July 20th: The Jonas Brothers

• the Jonas Brothers are an American band that formed in 2005.
• They became popular because of their appearances on the Disney Channel network. The three brothers Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, and Nick Jonas were raised in Wykoff, New Jersey and moved to Little Falls, New Jersey in 2005.
• They wrote their first record in 2005.
• In 2008 they start in the Disney Channel movie Camp Rock and then Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam.

• They also starred as themselves in their own Disney Channel series called Jonas which later changed the name to Jonas LA. The show went on for two seasons and then was cancelled.
• As a band they released five albums. They were called It’s about Time in 2006, Jonas Brothers in 2007, A Little Bit Longer in 2008, Lines, Vines and Trying Times and Happiness Begins in 2019.

• In 2008 they were nominated for the 51^st Grammy Awards and they won for Breakthrough Artist at the American music awards.

• In May 2009 for they released Lines, Vines and Trying Times they had sold over 8 million albums worldwide.
• In 2010 and 2011 the group took a two-year hiatus to pursue solo projects. They came together again in 2012 to try to record a new album but it was cancelled after they broke up again on October 29, 2013.
• The brothers have sold over 17 million albums worldwide as of 2013. The group reunited to record Sucker on March 1, 2019.
• It became the 34^th song in history to debut At Number One on the Billboard Hot 100. It became the Jonas Brothers first number 1 single on the chart.

• their fifth studio album called Happiness Begins was released on June 7, 2019 and topped the US Billboard 200.

History

2005 to 2007: It’s About Time

• in 2005 Joe, Kevin and Nick recorded Please Be Mine. It was their first recorded song.

• After hearing the song Columbia Records wanted to sign the brothers up as a group.
• While they worked on their first studio album, they to word in 2005 with artists such as Jump 5, Kelly Clarkson, Jesse McCartney, the Backstreet Boys, and The Click 5.
• The album was supposed to be released in February 2006 but that didn’t happen because there were several executive changes at Sony records which is the parent company of Columbia Records.
• The album It’s About Time was finally released on August 8, 2006.
• The album was a limited release of 50,000 copies because of this believe it or not the price of the album could be as high as US$200-US$300 on auction sites such as eBay.
• On October 3, 2006 next 2004 solo single called Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer) was released.

• The second single from It’s About time was called Year 3000 and it premiered on the Disney Channel in January 2007. The band was eventually dropped by Columbia records in early 2007.

2007 to 2008: Jonas Brothers

• in February 2007 the Jonas Brothers sign with Hollywood records label. At the same time they began appearing in commercials for Baby Bottle Pops singing the jingle.

the Jonas brothers made their first appearance at the White House on Monday, April 9, 2007 during the annual White House during the annual Easter egg role and they sing the national anthem.

• They went back to the White House on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 to celebrate Women in sports during a T-ball game on the South lawn. They sang the national anthem again and after the game the Jonas Brothers entertained at the picnic reception with some of their hits.
• Their self-titled album was released on August 7, 2007 and it reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart in its first week.
• Two songs and videos were released at the same time. The songs were called Hold On and SOS. The album followed 4 days later.

• On August 24, 2007 the Jonas Brothers perform two songs at the Miss Teen USA contest.
• On November 18, 2007 they performed at the American music Awards. They even got to perform two songs at the Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special.
• They kicked off their Look Me in the Eyes tour on January 31, 2008 in Tucson Arizona. They performed several new songs That Were on their third studio album called A Little Bit Longer.
• They started their acting career during season 2 of Hannah Montana where they guest starred and performed, We Got the Party with Us.

• While they were on the Look in the Eyes tour the Jonas Brothers filmed the Disney Channel short series called Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream.

2008 to 2009: A Little Bit Longer and Acting

• the Jonas Brothers third studio album called a capital is that little Life that Bit was released in the United States on August 12, 2008.
• As it was released on iTunes one song at a time each song contained a podcast and we made number one for at least three days.
• After they finished their Look Me in the Eyes Tour they announced that they would be going on tour and opening up for Avril Lavigne for her Best Damn Tour for the second leg of the tour which was in Europe.

• They co-wrote and produced 6 songs for their friend Demi Lovato for her album called Don’t Forget.
• The Jonas Brothers also did a half-hour variety special on the Disney Channel called Studio DC: Almost Live that featured the Muppets and other Disney Channel stars.

• on July 4, 2008 the Jonas Brothers appeared at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto to start their Burnin’ Up tour promoting the album A Little Bit Longer.
• The Jonas Brothers were featured in the July 2008 issue of the Rolling Stone magazine and became the youngest band ever to be on the cover of the magazine.

• The brothers appeared as musical guests on Saturday Night Live’s 34^th season on February 14, 2009.

2009 to 2010: Jonas and Lines, Vines and Trying Times

• the Jonas Brothers released their fourth studio album called Lines, Vines, and Trying Times on June 15, 2009.
• This is what they said about the album title, “lines are something that someone feed to, vines are the things that get in the way, and trying times well that’s obvious.” “We’re trying to learn as much as we can, continuing to grow. The overall message is it’s the same old Jonas Brothers, in a sense, but we are adding more and more music, including different musical instruments That Are going to add and build to the sounds we already have. Our journal in songs, about all the things we’ve gone through, personal experiences we get inspiration from. We’ve also been working on trying to use metaphors to kind of mask a literal things that have happened to us.”
• The album debuted at number one making it the second number one album they created.

in late 2010 the Jonas Brothers were part of a concert at the White House again honouring Paul McCartney. He was receiving the Gershwin Prize for popular music. It was given to him by US Pres. Barack Obama. Paul McCartney requested That the Jonas Brothers cover the song Drive My Car.

2011 to 2013: Hiatus, Live and Split

• in 2011 the Jonas brothers took a hiatus to focus on solo careers. They also parted ways with Hollywood records.
• In August 2012 Kevin Jonas starred in the series Married to Jonas along with his wife Danielle and his brothers Nick and Joe. It documented how the young couple lived.
• On August 17, 2012 two years after they split they announced they would be coming back together for a world tour to span over 2012 into 2013.
• However on October 9, 2013 they cancelled 23 tour dates because of the deep rift within the band over creative differences. At the end of October the brothers officially confirmed That they had split up.

