Avril Lavigne

(pronounced /ˈævrɨl ləˈviːn/; born 27 September 1984) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, fashion designer, actress and philanthropist. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but spent the majority of her youth in the small town, Napanee, Ontario. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain, and by 16, Lavigne had signed a recording contract with Arista, now RCA Records. Record executive Antonio "L.A." Reid offered her a two-album deal worth more than $2 million. When she was 17 years old, Lavigne broke onto the music scene with her debut album, Let Go, released in 2002.

Let Go made Lavigne the youngest female soloist to reach #1 in the UK, and the album was certified four-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. As of 2009, over 16 million copies had been sold worldwide, more than 6 million of which were sold in the United States. Her breakthrough single, "Complicated", peaked at #1 in many countries around the world, as did the album Let Go. Her second album, Under My Skin, was released in 2004 and was her first album to peak at #1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 , eventually selling more than 10 million copies worldwide. The Best Damn Thing, Lavigne’s third album, was released in 2007. This album gave Lavigne her third #1 album in the UK Albums Chart and featured her first U.S. Billboard Hot 100 single, "Girlfriend". Lavigne has scored a total of five #1 singles worldwide, including "Complicated", "Sk8er Boi", "I'm With You", "My Happy Ending" and "Girlfriend". Lavigne has sold more than 30 million copies of her albums worldwide[1] and is currently one of the top-selling artists releasing albums in the U.S., with over 10.25 million copies certified by the RIAA.[2] Billboard named Lavigne the #10 pop artist in the "Best of the 2000s" chart, and she was listed as the 28th overall best act of the decade based on album sales, chart success, and cultural relativity in the U.S.[3][4] Her fourth studio album, Goodbye Lullaby, will be released in March 2011, with the first single to be released in January.

Lavigne branched out from recording music, pursuing careers in feature film acting and designing clothes and perfumes. She voiced a character in the animated film, Over the Hedge, in 2006. That same year, she made her on-screen feature film debut in Fast Food Nation. In 2008, Lavigne introduced her clothing line, Abbey Dawn; and in 2009, she released her first perfume, Black Star, which was followed by her second perfume, Forbidden Rose, in 2010.

In July 2006, Lavigne married her boyfriend of two years, Deryck Whibley, lead singer and guitarist for Sum 41. The marriage lasted a little over three years, and in October 2009, Lavigne filed for divorce. Whibley and Lavigne have continued to work together after the divorce, with Whibley producing her upcoming fourth album, as well as Lavigne's single, "Alice", written for Tim Burton's film Alice in Wonderland.

Early life
Avril Ramona Lavigne was born in Belleville, Ontario, the daughter of Judith-Rosanne "Judy" (née Loshaw) and Jean-Claude Lavigne. Her father, who is of French Canadian descent,[5] named her Avril after the French word for the month of April.[6] She has an older brother, Matthew, and a younger sister, Michelle.[7] A daughter of a working-class family,[8] Lavigne, at the age of two, began singing church songs along with her mother. When Lavigne was five years old, the family moved to Napanee, Ontario,[6] a town with an approximate population of 5,000.[9][10][11] Although she struggled with paying attention in school, sometimes kicked out of class for misbehaving, her parents were supportive of her singing. Her father bought her a microphone, a drum kit, a keyboard, several guitars, and converted their basement into a studio. When Lavigne was 14, her parents would take her to karaoke sessions.[12] Lavigne also performed at country fairs, singing songs by Garth Brooks, The Dixie Chicks, and Shania Twain. She also began writing her own songs. Her first song was called "Can't Stop Thinking About You", about a teenage crush, which she described as "cheesy cute".[13]

“ I’ve known all my life that this is what I was supposed to do.... Visualizing like what it would be like to be famous with my music. And always just dreaming, always daydreaming. ”
—Avril Lavigne, NBC News[12]


In 1998,[11] Lavigne won a radio contest to perform with fellow Canadian singer Shania Twain at the Corel Centre (now Scotiabank Place) in Ottawa, before an audience of 20,000 people.[6][9] Twain and Lavigne sang "What Made You Say That",[6] and Lavigne told Twain she was going to be "a famous singer".[9] During a performance with the Lennox Community Theatre, Lavigne was spotted by local folk singer Stephen Medd. He invited her to contribute vocals on his song, "Touch the Sky", for his 1999 album, Quinte Spirit. She later sang on "Temple of Life" and "Two Rivers" for his follow-up album, My Window to You, in 2000. In December 1999, Lavigne was discovered by her first professional manager, Cliff Fabri, while singing country covers at a Chapters bookstore in Kingston, Ontario.[6][9] Fabri sent out VHS tapes of Lavigne's home performances to several industry prospects, and Lavigne was visited by several executives.[14] Mark Jowett, co-founder of the Canadian management firm Nettwerk, received a copy of Lavigne's karaoke performances recorded in her parents' basement,[15] and arranged for Lavigne to work with Peter Zizzo in New York during the summer of 2000, where she wrote the song "Why?". It was on a subsequent trip to New York that Lavigne was noticed by Arista Records.[14]

Alesha Dixon

(born 7 October 1978)[1] is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model and television personality. She first found fame in the all-female R&B/garage trio Mis-Teeq, however, the trio separated in 2005 and Dixon continued pursuing her music career as a solo artist, signing to Polydor Records. Dixon began recording her debut solo album, Fired Up in 2006, but due to poor record sales of her first two singles, "Lipstick" and "Knockdown", she was dropped from Polydor.[2]

In 2007 Dixon became a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing and eventually won. Her television exposure led to a successful comeback,[3] which included her signing to Asylum Records, an offshoot of Warner Music Group. Dixon then released a second album, entitled The Alesha Show in 2008, which received platinum certification from BPI in the UK.

