album was overseen by University Records CEO Haaq Islam after he signed the singer when she was at the age of 15. Production on ''Mýa'' was primarily handled by Swing Mob member Swing Mob, Darryl "Day" Pearson with additional contributions from Daryl Simmons, Alex "Cat" Cantrall, Joey Priolo, and Nokio the N-Tity. Guest appearances include Dru Hill frontman Sisqó, No Limit Records, No Limit rapper Silkk the Shocker, and rapper Missy Elliott. The album received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who complimented Mýa's vocals and songwriting abilities, as well as the album's well-crafted appeal. ''Mýa'' peaked at number 29 on the US Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200 and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), selling over 1. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mýa
Mya Marie Harrison (; born October 10, 1979), (stylized as Mýa), is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. Born into a musical family, she studied ballet, jazz, and tap dance as a child. Initially, Mýa began her career as a VJ and dance posse member on BET's ''Teen Summit''. During her stint at BET, she developed an interest in music which lead to independent deal from the guidance of CEO Haqq Islam. Signed in 1996 to Interscope Records, she released her eponymous debut album in April 1998. A critical and commercial success, the album produced her first top ten single "It's All About Me". Subsequent singles, "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" and " Take Me There", continued to raise her profile and attained chart success worldwide, with the former garnering her first Grammy nomination. ''Fear of Flying'', her second album, was released in April 2000 and became a worldwide success, boosted by the success of its singles " Case of the Ex" and " Free". Harris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dru Hill
Dru Hill is an American R&B group, whose repertoire included soul, hip hop soul and gospel music. The group was founded in Baltimore in 1992 and is still active. Dru Hill recorded seven Top 40 hits, and is best known for the R&B number-one hits " In My Bed", "Never Make a Promise" and " How Deep Is Your Love". Its original members were lead singer Mark "Sisqó" Andrews, Tamir "Nokio" Ruffin, Larry "Jazz" Anthony and James "Woody" Green. The group achieved popularity in the 1990s. Signing to Island Records through Haqq Islam's University Records imprint, the group released two successful albums, ''Dru Hill'' and ''Enter the Dru'', before separating for a period from late 1999 to 2002, during which time Sisqó and Woody released solo albums. Dru Hill was influenced by the Dragon and Asian culture, as displayed in their wardrobe and logo. While Woody's album ''Soul Music'' was a moderate success in the gospel music industry, Sisqó's debut album, ''Unleash the Dragon'', and its hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tap Dance
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely performed in musical theater. Rhythm tap focuses on musicality, and practitioners consider themselves to be a part of the jazz tradition. The sound is made by shoes that have a metal "tap" on the heel and toe. There are different brands of shoes which sometimes differ in the way they sound. Ok History The fusion of several ethnic percussive dances, such as West African step dances and Welsh, Irish, and Scottish clog dancing, hornpipes, and jigs, tap dance is believed to have begun in the mid-1800s during the rise of minstrel shows. As minstrel shows began to decline in popularity, tap dance moved to the increasingly popular Vaudeville stage. Due to Vaudeville's unspoken "two-colored rule", which forbade blacks to perform solo, many Vaudevi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dance Theater Of Harlem
Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served as the company's music director from 1981 to 1992. The DTH is renowned for being both "the first Black classical ballet company", and "the first major ballet company to prioritize Black dancers". History Arthur Mitchell, the first African-American principal dancer in a major ballet company (New York City Ballet), was sent to Brazil by the United States government to start up the National Ballet of Brazil. While on his way to the airport, he was shocked to hear news of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. In conjunction with the civil rights movement, King's death inspired Mitchell to forgo his plans in Brazil. Instead, he would found a classical ballet school for the children of Harlem, the poor and predominantly black New York nei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregory Hines
Gregory Oliver Hines (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was an American dancer, actor, choreographer, and singer. He is one of the most celebrated tap dancers of all time. As an actor, he is best known for '' Wolfen'' (1981), '' The Cotton Club'' (1984), ''White Nights'' (1985), '' Running Scared'' (1986), ''The Gregory Hines Show'' (1997–1998), playing Ben on ''Will & Grace'' (1999–2000), and for voicing Big Bill on the Nick Jr. animated children's television program ''Little Bill'' (1999–2004). Hines starred in more than 40 films and also appeared on Broadway. He received many accolades, including a Daytime Emmy Award, a Drama Desk Award, and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for a Screen Actors Guild Award and four Primetime Emmy Awards. Early life Hines was born in New York City on February 14, 1946 to Alma Iola (Lawless) and Maurice Robert Hines, a dancer, musician, and actor, and grew up in the Sugar Hill neighborhood of Harlem. He began tap dancing when he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Savion Glover