2019 to present: Return and Happiness Begins

• On February 28, 2019 the Jonas Brothers announced their comeback in social media.
• On June 8, 2019 the Jonas Brothers released their single Greenlight when they appeared on an episode of Songland.
• their single called Remember This premiered on June 18, 2021 and will be used in NBC’s coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics.

They also recorded a song called Mercy for the soundtrack of Space Jam: a new legacy which was released on June 9, 2021.

July 15th: Adele

Adele is a British singer-songwriter who has sold millions of albums worldwide and won a total of 15 Grammys as well as an Oscar. Adele’s first two albums, 19 and 21, earned her critical praise and a level of commercial success unsurpassed among her peers.

After becoming a mom in 2012, Adele returned to the charts with the ballad “Hello” in 2015, the lead single from what was dubbed her comeback album 25. In 2017, she won five Grammys for her work on 25, including album, record and song of the year.

Early Life

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born on May 5, 1988, in North London, England. Adele was the only child of Penny Adkins, an “arty mom” who was just 18 at the time of her birth, and a Welsh father, Mark Evans, who left the family when Adele was only four years old.

Evans remained in contact with his daughter up until her teen years, when his problems with alcohol and increasing estrangement from his daughter caused their relationship to deteriorate. By contrast, Adele grew close to her mom, who encouraged her young daughter “to explore, and not to stick with one thing.”

Adele had a passion for music early on, despite there being no musical background in her family. Growing up, she loved to listen to the music of Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige and Destiny’s Child, but she felt really inspired when she started listening to older music by Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald in her early teenage years. She used to go to a local record store to find different collections of their music.

Adele was enrolled in the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology, which is a top school in the UK for performing arts. The school has alumni that include Amy Winehouse, who Adele eventually became quite close with.

In school, Adele cut a three-track demo for a class project that she uploaded to her MySpace page. This got the attention of executives at XL Recordings, and they signed her to a record deal just four months after Adele graduated.

‘19’ (2008)

Adele’s debut album, 19, which is named for the singer’s age when she began recording the project, went on sale in early 2008. Led by two popular lead singles, “Hometown Glory” and “Chasing Pavements,” the record rocketed Adele to fame.

Released in the United States through Columbia Records, 19 resonated with American audiences, much as it had with British music fans. Adele cemented her commercial success with an appearance in October 2008 on Saturday Night Live. At the taping of the show, the album was ranked No. 40 on iTunes. Less than 24 hours later, it was No. 1.

‘21’ (2011)

Adele’s much-anticipated follow-up album, 21, again named for her age at the time of recording, did not disappoint upon its release in early 2011. Tapping even deeper into Adele’s appreciation for classic American R&B and jazz, the record was a monster hit, selling 352,000 copies within its first week.

Anchored by hits like “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You,” 21 placed Adele in rarified air. In February 2011, she found herself with two Top 5 singles and a pair of Top 5 albums in the same week, becoming the only artist besides The Beatles and 50 Cent to achieve that milestone. And with 21 staying at No. 1 for 11 weeks, Adele also broke the solo female artist record previously held by Madonna’s Immaculate Collection for consecutive weeks atop the album charts. 21 went on to sell more than 30 million copies worldwide.

’25’ (2015)

On October 22, 2015, Adele announced that she would release her third album, 25, in November. She posted 25‘s cover on Instagram, and said of her first full-length studio project in several years: “My last record was a break-up record, and if I had to label this one, I would call it a make-up record. Making up for lost time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did. 25 is about getting to know who I’ve become without realizing. And I’m sorry it took so long but, you know, life happened.”

25, released in November 2015, is a collection of emotional, sometimes plaintive songs looking at the ins and outs of relationships, owing much of its sound to traditional pop craft. The album went on to become an international smash hit, reaching No. 1 on iTunes in 110 countries. In the U.S., 25 sold 3.38 million copies in seven days, beating the ‘NSync record of 2.42 million album copies sold in a week. Among other feats, 25 is also the only album to reach a million copies sold in the United States in 10 days.

Grammys and Awards

Adele has been nominated for 18 Grammys and won a total of 15 at the awards ceremonies in 2009, 2012 and 2017. She also received a songwriting Oscar for the James Bond track “Skyfall.”

At the 2009 Grammy awards, Adele took home Best New Artist. In addition, the album earned the singer the distinction of being named the “Sound of 2008” by the BBC. That same year, she earned the Critics’ Choice prize at the BRIT Awards.

In 2012, Adele swept the Grammy Awards, taking home six wins, including Album of the Year. “This record is inspired by something that is really normal and everyone’s been through it—just a rubbish relationship,” she said at the ceremony. 

In 2013, Adele won her seventh Grammy (Best Pop Solo Performance) for her hit single “Set Fire to the Rain.” That same year, the singer won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for “Skyfall,” the theme song for the 2013 James Bond film of the same name. 

In 2016, Adele performed the ballad “All I Ask,” co-written by Bruno Mars on the 58th Annual Grammy Awards while dealing with technical glitches from the accompanying piano.

She then swept the awards with five wins for her work on 25, including album, record and song of the year, as well as Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album. With her historic wins, Adele became the first artist in Grammy history to sweep the top three categories twice.

In her acceptance speech for album of the year, she acknowledged fellow nominee Beyonce and her groundbreaking album Lemonade. “But my artist of my life is Beyoncé, and this album for me, the Lemonade album, was just so monumental,” she said.

Husband and Child

In 2011, Adele met her former partner Simon Konecki, who is 13 years her senior and the founder of Life water and the charity Drop4Drop. On June 29, 2012, Adele announced on her website that she was pregnant with the couple’s first child. She spoke to People magazine about being a mother: “I really want to be a mum. I better start getting on with it!” she said. She gave birth to her son Angelo on October 19, 2012.

In early 2017, Adele was spotted wearing a wedding band, sparking marriage rumors. At her January 2017 Grammy acceptance speech, Adele appeared to confirm the rumors by calling Konecki her husband. “Grammys, I appreciate it, the Academy, I love you, my manager, my husband and my son – you’re the only reason I do it,” she said at the time. Although in interviews backstage she referred to Konecki as her “partner,” she confirmed her marriage in March during a concert in Brisbane, Australia.

