Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole (born 2 August 1932) is an Irish actor of stage and screen.

O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards – for Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Becket (1964), The Lion in Winter (1968), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), The Ruling Class (1972), The Stunt Man (1980), My Favorite Year (1982) and Venus (2006) – and holds the record for the most Academy Award acting nominations without a win. He has won four Golden Globes, a BAFTA and an Emmy, and was the recipient of an Honorary Academy Award in 2003 for his body of work.

Early life

Peter Seamus O'Toole was born in 1932. Some sources give his birthplace as Connemara, County Galway, Ireland, and others as Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, where he grew up. O'Toole himself is not certain of his birthplace or date, noting in his autobiography that, while he accepts 2 August as his birthdates, he has a birth certificate from each country, with the Irish one giving a June 1932 birthdates.

O'Toole is the son of Constance Jane Eliot (née Ferguson), a Scottish nurse, and Patrick Joseph O'Toole, an Irish metal plater, football player, and racecourse bookmaker. When O'Toole was one year old, his family began a five-year tour of major racecourse towns in Northern England. He was brought up as a Catholic.

O'Toole was evacuated from Leeds early in World War II and went to a Catholic school for seven or eight years, St Joseph's Secondary School, David Street, Holbeck, Leeds, where he was "implored" to become right-handed. “I used to be scared stiff of the nuns: their whole denial of womanhood – the black dresses and the shaving of the hair – was so horrible, so terrifying,” he later commented. “Of course, that's all been stopped. They're sipping gin and tonic in the Dublin pubs now, and a couple of them flashed their pretty ankles at me just the other day.”

Upon leaving school O'Toole obtained employment as a trainee journalist and photographer on the Yorkshire Evening Post, until he was called up for national service as a signaller in the Royal Navy. As reported in a radio interview in 2006 on NPR, he was asked by an officer whether he had something he had always wanted to do. His reply was that he had always wanted to try being either a poet or an actor. O'Toole attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) from 1952 to 1954 on a scholarship after being rejected by the Abbey Theatre's drama school in Dublin by the director Ernest Blythe, because he couldn't speak Irish. At RADA, he was in the same class as Albert Finney, Alan Bates and Brian Bedford. O'Toole described this as "the most remarkable class the academy ever had, though we weren't reckoned for much at the time. We were all considered dotty."

Career

O'Toole began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic and with the English Stage Company, before making his television debut in 1954. He first appeared on film in 1959 in a bit- part in The Day They Robbed the Bank of England.

O'Toole's major break came when he was chosen to play T. E. Lawrence in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), after Marlon Brando proved unavailable and Albert Finney turned down the role.

His performance was ranked number one in Premiere magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.

The role introduced him to U.S. audiences and earned him the first of his eight nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

O'Toole is one of a handful of actors to be Oscar-nominated for playing the same role in two different films; he played King Henry II in both 1964's Becket and 1968's The Lion in Winter. O'Toole played Hamlet under Laurence Olivier's direction in the premiere production of the Royal National Theatre in 1963. In 1965, he demonstrated his straight-man comedic abilities alongside legendary British comic-actor Peter Sellers in the Woody Allen scripted feature-comedy What's New Pussycat. He has also appeared in Seán O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock at Gaiety Theatre, Dublin. O'Toole fulfilled a lifetime ambition when taking to the stage of the Irish capital's Abbey Theatre in 1970, to perform in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot alongside Donal McCann. In 1980, he received wide critical acclaim for playing the director in the behind-the-scenes film The Stunt Man. He received good reviews as John Tanner in Man and Superman and Henry Higgins in Pygmalion, and won a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (1989).

O'Toole was nominated for another Oscar for 1982's My Favorite Year, a light romantic comedy about the behind-the-scenes at a 1950s TV variety-comedy show, much like Your Show of Shows, in which O'Toole plays an ageing swashbuckling film star strongly reminiscent (intentionally) of Errol Flynn.

In 1972, he played both Miguel de Cervantes and his fictional creation Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha, the motion picture adaptation of the 1965 smash-hit Broadway musical, opposite Sophia Loren. Widely criticised for using mostly non-singing actors and shunned by the public at the time, the film has gone on to become more of a success on videocassette and DVD, though there are those who still find fault with it. O'Toole's singing was dubbed by tenor Simon Gilbert, but the other actors sang their own parts. O'Toole and co-star James Coco, who played both Cervantes's manservant and Sancho Panza, both received Golden Globe nominations for their performances. In 1980, O'Toole starred as Tiberius in the Penthouse-funded biographical film Caligula.

O'Toole won an Emmy Award for his role in the 1999 mini-series Joan of Arc. In 2004, he played King Priam in the summer blockbuster Troy. In 2005, he appeared on television as the older version of legendary 18th century Italian adventurer Giacomo Casanova in the BBC drama serial Casanova. O'Toole's role was mainly to frame the drama, telling the story of his life to serving- As King Henry II in The Lion in Winter (1968) maid Edith (Rose Byrne). The younger Casanova, seen for most of the action, was played by David Tennant, who had to wear contact lenses to match his brown eyes to O'Toole's blue.

He was once again nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Maurice in the 2006 film Venus, directed by Roger Michell, his eighth such nomination. Most recently, O'Toole co-starred in the Pixar animated film Ratatouille, an animated film about a rat with dreams of becoming the greatest chef in Paris, as Anton Ego, a food critic. O'Toole appeared in the second season of Showtime's hit drama series The Tudors, portraying Pope Paul III, who excommunicates King Henry VIII from the church; an act which leads to a showdown between the two men in seven of the ten episodes.

On 10 July 2012, O'Toole released a statement that he was retiring from acting.

Personal life

In a BBC Radio interview in January 2007, O'Toole said he had studied women for a very long time, had given it his best try, but knew "nothing." In 1959, he married Welsh actress Siân Phillips, with whom he had two daughters: award-winning actress Kate (b. 1960) and Patricia.

Peter and Siân were divorced in 1979. Phillips later revealed in two autobiographies that O'Toole had subjected her to mental cruelty — largely fuelled by drinking — and was subject to abouts of extreme jealousy when she finally left him for a younger lover.

O'Toole and his girlfriend, model Karen Brown, had a son, Lorcan Patrick O'Toole (born 17 March 1983), when O'Toole was fifty years old). Lorcan, now an actor, was a pupil at Harrow School, boarding at West Acre from 1996.

Severe illness almost ended his life in the late 1970s. Owing to his heavy drinking and a digestive defect from birth, he underwent surgery in 1976 to have his pancreas and a large portion of his stomach removed, which resulted in insulin-dependent diabetes. In 1978, he nearly died from a blood disorder. He eventually recovered and returned to work, notably in The Stunt Man (1980) and My Favorite Year (1982), both of which brought him Academy Award nominations. He also appeared in 1987's much-garlanded The Last Emperor. The late eighties and nineties brought fewer film roles but more work for television as well as the occasional stage performance.

He resided on the Sky Road, just outside Clifden in Connemara in County Galway, Ireland, from 1963, and at the height of his career maintained homes in Dublin, London, and Paris (at The Hotel Ritz, which was where his character supposedly lived in the film How to Steal a Million). Currently, he makes his home solely in London.

While studying at RADA in the early 1950s he was active in protesting against British involvement in the Korean War. Later, in the 1960s, he was an active opponent of the Vietnam War.

He played a role in the creation of the current form of the well-known folksong "Carrickfergus" which he related to Dominic Behan, who put it in print and made a recording in the mid-1960s. He was offered a knighthood in 1987, but turned it down for personal and political reasons.

In an interview with National Public Radio in December 2006, O'Toole revealed that he knows all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets. A self-described romantic, O'Toole regards the sonnets as among the finest collection of English poems, reading them daily. In the film Venus, he recites Sonnet 18, "Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer's Day." O'Toole has written two memoirs.

Loitering With Intent: The Child chronicles his childhood in the years leading up to World War II and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1992. His second, Loitering With Intent: The Apprentice, is about his years spent training with a cadre of friends at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. The books have been praised by critics such as Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times, who wrote: "A cascade of language, a rumbling tumbling riot of words, a pub soliloquy to an invisible but imaginable audience, and the more captivating for it. O'Toole as raconteur is grand company."

O'Toole spent parts of 2007 writing his third installment. This book will have (as he described it) "the meat," meaning highlights from his stage and filmmaking career.

O'Toole is a noted fan of rugby union, and used to attend Five Nations matches with friends and fellow rugby fans Richard Harris, Kenneth Griffith, Peter Finch and Richard Burton. (O'Toole, Harris and Burton have a combined 17 Oscar nominations.) He is also a lifelong player, coach and enthusiast of cricket. O'Toole is licensed to teach and coach cricket to children as young as ten.

O'Toole has been interviewed at least three times by Charlie Rose on The Charlie Rose Show. In the 17 January 2007 interview, O'Toole said that Eric Porter was the actor who had most influenced him. He also said that the difference between actors of yesterday and today is that actors of his generation were trained for "theatre, theatre, theatre." He also believes that the challenge for the actor is "to use his imagination to link to his emotion" and that "good parts make good actors." However, in other venues (including the DVD commentary for Becket), O'Toole has also credited Donald Wolfit as being his most important mentor. In an appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on 11 January 2007, O'Toole said that the actor he most enjoyed working with was Katharine Hepburn, his close friend; he played Henry II to her Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter.