Savion Glover (born November 19, 1973) is an American tap dancer, actor, and choreographer. Early life The youngest of three sons, Glover was born to a white father, who left the family before he was born, and a black mother. Glover's great grandfather on his mother's side, Dick Lundy, was a shortstop in the Negro leagues. He managed eleven Negro league baseball teams, including the Newark Eagles.Lahr, 270. His grandfather, Bill Lewis, was a big band pianist and vocalist. His grandmother, Anna Lundy Lewis, was the minister of music at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. She played for Whitney Houston when she was singing in the gospel choir, and was the one who first noticed Savion's musical talent. She once held him and hummed some rhythms to him, and he smiled and joined along. Glover graduated from Newark Arts High School in 1991. Career Glover stated that his style is "young and funk." When asked to describe what funk is, he says it is the bass line. "Funk is anyt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soul Train Music Award
The Soul Train Music Awards is an annual music awards show which previously aired in national broadcast syndication, and honors the best in African-American culture, music and entertainment. It is produced by the makers of ''Soul Train'', the program from which it takes its name, and features musical performances by various contemporary R&B and soul music recording artists interspersed throughout the ceremonies. The special traditionally used to air in either February, March or April, but now airs the last weekend of November (in most years, Thanksgiving weekend). The Soul Train Music Awards voting body includes active professionals in the fields of radio programming and music retail and management and recording artists with records that have charted in designated music trade publications in the year prior to proceedings. Past hosts for the show include such R&B luminaries as Luther Vandross, Dionne Warwick, Patti LaBelle, Will Smith, Vanessa Williams, Taraji P. Henson, and Glady ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NAACP Image Award
The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to other awards, like the Oscars and the Grammys, the over 40 categories of the Image Awards are voted on by the award organization's members (in this case, NAACP members). Honorary awards (similar to the Academy Honorary Award) have also been included, such as the President's Award, the Chairman's Award, the Entertainer of the Year, and the Hall of Fame Award. History The award ceremony was first organized and presented on August 13, 1967, by activists Maggie Hathaway, Sammy Davis Jr. and Willis Edwards, all three of whom were leaders of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood NAACP branch. While it was first taped for television by NBC (which broadcast the awards from 1987 to 1994 in January, on weeks when ''Saturday Night Live'' wasn't airing a n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Babyface (musician)
Kenneth Brian Edmonds (born April 10, 1959), better known by his stage name Babyface, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has written and produced over 26 number-one R&B hits throughout his career and has won 12 Grammy Awards. He was ranked number 20 on ''NME'' 50 of The Greatest Producers Ever list. Early life Edmonds was born on April 10, 1959, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Marvin and Barbara Edmonds. Barbara was a production operator at a pharmaceutical plant. Edmonds, who is the fifth of six brothers (including future After 7 band members Melvin and Kevon Edmonds, the latter of whom went on to have a modestly successful solo career), attended North Central High School in Indianapolis, and as a shy youth, wrote songs to express his emotions. When he was in eighth grade, Edmonds' father died of lung cancer, leaving his mother to raise her sons alone. Music career Edmonds later met funk performer Bootsy Collins, who tagged him "Babyface" because of hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diane Warren
Diane Eve Warren (born September 7, 1956) is an American songwriter. She has received several awards including a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, three ''Billboard'' Music Awards and an Honorary Academy Award. Warren's career was jump-started in 1985 with " Rhythm of the Night" by DeBarge. In the late 1980s, she joined forces with the UK music company EMI, where she became the first songwriter in the history of '' Billboard'' magazine to have seven hits, all by different artists, on the singles chart at the same time, prompting EMI's UK Chairman Peter Reichardt to call her "the most important songwriter in the world". She has been rated the third most successful female artist in the UK. Warren has written nine number-one songs and 32 top-10 songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 including "If I Could Turn Back Time" ( Cher, 1989), "Because You Loved Me" (Celine Dion, 1996), "How Do I Live" ( LeAnn Rimes, 1997), and "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" ( A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Recording Industry Association Of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legally sold recorded music in the United States". RIAA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. RIAA was formed in 1952. Its original mission was to administer recording copyright fees and problems, work with trade unions, and do research relating to the record industry and government regulations. Early RIAA standards included the RIAA equalization curve, the format of the stereophonic record groove and the dimensions of 33 1/3, 45, and 78 rpm records. RIAA says its current mission includes: #to protect intellectual property rights and the First Amendment rights of artists #to perform research about the music industry #to monitor and review relevant laws, regulations, and policies Between 2001 and 202 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Often, a recording act will be remembered by its " number ones", those of their albums that outperformed all others during at least one week. The chart grew from a weekly top 10 list in 1956 to become a top 200 list in May 1967, and acquired its current name in March 1992. Its previous names include the ''Billboard'' Top LPs (1961–1972), ''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape (1972–1984), ''Billboard'' Top 200 Albums (1984–1985) and ''Billboard'' Top Pop Albums (1985–1992). The chart is based mostly on sales – both at retail and digital – of albums in the United States. The weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but since July 2015, tracking week begins on Friday (to coinc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