In September 2009 Dixon became a judge on the seventh series of Strictly Come Dancing, replacing fellow judge Arlene Phillips.[4] The replacement of Phillips by Dixon attracted criticism, as some questioned the extent of Dixon's dancing knowledge.[5] Dixon herself dismissed the criticism, describing it as a "storm in a teacup", and refused to stand down as judge.[6] In 2010 Dixon returned for the eighth series of Strictly Come Dancing and released her third studio album, The Entertainer.

Early life
Dixon was born in Welwyn Garden City, to an English mother, Beverly Harris, and Jamaican father, Melvin Dixon. She has five half-brothers called Adrian, Mark, John, Jeroame, Callum and one half-sister called Leyanne. She was educated at Monk's Walk School, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. Where Top Hat Stage School is based and to which Alesha made a personal appearance at for their "Summer 2009 Awards Show". Dixon's mother and father split up when Dixon was four years old and Dixon's father moved away, resulting in Dixon later describing her family life as "very dysfunctional".[7]

Her first job was at Ladbrokes,[8] although she aspired to become a PE teacher after leaving college. After completing a diploma course in sports studies,[8] she had planned to take up a place at Loughborough University,[9] but whilst at dance classes in London she was approached by a talent scout from a production company.[10] Whilst travelling back home on the train she was approached by another scout who was forming a band and asked if she was interested.[10] Dixon's musical hopes had previously been met with scepticism from Melvin Dixon, as he encouraged Alesha to follow a more academic career path.[11] Dixon explained that "his view was there weren't many black British musicians who were overly successful. I said, 'Dad, I can't base my decision on what people haven't done'".[11] Ignoring her father's advice, Dixon decided to pursue a career in music.

Hilary Duff

(born September 28, 1987) is an American actress and singer. After working in local theater plays and television commercials in her childhood, Duff gained fame for playing the title role in the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. Duff subsequently ventured into feature films, with many successful movies to her credit including The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Cheaper by the Dozen, A Cinderella Story and Cheaper by the Dozen 2. She has most recently appeared in According to Greta and Stay Cool. As of November 2010, her upcoming films include, Bloodworth, The Story of Bonnie and Clyde and She Wants Me.

Duff has since expanded her repertoire into pop music with the release of three RIAA-certified platinum albums and over thirteen million records sold worldwide as of February 2007.[1] Her first studio album, Metamorphosis, was certified triple platinum and supplemented it with two more platinum albums, Hilary Duff and Most Wanted. Duff released her third studio album, Dignity, which was certified gold in August 2007[2] and released two singles, "With Love", her highest charting US single to date and "Stranger". In November 2008, she released a compilation of her greatest hits, Best of Hilary Duff, whose single "Reach Out" became her third #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play.

Duff has also branched into fashion with the launch of her own clothing lines, Stuff by Hilary Duff and Femme for DKNY Jeans, and two exclusive perfume collections with Elizabeth Arden as well as being signed on as a model to IMG Models New York.[3] Other business ventures include the scribing of a young adult novel Elixir and being acredited as a producer and executive producer for the movies Material Girls[4] and According to Greta respectively.

On February 19, 2010, Duff became engaged to NHL player Mike Comrie. The couple married on August 14, 2010 in Santa Barbara, California.

Early life
Duff with her sister in April 2008.Duff was born in Houston, Texas[6] as the second of two daughters of Susan Colleen (née Cobb), a homemaker, and Robert Erhard Duff, a partner in a chain of convenience stores.[7] She has an elder sister, Haylie Duff, who is also an actress/singer. Duff's mother encouraged Hilary to take up acting classes alongside her elder sister, which resulted in both girls winning roles in various local theatre productions.[8] At the ages of eight and six, respectively, the Duff sisters participated in the ballet, The Nutcracker Suite with Columbus BalletMet in San Antonio.[6] The siblings became more enthusiastic about the idea of choosing acting as a profession, and eventually relocated to California with their mother, while their father resides at the family home in Houston to take care of their business.[7][8] After several years of auditions and meetings, the Duff sisters were cast in various television commercials.[7] In a 2009 interview with Vanity Fair, Duff mentioned that she was home schooled due to her early start of an acting career.

Penélope Cruz

(born April 28, 1974), better known as Penélope Cruz, is a Spanish actress. At 15, she was signed by an agent. She made her acting debut at 16 on television, and her feature film debut the following year in Jamón, jamón (1992), to critical acclaim. Her subsequent roles in the 1990s and 2000s included Open Your Eyes (1997), The Hi-Lo Country (1999), The Girl of Your Dreams (2000) and Woman on Top (2000). Cruz achieved recognition for her lead roles in Vanilla Sky and Blow. Both films were released in 2001 and were commercially successful worldwide.

In the 2000s, she has appeared in films from a wide range of genres, including the comedy Waking Up in Reno (2002), the thriller Gothika (2003), the Christmas movie Noel (2004), the action adventure Sahara (2005), the animated G-Force and the musical drama Nine. Her most notable films to date are Volver (2006), for which she earned Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations, and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), for which she received an Academy Award. She was the first Spanish actress in history to receive an Academy Award, and the sixth Spanish actor overall.

Cruz has modeled for companies such as Mango, Ralph Lauren and L'Oréal. Cruz and her younger sister Mónica Cruz have designed items for Mango. She has donated both her time and money to charities. Cruz has volunteered in Uganda and India, where she spent one week working for Mother Teresa; she donated her salary from The Hi-Lo Country to help fund the late nun's mission

Early life
Penélope Cruz Sánchez was born in Alcobendas, Community of Madrid, Spain, the daughter of Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser and personal manager, and Eduardo Cruz, a retailer and auto mechanic.[1][2] She was raised Roman Catholic.[3] Throughout her childhood, Cruz lived in Alcobendas, a working-class city, although she spent "a lot" of time at her grandmother's apartment.[2] Cruz is the oldest of three siblings;[2] she has a younger brother, Eduardo, who is a singer, and a younger sister, Mónica, who is an actress.[4] She has said that she had a happy childhood, and Charlie Rose of 60 Minutes described Cruz's childhood as a "simple life".[2] In 2000, Cruz stated that as a child she would throw herself on the floor and "start kicking and breaking things" when she did not get her way.[5] Initially, Cruz had no ambition to be an actress and focused on dance,[2] having studied classical ballet for nine years[4] at Spain's National Conservatory.[5] She received three years of Spanish ballet training and four years of theater at Cristina Rota's New York school.[6][7]

When Cruz was a teenager, she began having an interest in acting after seeing the film Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar.[2][8] She began doing casting calls for an agent, but was rejected multiple times because the agent felt that she was too young.[2][9] Cruz commented on the experience that "I was very extroverted as a kid. [...] I was studying when I was in high school at night, I was in ballet and I was doing castings. I looked for an agent and she sent me away three times because I was a little girl but I kept coming back. I'm still with her after all these years."[9] In 1989, at the age of 15, Cruz won an audition at a talent agency over more than 300 other girls.[5] In 1999, Katrina Bayonas, Cruz's agent, commented, "She was absolutely magic [at the audition]. It was obvious there was something very impressive about this kid. [...] She was very green, but there was a presence. There was just something coming from within."

Angelina Jolie

(pronounced /dʒoʊˈliː/ joh-LEE; born June 4, 1975), née Angelina Jolie Voight, is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. Jolie promotes humanitarian causes, and is noted for her work with refugees as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She has been cited as one of the world's most attractive people, as well as the world's "most beautiful" woman, titles for which she has received substantial media attention.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Though she made her screen debut as a child alongside her father Jon Voight in the 1982 film Lookin' to Get Out, Jolie's acting career began in earnest a decade later with the low-budget production Cyborg 2 (1993). Her first leading role in a major film was in Hackers (1995). She starred in the critically acclaimed biographical films George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998), and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted (1999). Jolie achieved wider fame after her portrayal of video game heroine Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), and since then has established herself as one of the best-known and highest-paid actresses in Hollywood.[7] She has had her biggest commercial successes with the action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) and the animated film Kung Fu Panda (2008).[8]

Divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie currently lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship that has attracted worldwide media attention. Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax, and Zahara, as well as three biological children, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne.

Early life and family
Born in Los Angeles, California, Jolie is the daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. She is the niece of Chip Taylor, sister of James Haven and the goddaughter of Jacqueline Bisset and Maximilian Schell. On her father's side, Jolie is of Czechoslovak and German descent,[9][10] and on her mother's side she is Canadian and is said to be part Iroquois.[11][12] However, Voight has claimed Bertrand was "not seriously Iroquois", and they merely said it to enhance his ex-wife's exotic background.[13]

After her parents' separation in 1976, Jolie and her brother were raised by their mother, who abandoned her acting ambitions and moved with them to Palisades, New York.[14] As a child, Jolie regularly saw movies with her mother and later explained that this had inspired her interest in acting; she had not been influenced by her father.[15] When she was eleven years old, the family moved back to Los Angeles and Jolie decided she wanted to act and enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, where she trained for two years and appeared in several stage productions.

At the age of 14, she dropped out of her acting classes and dreamed of becoming a funeral director.[16] During this period, she wore black clothing, dyed her hair purple and went out moshing with her live-in boyfriend.[15] Two years later, after the relationship had ended, she rented an apartment above a garage a few blocks from her mother's home.[14] She returned to theatre studies and graduated from high school, though in recent times she has referred to this period with the observation, "I am still at heart—and always will be—just a punk kid with tattoos".[17]

She later recalled her time as a student at Beverly Hills High School (later Moreno High School), and her feeling of isolation among the children of some of the area's more affluent families. Jolie's mother survived on a more modest income, and Jolie often wore second-hand clothes. She was teased by other students who also targeted her for her distinctive features, for being extremely thin, and for wearing glasses and braces.[15] Her self-esteem was further diminished when her initial attempts at modeling proved unsuccessful. She started to cut herself; later commenting, "I collected knives and always had certain things around. For some reason, the ritual of having cut myself and feeling the pain, maybe feeling alive, feeling some kind of release, it was somehow therapeutic to me."[18]

Jolie was estranged from her father for many years. The two tried to reconcile and he appeared with her in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001).[14] In July 2002, Jolie filed a request to legally change her name to "Angelina Jolie", dropping Voight as her surname; the name change was made official on September 12, 2002.[19] In August of the same year, Voight claimed that his daughter had "serious mental problems" on Access Hollywood. Jolie later indicated that she no longer wished to pursue a relationship with her father, and said, "My father and I don't speak. I don't hold any anger toward him. I don't believe that somebody's family becomes their blood. Because my son's adopted, and families are earned." She stated that she did not want to publicize her reasons for her estrangement from her father, but because she had adopted her son, she did not think it was healthy for her to associate with Voight.[20] In February 2010, Jolie publicly reunited with her father when he visited her while filming The Tourist in Venice.[21]

