Curtis James Jackson III

Born in South Jamaica, Queens, 50 Cent began drug dealing at the age of twelve during the 1980s crack epidemic.^[3] After leaving drug dealing to pursue a rap career, he was shot nine times in 2000. After releasing his album Guess Who’s Back? in 2002, 50 Cent was discovered by rapper Eminem and signed to Interscope Records. With the help of Eminem and Dr. Dre—who produced his first major commercial successes—he became one of the world’s highest selling rappers. In 2003, he founded the record label G-Unit Records, which signed several successful rappers such as Young Buck, Lloyd Banks, and Tony Yayo.

50 Cent has engaged in feuds with other rappers including Ja Rule, The Game, and Fat Joe. He has also pursued an acting career, appearing in the semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin’ in 2005, the Iraq War film Home of the Brave in 2006, and Righteous Kill in 2008.

Christopher Maurice Brown

Brown’s second studio album, Exclusive was released worldwide in November 2007. It spawned two successful singles; his second U.S. number one hit, “Kiss Kiss” featuring T-Pain and “With You“, which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.^[4][5] Brown has released a deluxe version of his album called the The Forever Edition. The first single off of it, “Forever“, was released in May 2008 and reached number two on Billboard Hot 100.^[6] Exclusive has gone platinum, selling over one million units.^[3]

In addition to his solo commercial success, Brown has been featured on several hits such as “No Air“, a duet with singer Jordin Sparks, “Shortie like Mine” with the rapper Bow Wow and “Shawty Get Loose” alongside Lil Mama and T-Pain. The songs have peaked on number three, number nine and number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively.^[7][8][9] Due to his vocal and dance routines, Brown has been compared to renowned R&B artists such as Usher and Michael Jackson, citing both as large influences on his music.^[10]

Music video

The band was formed in the suburban area of Summerlin, Las Vegas, by two childhood friends—Ryan Ross on the guitar and Spencer Smith on the drums. Since the age of thirteen, the two played Blink-182 covers in bands of different formations, according to an interview with Walker and Ross. Ross and Smith then created a band under the name of “Summer League” with childhood friends Brent Wilson, and Trevor who would later leave the band.

It was at Palo Verde High School where Wilson met Brendon Urie. Wilson had asked Urie to try out as guitarist for the fledgling band, as they were looking for a replacement guitarist at the time. Originally, Urie was not the band’s lead singer or their guitarist. Rather, the position belonged to current guitarist and lyricist Ross. However, when they heard him sing backup vocals during a rehearsal, they were impressed with his backup vocal abilities and unanimously decided to make him the singer. The band then settled on the name ‘Panic! at the Disco.’ They lifted the name from the lyrics of a song called “Panic,” by Name Taken: Panic at the disco / Sat back and took it so slow / Are you nervous? Are you shaking? / Save compliments to praise compilation / We don’t have to feel we fit in / We can move back / We can leave them.^[5] Although the band often says that the name comes from the song Panic by The Smiths, it was revealed by them that the Name Taken song did also lend inspiration to the band, but that the song by The Smiths is sometimes easier to explain to the ones who are unaware of Name Taken.^{[citation needed]}

In order to promote music, the band contacted Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz through LiveJournal, and sent him an internet link to their PureVolume site. Wentz took a trip to Las Vegas to meet the band. After seeing them practice, he asked if they would sign with his Fueled by Ramen imprint label Decaydance.

the album Buddha in 1994, the trio signed to Grilled Cheese/Cargo and released Cheshire Cat the following year. The threat of a lawsuit from a similarly named Irish band forced them to change their name to blink-182, but the group earned a higher profile touring the world with Pennywise and NOFX on the 1996-1997 Warped Tour, plus appearing on innumerable skate/surf/snowboarding videos.