In April 2019, the singer’s representatives revealed that Adele and Konecki had split.

What’s Next?!

Ellen in Adele’s ear:

July 13th: Prince

Prince achieved worldwide success in the 1980s with the songs 1999 and Purple Rain. The album called Purple Rain was also the soundtrack for the movie of the same name.

Who Was Prince?

• Prince’s early career was started when he released the albums Prince, Dirty Mind and Controversy.
• His popularity was because of the mixture of religious themes and sexual themes in his music.
• After that he released When Doves Cry and Let’s Go Crazy these became number 1 hits for him.

Prince was a seven-time Grammy winner and he died on April 21, 2016 from an accidental drug overdose.

Early Life

• Prince was born on June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis Minnesota. His full name was Prince Rogers Nelson.
• His parents were John Nelson who was a musician with the stage name of Prince Rogers and his mother’s name was Mattie Shaw. She was a jazz singer performed with the Prince Rogers Band.
• Prince was very interested in music at a very young age and taught himself how to play the piano and guitar as well as the drums.
• His parents separated when he was 10 years old, and he and his sister split their time between both parents.
• Soon after he ran away and moved in with the neighbors. While he was in high school Prince formed a band called Grand Central.
• The name changed to champagne. He was in the band with Andre Cymone and Morris Day.
• In 1978 Prince was signed with Warner Bros. Records.
• During an interview in 2009 Prince revealed that when he was a child he suffered from epileptic seizures and was teased relentlessly in school. He said, “Early in my career I try to compensate by being as flashy and noisy as I could”.

The 1980s: Purple Rain and Beyond

• Prince was in a band called the Revolution. They created the album called Purple Rain in 1984 which also was a soundtrack to the movie of the same name. The movie Purple Rain made almost $70 million at the US box office.
• The movie got an Academy award for the Best Original Song Score.
• When Doves Cry and Let ‘s Go Crazy got to be number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Prince was very well known for his curls, flowing jacket and ruffled attire with some punk styling as well.
• 1985 was the year Prince Released around the World in a Day which contained the top 10 hit Raspberry Beret.

• Prince released his 8th album called Parade in 1986.
• The song called Kiss went to number one on the R&B charts. It was also the soundtrack for Prince’s second movie called Under the Cherry Moon which he directed and starred in.

Career Takes Off: Controversy and 1999

• In 1978 Prince finished his first album called For You. His next album Was Called Prince and it was released in 1979. Prince played most of the instruments on the albums.
• In 1980 Prince released another album called Dirty Mind. It was very graphic because it explored sexuality and fantasy.
• Controversy was the next album released in 1981. It continued exploring the same themes as the previous album.
• As Prince continued to develop his career, he was also known for records that contained a lot of spirituality.
• Prince got international success with the release of his album in 1982 called 1999. Songs such as Little Red Corvette and Delirious work top 10 hits.

Sign of the Times, Batman Soundtrack

• After Prince left the band Revolution he was able to work on different projects he had stopped being on previously.
• He released a double album called Sign “O” the Times in 1987.
• He was also able to create a song with Scottish singer Sheena Easton called “U Got the Look. It was able to reach number 2 on the Pop Charts.

• Prince released his 11^th studio album in 1989. It was the soundtrack to Batman the movie.
• By this time Prince was the most successful commercial artist on the charts.
• The song Batdance was number 1 and the song Party Man hit number 5 on the R&B charts.
• The video for Batdance showed Prince with amazing makeup artistry and costumes.

The early 90s: The New Power Generation

• in the early 90s Prince formed a new band called The New Power Generation.
• This band had a variety of talented musicians. They featured blend of R&B, hip-hop, Jazz and soul with the creative vocals of Rosie Gains.
• The group was asked to come up with a soundtrack for the movie Graffiti Bridge. It was made in the 1990s as a sequel to the movie Purple Rain.
• They released The Album Diamonds and Pearls in 1991 which Was, #3 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

• Prince continued his activism around gender norms and the body.
• He performed on the 1991 MTV video music awards to do a live performance of the song Get off. He had a large amount of dancers and musicians. At the end of the song turned around to show off his seatless pants.
• In the fall of 1992 Prince signed a record $100 million deal with Warner Bros. records. It was considered the largest recording and music publishing contract in history.

July 8th: Oh Canada…

Some Canadian facts for you!!

Canada is bigger than the entire European Union!

Here are some fun facts about Canada to put its breathtaking scale into perspective: It’s bigger than the entire European Union (33 times bigger than Italy and 15 times bigger than France), more than 30 per cent larger than Australia, five times as big as Mexico, three times as big as India and about the same size as 81,975 Walt Disney Worlds put together.

Canada’s lowest recorded temperature is as cold as Mars

The average low for the month of January in Ottawa is -14.4 C (6.1 F). That’s pretty cold! However, a temperature recorded in 1947 in Snag, Yukon makes the rest of Canada’s winter weather seem like a relaxing beach vacation. A temperature of -63 C (-81.4 F) was recorded in the small village of Snag on Feb. 3, 1947. That’s roughly the same temperature as the surface of Mars!

There are more lakes in Canada than any other country in the world!

The Great White North has 563 lakes, which together are larger than 100 square kilometres. The Great Lakes alone contain about 18 per cent of the world’s fresh lake water.

Name the Great Lakes….

Canada has the world’s longest coastline

If you walked and never stopped—not to eat, not to rest your feet, not to get some sleep—it would take you four-and-a-half years to walk the length of Canada’s coastline. While our country might not conjure up images of blue waters and white sandy beaches, Canada has the world’s longest coastline, bordered on three sides by three different oceans: the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific. To put that fun fact about Canada into perspective, that accounts for 202,080 of the world’s total 356,000 kilometres of oceanfront property. The only other country that even comes close is Indonesia, which has 54,716 km of coastline.

Canada has 10% of the world’s forests

did you know that Canada actually boasts 30 per cent of the world’s boreal forest and 10 per cent of the world’s total forest cover? An incredible 396.9-million hectares of forest and other wooded land can be found across the country, and 68 per cent of that is coniferous. The best part of all? Most of our forest land is publicly owned, and much of it can be explored in parks across the country.

