Amy Winehouse English singer-songwriter| Biography and pictures

Amy Winehouse-British singer-songwriter

Amy Winehouse Biography:

Amy Jade Winehouse was born 14 September 1983 in Southgate, London, England. She is an English singer-songwriter, known for her powerful contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of various musical genres including R&B, soul, and jazz and one of the U.K.'s flagship vocalists during the 2000s.

Winehouse's 2003 debut album Frank was commercially and critically successful in her native Britain, and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Her 2006 follow-up album Back to Black led to six Grammy Award nominations and five wins, tying the record for the most wins by a female artist in a single night, and made Winehouse the first British singer to win five Grammys, including three of the "Big Four": Best New Artist, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. On 14 February 2007, she won a BRIT Award for Best British Female Artist; she had also been nominated for Best British Album….

Winehouse has been credited as being an influence in the rise in popularity of female musicians and soul music and revitalising British music. Winehouse's distinctive style has been the muse for fashion designers such as Karl Lagerfeld. The singer's problems with drug and alcohol abuse, as well as self-destructive behaviour, have become regular tabloid news since 2007.

Amy Winehouse’s profile:

Name: Amy Winehouse

Also Known As: Amy Jade Winehouse, Amy Winehouse

Birth Name: Amy Jade Winehouse

Nickname: Wino

Height: 5' 3" (1.60 m)

Birthdate: September 19, 1983

Birthplace: Southgate, London, England

Jade Winehouse: Genres Soul, R&B, jazz

Occupations: Singer, songwriter

Labels: Island, Lioness, Universal Republic (U.S.)

 

Amy Winehouse Picture Gallery

 

Hadise

Hadise Biography

Hadise born on October 22, 1985 with Mol in Belgium) known under the name of Hadise, is a singer, compositrice of R' n' B turco-Belgian. It is aujourd' today also presenter of television.

Biography to modify Hadise A?g?s a very young singer who lives in the town of Mol in Belgium. It n' is not only singer: she east is also a presenter of television. Indeed with l' age of twenty and one years, it had presented Popstar, which is the Turkish version of Popstars. Its musical career began in 2003 when it took part in l' emission Idool (musical program). It n' could not arrive finally but it had left a very good impression and thus in 2005 its first individual Sweat arrived. The individual one was diffused in certain radio stations of Belgium and with its second individual Stir me up it was also known in Turkey. In the future, its albums will leave to Germany, France and in much d' other countries.

Individual to modify * Sweat (2004) (27-11-2004) * Stir me up (2005) (21-05-2005) * Chocolate Milk Girl (2005) (01-10-2005) * Ain' T No coils lost (2005) (28-01-2006) * Bad servant boy (2006) (26-08-2006) * With good KIS (2007) (22-09-2007) * My body (2008) (23-02-2008) * My Man And The Devil One His Shoulder (2008) (14-06-2008)

Natalie Portman

Biography of Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman was born on June 9, 1981, in Jerusalem, Israel. The daughter of an infertility specialist and an artist, Natalie (who uses her grandmother's maiden name in order to protect her privacy) left Israel at the age of 3 and relocated with her family to Maryland, Connecticut, and finally to Long Island, New York, where her parents still reside.

Discovered by a modeling scout at a New York pizza parlor at the age of 11, Natalie was not motivated by modeling and wanted to find a more fulfilling job. Although she had no initial desire to become an actress, Natalie developed an interest in performing after attending the Stagedoor Manor Performing Camp for three summers. Her first acting experiences came from her summers at Stagedoor Manor, where she was cast in theater performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cabaret, Anne of Green Gables (in the title role), and Tapestry.

natalie portman in the professional
Natalie Portman's film career started with her role in the 1994 film, The Professional (a.k.a. Leon), as a hit-man's protege. The following year, she appeared in the crime-drama Heat, alongside heavy hitters Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, and was noticed in the 1996 film, Beautiful Girls, stealing the screen from another beautiful actress, Uma Thurman. Her role in Beautiful Girls garnered rave reviews for Natalie, and that same year she could be seen in the Woody Allen star-studded musical, Everyone Says I Love You, as well as Mars Attacks! After having turned down roles in movies like Lolita (due to her feeling that young actors should not be exposed to sex at such a young age) and the role of Juliet in William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet (because of the age difference between Portman and Leonardo DiCaprio), Natalie refused the supporting role in The Horse Whisperer, opting instead to star as Anne Frank in the Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank. She was nominated for a Tony award for her performance.

natalie portman in star wars
But the role that turned Natalie Portman into more than a Broadway/film actress is that of Queen Padme Amidala, in the first Star Wars prequel. Her three-film contract, which started with 1999's Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, has transformed her into a historic film character. Ironically, Natalie had never even seen the original three Star Wars movies before being cast by George Lucas. Natalie's graduation from Syosset High School took place the same summer that the much-hyped prequel was released. After her role in Phantom Menace, Natalie co-starred with Susan Sarandon in Anywhere But Here (1999), and starred in the lead role alongside Ashley Judd in the film adaptation of Where the Heart Is (2000).