O'Toole remains close friends with his Lawrence of Arabia co-star Omar Sharif and his RADA classmate Albert Finney.

O'Toole is a fan of Sunderland A.F.C., as he told Chris Evans on an episode of TFI Friday, dated Friday, 11 October 1996. The allegiance has lapsed, according to an article at the Salut! Sunderland website. Coincidentally, however, the mother of T. E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, was born in Sunderland.

Although he lost faith in organised religion as a teenager, O'Toole has expressed positive sentiments regarding the life of Jesus Christ. In an interview for The New York Times, he said 'No one can take Jesus away from me...there’s no doubt there was a historical figure of tremendous importance, with normous notions. Such as peace.' Earlier in the interview, he announced 'I am a retired Christian'.

Nevertheless, O'Toole played Samuel in One Night with the King, about Esther, in 2006 and the minor role of Father Christopher in "For Greater Glory: the True Story of Cristiada" in 2012.

The Backstreet Boys (BSB) are an American vocal harmony group. It formed in Orlando, Florida in the year of 1993. The group consists of A. J. McLean, Brian Littrell, Kevin Richardson, Nick Carter, and Howie Dorough. Their debut international album Backstreet Boys (1996) gives them fame. In the following year, they released their second international album Backstreet's Back (1997) and their U.S. debut album which continued the group's success worldwide. They rose to superstardom with their third studio album Millennium (1999) and its follow-up album, Black & Blue (2000).

After a two-year hiatus, they regrouped and released a comeback album Never Gone

(2005). Kevin Richardson left the group after the conclusion of Never Gone Tour in 2006 to

Pursue other interests. The group then released two albums as a quartet: Unbreakable (2007) and This Is Us (2009).

In April 2012, the group announced that Richardson had rejoined them permanently, and in August, they made their very first performance as a reunited five-piece, closing out Good Morning America's Summer Concert Series. Their first album back as a quintet, In a World Like This, which was also their first independent album, was released in July 2013.

The Backstreet Boys have sold over 130 million records worldwide, making them the best-selling boy band in history, and one of the world's best-selling music artists. They are the first group since Sade to have their first nine albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200. They also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 22, 2013

Formation and early years: 1992–1994

Cousins Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell, both from Lexington, Kentucky, sang in local church choirs and festivals when they were children. Howie Dorough and A. J. McLean were natives of Orlando, Florida, who met each other and later discovered Nick Carter through auditions. The three, realizing that they could harmonize together, decided to form a trio. Meanwhile, Richardson moved to Orlando in 1990, where he worked at Walt Disney World and concentrated on music at night. Eventually, he met Dorough, Carter, and McLean through a co-worker, and the four decided to form a group.

In the course of all this, Lou Pearlman in 1992 placed an ad in the Orlando Sentinel to compose a vocal group. McLean, who was the first to audition for Pearlman in his living room, became the group's first member.

In January 1993, Pearlman held an open casting call and hundreds of young performers auditioned at his blimp hangar in Kissimmee. Eventually, Carter, Dorough, and Richardson were selected after meeting Pearlman's expectations.

Littrell flew from Kentucky to Orlando to formally join the group on April 20, 1993, a day after receiving a phone call from Richardson about it. Thus April 20 became their anniversary date.

Pearlman decided to call them Backstreet Boys, after Orlando's Backstreet Market, an outdoor flea market near International Drive which was also a teen hangout.

The Backstreet Boys had their very first performance at SeaWorld Orlando on May 8, 1993.The group then continued to perform in various venues during summer 1993, from shopping malls, restaurants, to a high-profile charity gala in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

With a change in management in the fall, they began to tour schools across the U.S. (including Littrell's former school, Tates Creek High School), building a fan base while trying to get a record deal. Mercury Records nearly signed them in 1993, but the deal fell through at the last minute because longtime Mercury recording artist John Mellencamp threatened to leave the label if they got in boy band business.

However, in February 1994, Jeff Fenster (then senior VP A&R Zomba/Jive Records) and David Renzer (then senior VP/GM of Zomba Music Publishing) caught the group performing at a high school in Cleveland, and signed them to their first record deal.

Debut album, worldwide success, and sophomore album: 1995–1997

In June 1995, the group flew to Sweden to record some songs with Max Martin and Denniz PoP, including "We've Got It Goin' On", which ended up being their very first single. "We've Got It Goin' On" was sent to radio in August 1995 and released as a physical single on September 5, 1995. In North America, Mix 96 in Montreal broke the group after the programmers heard it on the radio in Europe. The song was a minor success in the U.S., peaking at only No. 69 by December 1995, but it entered the top 5 inGermany, Switzerland, Austria, France, and the Netherlands.

 European success sent them there on a summer tour and shifted their promotion being mostly done in Europe. They finished recording their first album Backstreet Boys in April 1996 and it was released internationally on May 6, 1996, excluding U.S. and Canada; however, it was later released in Canada in October 1996. Their popularity grew in Europe. "I'll Never Break Your Heart" reached a Gold status in Germany for selling 250,000 copies and they were voted the No. 1 international group there in 1996. They also earned their first platinum record in Germany in 1996 for selling 500,000 copies of their debut album and shortly thereafter they began touring Asia and Canada.

They also became one of the most successful debut artists in the world, collecting awards such as Durchstarter (Best Newcomers) in Germany's Viva Comet Awards in 1996.

"Anywhere for You" was released as the last single from their international debut album on February 17, 1997.

 "Quit Playing Games (with My Heart)", which was originally released in Europe as their fourth single in October 1996, was released in the U.S. in May 1997 for their upcoming U.S. debut album. It managed to climb as high as No. 2 on Billboard Hot 100, eventually earning them a platinum-award for selling over one million copies.

The group began working on their second album, Backstreet's Back, in 1996. They also recorded the song "If You Stay" for the Booty Call soundtrack in the same year, which was released in February 1997. Backstreet's Back was released internationally (except in the U.S.) on August 11, 1997. Their self-titled U.S. debut album, which consisted of songs from their 1996 international debut album and Backstreet's Back, was released in the U.S. a day later, August 12, 1997.

The U.S. self-titled debut peaked at No. 4 on the U.S. album chart and eventually sold 14 million copies. Meanwhile, the second international release, Backstreet's Back, peaked

at No. 1 in Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Austria, selling well over five million copies in Europe alone.

The two self-titled albums, the international debut and the U.S. debut, sold more than 28 million copies Worldwide. In 1997, Littrell brought a lawsuit against Lou Pearlman and Trans Continental claiming that Pearlman had not been truthful about the earnings made by the group. In the following year, McLean, Richardson, and Dorough joined the lawsuit which eventually resulted in a number of settlements.

Millennium and superstardom: 1998–1999

In November 1997, doctors discovered that a congenital hole in Littrell's heart had enlarged to dangerous proportions.

Littrell postponed the open-heart surgery twice to meet touring obligations, and he finally underwent the surgery on May 8, 1998, in the middle of the Backstreet's Back Tour. The group postponed the tour until July 1998 to give Littrell time to recover. In September 1998, the group for the first time had to cancel a show due to Dorough's sister Caroline's death a day before. On October 7, 1998, the group received the keys to the city from the mayor of Orlando in honor of the tornado relief concert the group headlined in March that raised over $250,000. The day was also declared as Backstreet Boys Day in Orlando. They also began recording their third studio album, Millennium, at the beginning of that month while in the middle of a lawsuit. The worldwide hit single "I Want It That Way" which topped the single-charts in over 25 countries made anticipation for Millennium high.Millennium was released on May 18, 1999, on which day the Backstreet Boys made a heavily publicized appearance on MTV's Total Request Live.

The album entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1, and managed to sell 1,134,000 copies in its first week of release.

Four singles were released from Millennium: "I Want It That Way", "Larger than Life", "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely", and "The One".

Millennium became the best-selling album of 1999 in the U.S., selling 9,445,732 albums.

It also holds the record for most shipments in one year, with 11 million shipment.

Millennium remained on the Billboard chart for 93 weeks, eventually selling over 12 million copies in the United States and being certified 13 times platinum.

As of January 2013, the album stands as the fourth best selling album in the U.S. of the SoundScan era.

On June 2, 1999, the Backstreet Boys embarked on the Into the Millennium Tour, which comprised 115 sold-out shows in 84 cities, with some additional dates put due to high demand.

The second leg, which was sponsored by Sears, was sold out on August 14 onsale date and broke sales records. The concert at Georgia Dome, Atlanta, was the 5th most attended concert in American history and the most attended concert by a pop artist.

By October 1999, the Backstreet Boys faced new problems declaring their current Jive contract null and void, soon striking one of the largest record deals ever valued at $60 million with Jive.

Black and Blue, The Hits: Chapter One, and hiatus:

2000–2003 A trip to the Bahamas was made by the group members in May 2000 to write songs for their fourth album.

They began recording the album on July 1, 2000 in Stockholm, Sweden, and wrapped up the recording sessions in September.

