Title: The Remarkable Journey of Who Is
Kenneth is], the visionary mind behind the prominent blog "Who Is," has become a familiar figure in the blogosphere. With an unwavering commitment to their craft and a strong passion for sharing knowledge, they have created a platform that educates, entertains, and inspires readers from all corners of the globe. This blog post will take you through the incredible journey of Who is, shedding light on their background and their rise
Who is Kevin Delaney Kline? The Entertainment and acting world knows hims as Kevin Kline. Kline is an American theatre, voice and film actor. He has won an Academy Award, two Tony Awards and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2009.
Early years
Kline was born October 24, 1947 in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Peggy and Robert Kline. His father was a classical music lover and an amateur opera singer who owned and operated The Record Bar, a record store in St. Louis that opened in the early '40s, and also sold toys during the '60s and '70s; his father's family also owned Kline's Inc., a department store chain. Kline has described his mother as the "dramatic theatrical character in our family." Kline's father was an agnostic of German Jewishdescent, while Kline's Irish-American mother, the daughter of an emigrant from County Louth, was Catholic. Kline and his siblings were raised as Catholic.
Kline graduated from the Catholic Saint Louis Priory School in 1965. He attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he began as an aspiring classical pianist. After joining the on-campus theater group "Vest Pocket Players" as an undergraduate, he fell in love with the theater and switched to acting, graduating from IU in 1970.
Career
In 1970, Kline was awarded a scholarship to the newly formed Drama Division at the Juilliard School in New York. In 1972, he joined with fellow Juilliard graduates, including Patti LuPone and David Ogden Stiers, and formed the City Center Acting Company (now The Acting Company), under the aegis of John Houseman. The Company traveled across the U.S. performing Shakespeare's plays, other classical works, and the musical The Robber Bridegroom, founding one of the most widely praised groups in American repertory theatre.
In 1976, Kline left The Acting Company and settled in New York City, doing a brief stint as the character "Woody Reed" in the now-defunct soap opera Search for Tomorrow. He followed this with a return to the stage in 1978 in the small role of "Bruce Granit", a matinée idol caricature, in Harold Prince's On the Twentieth Century, for which he won his first Tony Award. In 1981, Kline appeared with rock diva Linda Ronstadt and singer Rex Smith in the New York Shakespeare Festival's Central Park production of The Pirates of Penzance, winning another Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, for his comically dashing portrayal of the Pirate King. In 1983, he played the role in a film version of the musical, also with Ronstadt, Smith and Angela Lansbury, which had a limited theatrical release.
In the ensuing years, Kline appeared many times in New York Shakespeare Festival productions of Shakespeare, including starring roles in Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, two productions of Hamlet (one of which he also directed) and a Tony-nominated Falstaff in a production that combined the two parts of Henry IV.
Dubbed "the American Olivier" by New York Times theater critic Frank Rich for his stage acting, Kline finally ventured into film in 1982 in Alan J. Pakula's Sophie's Choice. He won the coveted role of the tormented and mercurial Nathan opposite Meryl Streep. Streep won an Academy Award for her performance in the film. Kline was nominated for a Golden Globe and BAFTA Award for best debut performance.
Kline and wife Phoebe Cates at the Academy Awards Governor's Ball party, 1989
Most recently, he played the title role in King Lear at the Public Theatre, and has played the lead role in a Broadway production of Cyrano de Bergerac opposite Jennifer Garner. That production was forced to close temporarily after only eleven performances as a result of the Broadway stagehands' strike, but subsequently reopened. Cyrano was filmed in 2008 and aired as part of PBS's Great Performances series in January 2009.
On January 27, 2008, Kline won a Screen Actors Guild award for his portrayal of Jaques in Kenneth Branagh's film As You Like It, adapted from Shakespeare's play. The film premiered theatrically in 2006 in Europe. It bypassed theatres and was sent straight to HBO in the U.S., where it was shown on August 21, 2007.
In December 2004 Kline became the 2,272nd recipient of a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame, located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.
Personal life
Kline married actress Phoebe Cates, 16 years his junior, in 1989. The couple live in New York City and have two children: Owen Joseph Kline (born 1991), who had a featured role in The Squid and the Whale, and Greta Simone Kline (born 1994). After his son was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, Kline became active with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In November 2004, he was presented with the JDRF's Humanitarian of the Year award by Meryl Streep for his volunteer efforts on behalf of the organization. Kline also once dated Patti LuPone.
The Kevin Kline Awards honor theatre professionals in St. Louis in a wide array of categories, which include best actor and actress, set design, choreography, and original play. The first awards ceremony took place on March 20, 2006.
