October 14, 2016

On October 13, the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature to the American composer, singer, and musician Bob Dylan “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” He became the first songwriter to win the award.

Nobel Prize medal (Credit: Nobel Foundation)

Dylan has been one of the most influential songwriters of the past 50 years. He called his early work “finger-pointing songs” aimed at what many people considered the wrongs of society. These early songs, often performed with acoustic guitar and harmonica, included “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Masters of War” (both 1963) and “The Times They Are A-Changin’” (1964). These songs became anthems that helped galvanize the civil rights movement of the United States and captured the spirit of young American protesters who opposed the country’s involvement in the Vietnam War (1957-1975).

American singer, composer, and musician Bob Dylan won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. Credit: © Valerie Wilmer, Camera Press/Redux Pictures

Dylan turned to electronic instruments in 1965, producing one of the greatest of all rock songs, “Like a Rolling Stone.” Dylan recorded many other popular songs, including “Mr. Tambourine Man” (1965), “Subterranean Homesick Blues” (1965), “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35″ (1966), “Just Like a Woman” (1966), “Lay Lady Lay” (1969), “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (from the soundtrack of the 1973 motion picture Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid), and “Tangled Up in Blue” (1975). Many other artists have recorded Dylan’s songs.

Dylan’s switch from acoustic to electronic music in 1965 angered some of his fans but won him many new ones. Dylan has shifted musical directions several times, such as turning to country music in the late 1960′s and Christian music in the early 1980′s. Today, Dylan continues to explore a variety of musical genres, drawing from folk, blues, country music, jazz, and early rock traditions.

Dylan was born in Duluth, Minnesota, on May 24, 1941. His real name was Robert Allen Zimmerman. After dropping out of the University of Minnesota in 1961, he moved to New York City to meet his idol, folk singer Woody Guthrie.

Dylan has won almost a dozen Grammy Awards. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. He won an Academy Award for his song “Things Have Changed” from the motion picture Wonder Boys (2000). Dylan received a Pulitzer Prize citation in 2008 for “his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.” He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors, in 2012.

Other World Book and Back in Time articles

• Popular music
• Back in Time: Popular music (1965)

April 26, 2016

Still reeling from the shocking death of British singer David Bowie in January, the rock music world was again dealt a devastating blow when pop icon Prince died suddenly on April 21. The singer, musician, and songwriter was found unresponsive Thursday morning by Carver County sheriff’s deputies in an elevator of his Paisley Park studio and residence in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The cause of death was unknown. An autopsy was conducted Friday, but authorities said it may be days or weeks before results are complete. A private gathering was held at Paisley Park on Saturday to mourn the musician. He was 57.

Prince is shown performing in concert on Feb. 1, 2007. He died on April 21, 2016. Credit: © Jed Jacobsohn, Getty Images

Tributes to Prince from fans and celebrities alike poured out over social media over the weekend. Even United States President Barack Obama, a noted Prince fan, released a statement on Thursday, calling him “one of the most gifted and prolific musicians of our time.” At a press conference on Friday, the president said that he and his staff listened to Prince’s music ahead of a meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron later that day. Prince had performed at the White House along with Stevie Wonder at a private concert in 2015.

An electrifying and versatile performer, Prince’s music touched many styles, including rhythm and blues, pop, soul, blues, jazz, funk, and hip-hop. He played guitar, keyboards, and drums. Prince became a rock music superstar in the 1980’s with the hits “Controversy” (1981); “1999” (1982); “Little Red Corvette” and “Delirious” (both 1983); “When Doves Cry,” “Let’s Go Crazy,” and “Purple Rain” (all 1984); “Raspberry Beret” and “Pop Life” (both 1985); “Kiss” (1986); and “Sign O’ the Times” and “U Got the Look” (both 1987). Prince’s fame spread with his starring appearance in the motion picture Purple Rain (1984), for which he won the 1984 Academy Award for best original score. He also composed the soundtracks for several other motion pictures, including Batman (1989), which produced the hit song “Batdance.”

Prince also aroused controversy. He was criticized for the strong sexual nature of his public performances and his song lyrics. In 1993, out of protest against his record label over artist independence, he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and then to “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.” He changed his name back to Prince in 2000.