A song completed during the July recording sessions, "It's True", was released on August 28, 2000 in a compilation album sold exclusively at Burger King Restaurants, titled For the Fans.

The album, Black & Blue, was released on November 21, 2000. To promote its release, they traveled around the world in 100 hours, visiting Stockholm, Tokyo, Sydney, Cape Town, Rio de Janeiro, and New York. 55 of the hours were spent traveling and 45 were spent making public appearances.

A DVD of the short tour, as well as a board game, was released in 2001, titled Around the World. The album itself recorded the best international sales in a week for an album in history by selling over 5 million copies in its first week of sales. In the United States, it sold 1.6 million discs in the first week making them the first artist since The Beatles to achieve back-to-back million plus first week sales. Three singles were released from Black & Blue: "Shape of My Heart", "The Call", and "More than That". On January 28, 2001, the Backstreet Boys performed the American national anthem at the Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa, Florida. A week earlier, the group began the "Black & Blue Tour", which featured shows in five continents. The tour was put on hold in July when it was reported that McLean had entered rehab to battle alcoholism and depression after Richardson held an intervention for him at a Boston hotel. The tour resumed in August and concluded in November.

The Hits: Chapter One, their first compilation album, was released on October 23, 2001.

It also included a previously unreleased song, "Drowning". The album entered the top 5 in the U.S., UK, Germany, and Canada, and the top 10 in Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.

In the U.S., The Hits: Chapter One was certified platinum for selling over one million copies.

It was also certified platinum by IFPI for selling over one million copies in Europe. "Drowning" reached top 10 in many countries and as of 2002, the album had sold almost six million worldwide.

In 2002, the group expressed a strong desire to leave their management company, The Firm. However, Carter chose to remain with The Firm to manage his solo career. Shortly afterwards, the rest of the group began recording their next album without him.

The relationship with Jive Records worsened when the Backstreet Boys filed a $75–100 million lawsuit against Zomba Music Group (Jive's parent company), claiming breach of contract.

They claimed that the label promoted Carter's solo album now or Never at the expense of the group.

In November 2003, McLean appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to talk about his addiction to alcohol and drugs, and his struggles rising to fame for the first time in public.

The rest of the group surprised him by appearing in person to give him support, marking the first time the Backstreet Boys had appeared together in public in almost two years.

The group began to reform and reconciles their differences, planning to start recording a comeback album at the beginning of the following year.

Never Gone and Richardson's departure: 2004–2006

The Backstreet Boys entered the studios in January 2004 to start recording the new album. They also started performing together to promote their return to the music scene. In September, they kicked-off a small Asian tour, visiting Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Manila, performing some new material. Based on the success of this tour, they announced a Mexican tour, visiting Mexico City and Monterrey.

The album's first single, "Incomplete", was released to radio stations on March 28, 2005.

Following the release of the single, they embarked on their Up Close & Personal Tour in March which served as a pre-album release tour. "Incomplete" peaked at number 13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and charted within the top 10 in 13 countries. It debuted at number one in Australia, becoming their first number-one hit in the country.

After spending more than a year recording, the Backstreet Boys finally released their comeback album Never Gone on June 14, 2005. The album debuted at No. 3 on the U.S. chart with first week sales of 291,000 copies. However, the drastic style change drew negative criticism from Rolling Stone.

Never Gone was certified platinum in the U.S. and four singles were released from the album. The second single, "Just Want You to Know", hit the top 10 in the UK. The third singles were "Crawling Back to You" for the U.S. and "I Still..." for the rest of the world. Never Gone has sold approximately 10 million copies worldwide as of 2008.

The Backstreet Boys began the first leg of their Never Gone Tour on July 22, 2005 in West Palm Beach, Florida. The first leg ran until November 2005 in Europe and in January 2006 the second leg started in Tokyo, Japan. The tour concluded on February 2, 2006 in Melbourne, Australia.

On June 23, 2006, it was announced that Richardson had left the Backstreet Boys to pursue other interests.

Both Richardson and the rest of the group issued a statement on their official site, stating that he departed amicably and the door was always open for him to return.

Following Richardson's departure, the group was suggested to change their name to Backstreet, but they decided against it.

They also turned down an offer to star in a reality show to find a new member and musicians who had expressed interest in replacing Richardson, such as Sam Licata and former 'N Sync members Lance Bass and Joey Fatone, stating that they weren't planning to replace him.

20th anniversary and In a World like this: 2013–present

The Backstreet Boys celebrated their 20th anniversary, which was on April 20, 2013, with a fan celebration event in Hollywood that day.

At the event, they previewed several songs from their new album and showed a teaser of their documentary film which is scheduled to be released in 2014.

The group also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 22, 2013, and had the day declared as Backstreet Boys Day in Hollywood. In May 2013, the group embarked on their 20th anniversary tour officially titled In a World like This Tour which began in China. The group released the first single from their eighth studio album, In a World like This, digitally on June 25, 2013. The song, also called "In a World like this", was later released as a physical CD in Japan on July 3, 2013, and released to the radio on July 22, 2013. The album was released in the US on July 30, 2013 and other countries a few days later. It reached the top 5 in the US, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Taiwan, and Japan.

Artistry

The Backstreet Boys have always prided themselves as a vocal harmony group and not a boy band.

In order to fight the boy band stereotype and the backlash from New Kids on the Block's lip sync scandal in the beginning, they sang a cappella at every chance they got. The ad they answered in 1993 was for a singing group with "New Kids on the Block look with a Boyz II Men sound", and they aimed to have a white version of Boyz II Men. "We were fans of New Kids, but were we really modeled after them? No. We looked at ourselves as Shai, Jodeci, Boyz II Men, the true vocal groups. That's who we listened to and who we really wanted to be like," Littrell stated in 2011.

The Backstreet Boys often employ polyphonic harmony, which makes them unique and sets them apart from other singing groups. In choruses, Littrell, Carter, and McLean usually sing the melody with Dorough harmonizing above the melody and Richardson covering the bass parts.

During Richardson's absence, McLean and Carter together covered his part in choruses while Dorough took his solo parts.

The Backstreet Boys' musical style has evolved over the years. On their debut and sophomore album, they sang a hybrid of R&B and dance club pop mixed with new jack balladry and hip-hop.

With Millennium and Black & Blue, they started to abandon R&B and shift more toward pop and pop rock, as demonstrated on songs like "I Want It That Way", "Shape of My Heart", "Larger than Life", and "Not For Me". The group drastically changed their style in 2005 with their comeback album Never Gone, which is an adult contemporary record featuring only live instrument, a departure from their previous pop sound that features a lot of synthesizer.

Compared to their previous albums, Never Gone is "more organic, more stripped-down, less harmonies, more instrumentation".

Their first album without Richardson, Unbreakable, is similar to Never Gone. It leans toward adult contemporary and contemporary pop music and features interwoven choral harmonies, piano, strings, guitar, and drums, with a little bit of hip-hop and reggae elements on some tracks, such as "One in A Million".

With their seventh studio album, This Is Us, they went back to their original dance-pop beats combined with electro pop. It also contains a more R&B sound compared to Unbreakable. The group's first independent album, In A World Like This, which is also their first album back with Richardson, is a mixture of modern pop, adult contemporary, and dance music, with a hint of singer/songwriter genre as demonstrated on "Try", "Madeleine", and "Trust Me".

Members

Brian Littrell – vocals (1993–present)

A. J. McLean – vocals (1993–present)

Howie Dorough – vocals (1993–present)

Nick Carter – vocals (1993–present)

Kevin Richardson – vocals (1993–2006; 2012–p

Awards

The group has received seven Grammy Award nominations as of 2013, including four nominations in 2000. The group has also received two American Music Awards, seven Billboard Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, a Juno Award, and many others.

Tours

We Wanna Be with You Tour (1995–1996)

The Space Show (1996–1996)

Backstreet Boys: Live In Concert Tour (1996–1997)

Backstreet's Back Tour (1997–1998)

Into the Millennium Tour (1999–2000)

Black & Blue Tour (2000–2001)

Up Close & Personal Tour (2005)

Never Gone Tour (2005–2006)

Unbreakable Tour (2008–2009)

This Is Us Tour (2009–2011)

NKOTBSB Tour (2011–2012)

In a World Like This Tour (2013–)



Source: Wikipedia and Google

The Black Eyed Peas is an American hip hop group. The group mainly comprises rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo, and singer Fergie. Originally an alternative hip hop group, they have since added R&B, pop, and EDM/dance influences. Although the group was founded in Los Angeles in 1995, it was not until the release of their third album Elephunk in 2003 that they found widespread acclaim and achieved high record sales. Since that time, the group has sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide.

According to Nielsen SoundScan, the Black Eyed Peas were the second-best-selling artist/group of all time for downloaded tracks, with over 42 million sales as of the end of 2011.

Their first major hit was the 2003 single "Where Is the Love?" from Elephunk, which topped the charts in 13 countries, including the United Kingdom, where it spent seven weeks at number one and went on to become Britain's biggest selling single of 2003. Another European hit single from the album was "Shut Up". Their fourth album, Monkey Business, was an even bigger worldwide success, certified 4× Platinum in the U.S., and spawning two singles, "My Humps" and "Don't Phunk with My Heart". In 2009, the group became one of only 11 artists to have simultaneously held the No. 1 and No. 2 spots on the Billboard Hot 100, with their singles "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling", which topped the chart for an unprecedented 26 consecutive weeks.