Who is Ian Fraser Kilmister? The Heavy Metal music world knows him as Lemmy Kilmister, Kilmister is an English singer and bass guitarist. He is best known as the founding member of the heavy metal band Motörhead. His appearance, friendly mutton chops (sideburn-moustache combination), and gravelly voice have made him a cult icon. Kilmister was placed forty-eighth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time list.
When Lemmy was 10, his mother married George Willis, who had two older children from a previous marriage, Patricia and Tony, with whom he did not get along. The family moved to a farm in Benllech, Anglesey, North Wales and it was during this time that he started to show an interest in rock and roll music, girls and horses. He attended Ysgol Syr Thomas Jones school in Amlwch, where he was nick-named Lemmy, although he is unsure why, and it would later be claimed that it originated from the phrase "Lemmy a quid till Friday" because of his habit of borrowing money from people to feed his addiction to fruit machines.
He saw The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club when he was 16, then played guitar along to their first album, learning the chords. He also admired the sarcastic attitude of the group, particularly that of John Lennon. Upon leaving school and with his family relocated in Conwy, Lemmy undertook menial jobs including working at the local Hotpoint factory while also playing guitar for local bands, such as The Sundowners, and spending time at a horse riding school. At the age of 17, he met a holidaying girl named Cathy and he followed her to Stockport where she had his son, Sean. Sean was put up for adoption.
Recording and performing career
1960-1970: Early years
In Stockport, he joined local bands The Rainmakers then The Motown Sect, who enjoyed three years playing northern clubs. Wanting to progress further, in 1965 he joined The Rockin' Vickers who signed a deal with CBS and released three singles and toured Europe, reportedly being the first British band to visit Yugoslavia. With the band living in a Manchester flat, he had a relationship with a girl named Tracy who bore him a son, Paul, although it would not be until the boy was 6 that Lemmy had any involvement with the child.
Wanting to progress even further, Lemmy relocated to London in 1967. Sharing a flat with Noel Redding, he got a job as a roadie for The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In 1968 he joined Sam Gopal and recorded the album Escalator and the single "Horse". After meeting Simon King in a Chelsea shopping centre during 1969, he joined the band Opal Butterfly, but the band soon folded, having previously failed to raise enough interest with their preceding CBS singles.
At this point Lemmy thought about changing his legal name to his stepfather's surname of Willis, but with his actual father's surname of Kilmister, he decided changing his birth certificate and passport would be too much hassle, so did not bother. An attempted reconciliation in 1970 between Lemmy and his birth father broke down, with Lemmy describing him as a "nasty little weasel".
1971-1975: Hawkwind
In 1971, Lemmy joined the space rock band, Hawkwind, who were based in Ladbroke Grove, London. He had no experience as a bass guitarist, but quickly developed a distinctive style that was strongly shaped by his early experience as a rhythm guitarist, often using double stops and chords rather than the single notes preferred by most bassists. His bass work was a fundamental part of the Hawkwind sound during his tenure, perhaps best documented on Space Ritual. He also provided lead vocals on a number of songs, including the band's biggest UK chart single, "Silver Machine", which reached No.3 in 1972.
In 1975 Lemmy was fired from Hawkwind after he was arrested at Canadian customs on drug possession charges; he spent five days in jail. He went on to form a new band with guitarist Larry Wallis (former member of the Pink Fairies, Steve Took's Shagrat and UFO) and drummer Lucas Fox. Lemmy's connection with Took (formerly of T. Rex) was not limited to Wallis, as they were personal friends and Took was the stepfather to Lemmy's son, Paul. This new band was originally called Bastard. When his manager informed him that a band by that name will never get a slot on "Top of the Pops", Lemmy changed the band's name to Motörhead – the title of the last song Lemmy wrote for Hawkwind.
Lemmy playing bass live.
Soon after, both Wallis and Fox were replaced with guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke and drummer Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, and with this line-up the band began to achieve success. The band's sound appealed to both Lemmy's original fans and, eventually, to fans of the punk rock scene. In fact, he asserts that he generally feels more kinship with punks than with heavy metal; he even played with The Damned for a handful of gigs when they had no regular bassist—and Lemmy's guttural vocals were unique in the world of rock at that time. The band's success peaked between 1980 and 1981 with a number of UK chart hits, including the classic single "Ace of Spades" (still a crowd favourite today) and the #1 live album No Sleep 'til Hammersmith. Motörhead have since gone on to become one of the most influential bands in the heavy metal music genre, and although Lemmy is the only constant member, are still performing and releasing records to this day. Despite Motörhead's many member changes over their 35-year history, the current lineup of Lemmy, Phil Campbell and Mikkey Dee has remained constant since 1995.