The third blink-182 LP, Dude Ranch, was jointly released in 1997 by Cargo and MCA. Dude Ranch expanded the group’s audience and went platinum by the end of 1998, due in part to the popularity of their infectious teen anthem, “Dammit (Growing Up).” The group also signed officially with MCA, which released the band’s fourth album, Enema of the State, in the summer of 1999. The album, produced by Jerry Finn (Green Day, Rancid), also welcomed a new member into the trio’s ranks; Travis Barker, formerly with the Aquabats, settled in on drums after Raynor left midway through a 1998 U.S. tour. Enema was greeted with almost immediate success, and helped the band achieve the mainstream status of toilet-humored pop-punk kings that Dude Ranch had only hinted at. Driven by the commercially successful singles “What’s My Age Again?,” “All The Small Things,” and “Adam’s Song,” music videos for the three songs (whose clips included themes of streaking and boy band spoofs) were MTV smashes as well.

After selling over four million copies of Enema of the State, the trio played on with the limited-edition release The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back) in fall 2000. The album featured the band’s radio hits in a live setting, intertwined with their quirky sense of humor as well as the new song “Man Overboard.” Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, issued in spring 2001, saw the band return to their SoCal punk rock roots. Maturity, of a sort, came with 2003′s self-titled album, released on Geffen. Not only did the album sport a song (“All of This”) that featured Robert Smith of the Cure, but “I Miss You” also topped the modern rock charts in 2005.

In February 2005, however, popular as ever and seemingly indestructible, blink-182 unexpectedly announced they would be going on an “indefinite hiatus,” supposedly to spend more time with their growing families. Asking fans for help in selecting tracks, the group issued Greatest Hits that November. Bandmembers also continued on with other projects: Barker — who had previously released an album with DeLonge as Boxcar Racer — continued playing with the Transplants and running his clothing company, Famous Stars and Straps. His family was also spotlighted in the MTV reality show Meet the Barkers. Hoppus carried on with his Atticus fashion venture, began producing — starting with Motion City Soundtrack‘s Commit This to Memory — and hosting his own podcasts. He further began work with Barker in a new band, Plus 44. DeLonge also continued work with his lifestyle clothing company, Macbeth, and formally announced his new project, Angels and Airwaves, that fall. ~ John Bush & Corey Apar, All Music Guide

By Fun Two

“The toughest thing to do is write a hit song and the easiest thing to do is act like a rock band,” says OneRepublic singer-songwriter Ryan Tedder. “But we had a hit song before we had an album and we can’t pull off the ‘rock god’ thing. We do everything backwards.

OneRepublic’s hit “Apologize” was not even the song’s original version, but a remix heard on Timbaland Presents: Shock Value. The original appears on Dreaming Out Loud, the band’s debut album, released November 20, 2007, on Timbaland’s Mosley Music Group imprint via Interscope Records. That’s right, OneRepublic is a full-on rock band executive-produced and on a label headed by a super-producer best known for hip-hop (Missy Elliott, Jay-Z) and who has branched out into pop (Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado).

“It sounds insane,” says Tedder, who produced a couple of songs on the album, largely produced by Greg Wells (Deftones, Mika, Pink). “But Timbaland is the single most musical guy I’ve ever met, no matter the genre. That’s why we said, ‘Let’s do it.’ If you do things for the right reason, good things happen.”

A few years ago, Tedder had another choice – either go down the road of writing and performing “pop” tunes as a solo artist or try to strike out in his own direction making music he felt could connect on a more personal level. He chose the latter.

He had performed on a singer/songwriter show on MTV and was given a recording contract at the epicenter of all things pop during the era of boy bands and pinup princesses. “But how could I ever take myself seriously,” he says, “if I was embarrassed by what I was singing? There are a lot of artists who want to make you shake your ass on the dance floor, but only a handful that connect on a deeper level. I wanted more than just a catchy tune. There’s nothing like a good pop song, but there’s a fine line between accessibility and credibility, and that’s the line I want to walk.”