Jessica Alba

(born April 28, 1981)[1] is an American television and film actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994). Alba rose to prominence as the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel (2000–2002).[2][3] Alba later appeared in various films including Honey (2003), Sin City (2005), Fantastic Four (2005), Into the Blue (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Good Luck Chuck both in 2007.[4][5]

Alba is considered a sex symbol and often generates media attention for her looks. She appears frequently on the "Hot 100" section of Maxim and was voted number one on AskMen.com's list of "99 Most Desirable Women" in 2006, as well as "Sexiest Woman in the World" by FHM in 2007.[6][7][8] The use of her image on the cover of the March 2006 Playboy sparked a lawsuit by her, which was later dropped.[9] She has also won various awards for her acting, including the Choice Actress Teen Choice Award and Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television, and a Golden Globe nomination for her lead role in the television series Dark Angel

Early life
Alba was born in Pomona, California[1] to Catherine (née Jensen) and Mark Alba. Her mother is of Danish and French Canadian descent and her father is Mexican American (though both of his parents were born in California).[10] She has a younger brother, Joshua. Her father's Air Force career took the family to Biloxi, Mississippi, and Del Rio, Texas, before settling back in California when she was nine years old.[3][10] Alba described her family as being a "very conservative family—a traditional, Catholic, Latin American family" and herself as very liberal; she says she had identified herself as a "feminist" as early as age five.[11]

Alba's early life was marked by a multitude of physical maladies. During childhood, she suffered from collapsed lungs twice, had pneumonia 4-5 times a year, as well as a ruptured appendix and a tonsillar cyst.[3] Alba became isolated from other children at school, because she was in the hospital so often due to her illnesses that no one knew her well enough to befriend her.[12] Alba has also had asthma since she was a child.[3] Alba has said that her family's frequent moving also contributed to her isolation from her peers.[11] She has also acknowledged that she has suffered from obsessive–compulsive disorder during her childhood.[13][14] Alba graduated from high school at age 16,[15] and she subsequently attended the Atlantic Theater Company.[16]

Kate Winslet

(born 5 October 1975) is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She is the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader (2008). Winslet has been acclaimed for both dramatic and comedic work in projects ranging from period to contemporary films, and from major Hollywood productions to less publicised indie films. She has won awards from the Screen Actors Guild, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association among others, and has been nominated for an Emmy Award for television acting.

Raised in Berkshire, Winslet studied drama from childhood, and began her career in British television in 1991. She made her film debut in Heavenly Creatures (1994), for which she received her first notable critical praise. She achieved recognition for her subsequent work in a supporting role in Sense and Sensibility (1995) and for her leading role in Titanic (1997), the highest grossing film for more than 12 years until 2010.

Since 2000, Winslet's performances have continued to draw positive comments from film critics, and she has been nominated for various awards for her work in such films as Quills (2000), Iris (2001), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Finding Neverland (2004), Little Children (2006), The Reader (2008) and Revolutionary Road (2008). Her performance in the latter prompted New York magazine to describe her as "the best English-speaking film actress of her generation".[1] The romantic comedy The Holiday and the animated film Flushed Away (both 2006) were among the biggest commercial successes of her career.

Winslet was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children in 2000. She has been included as a vocalist on some soundtracks of works she has performed in, and the single "What If" from the soundtrack for Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001), was a hit single in several European countries. Winslet has a daughter with her former husband, Jim Threapleton, and a son with her second husband, Sam Mendes, from whom she is separated. She lives in New York City.

Early life
Born in Reading, Berkshire, Winslet is the daughter of Sally Anne (née Bridges), a barmaid, and Roger John Winslet, a swimming pool contractor.[2] Her parents were "jobbing actors", which led Winslet to comment that she "didn't have a privileged upbringing" and that their daily life was "very hand to mouth".[3] Her maternal grandparents, Linda (née Plumb) and Archibald Oliver Bridges, founded and operated the Reading Repertory Theatre,[3] and her uncle, Robert Bridges, appeared in the original West End production of Oliver!. Her sisters, Beth and Anna Winslet, are also actresses.[3]

Raised in an Anglican household, Winslet began studying drama at the age of 11 at the Redroofs Theatre School, a co-educational independent school in Maidenhead, Berkshire, where she was head girl.[4] At the age of 12, Winslet appeared in a television advertisement directed by filmmaker Tim Pope for Sugar Puffs cereal. Pope said her naturalism was "there from the start".[5]

Katy Perry

(born October 25, 1984), better known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American pop musician. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents; Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her freshman year of high school, she began to pursue a career in music. As Katy Hudson, she released a self-titled gospel album in 2001, which due to the closing of her record label, was deemed unsuccessful. She later recorded an album with production team The Matrix and completed the majority of a solo album from 2004–5; neither of which were released.

After signing with Capitol Music Group in 2007, her fourth record label in seven years, she adopted the stage name Katy Perry and released her first Internet single "Ur So Gay" that November, which garnered public attention; but failed to chart. She rose to fame with the release of her second single "I Kissed a Girl" in 2008, which went on to top international charts. Perry's first mainstream studio album One of the Boys followed later that year and subsequently, became the thirty-third best selling album worldwide of 2008.[1] It was accredited platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America while "I Kissed a Girl" and her second single "Hot n Cold" both received multi-platinum certifications. Perry was ranked the ninety-seventh Artist of the 2000–10 decade by Billboard.[2]

She has since become well recognized for having an unconventional style of dress and often combines bold colors and vintage fashion. Her sophomore studio album Teenage Dream was released in August 2010 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The album included hit singles "California Gurls" and "Teenage Dream", both of which topped the charts on the Billboard Hot 100 and worldwide. She has most recently released the single "Firework" another international top five hit.

Perry has since expanded her repertoire into various other business ventures. She was credited as a guest judge on the seventh series of the British television show The X Factor; has released a fragrance called "Purr"; and will appear in the upcoming 2011-film The Smurfs.

Perry had a long relationship with Travie McCoy; she married Russell Brand on October 23, 2010

Life
1984–2000: early life
Perry was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson in Santa Barbara, California[4] on October 25, 1984 to Mary (née Perry), an evangelist who grew up in Southern California and had "a tempestuous first marriage in Zimbabwe",[5] and Keith Hudson, who was a West Coast scenester in the 1960s.[5] Perry is of German and Portuguese descent on her mother's side, and is the second child of two pastors.[6] She has an older sister and younger brother.[5] Perry's maternal aunt and uncle were screenwriter Eleanor Perry and director Frank Perry,[7] through whom she is also related to Charles M. Schwab, the founder of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.[8]

Perry was incorporated into her parents' ministry[6] and sang in their church from between the ages of nine and seventeen.[4][9] She grew up listening to gospel music,[10] was not allowed to listen to what her mother called "secular music",[9][11] and attended Christian schools and camps.[6] As a child, Perry learned how to dance in a recreation building in Santa Barbara. She was taught by seasoned dancers and began with swing, Lindy Hop, and jitterbug.[12] She took her GED after her freshman year at Dos Pueblos High School and decided to leave school in the pursuit of a career in music.[13] Perry initially started singing "because [she] was at that point in [her] childhood where [she] was copycatting [her] sister and everything she [would do]."[13] Her sister practiced with cassette tapes, while Perry took the tapes herself when her sister was not around. She rehearsed the songs and performed them in front of her parents, who suggested she should have vocal coaching. She grabbed the opportunity and began taking lessons at the age of nine and continued until she was sixteen. She later enrolled in at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and studied Italian opera for a short period of time.[13]

Ani Lorak

(Ukrainian: Ані Лорак) (Karolina Myroslavivna Kuiek, Ukrainian: Кароліна Мирославівна Куєк, alternate transliterations of the last name: Kuyek, Kuek, born 27 September 1978, Kitsman, Ukrainian SSR) is a Ukrainian pop singer. She appeared to be a strong front-runner to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest on two occasions, but ultimately failed to be selected. Her narrow defeat in the 2005 national pre-selection competition was particularly controversial, given that the winners GreenJolly had, unlike her, not had to qualify for the final by winning one of the fifteen preliminary heats.

Lorak represented Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Shady Lady" and came in 2nd place behind Dima Bilan from Russia.[1][2] She came second in the «Press Award Eurovision Song Contest»[3] and won the «Artistic Award» for her performance.[4]

Early life
Karolina developed the desire to become a singer as early as the age of four. Karolina often performed at various school vocal competitions. In 1992, she took part in the popular contest 'Pervotsvit' and was the winner. It was here where she met her ex-producer Yuriy Falyosa. As a result, at the age of 14 she signed her first professional contract. Karolina became known as Ani Lorak in March 1995 when she took part in a contest at the television program "Morning Star" in Moscow, Russia. There was a Russian singer with the same name already enrolled in that competition. In order to save the situation, Karolina had to invent a stage name. Ani Lorak is the name Karolina read backwards. Ani Lorak moved to Kiev in 1995. By that time her name was well known in Ukrainian show business. She became even more popular after winning the "Big Apple Music 1996 Competition" in New York, U.S.. She became "Discovery of the Year" at the popular Ukrainian festival "Tavria Games" in 1996. The same year she released her first album "I Want to Fly".

Beyoncé Knowles

(born September 4, 1981), often known simply as Beyoncé (pronounced /biˈjɒnseɪ/ bee-YON-say), is an American Pop/R&B singer, songwriter, actress and fashion designer. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child. Knowles rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time.

During the hiatus of Destiny's Child, Knowles released her debut solo album Dangerously in Love (2003), which spawned the number one hits "Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy" and became one of the most successful albums of that year, earning her a then record-tying five Grammy Awards.[2][3] Following the group's disbandment in 2005, Knowles released B'Day in 2006. It debuted at number one on the Billboard charts and included the hits "Déjà Vu", "Irreplaceable" and "Beautiful Liar". Her third solo album I Am... Sasha Fierce, released in November 2008, included the anthemic "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". The album and its singles earned her six Grammy Awards, breaking the record for most Grammy Awards won by a female artist in one night.[4][5][6] Knowles is one of the most honored artists by the Grammys, and third among female artists, with 16 awards—13 as a solo artist and three as a member of Destiny's Child.[7][8]

Knowles began her acting career in 2001, appearing in the musical film Carmen: A Hip Hopera. In 2006, she starred in the lead role in the film adaptation of the 1981 Broadway musical Dreamgirls, for which she earned two Golden Globe nominations. Knowles launched her family's fashion line, House of Deréon, in 2004, and has endorsed such brands as Pepsi, Tommy Hilfiger, Armani and L'Oréal. In 2010, Forbes ranked Knowles at number two on its list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential Celebrities in the world;[9][10] she was also listed as the most powerful and influential musician in the world.[11] Time also included Knowles on its list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World".[12]

Knowles has attained five Hot 100 number one singles as a solo performer and four with Destiny's Child. As a solo artist, Knowles has sold over 11.2 million albums and nearly 25 million singles in the United States.[13] According to Columbia Records her record sales, when combined with the group, have surpassed 130 million.[14] On December 11, 2009, Billboard listed Knowles as the most successful female artist of the 2000s decade and the top Radio Artist of the decade.[15] In February 2010, the RIAA listed her as the top certified artist of the decade.[16][17] In 2010, VH1 listed Knowles at number 52 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time

Early life and career beginnings
Knowles was born in Houston, Texas, the daughter of Mathew Knowles, a professional record manager, and Tina Knowles, a costume designer and hair stylist. Knowles' father is African American and her mother is of Creole (African, Native American, and French) descent.[19] Knowles was baptized after her mother's maiden name, as a tribute to her mother.[19] She is the elder sister of Solange, a singer-songwriter and actress.