This album The E.N.D. later produced a third Hot 100 number-one placement with "Imma Be", making the group one of few to ever place three number one singles on the chart from the same album, before being followed with "Rock That Body" and "Meet Me Halfway", which peaked in the Top 10 of the Hot 100. "I Gotta Feeling" became the first single to sell more than one million downloads in the United Kingdom. The Black Eyed Peas were ranked 12th on Billboard's Decade-End Chart Artist of the Decade, and 7th in the Hot 100 Artists of the Decade. At the 52nd Grammy Awards ceremony, held in January 2010, they won three awards out of six Taboo nominations. In November 2010, they released the album The Beginning. In February 2011, the group performed at the Super Bowl XLV halftime show. The album's first two singles, "The Time (Dirty Bit)" and "Just Can't Get Enough", became international hits and topped the charts in many countries.

History

1988–2000: Atban Klann, Behind the Front, and Bridging the Gap

The Black Eyed Peas date back to 1988, when eighth-graders William Adams (will.i.am) and Allan Pineda (apl.de.ap) met and began rapping and performing together around Los Angeles. The pair signed to Ruthless Records (run by Eazy-E) in 1992, catching the attention of Eazy-E manager Jerry Heller's nephew. Along with another friend of theirs, Dante Santiago, they called their trio Atban Klann (ATBAN: A Tribe Beyond a Nation). Will 1X (aka will.i.am), apl.de.ap, Mookie Mook, DJ Motiv8 (aka Monroe Walker), and Dante Santiago formed Atban Klann. Their debut album, Grass Roots, was never released due to Ruthless records founder Eazy-E's death.

After Eazy-E died in 1995, Atban Klann reformed and changed their name to Black Eyed Pods, and then Black Eyed Peas. Dante Santiago was replaced with Jaime Gomez (Taboo), and Kim Hill became a steady background singer. Unlike the "Gangsta Rap" sounds of Los Angeles-based hip-hop acts at the time, the trio performed with a live band and adopted a conscious musical and appearance style. After being signed to Interscope Records and releasing their debut, Behind the Front (1998) the group (and their accompanying live band) earned critical acclaim. One of the singles from the album was "Joints & Jam", and was featured on the Bulworth soundtrack. Their second album, Bridging the Gap (2000), produced the singles "Weekends" featuring Esthero and "Request + Line" featuring R&B singer Macy Gray.

2000–04: Addition of Fergie and Elephunk

Their third album Elephunk began development on November 2, 2001, but was not released until 2003. It was the first album to feature the vocals of current member Fergie. Nicole Scherzinger was originally approached to join the Peas, but was forced to decline because she was a member of Eden's Crush and was under contract. Fergie joined the group in 2002, introduced to will.i.am. by Dante Santiago. Elephunk is also the first album that indicated and demonstrated the new, polished pop sound designed to attract mass audiences. In a positive review of The Black Eyed Peas' new-found style, Rolling Stone noted that since 2002, when the group "hired a blond bombshell named Stacy 'Fergie' Ferguson and gave up their pursuit of backpack-rapper cred, they have made a kind of spiritual practice of recording futuristic songs – a total aesthetic commitment that extends from their garish wardrobes to their United Colors of Benetton worldview."

From Elephunk came "Where Is the Love?", which became The Black Eyed Peas' first major hit, peaking at No.8 on the U.S. Hot 100, but topping the charts in several other countries, including seven weeks at No.1 in the United Kingdom, where it became the biggest-selling single of 2003. The single had similar results in Australia, staying at No.1 for six weeks. In an interview with TalkofFame.com, Taboo shared that Justin Timberlake's split with Britney Spears impacted the recording of "Where Is The Love?".

The album subsequently spawned "Shut Up", which peaked at No.2 in the UK and topped the charts in many success and went Gold and Platinum in the U.S., UK, Germany, and other European markets. The third single from the album, although significantly restyled from the original Elephunk version, "Hey Mama" hit the top 5 in Australia and the top 10 in the UK, Germany and other European countries and reached No.23 in the U.S. The song received even more exposure in 2003 when it was featured in the first "silhouette" television commercial for the iPod. Their fourth single from the album was titled "Let's Get It "My Humps" (2005) Third single from Monkey Business. "Pump It" (2006)Last single from Monkey Business. Problems playing these files? See media help. Started". Let's Get It Started" won a 2005 Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group and also received two nominations for Record of the Year and Best Rap Song. In 2004, The Black Eyed Peas embarked on the Elephunk Tour, hitting many countries in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

2004–09: Monkey Business and first hiatus

Their fourth album, Monkey Business, was recorded through 2004 and was released on June 7, 2005. Much of the pre-production writing was performed on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus while on The Black Eyed Peas tour of 2004. The album's first single, "Don't Phunk with My Heart", was a hit in the U.S., reaching number three on the U.S. Hot 100. The spot the song reached was the highest peak yet of their career in the U.S. (this was later broken when "Boom Boom Pow" peaked at the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100) and earned them another Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. The song reached three in the UK, and five in Canada, and stayed at number one for three weeks in Australia. Some radio stations, concerned about complaints of obscenity, played an alternative version, "Don't Mess with My Heart". "Don't Lie", the second single from the album, saw success on the U.S. Hot 100, reaching No. 14, although becoming somewhat more successful in the UK and Australia, reaching a peak of No.6 in both countries. "My Humps", another song from the album, immediately achieved commercial success in the U.S. and fairly substantial radio play despite the sexually suggestive lyrics, reaching number three on the U.S. Hot 100 and number one in Australia, making it their fourth Australian number one single. However, many mocked the song for its poor lyrical content; John Bush, writing for Allmusic, described it as "one of the most embarrassing rap performances of the new millennium".

Despite this, the album Monkey Business debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart, selling over 295,000 copies in its first week and was later certified triple platinum by the RIAA. Their next and last commercially-released single from the album was "Pump It", which borrows much of its sound from "Misirlou", specifically Dick Dale's version; it peaked at number 8 in Australia but 18 in America.

In September 2005, The Black Eyed Peas released an iTunes Originals playlist of their greatest hits, as well as some that were re-recorded especially for purchase through iTunes. The playlist includes popular songs such as "Don't Lie", "Shut Up", and a new version of "Where Is the Love?" It has small stories containing info and commentary about the songs and how the group first met. In autumn 2005, The Black Eyed Peas set off to tour with Gwen Stefani, as supporting act. In December 2005, they embarked on the "European Tour", which toured multiple countries in Europe. The European leg which opened in Tel Aviv, Israel, continued to Ireland, the UK, France and Germany. After heading to Europe and Asia, they toured the U.S. again, and South America. The Black Eyed Peas have starred in a series of web shorts for Snickers called Instant Def, appearing as a group of hip-hop superheroes. On March 21, 2006, The Black Eyed Peas released a remix album, titled Renegotiations: The Remixes to iTunes. It features remixed versions of "Ba Bump", "My Style", "Feel It", "Disco Club", "They Don't Want Music", "Audio Delite at Low Fidelity", and the standard version and video of "Like That". The following week, it was released on CD without the music video. Participants on the EP included DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Erick Sermon, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Large Professor. In March 2006, The Black Eyed Peas hit the road again as the featured headliner for the 6th Annual Honda Civic Tour with supporting bands Flipsyde and The Pussycat Dolls. They again brought the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus on the tour with them to craft new songs for Fergie's solo debut album. In 2006, they went on tour with The Pussycat Dolls.

In 2007, The Black Eyed Peas embarked on the Black Blue & You World Tour, visiting more than 20 countries, including Macau, Sweden, Poland, Romania, Hungary, South Africa, South Korea, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Israel, Singapore, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Australia, Nigeria, Mexico, Thailand, Venezuela, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Argentina, Philippines, El Salvador and Brazil. This tour was presented by Pepsi, in conjunction with the new "Pepsi More" advertising campaign, featuring The Black Eyed Peas. They recorded the song "More" for the new Pepsi spot. On December 31, 2006, The Black Eyed Peas performed at the last stop on the Monkey Business tour, at Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for more than 1 million people, being their biggest concert ever. The Black Eyed Peas performed at the UK leg of Live Earth on July 7, 2007 at Wembley Stadium, London. will.i.am performed a new song, "Help Us Out", at the event, which is now on his album, Songs About Girls, as "S.O.S. Mother Nature)". They headlined the main Ocean Stage at the Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo, Japan on August 11, and Osaka, Japan on August 12, 2007.

The act consisted of the group performing their hits, as well as Fergie singing solo tracks from The Dutchess. will.i.am again sang songs from his upcoming album. Already having produced the bulk of the Peas' albums, will.i.am has begun his solo career in earnest by producing and collaborating with a variety of musicians, most notably Michael Jackson and also including U2, Sérgio Mendes, Carlos Santana, Too Short, Kelis, Cheryl Cole, SMAP, John Legend, Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake, Nas and Bone Thugs and Harmony.

2009–2012: The E.N.D.,The Beginning and second hiatus

In early 2009, both Fergie and the group left A&M Records for unknown reasons, both Fergie

and the group are still with Interscope Records. The group's fifth studio album, The E.N.D. ("The Energy Never Dies"), was released on June 9, 2009. The overall sound of the album has a more electro hop beat rather than the usual hip pop/R&B feeling of their previous albums. Following its release, will.i.am remarked that the album had been inspired by a trip to Australia, specifically the sound of The Presets' "My People". "The energy on the Presets' small little stage was crazy energy. That song My People – that shit is wild," will.i.am said, "That's the reason why this record sounds the way it does – my three months in Australia."

In its first week, the album sold 304,000 copies and debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200. In the United States, the album became the ninth album to top the one million mark in sales in 2009. The album spent 38 weeks within the top 10 of the Billboard 200. The E.N.D. was the 7 best-selling album of 2009 in the U.S. It also debuted at number one in Australia, number two in New Zealand and three in the United Kingdom. Three additional singles, "Imma Be", "Alive", and "Meet Me Halfway", were released through the iTunes Store in the three weeks running up to the album's release.

The first single "Boom Boom Pow" was sent to U.S. radio on March 10, 2009 and was released on March 30, 2009 on iTunes. The single sold 465,000 downloads in its first week of digital release, the third-largest number of download sales in a single week overall, and the largest single-week and debut-download totals by a group in the history of digital-download sales, reaching No. 1 on the U.S. The single also reached the top spot in Billboard Hot 100 and Pop 100. being the group's first U.S. No. 1, holding the spot for twelve consecutive weeks. It also reached number 1 in Australia, Canada, and the UK. After the release of The E.N.D., the Black Eyed Peas released "I Gotta Feeling" (produced by David Guetta) as the official second single from the album. The single charted at number three and then went to number one on the UK Singles Chart. It debuted at number 2 on the Hot 100 behind "Boom Boom Pow" and later surpassed it, taking the number 1 spot.

 The Black Eyed Peas joined a group of artists who have held the No.1 and 2 Spot on the Hot 100 simultaneously. From April 18, 2009, when "Boom Boom Pow" reached No. 1, through October 10, 2009, the last week "I Gotta Feeling" was at No. 1, the group was on top of the chart for 26 weeks, more consecutive weeks than any other artist.

On July 30, Billboard announced that the Black Eyed Peas set a record for the longest successive No. 1 chart run by a duo or group in the Billboard Hot 100's history. "I Gotta Feeling" hit its fifth consecutive week at No. 1, following 12 weeks at the top by the Peas' "Boom Boom Pow". Boyz II Men reigned on the chart for two 16-week runs in the mid-'90s. "Meet Me Halfway" was released as the third single from the album in September 2009. The single reached number one in the UK and Australia, making it their third chart topper from The E.N.D. in both countries. It also peaked at seven on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, making it the group's third top-10 single from The E.N.D. "Imma Be" was released as the fourth single in the U.S. on December 15, 2009, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, becoming the group's third number one single on that chart. Heavy airplay in Canada caused "Imma Be" to reach number 5 on the Canadian Hot 100, their fourth consecutive top 5 hit from the album. "Rock That Body" was then released as the fifth single, and has so far reached number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. In September 2009, the group embarked on The E.N.D. World Tour, with dates announced in Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand, which lasted well 2010. In October 2009, they also were the opening acts for 5 concerts of the U2 360° Tour North America leg. The Black Eyed Peas started 2010 performing "Rock That Body", "Imma Be", "Boom Boom Pow" and other hits from The E.N.D. in a New Year's Eve party. The group performed at the Grammys on January 31, 2010. They performed a mash-up of "Imma Be"/"I Gotta Feeling". They won 3 out of the 6 awards they were nominated for including Best Pop Vocal Album for The E.N.D., Best Pop VocalPerformance by a Group for "I Gotta Feeling" and Best Short Form Video for "Boom Boom Pow".

On July 27, 2010, The Black Eyed Peas released a remix album: The E.N.D. Summer 2010 Canadian Invasion Tour: Remix

On July 27, 2010, The Black Eyed Peas released a remix album: The E.N.D. Summer 2010 Canadian Invasion Tour: Remix

Collection. It was released on iTunes in Canada only, during the Canadian leg of The E.N.D. World Tour. It mostly features remixes

of the singles taken from The E.N.D. It also features a remix of "Let's Get It Started" taken from Elephunk; the remix was also a bonus track on the deluxe edition of The E.N.D.

Their sixth studio album: The Beginning was released on November 30, 2010, and received mixed to average reviews.

The album's first single is called "The Time (Dirty Bit)", and was revealed on October 20, 2010, through will.i.am's Twitter account.

The music video was directed by Rich Lee, who had previously directed the video for "Imma Be Rocking That Body".

"Just Can't Get Enough", the album's second single, was released in February 18, 2011. The music video was released in March 16, 2011 and it was filmed in Tokyo, one week before the earthquake and the tsunami. The video was directed by Ben Mor. The group's third single was "Don't Stop the Party" and it was released on May 10, 2011. On the same day, a music video for the song was released on iTunes, along with the single. The video, which is directed by Ben Mor, features on stage and backstage footage of the group during The E.N.D. World Tour in 2009–2010. The video premiered on Vevo on May 12, 2011. On May 22, the group appeared on the 2011 Billboard Music Awards and won 1 of their 4 nominations, for "Top Duo/Group". They also performed "Just Can't Get Enough", "The Time (Dirty Bit)", "Boom Boom Pow", and "I Gotta Feeling". During their concert at Alton Towers in Staffordshire on the July 6, 2011, The Black Eyed Peas announced they are taking an indefinite hiatus following the completion of their current tour, as they did between 2005 and 2009. Will.i.am later confirmed the news on Twitter, adding that the break does not mean they will "stop creating".

On November 23, 2011 the group made their last performance for The Beginning Tour in Miami with opening acts such as Cee Lo Green, Queen Latifah and many others.

2012–present: New album

During an interview with NRJ, will.i.am in talking about his solo album also confirmed that The Black Eyed Peas will start recording sessions for their seventh studio album in 2013.

Appearances

In November 2005, The Black Eyed Peas performed at the half-time show at the Canadian Football League's 93rd Grey Cup in Vancouver, British Columbia. On May 11, 2006, The Black Eyed Peas performed at San Fernando High School at the football field.

On June 17, 2009 the Black Eyed Peas performed on the British TV chat show Alan Carr: Chatty Man. The group was interviewed and performed their single "I Gotta Feeling".

On July 8, 2009, they made an appearance at the Isle of MTV in Malta.

On September 8, 2009, the group performed live for Oprah Winfrey's 24th Season Kickoff Party, on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. An estimated 21,000 dancers in the streets performed a flash mob to the live performance of "I Gotta Feeling".

The group performed at the American Music Awards of 2009 with the songs "Meet Me Halfway" and "Boom Boom Pow". They also won 2 out of 3 categories in which they were nominated; Favorite Rock/Pop Group & Favorite R&B/Soul Group. They lost their last category, Best R&B/Soul Album (The E.N.D.), to Michael Jackson.

On March 30, 2010, The Black Eyed Peas were the first group to broadcast a concert live in 3D.

In June 2010, The Black Eyed Peas performed "Where is the Love?", "Pump It", "Meet me Halfway", "Boom Boom Pow", and "I Gotta Feeling" at the 2010 FIFA World Cup Kick-Off Celebration concert in South Africa. The concert had over 700 million viewers world wide, making it the biggest event the group performed in. They also performed at T in the Park 2010 on the NME Stage on the Friday July 9 and Oxegen in Kildare, Ireland on Saturday July 10 on the Vodafone stage. In July 2010 The Black Eyed Peas performed "Boom Boom Pow", "Rock That Body" and "I Gotta Feeling" in Central Park as part of Good Morning America's free summer concert series. In December 2010 they appeared on the seventh series of The X Factor in the UK performing "The Time (Dirty Bit)". In March 2011, the Black Eyed Peas appeared on the American Idol elimination show singing "Just Can't Get Enough". Will.i.am noted at the beginning of the song that the song was dedicated to "our friends in Japan". On April 2, the group appeared on the 24th Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards performing "The Time (Dirty Bit)" and "Just Can't Get Enough". The appearance received very good reviews and in the same night the group won the blimp award of the Favorite Music Group category.

Charity events

In December 2009 the group performed at a disabled children charity concert in Mexico, with other major artists in front of more than 50,000 people. Will.i.am said, "To cooperate in this kind of activity makes us feel good. Doing so comforts us and reminds us that although we are in a moment of fame should not forget those who need us most".

On December 10, 2005, the Peas cover of the John Lennon classic "Power to the People", which was mostly recorded on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, was released by Amnesty International as part of the Make Some Noise campaign to celebrate human rights. The song was later released on the 2007 John Lennon tribute album, Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. The same day, The Black Eyed Peas performed their version live on the UK television program The Record of the Year together with John Legend and Mary J. Blige. At the release of video-clip for the single "Just Can't Get Enough" in early 2011, the group spent a short film to the whole country of Japan as that country had been recently hit by an earthquake and the group filmed the video a week before the disaster in the country.

 In July 2011, The Black Eyed Peas founded a school for New York teenagers where students of 13–19 years can learn video production and music using professional equipment.The Peapod Foundation, in collaboration with the Adobe Foundation, opened the music academy and media Peapod Adobe Youth Voices in Manhattan on July 19. The school will have its facilities in a building operated by the Urban Arts Partnership, which provides art-school programs for adolescents studying in areas of very low income. Young people will be admitted according to the recommendations of their teachers and their expressions of interest in the subjects taught, such as camera work, editing and graphic design.

On September 3, 2011, the group performed a concert in Minot, North Dakota to benefit the victims of the 2011 Souris River flood that damaged over 4,000 homes and displaced over 12,000 people in Minot and along the Souris River.

 Fergie is married to Minot native, Josh Duhamel. On September 30, 2011 the group performed a free concert, "Chase Presents The Black Eyed Peas and Friends", for over 50,000 people in New York City's Central Park.

The event raised over $4 million for the charity.

Other media

In June 2011 Ubisoft announced they are developing The Black Eyed Peas Experience, a dance video game for Kinect and Wii.

On November 11, 2011, the video game was released internationally in association with Ubisoft.


Source: Google and Wikipedia

Park Jae-sang (born December 31, 1977), better known by his stage name Psy, stylized PSY, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, rapper, dancer, record producer and television personality. Psy is known domestically for his humorous videos and stage performances, and internationally for his hit single "Gangnam Style." The song's refrain "Oppan Gangnam Style" (translated as "Big brother is Gangnam style", with Psy referring to himself)  was entered into The Yale Book of Quotations as one of the most famous quotes of 2012.

On October 23, 2012, Psy met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations Headquarters where Ban expressed his desire to work with the singer because of his "unlimited global reach".

On December 21, 2012, his music video for "Gangnam Style" exceeded 1 billion views on YouTube, becoming the first and currently only video to do so in the website's history.

 Psy was subsequently recognized by the media as the "King of YouTube". In December 2012, MTV noted Psy's rise from little-known to "global superstar", and, for being first in the YouTube-era to secure a place in pop-culture history, hailed the singer as the "Viral Star of 2012".

On December 31, 2012, Psy performed in a globally televised New Year's Eve celebration with American rapper MC Hammer on-stage in front of a live audience of over a million people in Times Square, New York City.


Biography


1977–95: Early life

Park Jae-sang was born on December 31, 1977, to an affluent family in the Gangnam District of Seoul, South Korea.

His father, Park Won-Ho, is the executive chairman of DI Corporation, a manufacturer of semiconductor manufacturing equipment listed on the Korea Exchange.

His mother, Kim Young-hee, owns several restaurants in Gangnam.

Park attended Banpo Elementary and Middle Schools and Sehwa High School.

He disliked school and bothered some of his classmates, although he also sometimes made them laugh. In an interview on South Korea's Seoul Broadcasting System, a former teacher of Park said "I remember Psy making a lot of sexual jokes during class. He had such a big influence that he would drive the entire class to his jokes. I disliked him at the time, but looking back, I see that he added a great energy to the class."

Park told CNN's Alina Cho that when he was 15 years old, he watched a Korean TV programme that introduced foreign pop music.

One particular episode showed a concert at Wembley Stadium held by the British rock band Queen where they performed their 1975 hit single "Bohemian Rhapsody". Park said it was this concert footage that sparked his love for music.

1996–2000: Brief study in the United States and career beginnings

As part of preparations to take over DI Corporation from his father, Park had originally planned to study business administration at Boston University in 1996.

However, upon his arrival in the United States, he lost interest in his studies,

spending his remaining tuition funds on musical instruments and entertainment equipment, including a computer, an electric keyboard, and a MIDI interface.

After attending an English-language summer course and studying for one semester, Park dropped out of Boston University and applied to study at Berklee College of Music instead. During his time at Berklee, Park took core curriculum lessons in ear training, contemporary writing and music synthesis, but he soon dropped out and returned to South Korea to pursue a career as a singer, without having attained a degree from either Boston University or Berklee.

In South Korea, Psy made his first appearance on Korean national television in 2000 after his dancing caught the eye of a TV producer.

2001–02: Psy from the Psycho World!, controversy, and domestic success In January 2001, Psy debuted his full-length album Psy from the Psycho World!, for which he was fined by South Korean government In January 2001, Psy debuted his full-length album Psy from the Psycho World!, for which he was fined by South Korean government authorities due to his album's "inappropriate content".

Psy was a rookie hip hop singer that stirred up the Korean pop music scene with very blunt lyrics, peculiar dance moves and an unconventional appearance that earned him the nickname "The Bizarre Singer".

His second album Sa 2 also created controversy upon its release in 2002, earning complaints from civil groups due to the potentially negative influence his album would have on children and teenagers. Since then, Psy has been thought of as a controversial artist, and Sa 2 was banned in 2002 from being sold to the under-19 set. In September of the same year, Psy released his third album 3 Psy.

The album's title song, "Champion", saw great success partly due to the hype from the World Cup games held in Seoul. Despite the significant amount of controversy surrounding his music, Psy was awarded songwriting accolades at the annual Seoul Music Awards, marking his breakthrough in the South Korean music industry.

2003–09: Military service, Sa Jib, and re-enlistment

In 2003, Psy was enlisted in the South Korean military as part of mandatory military service imposed on all South Korean men aged 18 to 35.

Psy was excused from military duty due to working at a software developing company (the South Korean government grants those with technical expertise work in companies that serve the national interest). He was expected to be released from duties in 2005.

In 2006, Psy released his fourth album Sa Jib, which won honors at the 2006 SBS Music Awards and Hong Kong's Mnet Asian Music Awards.

In 2007, state prosecutors accused Psy of "neglecting" his work, holding concerts and appearing on local television networks during his period of prior employment.

On October 12, 2007, the Seoul Administrative Court decided that Psy must be redrafted, rejecting a lawsuit filed by Psy against the Military Manpower Administration (MMA) in August. Two months later, Psy was re-drafted into the military where he had held the rank of Private First Class and served as a signalman in the 52nd Army Infantry Division, before being released from duties in July 2009.

2010–12: 5th studio album and debut performance in Japan

Owing to financial difficulties, Psy could no longer release his own songs. His wife encouraged him to join the South Korean musiclabel YG Entertainment, whose founder and chief executive officer Yang Hyun-suk was an old friend of Psy.

In 2010, Psy joined YG Entertainment. The K-pop singer Kim Heechul, from the boyband Super Junior, expressed that he'd wished Psy would have joined his group's label SM Entertainment instead.

Psy released his fifth album PsyFive in 2010, and its lead single "Right Now" was banned from under-19 audiences by South Korea's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family for what it deemed an "obscene" U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon scheduled a meeting with Psy in the belief that music has great power to overcome intolerance.

lyric, "Life is like toxic alcohol". Despite the ban, Psy received awards during the 2011 Melon Music Awards and Mnet Asian Music Awards.

Psy had, up until this point, topped domestic music charts half a dozen times throughout his twelve-year career in South Korea.

On January 7, 2012, Psy performed alongside K-pop bands Bigbang and 2NE1 in front of 80,000 Japanese fans during the YG Family Concert in Osaka. His performance was broadcast by Mezamashi TV (mezamashi meaning "wake-up alarm"), a Japanese news magazine show produced by Fuji Television. This marked his first appearance on a foreign broadcasting network.

During the concert, Psy introduced himself to his Japanese fans with a sign that read "I’m a famous singer well-known for driving the audience wild in Korea, but here, today, I’m just a little chubby newcomer" and sang five of his hit songs while Japanese TV commentators expressed their approval in their astonishment at his humorous incorporation of the moves of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé Knowles.

2013–present: "Gentleman" and future endeavors

On April 12, 2013, the audio of Psy's follow-up single "Gentleman" was leaked onto the internet, a day before its official international release.

On the following day, the music video for 'Gentleman' premiered at Psy's 'Happening' Concert, which was attended by 50,000 people and live streamed on YouTube to an audience of 150,000.

Guest performers of the concert included Lee Hi, 2NE1 and G-Dragon.

He had reportedly invested US$2.7 million into the production of the concert.

Psy is slated to star in a South Korean remake of the Hindi film ABCD: Any Body Can Dance, taking over the role of Vishnu (Prabhu Deva) in the original film.

On April 29, 2013, he became the tourism ambassador of South Korea.

On May 6, 2013, PSY appeared on Live! with Kelly and Michael and taught Kelly Ripa & Michael Strahan how to do the Gentleman Dance. He appeared on the show again on May 21, 2013 and performed his recent song, "Gentleman".

On May 9, 2013, Psy gave a special lecture at Harvard University. In this lecture, he spoke about his passion and other reasons for his popularity.

In the finale of American Idol season 12 on May 16, 2013, Psy performed "Gentleman".

On May 17, 2013, according to YG Entertainment, Psy will sing as part of the pre-match entertainment at Stadio Olimpico on May 26.

On May 21, 2013, Psy and his troupe performed his song "Gentleman" on the Finale of Dancing With the Stars, Season 16.