Prince was born on June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His full name was Prince Rogers Nelson. His first album, For You, was released in 1978. Prince played all the instruments on the record himself. He went on to record hundreds of compositions, including many songs that became hits for other performers, including the Bangles, Sheila E., Sheena Easton, Tom Jones, Chaka Khan, and Sinead O’Connor. Prince also produced a number of groups, including the Time and Vanity 6 (whose lead singer, Denise Matthews, died earlier this year).

Prince continued to record and perform live throughout the 1990’s and early 2000’s. His later hits included “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” (1995), “Call My Name” (2004), and “Cinnamon Girl” (2004). He made a highly praised appearance at the halftime of the National Football League (NFL) Super Bowl in 2007 before an estimated 140 million television viewers worldwide. Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

Other World Book articles

• Disco music
• Popular music (1983) – A Back in Time article
• Popular music (1984) – A Back in Time article
• Popular music (1985) – A Back in Time article
• Popular music (1989) – A Back in Time article
• Popular music (1991) – A Back in Time article
• Popular music (1992) – A Back in Time article
• Popular music (1993) – A Back in Time article
• Popular music (2007) – A Back in Time article
• Popular music (2014) – A Back in Time article

March 28, 2016

Today is the 30^th birthday of the American pop singer, songwriter, and musician Lady Gaga. The megastar first became enormously popular eight years ago and continues to reinvent herself creatively today. Lady Gaga is known for her unusual costumes and live performances, and for speaking out on political and social issues.

Lady Gaga is an American pop singer, songwriter, and musician. Credit: © Everett Collection/Shutterstock

Last month, Lady Gaga won acclaim for her patriotic rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Super Bowl XLIX; for her flamboyant tribute at the Grammy Awards to British rock star David Bowie, who died earlier in the year; and for her performance at the Academy Awards of a medley of songs from the 1965 motion picture The Sound of Music that won over even the film’s star, Julie Andrews. Lady Gaga also won hearts on Oscars night with her moving performance of her song “Till It Happens to You.“ United States Vice President Joe Biden introduced the performance, which was dedicated to survivors of sexual assault. As she performed the song, Lady Gaga, who has openly discussed her own alleged assault, was surrounded by other survivors with empowering messages written on their arms. She wrote the song for the 2015 sexual assault documentary The Hunting Ground.

Lady Gaga was born on March 28, 1986, in New York City, New York. Her real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. She began studying piano as a child. At 17, she was admitted to study music at the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University (NYU). But she left NYU to pursue a career as a performer. A music producer gave her the name Lady Gaga in 2006. The name was inspired by the song “Radio Ga Ga” (1984) by the British rock band Queen.

In 2008, Lady Gaga’s first single, “Just Dance,” was released. The song became a worldwide hit. Her first album, The Fame (2008), featured the song “Poker Face.” Both the album and the song also became huge worldwide hits. The album also featured the hit “Paparazzi.” The Fame Monster, a reissue EP of The Fame that featured eight new tracks, was released in 2009. EP stands for extended play and is a type of musical recording that includes several songs but is not considered a full-length album. The EP featured the hits “Bad Romance” and “Telephone.”

Lady Gaga’s second studio album, Born This Way, debuted at #1 when it was released in 2011. The album’s title song delivered a record-setting debut on Billboard’s Pop Songs radio airplay chart after just three days of availability. The song had 4,602 plays, the highest total detections by a debuting song in the chart’s 18-year history. “Born This Way” also became the fastest-selling single on Apple Inc.’s iTunes Store. The song went to #1 in 23 countries and sold more than 1 million copies in five days. Lady Gaga’s third album, Artpop, released in 2013, also debuted at #1 and featured the hit “Applause.” In 2014, Lady Gaga and the American singer Tony Bennett had a #1 hit with Cheek to Cheek, a duets album of jazz standards. During the first half of 2015, the pair toured together in support of the album in 36 shows across Europe and North America, many of which were sold out.