natalie portman in closer
Her next projects were Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), Garden State (2004), and True (2004). In 2004, she wowed audiences in Closer, co-starring Jude Law, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. She took home a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress (in Closer) and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category for this role. Trilingual (Natalie speaks Hebrew, English and Japanese) and having aspirations of becoming a doctor, Natalie Portman studied psychology at Harvard University as well as at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem while filming Free Zone (2005). She also appeared as Senator Amidala/Padme Naberrie-Skywalker in the third installment of the Star Wars prequel series, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.


Her 2006 credits included V for Vendetta and Paris, je t'aime.

Maggie Q

Biography of Maggie Q
Born to an American father and a Vietnamese mother, Maggie Denise Quigley was born on May 22, 1979, and she was raised among the palm trees and golden sand of Honolulu, Hawaii. Her destiny, however, awaited beyond her picturesque island home, and at the age of 18 she moved to Hong Kong to pursue a career in modeling.

Maggie Q's unique look made her a popular attraction, and before long she was gracing the covers of major publications. She was offered her first big-screen role in 1999's The Legendary Tai Fei. There was just one problem: She didn't actually speak Cantonese, meaning Maggie had to learn all of her lines phonetically.

maggie q in gen-y cops
Additional roles -- and plenty of voice coaching -- followed in 2000 with the immensely popular Gen-Y Cops, an action film produced by Jackie Chan. Chan was so impressed with Maggie's acting that he had her cast in Manhattan Midnight (2001), and included her in his own film, Rush Hour 2 (2001). She teamed up with Chan again in 2004 for Around the World in 80 Days and also starred opposite Tom Cruise in the highly anticipated Mission: Impossible III (2006). In 2007, Maggie Q had several roles in American movies, including Live Free or Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis, Balls of Fury and The Tourist.

Maggie Q continued to build her resume in the U.S. in 2008 when she was cast in Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon.

Halle Berry

Biography of Halle Berry
Born on August 14, 1966, in Cleveland, Ohio, Halle Maria Berry and her older sister, Heidi, were raised by their mother, Judith, a psychiatric ward nurse. Halle Berry's father walked out on the family when she was only 4 years old. Although living in a single-parent household was somewhat tough, Halle's mom managed to move the family out of the inner-city neighborhood and into the suburbs of Cleveland. But because the neighborhood was predominantly white, Halle and her sister were treated cruelly because of their dark skin.

halle berry in miss usa pageant
Determined not to let the color of her skin get the best of her, Halle Berry made it a point to make friends, and her dream of becoming an actress already began to surface. By the time Halle Berry reached high school, she was a cheerleader, an honor society member, editor of the school paper, and class president. Not surprisingly, she was crowned her high school's prom queen. In 1983, when she was only 17 years old, Halle's then-boyfriend entered her name in the Miss Teen Ohio beauty pageant. Once again, it's no surprise that Halle Berry got to wear the crown in that competition. But it didn't stop there: Halle Berry won many other high-profile competitions, including Miss Teen All-American, Miss USA (first runner-up) and Miss World. Once she was done raking in points by winning pageant after pageant, Halle continued her education at Cleveland's Cuyahoga Community College in 1986, studying broadcast journalism.

halle berry stars in jungle fever
Unfortunately, Halle Berry didn't complete her degree -- she left the program to pursue a more glamorous career in modeling and started studying acting in Chicago. Although Halle Berry auditioned for Aaron Spelling for a part in Charlie's Angels and didn't get the role, Spelling encouraged Halle to pursue her dreams of being an actress. Halle Berry moved to Manhattan, where she immediately landed her first TV gig in Living Dolls. Although the show was short-lived, Halle was more determined than ever to become a great actress. Halle Berry got her first big break in 1991 when Spike Lee cast her as a crack-addicted woman in Jungle Fever, costarring Samuel L. Jackson. Halle was so determined to execute the role perfectly that she actually interviewed real addicts and stopped bathing 10 days before filming the racially charged film.

halle berry stars in boomerang
Soon after, Halle Berry reverted to television with a recurring role on the popular prime-time soap opera Knots Landing in 1991. But the big screen was where Halle Berry wanted to be and she soon landed another part, this time playing Damon Wayans' exotic girlfriend in the film The Last Boy Scout (1991), which also starred Bruce Willis. In 1992, Halle landed a starring role opposite none other than the man of comedy himself, Eddie Murphy, in Boomerang. In 1993, she married Atlanta Braves right fielder David Justice. Unfortunately, the marriage was short-lived and they divorced in 1996.