On May 24, 2013, people began voting daily, at www.psygobibigo.com, for one of the Top Three Chefs, based on more than one

hundred ninety video entries, in Psy's "Psy Needs a Chef" video contest.

The Top Three Chefs in this contest were Aaron Contreras, Dj Park and Ricardo Caput. Voting ended june 10, 2013 at midnight Greenwich Mean Time. Aaron Contreras received 2,005 votes. Ricardo received 22,384 votes. Dj Park, won the popular vote with 22,533 votes. Winners were to be announced June 14, 2013. However, Psy postponed his decision until June 18, 2013, and chose Ricardo to be his chef, in spite of the popular vote.

On May 26, 2013, Psy and his troupe performed his two last singles opening the final match of the 2012–13 Coppa Italia.

On June 8, 2013, Psy and his troupe performed "Gentleman" on the Finale of Britain's Got Talent, Series 7.

On June 16, 2013, Psy co-hosted the Canadian MuchMusic Video Awards, where he also opened the show with his world-wide hit Gangnam Style and ended the show with Gentlemen.

Artistry

Park Jae-sang's stage name 'Psy' derives from the word 'psycho'. Explaining his stage name, he said in a BBC interview, "what I thought was, you know, crazy about music, dancing, performance, so that kind of psycho."

Influences

According to Time, Freddie Mercury of the British rock band Queen inspired Psy to start his music career. Psy also revealed that the one celebrity he wants to meet most is the American actor Tom Cruise,  who helped popularize "Gangnam style" on Twitter and recently tweeted whether Psy would "make a good future co-star Gangnam Style?”

Controversy

Anti-American performances and subsequent apology In 2002, Psy participated in an anti-American concert after a U.S. military convoy accidentally struck and killed two 14-year-old South Korean schoolgirls in the Yangju highway incident. The soldiers involved in the incident were acquitted by U.S. military courts,

which fueled a significant amount of anti-American sentiment in South Korea. Inspired by that incident, Psy lifted up a miniature model of an 'American tank' and smashed it against the stage.

In 2004, the South Korean translator and Christian missionary Kim Sun-il was kidnapped and beheaded in Iraq after the South Korean government refused to reconsider sending its armed forces to support the Iraq War. Although initial protests were only directed towards the South Korean government and towards extremists in Iraq, anti-U.S. military protesters decided to seize the Psy in March 2012, during a press conference for a Korean television show Superstar K4.

moment to trigger a much larger wave of anti-Americanism. During a concert, Psy admonished the Iraqi kidnappers, condemned South Korea's former president Roh Moo-hyun, and also sang along to lyrics of the song "Dear American" by South Korean rock band N.EX.T, which criticizes the United States military for its actions in the Iraq war.

 An initial translation of the lyrics was posted by an iReporter unto CNN's iReport site.

Some of the lyrics, referring to the guards who tortured Iraqi prisoners, were inaccurately translated by CNN as follows: "Kill those fucking Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives and those who ordered them to torture," and "Kill [the Yankees'] daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers / Kill them all slowly and painfully."

It was later revealed that the actual Korean lyrics did not include the word "Yankee" or any other pejorative referring specifically to Americans.

A few days later The Washington Post raised questions about the accuracy of the translation of the lyrics into English, which originated from CNN's citizen journalism initiative iReport. Max Fisher of the The Washington Post foreign staff reported that he solicited native Korean and English speakers, academics accustomed to the sensitivity of word-for-word translations, young Koreans familiar with the cultural connotations of the lyrics, and a professional interpreter to offer their translation of the lyrics, and found out that the lyrics may have actually slurred the American servicemen rather than calling for their deaths, although he did also go on to opine that, "using a racial slur to accuse Americans of killing Iraqis’ family members is still pretty serious".

Fisher also states that the word translated 'Yankee' in the CNN iReport was underplayed, with one Korean American describing the slur as an "nearly untranslatable" racist “epithet,” perhaps best approximated as “foreign barbarian.” Fisher notes that one translator indicates that the slur is meant as "a derogatory term for American", and that others have translated the slur alternately as "Yankee", "big nose", and "despicable Western women and men".

Although Psy's actions did not receive any significant international media coverage at that time, this changed after the media reported about it in early December 2012. On December 7, 2012, Psy issued an apology directed towards members of the U.S. military and to the American people for his "inflammatory and inappropriate" language, and expressed hope that the American public will accept his apology.

Despite initial public outrage, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told the media that U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will attend Psy's performance at the Christmas in Washington charity concert as planned.

As a result of the controversy, a petition circulated on the website of the White House demanding that he be dropped from the concert, although the petition was deleted later in the day because the White House website claimed that the petition violated the website's terms of participation.

Time magazine's Nick Carbone asserted that it is "unlikely that these newly dug-up anecdotes will depose Psy from his king-like level of stardom" although Carbone did go on to write that the atmosphere at the White House concert would be "somewhat subdued."

Malaysian political rally

Psy was invited to perform on February 11, 2013 at Penang, Malaysia for the ruling Barisan Nasional party in an attempt to reach out to young voters there. Media reports estimate that it would cost at least US$300,000 for the performance.

Opposition backers

called for supporters of the Democratic Action Party to show up in opposition colors. Despite the controversy and calls by Malaysian citizens to cancel the concert, Psy performed in the end at Han Chiang School as a Chinese New Year open house, for a crowd of 100,000. There were death threats issued against Psy if he entered Malaysia to perform on February 11, 2013.

Questionable song title and revision of lyrics

In March 2013, South Korean media reported that the title of Psy's upcoming single would contain the word "Assarabia", a slang used by South Koreans to express thrills, or simply to describe something satisfying. There were numerous objections to that upcoming title, and worries have risen that people of Arabic descent might misinterpret the title and find it derogatory.

After being questioned by a correspondent of the Voice of America about the upcoming track's potential to offend, Psy voiced out that there has been some misunderstanding and his upcoming song will undergo a major revamp.

On March 19, 2013, he revised his song's title and lyrics over "worries it could offend Arabs".

Many people consider the change of his song title deliberate,

aimed solely at building publicity for a strong follow-up to "Gangnam Style".

 He has since renamed the song "Gentleman" and released it on April 12, 2013.

Reported earnings

The American news agency Associated Press reported that Psy is set to become a millionaire from YouTube advertisements and iTunes downloads, which underlines a shift in how money is being made in the music business.

According to the AP analysis, he is expected to make only $60,000 from downloads and streams of "Gangnam Style" in South Korea, due to the fact that many South Koreans use a music streaming service that costs less than $10 a month, and results in the cost of a downloaded song being about $0.10 and a streamed song being $0.02. The bulk of Psy's earnings, however, originate from other sources such as TV commercials and YouTube revenue, the latter generating almost US $1 million for 33,000 parodies and related videos identified in September 2012 by YouTube's automatic identification system. In total, AP estimated that Psy will earn at least US $8.1 million in 2012.



Source: Wikipedia and Google

Atif Aslam (born in Wazirabad, Punjab, Pakistan as Muhammad Atif Aslam) is a Pakistani pop singer and film actor, and makes cameo appearances in Bollywood (Indian) films. His debut as an actor was in the 2011 film Pakistani movie Bol. He has generated numerous chart-topping songs, and is known for his vocal belting technique.

Atif is a recipient for the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, one of Pakistan's highest civilian decorations.

Early life

Atif Aslam began his education in kindergarten at Kimberley Hall School, Larkana. In 1991 he then moved to Rawalpindi where he continued his studies in St. Paul's Cambridge School, Satellite Town, Rawalpindi. Atif returned to Lahore in 1995 where he continued his studies in Divisional Public School, Lahore. He continued onwards to his FSC in PAF Inter College Lahore.

Atif eventually graduated with a Bachelor's degree.

Debut

Even though Atif always admired Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida Parveen. his first love was for cricket and he dreamed of representing his nation as a cricketer. He was a fast bowler and his passion for the sport saw him being selected for the national Under 19 cricket team trials. At one stage Atif was training to represent his country in the U-19 World Cup. However destiny had other plans.

Spurred on by his friends he began to sing in public during his days in college and recorded his first single "Aadat" with his pocket money. Within a matter of weeks "Aadat" went viral online and soon he became a household name on the basis of just that one song.

On 17 July 2004 the first album titled Jal Pari. by Atif Aslam was released. On the outset, the album stood on the success of “Aadat” but as the weeks progressed, everyone began to recognize that Atif was blessed with incredible talent and was not merely a one hit wonder.

Several songs from his debut album such as “Bheegi Yaadein”, “Ehsaas”, “Mahi Ve”, “Ankhon Sey” along with the title track “Jalpari” went on to become major hits and charted across countries in the subcontinent. Atif Aslam with his dynamic presence and powerful voice presented his own unique sound. A true original artist, there was no reference point to his sound at the time. His ability to connect to the hearts of his listeners backed up with vocal capabilities and memorable melodies swiftly elevated him to stardom across Pakistan and won him millions of hearts across India. Many believe this album to be a youth anthem of Pakistan, encouraging the youth to pursue their dreams and represent their nation in a positive light.