Knowles was schooled at St. Mary's Elementary School in Texas, where she enrolled in dance classes, including ballet and jazz. Her talent in singing was discovered when her dance instructor began humming a song and she finished it, hitting the high-pitched notes.[20] Knowles' interest in music and performing began after participating in a school talent show.[21] She sang John Lennon's Imagine and won the competition.[22][23] At age seven, Knowles started gaining attention from the press, having been mentioned in the Houston Chronicle as a nominee for the local performing arts award The Sammy.[24] In the fall of 1990, Knowles enrolled in Parker Elementary School, a music magnet school in Houston, where she would perform on-stage with the school's choir.[20] She also attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston[25] and later went to Alief Elsik High School, located in the Houston suburban munincipality, Alief.[19][26] Knowles was a soloist in the choir of her church, in St. John's United Methodist Church.[20] She only lasted in the choir for two years.[27]

At the age of eight, Knowles met LaTavia Roberson while in an audition for an all-girl entertainment group.[28] They, along with Knowles' friend Kelly Rowland, were placed into a group that performed rapping and dancing. Originally named Girl's Tyme, they were eventually cut down to six members.[20] West coast R&B producer Arne Frager flew into Houston to see them. He eventually brought them to his studio—The Plant Recording Studios—in Northern California, with Knowles' vocals being featured.[20] As part of efforts to sign Girl's Tyme to a major label record deal, Frager's strategy was to début them in Star Search,[21] the biggest talent show on national TV that time.[20] Girl's Tyme participated in the competition but lost it because the song they performed was not good, Knowles herself admitted.[29][30] Knowles had her first "professional setback" after that defeat but regained confidence after learning that pop stars Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake had also the same experience.[20] To manage the group, Knowles' father (who was at that time a medical-equipment salesman) resigned in 1995 from his job.[31] He dedicated his time and established a "boot camp" for their training.[21] The move reduced Knowles' family's income by half and her parents were forced to move into separated apartments.[19] Not long after the inclusion of Rowland, Mathew cut the original lineup to four,[20] with LeToya Luckett joining in 1993.[28] Rehearsing in Tina's Headliners Salon and their backyards, the group continued performing as an opening act for other established R&B girl groups of the time;[28] Tina contributed to the cause by designing their costumes, which she continued to do throughout the Destiny's Child era. With the continued support of Mathew, they auditioned before record labels and were finally signed to Elektra Records. They moved to Atlanta to work on their first recording, only to be cut by the record company in 1995. They would return home to start over again.[19] This would put a strain on the Knowles, and Beyoncé's parents separated briefly when she was 14. In 1996, the family reunited, and to coincide with that, the girls got a contract with Columbia Records.[22]

Scarlett Johansson

(born November 22, 1984) is an American actress and singer. Johansson made her film debut in the 1994 film North and was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in 1996's Manny & Lo. Johansson rose to fame with her roles in 1998's The Horse Whisperer and 2001's Ghost World.

She transitioned to adult roles with her performances in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, for which she won a B.A.F.T.A. Award, and Girl with a Pearl Earring, both of which earned her Golden Globe Award nominations in 2003. A role in A Love Song for Bobby Long earned her a third Golden Globe for Best Actress nomination. Following an appearance in The Island, Johansson garnered a fourth Golden Globe nomination, for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in Woody Allen's Match Point. She followed that with an other Allen film, Scoop, with Hugh Jackman. A role in Brian De Palma's film noir The Black Dahlia was followed by a second role opposite Hugh Jackman in The Prestige, also starring Christian Bale.

On May 20, 2008, Johansson debuted as a vocalist on her first album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, which included cover versions of Tom Waits songs. Her second album, Break Up, with Pete Yorn was released in September 2009

Early life
Johansson was born in New York City on November 22, 1984.[1] Her father, Karsten Johansson, is a Danish architect who was the son of Ejner Johansson, a screen-writer and director. Her mother, Melanie Sloan, a producer, comes from an Ashkenazi Jewish family from the Bronx.[2][3][4][5] Johansson's parents met in Denmark, where her mother lived with Johansson's maternal grandmother, Dorothy, a former bookkeeper and schoolteacher.[6] Johansson has an older sister, Vanessa, who is an actress; an older brother, Adrian; a twin brother, Hunter (who appeared in the film Manny & Lo with Scarlett);[7] and an older half-brother, Christian, from her father's first marriage.[8]

Johansson grew up in a house-hold with "little money,"[4] and with a mother who was a "film buff."[9] She and her brother, Hunter, attended P.S. 41 in Greenwich Village in elementary school.[10] Johansson began her theatrical training by attending and graduating from Professional Children's School in Manhattan in 2002.[11]

Megan Fox

(born May 16, 1986) is an American actress and model. She began her acting career in 2001 with several minor television and film roles, and played a recurring role on Hope and Faith. In 2004, she launched her film career with a role in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. In 2007, she was cast as Mikaela Banes, the love interest of Shia LaBeouf's character in the blockbuster film Transformers which became her breakout role and earned her various Teen Choice Awards nominations. Fox reprised her role in the 2009 sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Later in 2009, she starred as the titular lead character in the film Jennifer's Body.