Fortunately, Timbaland saw him perform on the MTV show and called to say he wanted Tedder to work with him. For a 21-year-old who quit his job at a Pottery Barn warehouse in Nashville, vowed to never take another non-music gig, and sold his car so he could buy recording equipment, being taken under Timbaland’s wing was a dream come true for Tedder. He calls the next two years in studios from New York to Los Angeles to Miami “Producer 101″ because it was like going to college for production.

Tedder’s father had been a singer/songwriter in the 70′s for acts like gospel star Sandi Patty. Tulsa-born Tedder took up piano at age three and singing when he was seven.

Studying the art of songwriting by deconstructing hits chord by chord, he became enamored with songwriters as diverse as Diane Warren and Bono. Yet he also had a desire to be center stage. “It’s the typical lead singer insecurity–I wanted the spotlight but not all of the responsibility. I was finding my own voice, but I knew that for the songs I wanted to do, the vehicle had to be a band.”

Thus, in 2003, after his MTV experience and subsequent tenure with Timbaland, he returned to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he had spent his senior year in high school, and recruited classmate and guitarist Zach Filkins. The Iowa-born Filkins had spent his formative years, from 7 to 15, in Barcelona, Spain, where he intensely studied classical guitar. Back in the States for a couple of years in Illinois, he then relocated to Colorado Springs, where he met Ryan on the soccer team. Though they went their separate ways after graduation– they kept in touch.

When they reunited, they moved to L.A., and promptly fell on hard times. “I’m not proud of it,” Tedder admits, “but to buy groceries I had to write bad checks.”

Given such dire straits, a couple of early band members exited and were replaced by guitarist Drew Brown and drummer Eddie Fisher. Born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, Brown saw his first concert as a 10-year-old in 1994. “My dad took me to see Weezer and Teenage Fanclub. He threw me in the mosh pit so I could get the full experience.”

When his former band’s drummer went to L.A. and joined OneRepublic, Brown followed. “I told my parents, ‘I’m not coming home. Send more money.’ I’m just not cut out for anything more responsible than being in a rock band. Only recently my dad stopped regretting taking me to that concert.”

The Oregon- and California-raised Fisher had a similar inspiration. A kid who was always beating out a rhythm tapping pencils on desks, he didn’t become serious about the drums until he was in 7th grade and saw a U2 concert at Tempe Stadium in Arizona. It happened to be the 1987 performance recorded for the Rattle and Hum album and film. “It moved me so much that I sacrificed everything to be in music,” he says.

What followed for OneRepublic was a short-lived deal with Columbia, and upon the deal’s termination, the band was contemplating whether or not to continue, when, out of nowhere, OneRepublic became one of the most popular bands on MySpace. “Maybe the music climate changed,” says Tedder. “All of a sudden we were getting e-mails from kids saying that because of one of our songs they didn’t commit suicide or they got through their parents’ divorce. We finally connected with the audience. We said to ourselves, ‘We can’t quit now.’” When Timbaland launched his Mosley Music Group label with Interscope, he was quick to sign OneRepublic as his first rock act.

Meanwhile, Tedder has continued with his production work on pop and hip hop under the pseudonym “Alias.” Even now, some industry insiders do not realize that Tedder and Alias are one and the same.

His credits include writing, and singing on, three tracks for Paul Oakenfold’s Grammy nominated A Lively Mind, penning and producing “Do It Well” for Jennifer Lopez, “Bleeding Love” for Leona Lewis and “He Said, She Said” for Ashley Tisdale, and co-producing and co-writing “Love Like This” for Natasha Bedingfield with The Runaways. He’s also worked on tracks for Baby Bash, 2Pac, Chris Cornell, Bubba Sparxxx, Blake Lewis, YouTube phenomenon Esmee Denters, and produced and wrote songs for the acclaimed 2006 indie film Step Up. “I’ve written and produced from the poppiest of pop to rock to heavy hip-hop to electro,” Tedder says. “That’s my job, but OneRepublic is the big picture.”

That picture gained a new sound with the band’s most recent addition. Orange County-native Brent Kutzle has played bass in hardcore and pop punk bands, but has also played the cello since the fourth grade. ” I made myself a promise to never join a band where I wasn’t able to play both instruments. I could never give up cello�I really love playing it.” Using effects such as delay, reverb and looping, Kutzle has transformed the sound of the cello for a rock band.

Clearly, OneRepublic is an unusual rock band. “One difference (from) other groups is that we’re always rotating instruments,” Kutzle points out. “I might play keyboards, and Ryan bass, or I play cello, Ryan piano, and Drew, bass. Sometimes we forget who plays what on a song.” For OneRepublic, it’s all about the song.

Says Tedder: “If I’m not getting goosebumps when I write the chorus, then others aren’t going to either. I want that ‘hair standing on end’ feeling. They may have simple melodies but our songs are about real life. It’s complexity wearing the mask of simplicity.”

Songs on Dreaming Out Loud are about what you want versus what you have, why you’re not where you want to be, and how to get where you want to go. That the band members have reached where they have wanted to go seems weird even to them.

“We figured we would do what we love and not make any money,” says Brown. “But we’ve blown past wherever we thought we’d get. We are now able to perform music that is getting heard by a pretty broad audience. This is bigger than us.” Tedder agrees: “This is about affecting people in a positive way. This is about trying to make a difference in people’s lives and hearts the way so many bands and songs did for us.”

Maybe OneRepublic doesn’t do everything backwards after all. Perhaps this is one band that has it exactly right.

“I’m Not OK (I Promise),” “Famous Last Words,” and “Welcome to the Black Parade” — My Chemical Romance has roots in catastrophe, as frontman Gerard Way decided to form the band after watching New York’s Twin Towers collapse on September 11th, 2001. Drummer Matt Pelissier joined the project one week later, while Way dealt with his growing anxiety by penning the group’s first song,”Skylines and Turnstiles”. Guitarist Ray Toro climbed aboard soon after, and the quintet’s ranks solidified with the addition of bassist Mikey Way (Gerard’s younger brother) and guitarist Frank Iero. With their lineup in place, the bandmates began playing shows along the Northeast Corridor and made plans to start work on an album.

My Chemical Romance’s debut effort, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, appeared in 2002 courtesy of New York’s Eyeball Records. Comparisons to Thursday were frequent; both bands hailed from New Jersey, both had recorded for Eyeball, and both combined punk-pop’s musical aggression with introspective, confessional lyrics. The album attracted a modest underground following, and My Chemical Romance jumped to the big leagues in 2003 by signing with Reprise Records. The following year, they released the aggressively slick Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, a platinum-selling album that featured cover art by Way himself. Proving to be hugely popular, the album produced several radio singles and popular MTV videos, including “I’m Not Okay (I Promise),” “Helena,” and “The Ghost of You.”

Amid this growing popularity, Pelissier departed in mid-2004 and was replaced by drummer Bob Bryar, who had previously met the band while running sound for the Used (with whom the band had toured several years prior). Relentless touring followed, with My Chemical Romance headlining dates with Alkaline Trio, scoring an opening slot on Green Day‘s American Idiot tour, and sharing bills with Story of the Year and Taking Back Sunday. As My Chemical Romance prepared to enter the studio for their third album, they issued a stop-gap recording, Life on the Murder Scene, in March 2006. The CD/double-DVD package offered an extensive combination of demos, music videos, live footage, interviews, and more; it sufficiently tied fans over until My Chemical Romance (now boasting a sober and bleach-haired Gerard Way) issued the darkly conceptual and highly ambitious The Black Parade that October. Anticipation for the album reached its apex upon the release of its grandiose first single, “Welcome to the Black Parade,” whose elaborate music video looked and sounded like the result of Tim Burton directing Queen. The record acheived platinum status by early 2007 and was followed by a live recording, Black Parade Is Dead!, in 2008. ~ Andrew Leahey & Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

“Artistic freedom is what made this record possible,” says Jon Bon Jovi. “Musical freedom to explore and emotional freedom to express what was in our hearts.”

