Who is Youssou N'Dour?

Who is Youssou N'Dour? Dour is know around the world as a  Senegalese singer, percussionist and occasional actor. In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, in Senegal and much of Africa, "perhaps the most famous singer alive."^[1] He helped develop a style of popular music in Senegal, known by its Wolof language name of mbalax.

 Background

Mbalax is a blend of the country's traditional griot percussion and praise-singing with the Afro-Cuban and Haitian kompa arrangements and flavors which made the return trip from the Caribbean to West Africa in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s and have flourished in West Africa ever since. Beginning in the mid-1970s the resulting mix was modernized with a gloss of more complex indigenous Senegalese dance rhythms, roomy and melodic guitar and saxophone solos, chattering talking-drum soliloquies and, on occasion, Sufi-inspired Muslim religious chant. This created a new music which was at turns nostalgic, restrained and stately, or celebratory, explosively syncopated and funky. Younger Senegalese musicians steeped in Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, James Brown, and the whole range of American jazz, soul, and rock music, which Senegal's cosmopolitan capital, Dakar, had enthusiastically absorbed, were rediscovering their heritage and seeking out traditional performers, particularly singers and talking drummers, to join their bands. (The griots—musicians, praise-singers and storyteller-historians—comprise a distinct hereditary caste in Wolof society and throughout West Africa.) As it emerged from this period of fruitful musical turbulence, mbalax would eventually find in Youssou N'Dour the performer who has arguably had more to do with its shaping than any other individual.

N'Dour at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival

N'Dour was  born 1 October 1959 in Dakar.He began performing at the age of 12. Within a couple of years he was performing regularly with the Star Band, Dakar's most popular group in the early 1970s. Several members of the Star Band joined Orchestre Baobab about that time.
Although N’Dour has connections to the traditional griot caste on his mother’s side, he wasn’t raised in that tradition, learning it instead from his siblings. His parents encouraged him to look at things in a more modern manner, leaving him open to two cultures, with the result that he refers to himself as a modern griot.
In 1979, he formed his own ensemble, the Etoile de Dakar. His early work with Etoile de Dakar was in the typical Latin style popular all over Africa during that time, but in the 1980s he developed a unique sound when he started his current group, Super Etoile de Dakar featuring Jimi Mbaye on guitar, bassist Habib Faye, and Tama (talking drum) player Assane Thiam.

Youssou N'Dour is one of the most celebrated African musicians in history. A renowned singer, songwriter, and composer, Youssou's mix of traditional Senegalese mbalax with eclectic influences ranging from Cuban samba to hip hop, jazz, and soul has won him an international fan base of millions. In the West, Youssou has collaborated with musicians Peter Gabriel,^[2] Axelle Red,^[3] Sting,^[4] Alan Stivell,^[5] Bran Van 3000,^[6] Neneh Cherry,^[7] Wyclef Jean,^[4] Paul Simon,^[7] Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman, Branford Marsalis, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Dido and others. In Senegal, Youssou is a powerful cultural icon actively involved in social issues.He is endowed with remarkable range and poise, a composer, bandleader, and producer with a prodigious musical intelligence. The New York Times described his voice as an "arresting tenor, a supple weapon deployed with prophetic authority".^[8] N'Dour absorbs the entire Senegalese musical spectrum in his work, often filtering this through the lens of genre-defying rock or pop music from outside Senegalese culture.
In July 1993, an African opera composed by N'Dour premiered at the Opéra Garnier for the French Festival Paris quartier d'été. He wrote and performed the official anthem of the 1998 FIFA World Cup with Axelle Red "La Cour des Grands".^[3] Youssou N'Dour was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on 16 October 2000.^[9]
N'Dour's major asset is that he is strongly grounded in his culture. Even if he chooses to explore elsewhere, his roots are well established. Some have gone so far as describing him as the African Artist of the Century (Folk Roots magazine). He has toured internationally for almost 30 years. He won his first American Grammy Award (best contemporary world music album) for his CD Egypt in 2005.
By 1991 he had opened his own recording studio, Xippi, and by 1995 his own record label, Jololi. He is also proprietor of L'Observateur, one of the largest-circulation newspapers in Senegal, and the radio station RFM (Radio Future Medias).

N'Dour has associated himself with several social and political issues. In 1985, he organized a concert for the release of Nelson Mandela. He was a featured performer in the 1988 worldwide Amnesty International Human Rights Now! Tour collaborating with Lou Reed to contribute a version of the Peter Gabriel song Biko which was produced by Richard James Burgess and featured on the Amnesty International benefit album The Secret Policeman's Third Ball. He has also worked with the United Nations and UNICEF and he started Project Joko to open internet cafés in Africa and to connect Senegalese communities around the world. He performed at three of the Live 8 concerts (in Live 8 concert, London, Live 8 concert, Paris and at the Live 8 concert, Eden Project in Cornwall) on 2 July 2005, with Dido.^[10]
In 2006, N'Dour played the African-British abolitionist Olaudah Equiano in the movie Amazing Grace, which chronicles the efforts of William Wilberforce to end slavery in the British Empire.^[11]

He covered John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" for the 2007 CD Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur. He also featured in a joint Spain-Senegal ad campaign against illegal immigrants.
Youssou N'Dour participated in the Stock Exchange of Visions project in 2007.^[12]
Since 2007 he is also council member of the World Future Council.

In 2009 N'Dour released his song "Wake Up (It's Africa Calling)" under Creative Commons license to help IntraHealth International in their IntraHealth Open campaign to bring open source health applications to Africa. The song was remixed by a variety of artists including Nas, Peter Buck of R.E.M., and Duncan Sheik to help raise money for the campaign.

Discography

• Bitim Rew (1984)

• Nelson Mandela (1986)

• Immigrés (1988)

 

• The Lion (1989)

• Set (1990)

• Eyes Open (1992)

• The Guide (Wommat) (1994)

• Djamil (1996)

 

• Inedits 84-85 (1997)

• Special Fin D'annee Plus (1999)

• Lii (2000)

• Joko: From Village To Town (2000)

• Rewmi (2000)

• Le Grand Bal (2000)

• St. Louis (2000)

• Le Grand Bal a Bercy (2001)

• Ba Tay (2002)

• Nothing's In Vain (2002)

• Youssou N'Dour and His Friends (2002)

 

• Kirikou (2004)

• Egypt (2004)

• Alsaama Day (2007)

• Rokku Mi Rokka (2007) — #30 in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Albums of 2007.^[13]

• Special Fin D'annee : Salegne-Salegne (2009)

 

• Dakar - Kingston (2010)

Compilations

• The Best of Youssou N'Dour (1995)
• Euleek Sibir with Omar (You et Pene) (1996)
• Immigrés/Bitim Rew (1997)
• Best of the 80's (1998)
• Hey You: The Essential Collection 1988–1990 (1998)
• Birth of a Star (2001)
• Rough Guide to Youssou N'Dour & Etoile de Dakar (2002)
• 7 Seconds: The Best of Youssou N'Dour (Remastered) (2004)
• Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur — John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" (2007)

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions								Album
		US Hot 100	US Modern Rock	US Mainstream Rock	UK Singles	European Singles	France Singles	German Singles	Swedish Singles
1989	"Shaking the Tree" (with Peter Gabriel)	-	# 9	-	#61	-	-	-	-	The Lion.
1994	"7 Seconds"	#98	-	-	# 3	# 8	# 1	# 3	# 3	(Single). Duet with Neneh Cherry.
2002	"So Many Men" (feat. Joy Denalane)	-	-	-	-	-	# 35	-	-	Nothing's in Vain (Coono du reer). (Single). Duet with Pascal Obispo.

Films

Amazing Grace (2006)

• As Olaudah Equiano. "A central figure in the abolitionist movement in Great Britain, Olaudah Equiano (c.1745–97) wrote an eyewitness account of his life as a slave and of his work in the anti-slavery movement: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano."
• As a musician on the film's soundtrack.

Retour à Gorée (2007)

• As himself, journeying from the island of Gorée to the USA and back, exploring the origins of jazz, which go back to the era of slave trade in Africa, through a concert performed by an international group of artists.

Youssou N´Dour: I Bring What I Love (2008)

• As himself, through the recording of Egypt album and its repercussions.

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Who is Louis Jay Pearlman?

Who is Louis Jay Pearlman? The music and entertainment world knows him as Lou Pearlman, he is a former impresario of the successful 1990s boy bands the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. In 2006 it was discovered that Pearlman had perpetrated one of the largest and longest-running Ponzi schemes in American history, leaving more than $300 million in debts. After getting caught on the run, and pleading guilty to conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements during a bankruptcy proceeding, in 2008 Pearlman was convicted and sentenced to (up to) 25 years.

Early life and career

Pearlman was born June 19, 1954 and raised in Flushing, Queens, the only child of Jewish parents Hy, who ran a dry cleaning business and Reenie Pearlman, a school lunchroom aide. (Pearlman is the first cousin of Art Garfunkel, their mothers being sisters.) His home at Mitchell Gardens Apartments was located across from Flushing Airport, where he and childhood friend Alan Gross would watch blimps take off and land. According to Pearlman's autobiography, Bands, Brands and Billions, it was during this period that he used his position on his school newspaper to earn credentials and get his first ride in a blimp. (This version of events is disputed by Gross, who claims he was the school reporter, and allowed Pearlman to tag along.)
His cousin Garfunkel's fame and wealth helped fire Pearlman's own interest in the music business. As a teenager he managed a band, but when success in music proved elusive, he turned his attention to aviation. During his first year as a student at Queens College, Pearlman wrote a business plan for a class project based on the idea of a helicopter taxi service in New York City. By the late 1970s, he had launched the business based on his business plan, starting with one helicopter. He convinced German businessman Theodor Wüllenkemper to train him on blimps, and subsequently spent some time at Wüllenkemper's facilities in Germany learning about the airships.

Suspicions of insurance fraud and pump & dump

Returning to the United States, Pearlman formed Airship Enterprises Ltd, which leased a blimp to Jordache before actually owning one. He used the funds from Jordache to construct a blimp, which promptly crashed. The two parties sued each other, and 7 years later Pearlman was awarded $2.5 million in damages. On the advice of a friend, Pearlman started a new company, Airship International, taking it public to raise the $3 million he needed to purchase a blimp, claiming (falsely) that he had a partnership with Wüllenkemper. He leased the blimp to McDonald's, for advertising.

He then relocated Airship International to Orlando in July 1991, where he signed MetLife and Sea World as clients for his blimps. Airship International suffered when one of its clients left, and three of the aircraft crashed. The company's stock, once pumped up to $6 a share dropped to 3 cents and the company was shut down:

After he took his air charter company, Airship International, public in 1985, Pearlman became personally and professionally close to Jerome Rosen, a partner at small-cap trading outfit Norbay Securities. Based in Bayside, Queens, and frequently in trouble with regulators, Norbay actively traded Airship stock. This sent Airship's stock price consistently higher, enabling Pearlman to sell hundreds of thousands of shares and warrants at ever-higher prices. However, Airship was reporting little revenue, cash flow or net income. In return for keeping his penny stock liquid, Pearlman allegedly paid Rosen handsome commissions, according to a mutual friend, that reached into 'the tens of thousands of dollars' per trade.

—Roddy Boyd, New York Post

Entertainment industry career

Pearlman became fascinated with the success of the New Kids on the Block, who had made hundreds of millions of dollars in record, tour and merchandise sales. Thus he started Trans Continental Records with the intent of mimicking their boy-band business model. The label's first band, the Backstreet Boys, consisted of five unknown performers selected by Lou in a $3 million talent search. Management duties were assigned

to a former New Kids on the Block manager, Johnny Wright, and his wife Donna. The Boys went on to sell 100 million albums worldwide, hitting gold and platinum in 45 different countries. Pearlman and the Wrights then repeated this formula almost exactly with the band *NSync, which sold over 56 million records globally.
With these two major successes under his belt, Pearlman had become a music mogul. Other boy bands managed by Pearlman were O-Town (created during the ABC–MTV reality TV series Making the Band), LFO, Take 5, Natural, and US5. Other artists on the Trans Continental label included Aaron Carter, Jordan Knight, Smilez & Southstar and C-Note. Pearlman also owned a large entertainment complex in Orlando, including a recording studio he called Trans Continental Studios, and a dance studio by Disney World named "O-Town".

Band lawsuits

With the exception of US5, all of the musical acts who have worked with Pearlman have sued him in Federal Court for misrepresentation and fraud. All cases against Pearlman have either been won by those who have brought lawsuits against him, or have been settled out of court. All cases have also ended with a confidentiality agreement, meaning none of the parties is allowed to discuss Pearlman's practices in detail.
The members of Backstreet Boys were the first to file a lawsuit against Pearlman, feeling that their contract — under which Pearlman collected as both manager and producer — was unfair, since Pearlman was also paid as a sixth member of the Backstreet Boys (i.e., one-sixth of the band's own income). The band's dissatisfaction began when member Brian Littrell hired a lawyer to determine why the group had received only $300,000 for all of their work, while Pearlman and his record company had made millions. Fellow boy band *NSYNC was having similar issues with Pearlman, and its members soon followed suit.

At the age of 14, pop star Aaron Carter filed a lawsuit in 2002 that accused Pearlman and Trans Continental Records of cheating him out of hundreds of thousands of dollars and of racketeering in a deliberate pattern of criminal activity. This suit was later settled out of court.

Talent scouting scandal

In September 2002, Pearlman purchased Alec Defrawy's internet-based talent company, Options Talent Group f/k/a Sector Communications (previously named Emodel and Studio 58), which would then go through several names including Trans Continental Talent, TCT, Wilhelmina Scouting Network (WSN), Web Style Network, Fashion Rock and Talent Rock. Regardless of the name, all incarnations were based on the business model used by Emodel founder Ayman el Difrawi (aka Alec Defrawy), himself a convicted conman, who played a principal role in running Options / TCT / WSN and setting up Fashion Rock. The companies received unfavorable press attention, ranging from questions about their business practices to outright declarations that they were scams.
After Hotjobs and Monster.com pulled over a thousand of the company's job ads from their boards, they were further advertised on the Difrawi-founded "Industry Magazine" website. The Better Business Bureau's opinion about Options / TCT / WSN was negative (a "pattern of complaints concerning misrepresentation in selling practices"). The New York State Consumer Protection Board issued an alert, naming it the largest example they had found of a photo mill scam (in which agencies force models to shoot portfolios with photographers on their own payrolls), and a State Senator called it trying "to make a quick, dishonest dollar"

The San Francisco labor Commissioner declared it in violation of California law, and several state agencies were reported to be investigating. In Florida, around 2,000 complaints were filed with the then-Attorney General Charlie Crist and the Better Business Bureau, and an investigation was started by Assistant AG Dowd. However, no charges were filed, as the newly appointed Assistant AG MacGregor was unable to find "any substantial violations" and the company had declared bankruptcy, "leaving no deep pockets to collect damages from."
By June 2004, Fashion Rock, LLC had filed a civil suit for defamation against some who had criticized Pearlman's talent businesses and outed suspicions of bankruptcy fraud. The case was dismissed and closed in 2006. One of the accused, Canadian consumer-fraud expert Les Henderson, successfully pursued a libel lawsuit against Pearlman, Tolner, El-Difrawi and several others.
Fashion Rock, LLC lived on until February 2, 2007, when its assets were sold in Pearlman's bankruptcy proceeding.

Allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct

The November 2007 issue of Vanity Fair magazine reported claims of inappropriate sexual conduct made in interviews with several former and current boy band members, and male employees of Pearlman's. Many of the boys had lived in Lou's Florida mansion, where the inappropriate conduct was alleged to have taken place, but none was willing to come forward publicly, and no charges were ever filed. Backstreet Boy Nick Carter's mother, Jane Carter, told the magazine: “Certain things happened and it almost destroyed our family. I tried to warn everyone. I tried to warn all the mothers." She said, "I tried to expose him for what he was years ago".

The Ponzi scheme

In 2006 investigators discovered Pearlman had perpetrated a long running Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors out of $300 million. For more than 20 years Pearlman enticed individuals and banks to invest in Trans Continental Airlines Travel Services Inc. and Trans Continental Airlines Inc., both of which existed only on paper. Pearlman used falsified FDIC, AIG and Lloyd's of London documents to win investors' confidence in his "Employee Investment Savings Account" (E.I.S.A.) program and he used fake financial statements created by a fictitious accounting firm Cohen and Siegel to secure bank loans.

Investigation

In February 2007, Florida regulators announced that Pearlman's Trans Continental Savings Program was indeed a massive fraud and the state took possession of the company. Most of the at least $95 million which was collected from investors was gone. Orange County Circuit Judge Renee Roche ordered Pearlman and two of his associates, Robert Fischetti and Michael Crudelle, to bring back to the United States "any assets taken abroad which were derived from illegal transactions."

Arrest

Following a flight from officials, Pearlman was arrested in Indonesia on June 14, 2007 after being spotted by a German tourist couple. Pearlman was then indicted by a federal grand jury on June 27, 2007.Specifically Pearlman was charged with three counts of bank fraud, one count of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud.

Conviction and sentencing

On May 21, 2008, Pearlman was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison, after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy, money laundering, and making false statements during a bankruptcy proceeding. U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp gave Pearlman the chance to cut his prison time, by offering to reduce the sentence by one month for every million dollars he helps a bankruptcy trustee recover. He also ordered individual investors are to be paid before institutions in distributing any eventual assets.

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Who is Jason Statham?

Who is Jason Statham? The entertainment world knows him as an English actor and martial artist, known for his roles in the Guy Ritchie crime films Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; and Snatch. US Statham appeared in supporting roles in several American films, such as The Italian Job , as well as playing the lead role in The Transporter, War (opposite martial arts star Jet Li)  and Death Race  Statham solidified his status as an action hero by appearing alongside the old-school action film actors Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Dolph Lundgren in The Expendables He normally performs his own fight scenes and stunts.

Early life

Statham   (pronounced /ˈsteɪθəm/;was born 12 September 1972) in London, England, the son of a lounge singer and dressmaker-turned-dancer. He later moved to Great Yarmouth, Norfolk and grew up initially following in his parents' footsteps to master the art of street theatre. He also played football for the local grammar school (1978–83), but his real passion was diving - in particular, he finished 12th in the World Championships in 1992. He was also a member of Britain's National Diving Squad for twelve years.
Statham's life in media began when he was spotted by a talent agent specialising in athletes while training at London's Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. Afterwards, he became a model for the clothing brand Tommy Hilfiger.

Career

While working for French Connection, he was introduced to fledgling British director Guy Ritchie who was developing a film project and needed to fill the role of a street-wise con artist. After learning about Statham's past, Ritchie cast him to play the role of "Bacon" in Ritchie's breakout 1998 hit, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
The movie was well received by both critics and audiences, which helped catapult the unknown actor into the public eye. Statham's second collaboration with Ritchie came in the 2000 film Snatch. Cast alongside popular actors Brad Pitt, Dennis Farina and Benicio del Toro, and with the movie earning more than $80 million in box-office revenues, Statham was able to break into Hollywood and appeared in two movies in 2001: Ghosts of Mars

Statham was offered more film roles and in 2002 was cast as the lead role of driver Frank Martin in the action movie The Transporter, in which his background in martial arts enabled him to do most of his own stunts. The film spawned two sequels, Transporter 2, in 2005 and third Transporter film in 2008. He also played in supporting roles in The Italian Job (2003) (in which he played Handsome Rob) Cellular (2004) where he played the lead villain and had a cameo in Collateral (2004).In 2005, Statham was once again cast by Ritchie to star in his new project, Revolver which was a critical and box office failure.He also played a dramatic role in London that same year . In 2006 he played the lead role in Crank  Statham compares his role in Crank to his real life in the September 2006 issue of Maxim. He subsequently starred in the critical and box office failures War (2007) and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2008). That same year he starred in the British crime thriller The Bank Job which was both a critical and box office success. Recently he reprised his role from 2006's Crank in Crank 2: High Voltage which did not do very well both critically and commercially.

Statham in 2006

In 2008, American film critic Armond White hailed Statham's ascension as the leading international action film star. On the occasion of Death Race,White championed Statham's "best track record of any contemporary movie star." Later in 2008, White praised Statham's Transporter 3 as a great example of kinetic pop art.

In 2010 Statham is set to appear alongside fellow action stars Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jet Li and Mickey Rourke among others in The Expendables. Statham will play Lee Christmas, a former SAS soldier and expert at Close Quarters Combat using knives.
Statham is currently developing The Grabbers, written by David Peoples and Janet Peoples (Twelve Monkeys). Statham stated “We’ve got a movie we’re trying to do, written by David Peoples and Janet Peoples, in the vein of an old film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It’s not a remake or anything, but it’s a little bit like that, about relationships and how greed contaminates the relationships these three people have. The working title is The Grabbers."
He will also star in the action film, The Killer Elite. According to Variety the film will be based on real events, which were the subject of Ranulph Fiennes' book The Feathermen. Statham will play a former Navy SEAL named Danny who comes out of retirement in order to save an old friend who will be played by Clive Owen. "IAE Magazine" cited that Robert De Niro will play Hunter, Statham's mentor and bestfriend.

Personal life

Statham is unmarried, but was in a seven year relationship with model Kelly Brook until 2004. He is now dating Victoria's Secret Angel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
Statham is also a fan of mixed martial arts (MMA) and has attended many mixed martial arts pay per views, usually put on by the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels	Bacon
2000	Snatch	Turkish
	Turn It Up	Mr. B
2001	Ghosts of Mars	Sgt. Jericho Butler
	The One	MVA Agent Evan Funsch	first time partnered with Jet Li
	Mean Machine	Monk
2002	Thai Boxing: A Fighting Chance	Narrator
	The Transporter	Frank Martin
2003	The Italian Job	Handsome Rob
2004	Collateral	Frank Martin (presumed)
	Cellular	Ethan Greer
2005	Transporter 2	Frank Martin
	Revolver	Jake Green
	London	Bateman
2006	Chaos	Det. Quentin Conners
	The Pink Panther	Yves Gluant	Uncredited role
	Crank	Chev Chelios
2007	War	FBI Agent John Crawford	second time partnered with Jet Li
2008	The Bank Job	Terry Leather
	In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale	Farmer Daimon
	Death Race	Jensen "Frankenstein" Ames
	Transporter 3	Frank Martin
2009	Crank: High Voltage	Chev Chelioshttp://www.youtube.com/v/mQSh9BtRZuA?fs=1&hl=en_US
	Truth In 24	Narrator
2010	13	Jasper	post-production
	The Expendables	Lee Christmas	third time partnered with Jet Li.
	Blitz	Detective Sergeant Brant	pre-production
	The Killer Elite (2011 film)	Danny	filming
	The Mechanic (2010 film)		post-production
2011	Gnomeo and Juliet		post-production
	The Brazilian Job	Handsome Rob	pre-production
	Potsdamer Platz	(rumored)	pre-production

Box office performance

Since 1998, Statham has appeared in over twenty films. Several have been box office hits, such as Snatch and The Bank Job. He has starred in two sets of film series, The Transporter and Crank. The films he has been in have grossed a total of more than $1 billion USD at the box office, with the highest individual film being The Italian Job.

Video game voice-overs

Video game	Year	Character
Red Faction II	2002	Shrike
Call of Duty	2003	Sgt. Waters

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