Lady Gaga has won a number of awards, including 6 Grammys. She also holds 12 records in the Guinness Book of World Records, including most followers on the social networking website Twitter. In 2011, Lady Gaga had more than 10 million Twitter followers, whom, along with her other fans, she affectionately addresses as “Little Monsters.” In 2015, she began acting in the television series “American Horror Story: Hotel.” In January 2016, Lady Gaga won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the series as the Countess, a bloodsucking fashionista who owns a mysterious hotel in Los Angeles, California.

Other World Book articles

• Popular music (2009) – A Back in Time article
• Popular music (2010) – A Back in Time article
• Popular music (2011) – A Back in Time article
• Popular music (2013) – A Back in Time article
• Popular music (2014) – A Back in Time article

March 21, 2016

Canadian pop megastar Justin Bieber, who turned 22 on March 1, won his first Grammy Award last month. The hit single “Where Are Ü Now” (2015), by the American music producers Skrillex and Diplo (as the group Jack Ü), featuring Bieber on vocals, won a Grammy Award as best dance recording. Bieber has also won a number of other awards for his music, including American Music Awards, ASCAP Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and Juno Awards, which are presented annually to Canadian artists.

Justin Bieber is a Canadian pop singer, songwriter, and musician who gained international fame in the early 2000’s. Bieber became one of the youngest solo male artists to top the United States popular music albums chart. This photo shows him during a performance. Credit: © Shutterstock

The singer, songwriter, and musician gained international fame in the first decade of the 2000’s while still a teenager. Bieber’s first EP, My World (2009) became a huge worldwide hit. EP stands for extended play and is a type of musical recording that includes several songs but is not considered a full-length album. Bieber’s first studio album, My World 2.0 (2010), also became a huge worldwide hit. Bieber received Grammy nominations in 2011 for best new artist and for best pop vocal album for My World 2.0. The success of My World 2.0, released when Bieber was 16, made him the youngest solo male artist to top the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart since 13-year-old Stevie Wonder in 1963.

Justin Drew Bieber was born on March 1, 1994, in London, Ontario. He grew up in Stratford, Ontario. He taught himself to play piano, drums, guitar, and trumpet. In 2007, when Bieber was 12, he posted a video of himself performing in a local singing competition on the video-sharing website YouTube. Bieber’s popularity grew as his mother posted more videos of him singing. Bieber’s videos were discovered by a music producer named Scooter Braun, who became his manager. Bieber was soon signed to a recording contract.

Bieber’s first single, “One Time,” was released in 2009 and became a hit in more than 10 countries. His other hits include “One Less Lonely Girl,” “Love Me,” and “Favorite Girl” (all 2009); “Baby,” “Never Let You Go,” and “U Smile” (all 2010); “Boyfriend” (2012); and “Love Yourself,” “Sorry,” and “What Do You Mean?” (all 2015). The release of the latter, on Aug. 28, 2015, made Bieber the youngest male artist to debut at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In addition to that record, Bieber has also set five other records in the Guinness Book of World Records. In 2012, his music video for “Baby” (with the American rap performer Ludacris) became the most popular video of any kind online. Also that year, Bieber became the first artist to have three #1 albums in the United States and the United Kingdom before the age of 18, as well as the person with the most widespread social network message in 24 hours, after a message celebrating his 18th birthday was posted 251,878 times on Facebook and Twitter. In 2014, Bieber became the youngest solo artist to have five #1 albums in the United States and the youngest musician with a music channel viewed three billion times.

Bieber’s second studio album, the Christmas album Under the Mistletoe (2011), also became a #1 hit. It was the first holiday album by a male solo artist to open at #1 in the 55 years of Billboard’s album chart. Bieber donated some of the album’s proceeds to his “BELIEVE” charity. Bieber’s third studio album, Believe (2012), also became a #1 hit. His fourth studio album, Purpose, released in November 2015, debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. It sold 522,000 copies in its first week of release, giving Bieber the largest first-week sales of his career. Bieber also had #1 hits with the remix albums Never Say Never: The Remixes (2011) and Believe Acoustic (2013).

Bieber appeared in the documentary concert films Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011) and Justin Bieber’s Believe (2013).

Other World Book articles

• Canada (The Arts/Music)
• Popular music (2010) – A Back in Time article
  
• Popular music (2011) – A Back in Time article
• Popular music (2012) – A Back in Time article
• Internet (2012) – A Back in Time article