halle berry stars as dorothy dandridge
Next, Halle Berry decided to take a lighter acting job and starred in the 1994 movie The Flintstones, but her riveting big-screen role as an illiterate addict who abandons her child in a garbage can in 1995's Losing Isaiah shot her star up high. Unfortunately for Halle Berry, she missed a great opportunity when she passed up the lead role in the film Speed, which ultimately worked wonders for Sandra Bullock's career. Other movies that Halle Berry starred in include Executive Decision (1996), Race the Sun (1996), B*A*P*S (1997), Bulworth (1998), and Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), for which she won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV movie.

halle berry stars as storm in x-men
In 2000, Halle Berry starred as Storm/Ororo Munroe in the live film adaptation of the cartoon strip X-Men -- along with fellow mutants Rebecca Romijn and Famke Janssen. Halle Berry also returned to modeling as a spokeperson for Revlon. And because Halle Berry was diagnosed with diabetes, she became an avid volunteer for the Juvenile Diabetes Association.

halle berry's hit and run
Unfortunately, Berry made headlines when she was charged with a hit and run in 2000. She pleaded no contest and the judge ordered her to perform 200 hours of community service. She also made news when she was allegedly paid a $500,000 bonus to reveal her breasts in a scene in 2001's hacker film, Swordfish. In 2001, Halle Berry married soul singer Eric Benet, but the couple divorced in 2003.

halle wins an oscar for monster's ball
2001 wasn't all bad for Halle Berry, however. She received the 2002 SAG award for Best Actress in Monster's Ball and made history at the Oscars as the first black actress to receive a Best Actress Academy Award. Her Oscar triumph cemented her as an A-list actress. But that didn't mean Halle Berry was giving up action blockbusters: She appeared as Bond Girl Jinx in the film Die Another Day (2002), as well as in X2 (2003), the second installment of the X-Men franchise. Next, Halle appeared in the psychological thriller Gothika (2003) and in Catwoman (2004), which was panned by critics. Later that year, Halle Berry made headlines again when her allegedly abusive ex-lover was revealed as Wesley Snipes, although Halle herself never confirmed this. In 2005, Halle Berry appeared in the TV movie Their Eyes Were Watching God and lent her voice to the animated film Robots. Her projects for 2006 included the third X-Men installment, X-Men: The Final Stand, and the thriller Perfect Stranger. Halle Berry was also named the new face of Versace. During a photoshoot for the designer, Halle Berry met her boyfriend, top model Gabriel Aubry. In 2007, after starring in Things We Lost in the Fire, Halle Berry confirmed reports that she was pregnant with boyfriend Gabriel Aubry's baby. Her even-more-voluptuous breasts quickly became the topic of conversation as her body beautifully blossomed with pregnancy.

Alicia Keys

Biography of Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys was born January 25, 1980, in New York City, New York. The only child of an Irish-Italian mother and an African father, Alicia got her start in showbiz at the tender age of 5 when she guest-starred in an episode of The Cosby Show. That brief experience increased her desire to become a professional performer, and she began taking piano lessons two years later. “I fell in love with the piano,” Alicia Keys recalls fondly. “I knew it was me. I was dying to play.”

alicia keys is signed to j records
Alicia Keys’ passion for the piano was obvious to anyone within earshot, and she parlayed her skill into a spot at New York’s prestigious Professional Performing Arts School where she graduated as the school’s valedictorian at the age of 16. Alicia then briefly flirted with university before inking a deal with musical impresario Clive Davis, who signed her to his fledging J Records label. The powerful multi-genre label proved to be a perfect fit for her enormous talents, and Alicia Keys was soon rewarded Davis’ confidence in her abilities with contributions to the soundtracks of Shaft and Dr. Dolittle 2.

alicia keys releases songs in a minor
Alicia Keys’ big break came in 2001 with the release of her debut album, Songs in A Minor. The multiplatinum record was an immediate hit with fans and critics alike, and Alicia’s brilliance was recognized with an incredible five Grammy Awards, including trophies for Best R&B Album, Best New Artist and Song of the Year for “Fallin’.”

alicia keys' diary of alicia keys
Alicia Keys proved the success of her debut wasn’t a fluke with the release of The Diary of Alicia Keys in 2003. The stunning sophomore album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts and went on to win the Grammy Award for best R&B album thanks to the hit singles "You Don't Know My Name," "If I Ain't Got You" and "Karma."

alicia keys in smokin’ aces
Alicia Keys released a live album entitled Unplugged in 2005 before returning to her dramatic roots with roles in the big-screen films Smokin’ Aces, starring Ben Affleck and Jeremy Piven, and The Nanny Diaries, starring Scarlett Johansson. “I always knew that [acting] was in my future,” she admits. “I grew up around the theater. My mother is an actress. I would fall asleep on tons of theater chairs. It's in my blood -- it's in my spirit and my fabric of who I am."