The result of that dynamic freedom is Lost Highway, an album Jon describes as “a Bon Jovi record influenced by Nashville.”

“I’ve been going to Nashville since 1991,” Bon Jovi explains. “Nashville is all about songs and songwriters. If you’re someone like me who loves songs and hanging out with songwriters, Nashville is the place. I thrive on that feeling and I’m inspired by that creative ambience.”

The result, a haunting set of 12 new and original sounding songs, is a stunning, multi-layered look into the nature of love and life in all its glory. Love, like life, is lost, found, forgotten and reclaimed in this collection.

The moods are many, but the core feeling is pure Bon Jovi.

“Writing this record with Jon was deeply cathartic,” says Richie Sambora, who collaborated on ten of the songs. “I was going through emotional changes that were new for me. An ailing father. A painful divorce. The start of a new chapter in my life. I poured everything I had into this project, every last bit of soul at my command.”

“For over twenty years now,” Jon explains, “Richie and I have been close collaborators. Even when our songs create fictional stories, they reveal our states of mind. To a large degree, Lost Highway focuses on the light that love brings. When you shine the light on love, you see the chinks in the armor. You see every crevice, every crack. And that’s all right, which is what a song like ‘Everybody’s Broken’ is all about.”

Adding to the classic Jon Bon Jovi/Richie Sambora collaboration are the collective contributions of others.

The journey was overseen by two celebrated producers.

The first, John Shanks, is, according to Jon, “practically the fifth member of the band.” Shanks’ credits include Bon Jovi’s 2005 Grammy Award- winning album, Have a Nice Day. The second, Dann Huff, one of Nashville’s superstar producers, has enjoyed major successes with most of country music’s biggest names, including Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts.

“The flow between the two production styles,” adds Jon, “was natural and smooth. In fact, the entire creation of the album is as free as the open road.”

“I look at Lost Highway as a diary of a period of time,” says Richie. “It was a profound time – profound because we’re rediscovering the simple freedom and fun of writing songs. We went for honesty and intimacy. And even though an apparent love song like ‘Seat Next to You’ is put in a romantic girl/boy setting, I was thinking about me and my dad. I was thinking how, no matter what happens, a son will always have a special place seated next to his father.”

“When I sing ‘I Love This Town,’” Jon explains, “I’m obviously talking about Nashville. Nashville is the spirit behind this energy and relaxed musical backdrop. But I’m also talking about every town where open-hearted creative energy is nourished and encouraged. That’s Chicago, that’s Memphis, that’s London, or that’s Red Bank, New Jersey. Starting out some twenty-five years ago, we grew up on the belief that great songs were the bottom line. That great songs marked memories not only for us as writers but for the audience that listened to them. Those songs were the backbone of this whole crazy music business. Lost Highway took us to a place where we could renew that belief. I believe this record has taken us back to basics – where good stories are set to good music.”

Sambora sees significance in the title.

“I’m also a traveler on that Lost Highway,” he says. “It’s scary because it’s unknown, but it’s also comforting because it’s leading to exciting new places. In one song Jon writes, ‘In my rear view mirror my life is getting clearer.’ And another song says, ‘There’s a whole lot of leaving going on.’ Sure, there’s some regret. There are tears all over this record. But there’s also joy and plenty of hope, as well as the anticipation of what’s to come when you start another chapter in life. In the end, there’s the knowledge that Lost Highway, is a continuation on that journey.”

Lost Highway is Bon Jovi’s tenth studio album since the band formed in the early eighties. One hundred and twenty million albums and 2500 concerts in over 50 countries later, Bon Jovi is enjoying the greatest popularity in their history.