Blessed with prodigious raw talent and a passion for music, Atif's decision to pursue music as a career was certainly a brave one as he had no formal musical training nor did he come from a musical family. Despite his positive outlook, music and lyrics his massive success and popularity with the massess was hard for many to fathom. He faced his fair share of critical commentaries and Atif in 2012 at Lahore, Pakistan.

judgements, however he used all these factors to his advantage and was courageous enough to continue singing in his own style without giving an ear to his detractors. In an industry where releasing independent albums were not the norm, the courage and passion he displayed in his first album became a solid foundation for his future success.

Following the massive success of Jal Pari, he released two more solo albums, "Doorie" & "Meri Kahani". Both albums were massive successes. According to Tips music his solo albums have sold more than 9 million units globally.

Even as Atif continued to record solo albums he soon found huge appreciation and acceptance for his talent in India. Within a span of 3 years he went on to record over two dozen chartbusters for top Bollywood films and for his work on the movie Race, was nominated for the prestigious Filmfare Award. He continues to work on top productions and his growing popularity has seen filmmakers create special music videos to promote their films with his songs.

Constantly developing as an artist, Atif soon evolved himself into an exiting concert performer.

Following sold out concerts and electrifying performances throughout his country the demand to watch Atif Aslam perform live grew across the world with legions of loyal fans growing across nations. People were amazed to experience the dynamic vocal range Atif was able to deliver in a live performance. His energy on stage, with charming charisma and a natural ability to work the crowd swiftly made him the most sought after live performer in Pakistan and numerous countries across Asia. The artist started performing to sellout crowds on a regular basis. Fans came to recognize a true artist. The energy level never reduced but the crowd kept on increasing.

Concerts & Tours

Displaying a love for the stage from an early age, his first performance was at a fancy dress show at his school where he performed as Imran Khan, the legendary former captain of Pakistan national cricket team. However, nearly two decades later, Atif had rocketed to international stardom as an artist and the demand to see him perform was immense.

He began to tour internationally with collaborative performances in the USA and Canada with RDB and Annie Khalid. Atif then made his solo debut concert in New Jersey in Summer Beats 2008 (that also featured Kailash Kher, Richa Sharma & Amanat Ali) at Sovereign Bank Arena.

After a sold out concert in New Jersey, Atif returned with his band and special guests to Queens Colden Center, New York to perform on July 2, 2010.

Taking over the entire production Atif produced the entire event with special sound and light design to support his concert, giving the audience a memorable experience.

Two years later Atif Aslam returned to the US. Collaborating with female vocalist Shreya Ghoshal their March, 2010 Tour originally Atif performing in Lahore, Pakistan had 10 shows announced in USA and Canada. However the response was terrific & inspired the organizers to conduct shows again in six more cities.

The next month, Atif Aslam made his debut in South America with a performance at Anthony Nesty Sports Hall, Suriname in South America.

The world touring continued with Atif Aslam performing with Sunidhi Chauhan for the first time at Hershey Centre, Mississauga followed by another show at Oracle Arena, San Francisco, Oakland in July 2011 during their USA & Canada tour. In September 2011 he performed in New York.

Atif continued to tour the world with headline performances  at Royal Albert Hall in London (alongside Jay Sean). He followed that with dates across major concert venues in the UK in 2010.

On April 22, 2012 Atif Aslam created history by becoming the first man from his country to perform in London's O2 Arena  a concert spectacular  to promote love, peace & unity among India and Pakistan. Atif performed for four fours on The O2 Arena stage. This was then followed up by shows in Manchester & Glasgow.

In 2012 he was invited for no less than 3 concerts at the World Trade Centre in Dubai. This was then followed up with his debut concert in Bangkok at the Centara Convention Centre on October 6, 2012.

 Atif Aslam then returned to performing in 10 Major cities of Pakistan during his Jazz Jazba Generation Tour where exclusive backstage footage of Atif Aslam behind the scenes during the tour, his interactions with his fans and intimate look at the man behind the star was filmed for the very first time. On november 2 he performed his first public concert in Malaysia.

In December 2012, Atif was named among top performers of Dubai for 2012 alongside Pitbull, Enrique Iglesias, Il Divo, Gotye, Evanescence & Swedish House Mafia.

A few weeks earlier, Atif Aslam became the first man from Asia, and the second artist after Bryan Adams, to be permitted to perform inside the Dashrath Rangasla - National Football Stadium in  kathmandu, Nepal. With 25,000 crowd his concert in Nepal was also a great success.

Atif once again returned to Dubai for multiple concerts in 2013 at the world famous Atlantis resort Dubai. He also earlier shared stage with upcoming talent Shalmali Kholgade in Dubai.

In April 2013, Atif performed for the first time at the LG Arena in Birmingham following which he became the first artist from In April 2013, Asia to perform twice at London's O2 Arena. Also in concert at the O2 were Bollywood stars Shaan, Malaika Arora Khan & Bipasha Basu.

Hollywood

Atif has three songs featured in the American independent film, Man Push Cart which has won several international awards and was praised by critics. He then sung 2 songs in Mira Nairs film The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

His two more songs ‘Doorie‘ and ‘Maula‘ from his second album Doorie have been picked up in 2010 for the soundtrack of the Hindi Version of a Mexican film La mujer de mi hermano directed by Ricardo de Montreuil.

Acting career

Atif made his acting debut in the 2011 Pakistani movie Bol which was a huge success.

He also made a special appearance in film songs such as Tere Bin, Pehli Nazar Mein and Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya's song's Piya O Re Piya, Tu Mohabbat Hai, Be-Intehan (Race 2) & Dil Na Jaane Kyun from Jayanta Bhai Ki Luv Story

Television

Atif also appeared as a captain of Team Pakistan in a singing talent show called Sur Kshetra which was shot & broadcasted from Dubai where Indian & Pakistani contestants were competing against each other.

source: Google & Wikipedia

Habib Wahid (born October 15, 1979; better known as Habib) is a Bangladeshi composer and musician. He is notable for his fusion of traditional Bengali folk music with contemporary techno and urban beats. His music is mainly influenced by British Bangladeshis, while he was living there as a student. He takes folk music and remixes with popular music forms. He remixes songs of composers like Hason Raja, Shah Abdul Karim, Amir Uddin and others with the tunes with hip-hop, reggae, rap and electronica.

Early life

Habib was born and brought up in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He attended South Breeze School in Dhanmondi. His father, Ferdous Wahid, was a pop singer during the 1970s and 1980s. A few years later, he went to the United Kingdom in pursuit of higher education and studied music and audio engineering at the School of Audio Engineering in London.

Career

Habib started to work with other Asian music producers such as Karsh kale. He had already produced and planned his music, however he needed a vocalist to develop his new album. While living in London, he was searching for the vocalist Kaya, a Sylheti restaurant owner.

In 2003, Habib released his first album Krishno, which proved to be a success in Britain and Bangladesh. The album Krishno had a mix of folk and modern electronica music, introducing a new genre to the Dhaka music arena.

In the next few years, Habib had released six albums — Maya (2004), Moina Go (2005), Shono (2006), Panjabiwala (2007), Bolchi Tomake (2008) and Obosheshe (2008).

He has featured new voices in all of his albums. Besides Kaya, he has showcased singers such as Helal, Julee, Nirjhor, Shireen and Nancy in these albums.

Habib first debuted as a vocal in "Moina Go" where he performed two soft singles, Din Gelo and Esho Brishti Namai. He also has his father, Ferdous Wahid singing a song in that album. On June 1, 2011 Habib's 8th album Ahoban! was released.

The album consists 9 tracks in which three are duet songs with Nancy and Kona and one was sung by Ferdous Wahid. Habib Wahid has released another album named Shadhin in December 2012.

Besides album work, Habib created a number of jingles for the products of Banglalink, Citycell, Pran-up, Meril Beauty Soap and others.

He also has composed songs for movies such as Hridoyer Kotha, Akash Chowa Bhalobasha, Chandragrohon, I Love You, Eito Prem, Third Person Singular Number, Amar Ache Jol, etc. Habib makes songs that "has the essence from the roots of Bangla music", says Kumar Bishwajit while recording a song under direction of Habib Wahid in a movie called Projapoti.

Concerts

Habib performed his first ever concert in Melbourne on 26 May 2012 and another one in Sydney on 3 June 2012.

Personal life

Habib is married to Rehan. Their first son, Aleem Wahid, was born on December 24, 2012.

Discography

Krishno (2003)

Maya (2004)

Moina Go... (2005)

Shono! (2006)

Panjabiwala (2007)

Bolchi Tomake... (2008)

Aboseshe (2008)

Hridoyer Kotha (2008)

Ahoban! (2011)

Projapoti (2011)

Somorpon (2011)

Rong (2012)

Tumi Shondharo Meghmala (2012)

Shadin (2012)

Awards

Meril Prothom-alo awards:

Best Album Award for *Shono! (2006)

Best Song Award 2006 for Bhalobashbo (movie: Hridoyer kotha)

Best Album Award 2008 for Bolchi Tomake (2008)

Best Song Award 2009 for Didha (movie: Third Person Singular Number).

Best Album Award 2010 for Projapoti (2010)

Walton Boishakhi Star Award in 2011

National Award in 2013

Citycell Award 2012


website: Habib Wahid

source: wikipedia and google