Lemmy has also worked with a number of other musicians over his career, and occasionally guests with Hawkwind. He wrote the song "R.A.M.O.N.E.S" for the Ramones, which he still plays in his live sets as a tribute to the band. He was brought in as a songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's 1991 No More Tears album, providing lyrics for the tracks "Hellraiser", (which Motörhead would later record themselves and release a single), "Desire", "I Don't Want to Change the World", and the single "Mama I'm Coming Home". Lemmy has noted in several magazine and television interviews that he made more money from the royalties of that one song than he had in his entire time with Motörhead. After being diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes in 2000, which led to a brief hospitalization, Lemmy again appeared with Motörhead at WrestleMania 17. Lemmy published his autobiography, White Line Fever in November 2002. In 2005, Motörhead won their first Grammy in the Best Metal Performance category with their cover of Metallica's "Whiplash". He lives in a two room flat in Los Angeles, two blocks away from his favourite hangout the Rainbow Bar and Grill.
An officially licensed Lemmy figurine has been produced. Available as a "regular" or "special" edition, Lemmy recalls:
I had to stand on this platform while the camera went around and did the hologram thing and then they made the model, only smaller. They said it's an action figure, and I said, 'So, you're gonna put a dick on it?' They said, 'No.' I said, 'Well, then it's not going to get much action then, is it?' A bad name for it, right?Lemmy appeared as an unlockable character in the game Guitar Hero: Metallica. He also stars as a character in Brütal Legend named Kill Master, whom he voices.In October 2009 it was announced that he had been involved in recording a cover of "Stand by Me" featuring Lemmy on Vocals and Bass, Dave Lombardo of Slayer on Drums and produced by DJ and Producer, Baron. The song was made for legendary Pro Skateboarder Geoff Rowley.
Lemmy appeared on the song "Doctor Alibi" from Slash's self-titled solo album. The digital downloads of "Doctor Alibi" include the comment "Featuring Lemmy Kilmeister". This comment spells his surname with an 'e' not previously included in the "Kilmister" spelling. It is not known if this was a simple error or an intentional spelling change by the artist.
Singing Style
Lemmy is noted to have an extremely distinctive, gruff voice, which fits the band's aggressive sound. Lemmy is capable of expressing a degree of traditionally "melodic" singing, but has to date rarely shown a "clean" vocal performance except on early Hawkwind cuts such as "Silver Machine", "Lost Johnny" and on Motorhead's "I don't believe a word" where he sings in a conventional manner for long passages, & in the "Metallica Tribute" album on iTunes, which he sung part melodic, the gruff and blunt approach having become something of a trade-mark for himself and Motörhead. His voice type is low, akin to baritone, though because of his style being more expressive than technically driven, it is hard to classify him with any particular voice type.
Film and television
Cameo appearances
Lemmy has made a number of appearances in film and television, including the 1990 science fiction filmHardware and the 1987 comedy Eat the Rich, for which Motörhead also recorded the soundtracks. In the 1980s Motörhead were the musical guests on the cult British TV show "The Young Ones", episode entitled "Bambi". In the 1994 comedy Airheads (in which he is credited as "Lemmy von Motörhead"), one scene involving Brendan Fraser, Adam Sandler, and Steve Buscemi, has Brendan Fraser's character, "Chazz" Chester Darvey talking to an undercover cop who is pretending to be a record executive—Chazz asks him, "Who'd win in a wrestling match, Lemmy or God?", the cop replies, "Lemmy", to which Rex, played by Steve Buscemi, imitates a game show buzzer and the cop quickly changes his answer to "... God!". Rex replies saying, "Wrong, dickhead, trick question. Lemmy is God". Lemmy appears in the film and shouts out (truthfully) that he edited his school newspaper as other people in the crowd admit geeky pastimes in their youth. Lemmy has also appeared in several movies from Troma Entertainment, including the narrator in 1996's Tromeo and Juliet and as himself in both Terror Firmer and Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV.
Having a predilection for self-deprecating parody, he once appeared in an advertisement for Kit Kat chocolate bars, miming a piece of chamber music on the violin, in an upper-class tea-room, and he also appeared in an ad for Walkers where he gets his crisps stolen. He also appeared on an intro scene on The Drew Carey Show in which Motörhead play outside Carey's home, startling him awake. