Black Eyed Peas

Black Eyed Peas Hip hop, Pop, Dance, Funk The Black Eyed Peas are an American hip hop group from Los Angeles, California, who have enjoyed worldwide pop success. The group is currently composed of will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo, and Fergie. Since their breakout album Elephunk in 2003, they have seen international fame for their pop/dance-oriented style of hip hop music. The Black Eyed Peas have sold an estimated twenty-seven million albums and singles worldwide. The Black Eyed Peas got their start in 1988 when will.i.am (born William James Adams Jr.) and apl.de.ap (born Allan Pineda) began rapping and performing together around Los Angeles. The pair signed to Ruthless Records (run by Eazy-E) after catching the attention of the nephew of Jerry Heller. Their breakout album, Elephunk, was released in 2003. It was the group's first album to feature the vocals of Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson who was the replacement for background singer Kim Hill, who left the band in 2000. Their next album, Monkey Business, was released on June 7, 2005. Much of the pre-production writing was performed on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus while on the The Black Eyed Peas/N*E*R*D tour of 2004. The album's first single, "Don't Phunk with My Heart," was a hit in the U.S., reaching number three on the U.S. Hot 100. The song reached the highest peak yet of their career (in the U.S.) and earned them another Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. On March 21, 2006, The Black Eyed Peas released a remix album, entitled Renegotiations: The Remixes to iTunes. It features remixed versions of "Ba Bump," "My Style," "Feel It," "Disco Club," "They Don't Want Music," "Audio Delite at Low Fidelity," and the standard version and video of "Like That."

1. Boom Boom Pow 2. Don't Lie 3. Don't Phunk With My Heart 4. I Gotta Feeling 5. My Humps 6. Pump It 7. Shut Up 8. Where Is The Love

Katy Perry

Katy Perry October 25, 1984 Pop rock, Rock, pop

1. Hot N Cold 2. I Kissed A Girl 3. I Kissed A Girl 4. Ur So Gay 5. Ur So Gay (Radio Edit) 6. Waking Up in Vegas

Linkin Park

Linkin Park Alternative rock, Alternative, metal, Rapcore, Nu Linkin Park is a rock band from Agoura Hills, California. They formed in 1996, and have since sold more than forty million albums and won two Grammys. They first achieved mainstream success in 2000 with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which has since been certified Diamond by RIAA. Their following studio album, Meteora, continued the band's success, topping the Billboard 200’s album charts in 2003, and was followed by extensive touring and charity work around the world. Linkin Park is recognized for adapting the nu metal genre into a radio-friendly style and creating many successful singles, such as In The End, Numb, and What I've Done. They are also known for their several collaborations, most notably with rapper Jay-Z in their mash-up album Collision Course, and a plethora of other artists on Reanimation. The band’s latest studio album, Minutes to Midnight, which was released in May 2007, has stemmed away from their previous nu metal sound venturing into various other genres. The album topped the Billboard Charts by selling nearly 625,000 copies in its debut week, making it the best debut week of any album for the year.

1. Bleed It Out 2. Crawling 3. Faint 4. In The End 5. Leave Out All The Rest 6. Lying From You 7. New Divide 8. Numb 9. One Step Closer 10. Pts.of.Athrty 11. Somewhere I Belong 12. What I've Done

Lady GaGa

Lady GaGa March 20, 1986 Pop, Dance-pop, Electropop, R&B, Hip hop, Piano ro Joanne Stefani Germanotta (born March 20, 1986), best known by her stage name Lady GaGa, is an Italian-American singer-songwriter and dance-pop/electronica musician signed to Interscope Records. By 2008 Lady GaGa had relocated to Los Angeles, working closly with her record label to finalize her debut album The Fame. While her music ignited the blogosphere, her creative team "Haus of GaGa" (a reference to the cult documentary film about late 1980's voguing balls in Harlem, Paris Is Burning), promoted the image of Lady GaGa worldwide via fashion, technology and various media. Lady GaGa has received praise and criticism from both professional critics and the general public. The New York Post called her the "future of pop" and Billboard magazine praised her debut album "The Fame" as an album full of hits. Us Weekly called her "Pop's New Dance Diva" and told Madonna to "move on".

1. Beautiful, Dirty, Rich 2. Just Dance

Rihanna

Rihanna February 20, 1988 R&B, Dance-pop, Pop, Dancehall, Reggae Rihanna (born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, currently living in San Diego, California. Rihanna went to Charles F. Broome Memorial School, a primary school in Barbados, and then on to one of Barbados' Grammar (older secondary) schools, the Combermere School, where she formed a musical trio with two of her classmates. In 2004, she won the Miss Combermere Beauty Pageant and performed in the Colours of Combermere School Show, singing Mariah Carey's "Hero". At the age of 15, Rihanna received her big break when one of her friends introduced her to music producer Evan Rogers, who was vacationing in Barbados with his wife. Rogers, along with his partner, Carl Sturken, helped Rihanna record material in the U.S. which was sent to various recording companies. She is currently rumoured to be dating Shia LaBeouf

1. Disturbia 2. Take A Bow 3. Umbrella (Remix)

Lil' Wayne

Lil' Wayne September 27, 1982 Hip-Hop, Southern hip hop, Gangsta rap, Hardcore h Dwayne Michael Carter Jr (born September 27, 1982 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA), better known as Lil' Wayne, is an American, Grammy-nominated rapper, Songwriter, and is known as the president of the New Orleans-based label Cash Money Records and the CEO of Young Money Entertainment.

1. A Milli 2. Fireman 3. Hustler Musik 4. Lollipop 5. Lollipop 6. Shooter

Nickelback

Nickelback

Post-Grunge, Hard Rock, Alternative Metal

Nickelback is a Canadian rock band formed in Hanna, Alberta by Chad Kroeger, Mike Kroeger and Ryan Peake.

Their hit single "How You Remind Me" from their third album, Silver Side Up reached the top on the Canadian Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time, making them the third Canadian band to accomplish this, the first being The Guess Who with "American Woman", the second being Bachman-Turner Overdrive with "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet".

Since their smash hit "How You Remind Me" in 2001, the band enjoyed major commercial (although not critical) success. Nickelback has sold over 14 million albums in the United States and nearly 2 million albums in their native Canada. The band has sold almost 25 million records worldwide.

The band has won nine Juno Awards, an American Music Award, an MTV Video Music Award for Best Video from a Film (Hero), and a World Music Award for World's Best-Selling Rock Artist. The band was also nominated for seven Grammy Awards, four American Music Awards and twelve Juno Awards.

On December 4, 2006, Nickelback won three Billboard Music Awards out of five nominations. Nickelback's latest release, All the Right Reasons has already sold over 5.5 million albums in the United States and over 8 million albums worldwide.

The Michael Jackson Movie You Never Saw

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Alex Ben Block, Hollywood Reporter

He may be known for his music, but few knew Michael Jackson also enjoyed another artistic outlet: the movies.

The King of Pop's long association with a small-time filmmaker led to a featured role in a campy 2007 film unknown to many of his fans, and may well have led to another project he was developing (see video below).




"He was very excited about making movies and wanted his hands on everything, from working on screenplays to producing, to writing the music," said B-movie producer, writer and director Bryan Michael Stoller of Jackson, who starred in the 1978 pic "The Wiz." "However, he never showed any interest in acting,"

Three months before his death, Stoller says Jackson committed to co-directing and financing a movie -- a poignant drama about foster children -- and planned to get started as soon as he completed his London concerts.

It's a small indie project that might not have exactly been getting a big studio rollout or a prime spot at Sundance. But like other posthumous revelations, the news sheds light on the wide-ranging, if often quirky, excursions the singer made when he wasn't cultivating his career as a pop star.

Stoller said he had a 23-year friendship with the pop star and was his partner in the film company Magic Shadows. He was to have co-directed the movie, called "They Cage the Animals at Night," which Stoller said they had been developing for seven years.

The project was based on a 1985 book about the real-life experiences of author Jennings Michael Burch, who bounced around foster homes as a child. Jackson showed the book to Stoller in 2002 at his Neverland estate and asked if he wanted to produce and co-direct a movie version.

"Michael told me often he felt like he grew up as an orphan, like a foster kid, because he never was in one home," Stoller said. "To him every hotel was like a different foster home. He said he used to sit in the window and see kids playing outside and cry because he couldn't be part of that."

But insiders in the Jackson camp said there was no formal deal in place for any Jackson involvement in "Cage"; discussions between the artist and Stoller occurred when Jackson was without management, which may have frowned on any distractions as he prepared for the London shows.

Stoller optioned the book for $1 -- initially without telling Burch about Jackson's involvement. When he did tell him, Stoller said the author was excited to work with the singer.

Jackson, meanwhile, was concerned that Burch, then 67 and suffering from cancer, might not survive to see the movie made. So Stoller suggested bringing Burch to Neverland in 2003, where Jackson turned the tables and interviewed him for what was to be a TV special and for the eventual DVD.

Stoller recorded their meeting, which added to a collection of videos he made with Jackson over the years, and to hours of audio recordings from their meetings.

Stoller told THR he has now come forward because he believes this material humanizes his friend at a time when much myth-making about Jackson is taking place. The producer also is marketing his video, audio and photos either for outright sale or as a project he would produce and direct.

He said he already has had interest from NBC, CBS and E!

Jackson's last film foray was a 2005 comedic farce, "Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls," produced, written and directed by Stoller. Jackson is briefly in the movie as Agent M.J., who comes to the rescue of various characters on a beam of light. The movie was a direct-to-DVD release sold briefly at Blockbuster stores.

When Jackson was indicted on child molestation charges shortly after its release, Blockbuster pulled the film from its shelves. "Miss Castaway" has been sold overseas by Showcase Entertainment, and Stoller said he has offers for a new domestic video release for Jackson's last movie appearance.

"They Cage the Animals" also was impacted by the molestation charges, Stoller said. In 2003 the producer arranged a three-hour meeting in a Universal City hotel between Jackson and Mel Gibson, who besides being an actor is a producer and partner in Icon Prods. "They got along great," Stoller said. "It was kind of funny. Mel was a little nervous. He was hugging a pillow the whole time, kind of playing with it. Michael was kind of shy."

Icon signed a deal to develop the project with a budget of $12 million-$20 million, according to Stoller, who was paid by Icon to write the screenplay. A couple months later, when Jackson was indicted in Santa Barbara, Icon put the project in turnaround, and Gibson stopped returning Stoller's phone calls. There were news reports in 2005 that Icon had dropped the project. A spokesman for Icon said the company briefly was involved in developing it in 1995 but had lost interest by 1997. Stoller has a copy of his contract with Icon dated 2002.

Stoller said Icon still owns the screenplay, but an Icon rep rebutted that, saying the company has had no involvement or ownership for 10 years. Gibson declined comment for this report.

Jackson did meet with Burch, and during their highly charged conversation he asked the author if he had ever considered suicide. Burch said he had, and Jackson said he too had considered it during his darkest days.

Jackson lost contact with Stoller for about two years during the period when the singer was on trial. But after his acquittal, Jackson reached out to him. They had watched dozens of movies in the Neverland theater; Stoller said Jackson's favorite was "To Kill a Mockingbird," and that they also discussed doing a remake of the comedy musical "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

"When Jackson called in 2007, he still had movies on his mind," Stoller said. "He had begun to purchase movie production equipment. He was always asking how things work, but I never saw him really work things. But he wanted all the toys. He bought a dolly and wanted me to show the kids how to use it because they were using it as a play toy, riding around on it."

Jackson wasn't interested in making a blockbuster. "He wanted to do movies the Academy would like," Stoller recalled.

Three months before his death, Stoller said he and Jackson had "a pretty serious meeting" about reviving "They Cage the Animals" as an indie feature.

"Michael was going to put up $8 million and not have to deal with any studios or producers and then take it to the studios afterward," Stoller said. "He was very passionate about being a director. He was determined to make this movie."