Canada has the only walled city in North America

Quebec City has a special feature that makes it unique in Canada (and the U.S., for that matter): it has walls. One of the most fascinating facts about Canada is that Quebec City is the only city north of Mexico that still has fortified walls. First the French, and later the English, built up Quebec City’s fortifications between the 17th and the 19th centuries. Quebec’s entire historic district, including the ramparts, has since been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Canada’s national parks are bigger than most countries!

Canada is so vast, even our parks dwarf other countries. Just look at Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories: not only is it a sight to behold with massive waterfalls, it’s also an incredible 30,050 square kilometres—bigger than Albania and Israel. Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta and the Northwest Territories is even bigger at 44,807 square kilometres, which makes it bigger than Denmark and Switzerland.

Alert, Nunavut, is the world’s northernmost settlement

At the northern tip of Ellesmere Island, just 817 kilometres from the North Pole, you’ll find the northernmost permanently inhabited place in the world: Alert, Nunavut. It might not have malls or movie theatres but Alert is the temporary home to military and scientific personnel working in the area. The “temporary home” part will make sense once you realize how cold this place gets: the warmest month, July, has a balmy average temperature of 3.4 C (38.1 F). By January, the coldest month, the mean temperature has plunged to -32.19 C (-26 F). No wonder they named it Alert.

July 6th: Shania Twain!

In honour of Canada Day….

Shania Twain

Who is Shania?

• Shania has always looked and started writing songs is 10 years old.
• Her success started with her second album called “The Woman in Me” (1995)
• Two years later in 1997 she created the best-selling country album in history with “Come on Over”

• After that Shania left the spotlight due to personal and health problem.
• In 2011 turned spotlight with the memoir and started a Las Vegas residency in 2012.

• In 2017 she released her first album and 50 years with the album called “Now”. She made her first film debut in 2019 in “Trading Paint.”

Early Life

• Shania born on August 28, 1965. Her real name was Eilleen Regina Edwards. She was born in Windsor Ontario.
• Her parents were divorced when she was very young but her mother Sharon remarried to a man named Jerry Twain. He was a member of the Ojibwa tribe.
• Jerry adopted Sharon’s three daughters and Eilleen became his daughter.

• The family grew up in a small town called Timmins Ontario.
• The family often struggled and were poor. She often mentions in her concerts that she had “the poor man’s sandwich” every day for lunch. This meant she was eating bread topped with mustard or mayonnaise every day for lunch.
• Unfortunately Jerry was also violent and Shania and her siblings often witnessed him attack Sharon their mother.
• Music was always a bright spot in her life. She began singing at the age of 3, playing the guitar at the age of 8 and writing her own songs at the age of 10.

• Her mother always encouraged her and often make sacrifices that the family couldn’t afford, in order to afford lessons and performances for Shania.
• With her mother’s encouragement, Shania grew up performing in clubs at community events with the occasional spot in television and radio.

Overcoming a Tragedy

• when she was 18 Shania decided to try and start a career in Toronto. She found work but didn’t make enough to live on so she had to take on odd jobs and one of them was even at McDonald’s.

• In 1987 Shania’s parents died in a car crash. She had to support her three younger siblings, a brother and a nephew. To support them all she decided to move back to Timmins.
• She took a job singing in a Las Vegas style show in the Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville Ontario.
• She never gave up on her dream of making her own music. She continued to write songs in her free time.
• She made a demo record and it made it to Nashville and she was assigned to Polygram records. The name was changed to Mercury Nashville.

Early career in Nashville

• The new label like her music but didn’t like the name Eileen Twain. But Shania wanted to keep her last name in order to honour her adoptive father.
• She decided to change her first name instead to Shania which is an Ojibway word that means “I’m on my way”.
• Her first album was called Shania Twain.
• Shania was encouraged to use songs written by others for her first album.
• This album didn’t do very well but it got the attention of Robert John “Mutt” Lange who produced albums for groups like AC/DC, the Cars, and Def Leppard
• He got in touch with Shania and they started work on her next album.

Albums and Songs

• Shania and Lange both wrote 10 of the 12 tracks for her next album which was called The Woman In Me (1995).
• She looked the album but because of Lange’s background she worried about how successful it would become.
• The song You Spent Have Your Boots Been under was number 11 on the country charts.
• The next song that was released from the album called Any Man of Mine was number 1 on the country charts and was also a Top 40 Pop Hit.

• in 1996 she received four Grammy nominations and one the best country album. The Woman in the album sold more than 12 million copies in US album sales.
• In 1997 Shania released another album called Come On Over. This album continued to have enormous success.

• The album Come On Over was able to remain number 1 on the country charts for 50 weeks and it became the bestselling country album of all time reaching 40 million in sales worldwide as well as the top-selling album by a solo female artist.
• To promote this album Shania went on an international tour making her an international star.
• In 2002 Shania’s next album was released. It was called Up! There were three versions of this album release: a pop red version, a country green disc and a blue version that had an international Bollywood influence flavour.
• The red and green versions reached number 1 on Billboard’s country and Top 200 charts.
• However, sales weren’t as strong as her previous albums. They only sold 5.5 million copies in the United States.
• In 2004 Shania released her greatest hits album.

• The greatest hits album reached the top of the charts and went quadruple platinum.

Marriages and Personal Life

• Shania and Lange continued working over the phone for months and they finally met each other in June 1993. Six months later the two of them were married.
• They moved to Switzerland for privacy and purchased luxurious estate.

• In 2001 she gave birth to a son. His name is Eja D’Angelo Lange.
• In 2008 Shania and Lange separated because she was devastated to find out that he was having an affair with their assistant. They divorced in 2010.
• The divorce was very difficult for Shania because not only did she and her marriage but she also lost the help of someone that that helped her have such a successful career.
• She began to have dysphonia, a tightening of the vocal muscles which made it very difficult for her to sing.
• The one person that could understand how she was feeling was her former assistant’s husband. They grew a lot closer and were married on New Year’s Day in 2011.

