Lady Gaga

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (/ˈstɛfəniː dʒʌrməˈnɑːtə/; born March 28, 1986), better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to focus on her musical career. She began performing in the rock music scene of Manhattan's Lower East Side, and was signed with Streamline Records by the end of 2007. During her employment as a songwriter for the record company, her vocal abilities captured the attention of recording artist Akon, who signed her to his label Kon Live Distribution.

Lady Gaga came to prominence as a recording artist following the release of her debut album The Fame (2008), which was a critical and commercial success that topped charts around the world and included the international number-one singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face". After embarking on the The Fame Ball Tour, she followed the album with The Fame Monster (2009), which spawned the worldwide hit singles "Bad Romance", "Telephone" and "Alejandro". The album's success allowed her to embark on the eighteen-month long Monster Ball Tour, which later became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. Her 2011 album Born This Way topped the charts of most major markets and generated more international chart-topping singles, including "Born This Way", "Judas" and "The Edge of Glory". Beside her musical career, she involves herself with humanitarian causes and LGBT activism.

Influenced by such acts as David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Madonna and Queen, Lady Gaga is recognized for her flamboyant, diverse and outré contributions to the music industry through fashion, performance and music videos. She has sold an estimated 23 million albums and 64 million singles worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time and her singles some of the best selling worldwide. Her achievements include five Grammy Awards and 13 MTV Video Music Awards. Lady Gaga has consecutively appeared on Billboard magazine's Artists of the Year (scoring the definitive title in 2010), ranked fourth in VH1's list of 100 Greatest Women in Music, is regularly placed on lists composed by Forbes magazine and was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine. In 2012, Gaga was ranked at number four on Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing more than 25 million dollars. 

Source article: Wikipedia

Lily Allen

Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper (born 2 May 1985), better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative. Allen abandoned school and concentrated on improving her performing and compositional skills. Afterwards, she created several demo songs and, near the end of 2005, she created a profile on MySpace where she made some of her recordings public.

A contract was signed with the label Regal Recordings, as the views on MySpace rose to tens of thousands. In 2006, she began to work on completing what would be her first studio album and its first mainstream single "Smile" reached the top position on the UK Singles Chart in July 2006. Her debut record, Alright, Still, was well received on the international market, selling over 2.6 million copies and brought Allen a nomination at the Grammy Awards, BRIT Awards and MTV Video Music Awards. She then began hosting her own talk-show, Lily Allen and Friends, on BBC Three.

Her second major album release, It's Not Me, It's You, saw a genre shift for her, having more of an electropop feel, rather than the ska and reggae influences of the first one. The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and the Australian ARIA Charts and was appreciated by the critics, noting the singer's musical evolution and maturity. It spawned the hit singles "The Fear" and "Fuck You", popular mostly in Europe. Allen and Amy Winehouse have been credited with starting a process that led to the media-proclaimed "year of the women" in 2009 that has seen five female artists making music of "experimentalism and fearlessness" nominated for the Mercury Prize.During the autumn of 2010, Allen opened a fashion rental shop "Lucy in Disguise" with her sister Sarah,  followed by the 2011 launching of her own record label.

Source article: Wikipedia

Cristina Scabbia

Cristina Adriana Chiara Scabbia (Italian pronunciation: [krisˈtiːna aˈdrjaːna ˈkjaːra ˈskabbja]; born 6 June 1972) is an Italian singer, best known as one of the two vocalists in the Italian gothic metal band Lacuna Coil. She also writes an advice column in the popular rock magazine Revolver, alongside musician Vinnie Paul. Scabbia is featured in a Megadeth song, "À Tout le Monde (Set Me Free)". She is also the featured artist in the Apocalyptica song "S.O.S. (Anything But Love)" and another version of the Alter Bridge song "Watch Over You". Scabbia has said that the biggest compliment that a fan could pay her would be to remark on her vocal abilities. Scabbia has a contralto vocal range.

In 1991, Scabbia began singing professionally as a touring musician for other bands and providing backing vocals. Later that year, she met the male vocalist Andrea Ferro and bass player Marco Coti Zelati of Lacuna Coil in Milan's Midnight club. At the time, the band was named Ethereal, and Scabbia was first employed only as a session singer. She was employed to record backup vocals for the choruses of songs on their demo tape, but the band members liked the way the male and female vocals sounded together, and asked her to be a permanent member. After several changes in the band's line-up, the members were reduced to Ferro, Coti Zelati and Scabbia. The members recorded a two track demo in May 1996, and were soon signed by the German branch of Century Media, eventually joining with the American branch of the label. Once signed, the band changed their name to Lacuna Coil after learning that a Greek band signed to Century Media had already claimed the name Ethereal. Adding new band members, Lacuna Coil began to tour, releasing their first album in 1997.