Fox is considered a sex symbol and frequently appears in men's magazine "Hot" lists. She was listed #18, #16, #2, and #5 on Maxim magazine's yearly Hot 100 list in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 respectively, while FHM readers voted her the "Sexiest Woman in the World" in 2008.[1] She ranked number one on Moviefone's "The 25 Hottest Actors Under 25" in 2008.[2]

In 2004, Fox began dating Brian Austin Green, of Beverly Hills, 90210 fame, after reportedly having met on the set of Hope & Faith.[3][4] They were involved in an on-again, off-again relationship, before finally marrying in June 2010.[5]

Early life
Fox is of Irish, French, and Native American ancestry,[6] and was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to Darlene Tonachio and Franklin Fox. She was raised Roman Catholic and attended Catholic school for 12 years.[7] Fox's parents divorced when she was young and she and her sister[8] were raised by her mother and her stepfather, Tony Tonachio.[9][10][11] She said that the two were "very strict" and that she was not allowed to have a boyfriend[9] or invite friends to her house.[8] She lived with her mother until she made enough money to support herself.[9]

Fox began her training in drama and dance at age five, in Kingston, Tennessee.[12] She attended a dance class at the community center there and was involved in Kingston Elementary School's chorus and the Kingston Clippers swim team. At 10 years of age, after moving to St. Petersburg, Florida, Fox continued her training.[13][14] When she was 13 years old, Fox began modeling after winning several awards at the 1999 American Modeling and Talent Convention in Hilton Head, South Carolina.[15] At age 17, she tested out of school via correspondence in order to move to Los Angeles.[8][9]

Fox has spoken extensively of her time in education; that in middle school she was bullied and picked on and she ate lunch in the bathroom to avoid being "pelted with ketchup packets". She said that the problem was not her looks, but that she had "always gotten along better with boys" and that "rubbed some people the wrong way".[16] Fox also said of high school that she was never popular and that "everyone hated me, and I was a total outcast, my friends were always guys, I have a very aggressive personality, and girls didn’t like me for that. I’ve had only one great girlfriend my whole life".[16] In the same interview, she mentions that she hated school and has never been "a big believer in formal education" and that "the education I was getting seemed irrelevant. So, I was sort of checked out on that part of it".[16]

Katie Melua

(Georgian: ქეთევან "ქეთი" მელუა listen (help·info), English pronunciation: /mɛˈluː.ə/; born 16 September 1984) is a Georgian singer, songwriter and musician. She moved to Northern Ireland at the age of eight and then to England at fourteen.[2] Melua is signed to the small Dramatico record label, under the management of composer Mike Batt,[3] and made her musical debut in 2003. In 2006, she was the United Kingdom's bestselling female artist[4] and Europe's highest selling European female artist.[5]

In November 2003, at the age of nineteen, Melua released her first album, Call off the Search, which reached the top of the United Kingdom album charts and sold 1.8 million copies in its first five months of release.[6] Her second album, Piece by Piece, was released in September 2005 and to date[update] has gone platinum four times.[7] Melua released her third studio album Pictures in October 2007, which was the last of her albums to be made in collaboration with Mike Batt.[8]

According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2008, Melua has a fortune of £18 million, making her the seventh richest British musician under thirty.[9] It was reported in 2009 that she had lost almost half of her fortune as a result of the global economic downturn.

Early life
Ketevan Melua, known as Ketino to her family,[11] was born to Amiran and Tamara Melua[12] in Kutaisi, Georgia, which was then part of the Soviet Union.[13] She spent her first years with her grandparents in Tbilisi[14] before moving with her parents and brother to the town of Batumi, Ajaria where her father worked as a heart specialist.[13] During this time Melua sometimes had to carry buckets of water up five flights of stairs to her family's flat[15][16] and according to her, "Now, when I'm staying in luxurious hotels, I think back to those days".[14]

In 1993, in the aftermath of the Georgian Civil War, the family moved to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where her father took up a position at the prestigious Royal Victoria Hospital. The family remained in Belfast, living close to Falls Road, until Melua was thirteen.[12] During her time in Northern Ireland, Melua attended St. Catherine's Primary School on the Falls Road and later moved to Dominican College, Fortwilliam. The Melua family then moved to Sutton, London, and some time later moved again to Redhill, Surrey. In 2008 Melua moved out of her parents' home in Maida Vale to an apartment in Notting Hill[17] where she transformed the spare bedroom into a recording studio. Melua speaks Georgian, Russian and English and is partly of Canadian[18] and Russian ancestry.[19][20]

During the South Ossetia War in 2008, Melua's brother and mother were staying with relatives in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Melua was due to travel to Georgia herself less than a month later

First television appearance
Due to her upbringing in politically unstable Georgia and troubled Belfast,[21] Melua initially planned to become either a historian or a politician.[22] This changed in 2000, at the age of fifteen, when Melua took part in a talent competition on British television channel ITV called "Stars Up Their Noses" (a spoof of Stars in Their Eyes) as part of the children's programme Mad for It!.[23] Melua won the contest by singing Badfinger's "Without You". The prize was £350 worth of MFI vouchers, with which she bought a chair for her father.[24] Had she lost the contest, she would have been gunged.[25]

Education and religion
Although she is a baptised Orthodox Christian,[17] whilst living in Belfast, Melua attended the Roman Catholic schools St Catherine's Primary School and Dominican College, Fortwilliam, while her younger brother attended Protestant schools.[2] After completing her GCSEs at the all-girls' grammar school Nonsuch High School in Cheam, Sutton, Melua attended the BRIT School for the Performing Arts in the London Borough of Croydon, undertaking a BTEC with an A-level in music. When studying at the school, Melua began to write songs and met her future manager and producer, Mike Batt.[26]