Return to the Spotlight

• Shania was able to overcome her dysphonia.
• The healing process began when she did a television show on the Oprah Winfrey Network called Why Not? With Shania Twain in 2011.

• She decided to write a memoir called From This Moment On which was published in May 2011.
• Later in 2011 she was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

Las Vegas Residency

• in 2012 Shania started a Las Vegas residency. The production was titled Shania: Still the One. The show ran for two years and a live album of the show was recorded in 2015.

• in 2019 Shania went back to Las Vegas to perform in Planet Hollywood’s Zappos Theatre. The show was called Let’s Go!
• In 2015 she went on a summer tour that included 48 different cities. She also worked on some new music which included the singles Life’s About To Get Good and Swingin’ with My Eyes Closed. They were on her 2017 come back album.
• The album was called Now.

June 28th: Demi Lovato

• They are a successful actress and recording artist. Demi has hits such as Skyscraper, Cool for the Summer, Heart Attack and Sorry Not Sorry.

Who is Demi Lovato?

• Demi was a child actor on a show called Barney and Friends when they were 10 years old. They also worked on shows called Sunny with a Chance which they viewed on the Disney Channel in 2009. It was one of the Disney Channel’s more popular programs and ran until 2011. At the same time Demi worked on a film called Camp Rock.
• I put this video to explain why the rest of the information is referring to Demi as “they”

• They released their first album called Don’t Forget in 2008.
• They followed up with albums called Unbroken, Confident and Tell Me You Love Me.

• They were also on the show called X Factor from 2012 to 2013.

Early Life and Career

• Their real name was Demetria Devonne Lovato. They were born on August 20, 1992 in Albuquerque New Mexico.
• Lovato’s mother was named Diana and she is a former country music recording artist and Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.
• Lovato is the middle child of three sisters. Their older sister Dallas also a singer and actress and their younger sister Madison was born in 2002.

• Demi won a lot of talent contests and performed in many famous venues.
• Demi even performed during the Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day halftime show with LeAnne Rimes.
• Demi also get started on the shows called Just Jordan and Prison Break.
• In 2008 Demi Covered The Academy Award Nominated Song Called That’s How You Know.

• Later In 2008 Demi Began Filming The Disney Channel Original Movie Called Princess Protection Program. It Was filmed In Puerto Rico and they starred it with their good friend Selena Gomez.

Albums and Hit Songs

• on September 23, 2008 Demi released their first album called Don’t Forget. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200.
• To promote this album Demi went on tour with the Jonas Brothers on their Burnin’ Up tour as the opening act.

• On July 21, 2009 Demi released the second album called Here We Go Again. The song made it to number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 making it the first single for Demi to reach the top 20.

• In 2011 Demi released another album called Demi.
• In 2015 a new single was released called Cool for the Summer from the Album Confident. The album reached number 2 on the Billboard 200.
• In 2017 the album Tell Me You Love Me was released.

More TV: The X Factor, Glee

• in 2012 Demi joined The X Factor during its second season as a judge. They worked with Simon Cowell, LA Reid, and Britney Spears. They watched the contestants and helped determine who would win the $5 million recording contract.
• Unfortunately, the shows cancelled after 3 seasons.
• In 2013 Demi returned to acting when they got a recurring role for the musical series Glee.

Demi was even asked to be a guest star on Will and Grace in 2020.

History with Substance Abuse

• in 2010 while on tour with the Jonas Brothers Demi got into it fight with the dancer. After that Demi decided to seek help for emotional and physical issues and later she was diagnosed with an eating disorder and bipolar disorder.
• Through it all Demi kept fighting. They wrote a single called Sober which describes the flight Demi went through to reach sobriety.

Demi wanted to show how important the support and love they received to help them through this. They were quoted as saying, “The love you have all shown me will never be forgotten and I look forward to the day where I can say I came out on the other side.”

June 22nd: The Backstreet Boys

The Backstreet Boys

• Their name is often shortened to BSB.
• The group consists of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ MacLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. The group formed in Orlando Florida in 1993.
• The group became famous when they release their first international album called Backstreet Boys in 1996.

• In 1997 they released the album Backstreet’s Back which helped the band achieve worldwide success.
• In 1999 they rose to stardom with their album Millennium and released another album called Black and Blue in 2000.
• In 2001 they released a greatest hits album called The Hits – Chapter 1 with one single called Drowning that became popular.

• the group went on a two-year hiatus and then came together and released a comeback album in 2005 called Never Gone.
• In 2006 the group went on tour. It was known as the Never Gone Tour. After the tour was finished Kevin Richardson left the group to pursue other interests.
• That didn’t stop the boys. They released Unbreakable in 2007 and This Is Us in 2009.

• Kevin Richardson rejoined the group permanently and 2012.

• In 2013 the Backstreet Boys celebrated their 20^th anniversary and released their first independent album called In a World Like This.
• In 2019 their album DNA debuted at number one. It was more than two decades after the group formed.
• It was also 19 years after they had their first single at the top of the charts in 2000.
• The Backstreet Boys became the first boy band taught the US album chart in 30 years. They sold over 1 million records  worldwide which made them the best-selling boy band of all time.
• They were the first group since Led Zeppelin to have their first 10 albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200 and they were also the only boy band to do that.
• The albums The Backstreet Boys and Millennium were certified as diamond albums which made them one of the few groups to have diamond albums.
• On April 22, 2013 the Backstreet Boys received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

• The Backstreet Boys started their Las Vegas residency Show called Backstreet Boys: Larger-Than-Life from March 2017 to April 2019.
• They released their first documentary will be called Backstreet Boys: Show ‘Em What You’re Made Of in January 2015.

Formation and the Early Years

• Howie and AJ came from Orlando Florida. They met each other because they had the same vocal coach. Nick Carter later had an audition to join the group.
• The two cousins Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell were from Lexington Kentucky and sang in local church choirs and festivals when they were kids.
• In 1990 Kevin Richardson moved to Orlando and worked at Walt Disney World. He continued to work on his music at night.
• Soon after he met the rest of the group through a friend and coworker.
• In 1992 Lou Perlman placed an ad in the Orlando Sentinel for a vocal group. In late 1992 and March 1993 Nick, Howie and Kevin were chosen.
• Brian later flew from Kentucky to Orlando to join the group on April 20, 1993 when he received a phone call from Kevin about the group.
• April 20 became the group’s anniversary date.
• Perlman decided to call that of the Backstreet Boys after Orlando’s backstreet market which is an outdoor flea market near International Drive. This is also a popular teenage hangout spot.
• Their first performance together was on May 8, 1993 at Sea world in Orlando.

• They continued performing at schools across the US while trying to secure a record deal at Mercury Records.
• They were nearly signed in 1993 but the deal fell through because John Cougar Mellencamp threatened to leave the label if they got into the boy band business.
• In February 1994 New Kids on the Block got their first record deal when Jeff Fenster of JIVE records saw them performing at a high school in Cleveland and signed them.
• At the end of December 1994 the group recorded the song We’ve Got It on which was their first single.

1996 to 1997: Debut, Worldwide Success, and Backstreet’s Back

• The group finished recording their first album Backstreet Boys in the spring of 1996. It was released internationally on May 6, 1996 but it was not released in Canada or the US.
• However, it was later released in Canada in October 1996.
• They earned their first platinum record first in Germany in 1996 because they sold 500,000 copies of their album and the same happened later in Canada.
• They also became one of the most successful debut artists in the world.
• Anywhere for You, Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) managed to climb as high as number 4 on the Billboard hot 100 and earned them a Platinum Award for selling over 1 million copies of the record Backstreet Boys.

in October 1996 the group began to work on their second elbow backstreet’s back. The most successful songs on that album were Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) and As Long As You Love Me.

• In November 1997 doctors discovered that Littrell’s heart had a hole in it and was enlarged to a dangerous size.
• He postponed his open-heart surgery twice because of touring obligations and went into surgery on May 8, 1998.
• It was in the middle of the Backstreet’s Back tour. However, the group decided to postpone the tour until July 1998 to give him a chance to recover.

1998 to 1999: Millennium and Superstardom

• Littrell brought a lawsuit against Lou Perlman because he felt that he had not been truthful about how much the group had earned. From 1993 to 1997 Perlman took about $10 million in revenue and only gave the band $300,000.
• On Valentine’s Day in 1998 the group debuted in Chile at an International Song Festival.
• On October 7, 1998, the group received the keys to the city of Orlando for doing a tornado release concert raising over $250,000. The day was also declared as Backstreet Boys Day in Orlando.
• They also started work on their album Millennium and it was released on May 18, 1999. This album entered the Billboard 200 at number one and managed to sell 1,134,000 copies in its first week.
• Songs like I Wanted It That Way, Larger-Than-Life, Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely, and The One were part of the reason why Millennium became the best-selling album of 1999 in the US selling 9,445,732 copies.

• On June 2, 1999, the group started their Millennium tour. It had 115 sold-out shows in 84 cities and even had additional dates added because of the demand.
• The second leg was sponsored by Sears and was also sold out on August 14. The tour broke all sales records.
• In October 1999 the Backstreet Boys signed one of the largest record deals ever valued at $60 million with JIVE.

2000 to 2001: Black and Blue and The Hits – Chapter 1

• the band went on a trip to the Bahamas in order to write songs for their 4th album in May 2000.
• They began recording the album in Stockholm Sweden on July 1, 2000. They finished recording the album in September.
• The song titled It’s True was released on August 28, 2000 on an album that was sold exclusively at Burger King restaurants and it was called For the Fans.

• The album Black and Blue was released on November 21, 2000. To promote this album the band travelled around the world in 100 hours and 55 of the hours were spent travelling well 45 were spent making public appearances.
• A DVD was released in 2001 called Around the World. It documented the 100 hours they spent promoting Black and Blue.
• The album Black and Blue scored the best international sales in a week for an album in the history by selling over 5 million copies in its first week.
• In the US the album sold 1.6 million copies in the first week making them the first artists since the Beatles to achieve back to back over 1 million sales in a week.

Hiatus: 2002 to 2004

• in 2002 the group wanted to leave their management company. However Nick Carter chose to remain with the firm to manage his own solo career and the rest of the group began recording their next album without him.

• The Backstreet Boys decided to file a suit against JIVE records for 75 $200 million because they claimed that the label promoted Nick Carter’s solo career album Now Or Never more than they promoted the Backstreet Boys album.
• In November 2003 AJ appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show to talk about his addiction to alcohol and drugs and about the struggle it took rising to so much fame and performing in public.
• The rest of the Backstreet Boys surprised him by coming onto the show to support him. This was the first time in two years that the Backstreet Boys appeared together in public.

2004 to 2006: Never Gone and Richardson’s Departure

• the Backstreet Boys went into the studio to record a new album in January 2004. They decided to start performing together to promote returning to their music.
• That September they started a small agent to work trying out the new material. Then they decided tour Mexico.
• The song called Incomplete was released to radio stations on March 28, 2005 and then they went on their first tour in a long time. It was called the Up Close and Personal tour.

• this song didn’t do as well it topped between 10 and 13 on the Billboard 100 and the US and other countries. However, it did debut at #1 in Australia.
• On June 14, 2005 the Backstreet Boys finally released their comeback elbow called Never Gone. It was criticized by Rolling Stone magazine because it had a different style of music.
• Despite that the album went platinum in the US.

2015 to present: Dead 7 Film, Las Vegas Residency

• in August 2015 Carter, Dorough, and MacLean filmed a movie written by Nick Carter called Dead 7.
• The movie prepared on April 1, 2016. The DVD was released on June 7, 2016.
• On April 1, 2016 Nick told Entertainment Tonight that the group signed a deal with Live Nation to do a 9 Show Residency in Las Vegas. It was due to start in January 2017.

• The show in Las Vegas was called Backstreet Boys: Larger-Than-Life. They ended up doing 80 shows between March 1, 2017 and April 27, 2019
• they released a new album on May 17, 2018 with the first single called Don’t Go Breaking My Heart

June 17th: Olivia Newton-John

Dame Olivia Newton John is a British-Australian singer, songwriter, actress and activist. She was born on September 26, 1948, in Cambridge, UK. In 1954, when she was six years old, her family emigrated to Australia, and settled in Melbourne.

When she was 14, she began her performing career in a girl group, called Sol Four, and they would perform in a coffee shop. She became a regular on local tv shows and radio programs, and she eventually was on The Go!! Show, where she met her future duet partner, Pat Carroll. She entered and won a talent contest when she was on the show Sing, Sing, Sing, and from it she won a trip to the UK.

With her mother encouraging her to broaden her horizons, Olivia travelled to the UK. She recorded her first single, “Til you say you’ll be mine,” for Decca Records in 1966.

Pat Carroll, who she had worked with, travelled to the UK, and the two began performing duets. They were called “Pat and Olivia” and they performed at nightclubs and bars all over London, until Carroll’s visa expired and she had to return to Australia. Olivia remained in the UK to pursue her solo career.

She released her first solo album, called “If Not for You,” in 1971. The title track had been written by Bob Dylan for The Beatles member George Harrison. This song became her first international success.

Her follow up single, “Banks of the Ohio,” was another hit, and made the top 10 in the UK and Australia.

Her next album, called Olivia, was released in 1972, but did not have much success. Her next success was the song “Let me be there” which was released in 1973. This song earned her a Grammy for Best Country Female.

In 1974 Olivia represented the UK in the Eurovision song contest awards, and she performed the song “Long Live Love,” which was chosen by the British public for her.

She ended up coming in fourth in the contest, and first place that year was the Swedish group ABBA with their performance of Waterloo.

Her next single, “I honestly love you” became her signature song. It was the Pop number 1 song for two weeks, and ultimately earned her another two Grammy’s for record of the year.

Olivia’s was becoming a country success, which some saw as odd since she was not American. She was compared to Nashville singers and performers, and in 1974 she was named the Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year, beating more established Nashville-based performers including Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Canadian Anne Murray. This caused some backlash by the media as well as other performers.

She eventually moved to the US from the UK, as she was gaining more and more success in the US. She remained at the top of the charts for her next album, Have You Never Been Mellow, in both the pop and country categories.

Newton-John eventually amassed ten Number 1 singles, including seven consecutively.

She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1979, and then in 2020 was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her charity work, contributions to cancer research and activism.

Grease

Olivia’s career soared after she starred in the film adaptation of the Broadway Musical Grease in 1978. She starred alongside John Travolta, and played the lead of Sandy. The movie was a massive success, and the soundtrack was another huge success. It became the biggest box-office hit of 1978, and the soundtrack stayed at #1 on the charts for twelve weeks.

It produced three Top 5 singles for Newtown-John, including the Platinum “You’re the One that I Want:”

Gold track “Summer Nights:”

The soundtrack to Grease is still one of the best selling soundtracks of all time!

After Grease, Olivia Newton John released her most successful album, called “Physical.” This album was more rock-oriented, and the song “Physical” spent ten weeks on the Billboard top 100, and it was certified as Platinum. It became one of the biggest songs of the decade. It eventually earned her her fourth Grammy.

Olivia had said that this album was different for her, and she was asked often about this new image. She said: “Like everyone, I’ve got different sides of my personality. I’ve my dominant self, my need-to-be-dominated self, the sane Olivia and the crazy Olivia. Playing these different characters gave me a chance to show strange parts people haven’t seen much.”

Later Career

In 1992, Olivia compiled her third greatest hits collection, called Back to Basics: The Essential Collection. She was planning her first tour since the Physical tour ten years earlier, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. This forced her to cancel all publicity for the album, including the tour.

She recovered from breast cancer, and has since become an advocate for health issues including cancer as well as humanitarian causes.

Recently, Olivia has toured around Australia, the UK and the US, as well as Canada. In 2013 she held a residency in Las Vegas, called the Summer Nights residency. This did not end until December 2016.

June 15th: New Kids on the Block

• During the 1980s and early 90s the New Kids on The Block sold millions of albums, had their faces on products from notebooks and lunchboxes to sleeping bags and welcomed millions of adoring fans to their concerts.
• They started out just as a group of kids from her a rough and poor part of Boston who had no guarantees of any kind of success.
• They were willing to be taught and guided by an experienced producer and were very ready to work hard on their music and their craft.
• The story of the New Kids on the Block came from another boy band from the 1980s Called New Edition.

New Edition

• Maurice Starr was the producer and promoter who helped New Edition achieve success but after songs like “Candy Girl” New Edition decided to separate the producer.
• Maurice did not let this stop him. He decided to try to achieve even greater success by searching for white kids that could do the same thing and achieve the same success as New Edition did.
• In the summer of 1984, he did just that by asking his talent agent Mary Alford to search Boston neighbourhoods for any white boys that could rap, sing or dance.

• Donnie and Mark Wahlberg Were the First Members
• In Dorchester, which is a working-class area in Boston 14-year-old Donnie Wahlberg was found.
• He met with and rapped for Maurice and was quoted in People magazine later saying, “I did one of my best spontaneous raps ever.”
• He became the first member of the group and his younger brother Mark Wahlberg, then 13, became the second member.
• The other members of the group were recruited by the Wahlberg boys. Their friend Jamie Kelly signed on first. Then they talked to Jordan Knight.
• Jordan auditioned for Maurice and showed him that he was very talented in his singing and dancing. He was then accepted into the group.
• Jordan’s older brother Jonathan also became a member.

• Another one of the Wahlberg’s friends named Danny Wood also auditioned for Maurice. He was very talented with his breakdancing skills and was also approved to be in the band.
• Surprisingly, the group’s name was not New Kids on the Block at first. Maurice originally called the group Nynuk (pronounced Na Nook).

When the Band Got Together, Boston Was Trying to Desegregate Schools

• in elementary school the Wahlberg’s, Wood and the Knight’s were all bused out of Dorchester to desegregate schools.
• Danny Wood commented and said, “Outside of school it was a very controversial time. We were surrounded by chaos, but in school it was amazing. We didn’t feel all that. Everyone was open to being around everyone else.”
• Later Donnie Wahlberg also commented when speaking to Variety in 2019. He said, “They intended to bring people together to learn about each other and be exposed to different things and that’s what happened to us.”
• By taking a bus to school the boys learned about new music and other parts of life. It allowed them to be comfortable travelling to a largely black neighborhood in order to work with Maurice.
• Having Maurice as a producer, choreographer and songwriter for white performers also set them apart at the time.