Source article: Wikipedia

Heidi Range

Heidi India Range (born 23 May 1983) is an English singer, songwriter, best known for being the longest serving current member in girl group the Sugababes. Range was an original member of girl group Atomic Kitten, although she left the group after three years of its formation before releasing any material. In 2001 Range replaced Siobhán Donaghy of the Sugababes and has since accumulated six UK number one singles as well as two number one studio albums with the group. In 2007 FHM listed Range as the 94th sexiest woman in the world. As of 2011 Sugababes are on hiatus. Range participated in the 2012 season of ITV1 series, Dancing On Ice.

Contents
    1 History
        1.1 1997–01: Early life and Atomic Kitten
        1.2 2001–11: Joining Sugababes
        1.3 2012–present: Sugababes Hiatus and current projects
    2 Personal life
    3 References

 History
In 1997, Range auditioned for a part in the band Scooch, but was rejected as she was too young. Instead, she formed the girl group Atomic Kitten along with Liz McClarnon and Kerry Katona. She recorded several demos and tracks with the group and also appearing on the original version of Whole Again. In 1999 Range decided to leave the group after wanting to pursue a more R&B style of music instead of the pop music Atomic Kitten were making and was therefore replaced with Natasha Hamilton.


In August 2001, Range replaced Siobhán Donaghy of the Sugababes, who left the band in 2001. Her first album with the group, Angels With Dirty Faces, peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart, achieving triple platinum status, and is the group's to date highest selling album. The album produced UK chart-toppers “Freak Like Me” and “Round Round”, both certified silver by the BPI. Three, the Sugababes' third album, was released in October 2003. It reached number three in the UK and produced four singles, all of which reached the top ten. The group's fourth album Taller in More Ways was released in October 2005. The album reached reached number one and went double platinum in the UK. Shortly following the album's release, Buena left the group due to personal reasons, and was replaced by Amelle Berrabah. The group's fifth album Change was released in October 2007. The album, composed of pop and dance songs, reached number one and went platinum in the UK. Change produced three top twenty singles, including "Change", "Denial", and the UK number one "About You Now", signalling the second occasion in which the band were simultaneously number one on the UK album, single, download and airplay charts. The groups' sixth studio album, Catfights and Spotlights was released in 2008, charting in the top ten of the UK Albums Chart, despite becoming a commercial failure, and producing only two singles, "Girls" and "No Can Do", the former peaking at number three on the UK Singles Charts. The album also features a version of "She's Like a Star", with Taio Cruz, which was released prior to the album and charted inside the top twenty in the UK.

The band's seventh studio album Sweet 7 was released in March 2010, featuring the lead single "Get Sexy", which peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart on 6 September 2009; it was the last single to feature Keisha Buchanan after being asked to leave the group after ongoing friction and arguments in the group forcing Range and Berrabah to leave before Keisha leaving the band.

Critics and fans reacted very negatively to the news, and British broadsheet The Guardian ran an article named "Why the Sugababes' show can't go on without Keisha". Digital Spy ran an article called "Keisha Buchanan, We Salute You" in which they thanked her for her contribution to "incredible pop songs".However, it has been claimed by Berrabah and Range that they played no role in the ousting of Buchanan. Both women have claimed to quit the Sugababes themselves only to find that their group's management decided that they would follow them, rather than find two new members for Buchanan.The second single from the album titled "About a Girl" peaked at number eight on the UK Singles Chart, and was the first single to feature new member Jade Ewen. The third single titled "Wear My Kiss" peaked at number seven in the Singles Chart. They released a track Freedom on 25 September 2011 free to download on Amazon UK as a gift for fans and potential new listeners. Heidi Range explained that the Sugababes were "not planning anything at the moment" while they pursued individual endeavors.

Source article: wikipedia

Lacey Sturm

Lacey Nicole Sturm (née Mosley, born September 4, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter from Arlington, Texas. She is co-founder and lead vocalist of the alternative metal band Flyleaf. In 2000, Sturm began to play with drummer James Culpepper. The pair worked with guitarists Sameer Bhattacharya and Jared Hartmann. In 2002, Pat Seals, Flyleaf's current bassist, joined, forming a group named Passerby. Due to legal reasons, they renamed themselves Flyleaf in June 2004. Sturm provided backing vocals on "Run to You" and "Born Again," two tracks on Christian rock band Third Day's 2008 album Revelation. Mosley received a pair of Grammy nominations at the 52nd Grammy Awards for her work with Third Day: "Born Again" was nominated for Best Gospel Song and Best Gospel Performance.[citation needed] Sturm has also worked with Apocalyptica on their song "Broken Pieces" and with Orianthi on the song "Courage."[citation needed] Sturm has recorded a song, "Heavy Prey", for the Underworld: Awakening soundtrack.[citation needed] Sturm revealed in early 2012 that she wants to write a book, but no official plans have been made to do this yet.