Melua didn't attend University, though she has often stated her desire to do so, saying that English literature, history and physics would be her courses of choice should she get the chance to go to University.[27]

Personal life
Melua met Luke Pritchard, lead singer of The Kooks, when they were both studying at the BRIT School where they began dating. Melua and Pritchard rarely speak of the relationship, but what is known is that the couple dated for three years. However, as Melua became more successful, the relationship came into difficulties and they split up in March 2005.[15][28]

In late 2006 is was reported that Melua was in a close relationship with photographer Lara Bloom.[29][30] In an interview in May 2010, she spoke about speculation surrounding the relationship with Bloom, saying "I can tell you that I'm single, which is not lovely, but it is what it is. I really don't think whether you are gay or not is the whole identity of a person. It's just one side; it doesn’t have to be the thing that defines you. We live in the 21st century: questions of sexuality are not outdated, but I don't think the lines are very clear and they are not always clear to me."[31]

Melua is occasionally referred to as an 'adrenaline junkie' because she enjoys roller coasters and fun fairs and often paraglides and hang glides.[32] She has skydived four times and taken several flying lessons, and in 2004 she was lowered from a 200 metre building in New Zealand at 60 mph. When asked about Melua being an 'adrenaline junkie', Mike Batt said, "she enjoys extremes, but in life her emotions are always in check."[3] In November 2009, Melua came near to drowning after she breathed in and choked on a lungful of water when diving in a lake near Heathrow Airport.[33]

In September 2010, Melua was ordered by her doctors to stop working for a few months after suffering from 'exhaustion'. All touring and promotional activities were postponed as a result.[34]

Nationality
On 10 August 2005, Melua became a British citizen with her parents and brother. The citizenship ceremony took place in Weybridge, Surrey.[35] On gaining British nationality, Melua was eligible for a British passport.[36] Becoming a British citizen meant that Melua had held three citizenships before she was 21; first Soviet, then Georgian and finally British. After the ceremony, Melua stated her pride at her newest nationality. "As a family, we have been very fortunate to find a happy lifestyle in this country and we feel we belong. We still consider ourselves to be Georgian, because that is where our roots are, and I return to Georgia every year to see my uncles and grandparents, but I am proud to now be a British citizen."[35]

Mike Batt
It was when performing at a Brit School showcase that Melua caught the eye of Mike Batt, an English songwriter and producer who was originally looking for an acid-rock band, bass player[37] and a singer capable of singing "jazz and blues in an interesting way".[38] After hearing Melua sing "Faraway Voice" (a song she wrote about the death of her idol Eva Cassidy) Batt signed the 18 year-old Melua to his small Dramatico recording and management company and sent her into the studio.[39]

William Orbit
For her album The House (2010) she worked with producer William Orbit. She said about the experience: “The whole thing has been really exciting. It was the same feeling I had the first time I went skydiving. I was really quite nervous, but I knew all I had to do was let myself go and it was going to feel amazing. I wasn’t trying to get away from anything. It was more about going towards something. I wanted the music to be inspired by the future, something unknown that’s never been heard before, but at the same time hold on to the values of the music of the past, to try and tap into something that’s so ancient and old that its kind of forgotten. I thought that, if we went far enough in both directions, we could end up in the same place

Soundtrack
Year Film Song
2009 Faintheart "Toy Collection"
2007 Nancy Drew "Looking for Clues"
2006 Mía Sarah "Call off the Search", "Tiger in the Night"
Miss Potter "When You Taught Me How to Dance"
2005 Just like Heaven "Just like Heaven

Acting roles
Year Film Role
2007 Grindhouse Murder Victim's Friend (segment "Don't")

Nelly Furtado

(born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress of Portuguese descent. She has sold 20 million albums worldwide.[1] Furtado grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Furtado came into the public eye in 2000 with the release of her debut album Whoa, Nelly!, which featured her breakthrough Grammy Award-winning single "I'm Like a Bird". After becoming a mother and releasing the less commercially successful Folklore (2003), she returned to prominence in 2006 with the release of Loose and its hit singles "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "All Good Things (Come to an End)" and "Say It Right". In 2009, she released her first full-length Spanish album Mi Plan, which won a Latin Grammy Award in 2010.

Furtado is known for experimenting with different instruments, sounds, genres, vocal styles and languages. This diversity has been influenced by her wide-ranging musical taste and her interest in different cultures.

Early life
Furtado was born on December 2, 1978, in Victoria, British Columbia to Portuguese parents, Maria Manuela and António José Furtado, both emigrants from the Azores.[2] She was named after Soviet gymnast Nellie Kim.[3] Her parents were born on São Miguel Island and immigrated to Canada in the late 1960s.[4] Her siblings are Michael Anthony and Lisa Anne. She was raised in a Roman Catholic home.[3][5]

At age four she began performing and singing in Portuguese.[2][4] Furtado's first public performance was when she sang a duet with her mother at a church on Portugal Day. She began playing musical instruments at the age of nine, learning the trombone, ukulele and — in later years — the guitar and keyboards. At the age of 12, she began writing songs,[3] and as a teenager, she performed in a Portuguese marching band.[4]

Furtado has acknowledged her family as the source of her strong work ethic; she spent eight summers working as a chambermaid with her mother, along with her brother and sister who was a housekeeper in Victoria.[6] She has stated that coming from a working class background has shaped her identity in a positive way.