Two of the Original Members Left and Joey McIntyre Joined

• A few months later Mark left the band and would later find fame as Marky Mark and then as an actor. According to his brother either left because he wanted to steal cars with his friends or preferred to play basketball.

• Jamie Kelly also left the band for reasons that are unknown. Possible reasons were either because of a lack of talent or commitment.
• Then they found a 12-year-old named Joey McIntyre who lived in the neighbourhood of Jamaica Plain.
• He often performed at his local community theatre and passed his audition singing Nat King Cole “Love” but he didn’t really want to join the group. He thought, that Dorchester was too far away and worried about all the other members being buddies.
• Joey eventually decided to sign on because he was a fan of the band New Edition.
• However, his excitement soon changed because the rest of the band members were a little bit older and they would tease him. This made him want to leave the band entirely.
• He only changed his mind and decided to stay because Donnie Wahlberg called him and said, “We want you to shine. You can make us great.”
• At an Early Performance, The Crowd Threw Things at the Band

• The band really worked hard and took every performance request they could get. They did talent shows and social halls to retirement homes.
• One performance was even scheduled at a man’s prison where one of Donnie Wahlberg’s brothers was. The band even threw out cigarettes to win over the inmates.
• During an early performance at the Franklin Park Kite Festival the band faced a booing crowd that started throwing things at them. A record even cut Danny Woods face.
• But Donnie Wahlberg insisted they still perform because he had a classmate in the crowd and he didn’t want that classmate to see them back down.
• He later after that the crowd began applauding because they appreciated their tenacity and Donnie Wahlberg said, “Going back on stage was simply about us believing in ourselves and wanting to stand our ground.”

Their First Album Did Not Do Well

• in 1986 the group was signed to the R&B division at Columbia records.
• However Columbia records did not like the name they were going by. The boys did not like to name either and they came up with the name New Kids On the Block.
• Donnie Wahlberg had Co-written a rap song with that as a title. The first album was released in 1986.
• Even though the new kids were white teenagers, because they liked for rap and R&B music some people consider their music “Black.”
• Maurice their manager hoped to win over Black audiences before white audiences.
• This did not work because only one song from the album called “Be My Girl” made it to Billboards top 100 singles.

• After releasing an unsuccessful album the label considered dropping them. But one person believed in them and stood up for them.
• A Florida Radio Station and the release of New Kids on the Block’s second album made them stars.
• In 1987 they worked on their second album which was recorded in a studio at Maurice’s house.
• The studio lacked soundproofing and even though Maurice was still writing their music they were beginning to be more confident in adding their own touches to the songs.
• The album “Hangin’ Tough” came out in 1988. Even though Maurice still wanted the group to target Black audiences a Florida pop radio station started playing “Please Don’t Go Girl.”

Eventually The New Kids on the Block found young girls who would make up their devoted fans and after a tough beginning they were on the road to achieving huge amounts of success.

June 10th: Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, is an American singer-songwriter and performance artist. She was born March 28, 1986 in New York City, into an Italian family. She attended an all-girls school growing up, and she started performing at a young age. She was performing in New York City clubs by the time she was a teenager.

Lady Gaga wanted to study music at the Tisch Arts School in New York, which she did for two years before dropping out to manage her own career. After dropping out, she began transforming herself into Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga’s style was over-the-top fashion, and she performed in a Burlesque show along with another performer Lady Starlight.

Lady Gaga had already established herself as a songwriter, and was writing songs for Britney Spears, the Pussycat Dolls, and Fergie. She eventually was signed by Akon and Interscope records and began preparing her debut album, The Fame, which was released in 2008.

Lady Gaga entered onto the music scene with out-of-this-world performances, which made her attract audiences and captivate viewers and listeners.

Her first single, “Just Dance,” became an instant hit in the US and countries all over the world. The song eventually landed at #1 on the Billboard top charts.

Another well-known song from the album was Poker Face, which also landed eventually at #1.

The album generated tons of popularity, and Lady Gaga was nominated for 5 Grammy awards from it. She won two Grammy awards, one for her song “Poker Face” and another for best Dance/Electronic album.

Lady Gaga’s second album, The Fame Monster, also had several hits, including Bad Romance and Telephone.

In 2010, Lady Gaga was one of the most popular musicians in the world, was included in Time’s 100 list and named by Forbes magazine as one of the world’s most influential people.

At the 2010 Video Music Awards, Lady Gaga wore the iconic Meat Dress, which was a dress made out of raw beef.

At the 2011 Grammy Awards, Lady Gaga arrived encased in a giant egg.

Lady Gaga’s third album; Born This Way (2011), also had several hits that reached the top charts. These included Born This Way and Judas.

In 2013 Lady Gaga released Artpop, which had the lead single “Applause.” Overall, compared to her previous albums, this one came as more of a disappointment in its catalgoue.

The following year, Lady Gaga released “Cheek to Cheek” which was a collection of songs she recorded with Tony Bennett. This album topped the Billboard 200 charts as well as the jazz album charts.

Lady Gaga released another album in 2016, called Joanne. This was understated and did not perform too well until Lady Gaga’s halftime show at the Superbowl, which heightened its popularity.

Her sixth album, called Chromatica, was released in 2020, and in this Lady Gaga returned to her earlier music, mixing disco and electronic pop.

Acting and Activism

Lady Gaga has also made appearances on the films: Machete Kills in 2013 and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For in 2014. She also appeared in American Horror Story: Hotel (2015-2016), which she received a Golden Globe award for.

Lady Gaga had her first lead role in A Star is Born, which was released in 2018. She received an Oscar nomination for this role, and she cowrote most of the movie’s songs. The lead single; “Shallow” won two Grammy awards and the Oscar for Best Original Song.

Lady Gaga is an outspoken advocate on rights for the LGBTQIA+ community, and she has been very outspoken particularly about gay marriage.

In 2021 Lady Gaga sang the national anthem at the US presidential inauguration of President Joe Biden.