Personal life
On September 6, 2008 she married Joshua Sturm, the guitarist for the band Kairos, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Shortly before Flyleaf released Remember to Live, Lacey announced that she and her husband were expecting a son in the Spring of 2011. Joshua "Jack" Lewis Sturm was born on April 9, 2011. Sturm has currently been involved with Hot Topic; modeling for their new clothing line, LOVEsick.She has also been featured as a solo performer in Franklin Graham's "Rock the Lake", "Rock the Range", and "Rock the River" evangelistic tours throughout mid-August and late September 2011 where she gave her testimony and sang two songs, including a self-written song "The Reason", and an acoustic version of "Born Again" by Third Day. 

Article source: Wikipedia

Selita Ebanks

Selita Ebanks (born 15 February1983) is a Caymanian fashion model. She worked for Victoria's Secret and as a Victoria's Secret Angel from 2005-2008. Her family, her mother in particular, encouraged her development through extracurricular programs. Education Ebanks moved to the United States, and settled in Staten Island, New York. After moving to New York City she was accepted at Spelman College, Columbia University, and New York University.

Career
At 17 years old, while walking through the turnstiles at Six Flags Great Adventure, Ebanks was scouted by an agent from Elite Model Management. Ebanks has worked with Peter Lindbergh, Bruce Weber, Steven Klein, Carter Smith, and Mikael Jansson, and for some of the most quintessential American fashion campaigns, including Ralph Lauren, Abercrombie & Fitch, Levi's, and Tommy Hilfiger. Ebanks first modeled for Victoria's Secret for their Ipex Bra line, before being signed as an Angel. She and Izabel Goulart made their major débuts in the 2005 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, working as an Angel until early 2009. In 2005, Tyra Banks said she was proud of Ebanks to be representing black women at Victoria's Secret
 

In 2007, Ebanks was selected to wear the "Very Sexy" Holiday Fantasy Bra Set with a price tag of $4,500,000 dollars that contains (diamonds, emeralds, rubies and yellow sapphires)--which she is featured in the Victoria's Secret "Christmas Dreams and Fantasies 2007" catalogue wearing the bra set and wore the fantasy bra set during the Victoria's Secret fashion show on December 4, 2007. Ebanks made a special guest appearance on How I Met Your Mother on 26 November 2007 with her fellow Victoria's Secret supermodels (Miranda Kerr, Heidi Klum, Adriana Lima, Marisa Miller, and Alessandra Ambrosio).

According to Forbes, Ebanks ranked the twelfth highest paid supermodel for 2008, earning $2.7 million. She made her first appearance on Sports Illustrated's 2007 Swimsuit Issue. She has recorded some music and appeared on the UPN-series South Beach. She appeared on the third season of Celebrity Apprentice, but was fired in week 5 on April 11, 2010, placing 9th. She is featured in The-Dream's music video for his single Make Up Bag. She also appeared in the 2010 short film directed and created by Kanye West entitled Runaway. She plays a fallen Phoenix that Kanye West's character falls in love with. She also appears in a commercial for State Farm Insurance alongside actor

Article Source : Wikipedia

Leighton Meester

Leighton Marissa Meester (born April 9, 1986) is an American actress and singer. Meester first garnered attention for playing Blair Waldorf in the CW television series Gossip Girl. She most recently appeared in the 2010 country drama film Country Strong, the 2011 thriller The Roommate, and the 2011 romantic-comedy Monte Carlo.
 

Meester was born in Fort Worth, Texas, to Constance and Douglas Meester and lived most of her life in New York City and Los Angeles.  Meester's last name means "master" or "teacher" in Dutch. Her mother was serving time in a federal prison for her involvement in a drug ring that smuggled marijuana from Jamaica to the United States. She was able to give birth to Leighton in a hospital and nurse her for three months in a halfway house, before returning to prison to complete her sentence, after which Leighton's grandmother cared for her.

Meester has maintained that her parents gave her a normal upbringing and, despite their criminal past, are good people with experience that has only made Meester more open-minded and non-judgmental, "It made me realize that you can't judge anyone — especially your parents — for what they've done in their past, because people change." Meester has joked, "Look, I could've turned out a lot worse."She has cited her mother as her style icon.

Meester grew up in Marco Island, Florida, where she participated in productions at a local playhouse. When she was 11 years old, Meester and her mother moved to New York City. Meester attended the Professional Children's School and also began working as a model with Wilhelmina, booking a Ralph Lauren campaign shot by Bruce Weber and working with then photographer (now film maker) Sofia Coppola as well as many commercials including Tamagotchi toys and Clearasil. Meester made her television acting debut as a murder victim's friend on an episode of Law & Order. At 14, Meester moved to Los Angeles, California, wanting more stable work, and attended Hollywood High School and Beverly Hills High School. She then transferred to a small private school and graduated a year early.

Article Source : Wikipedia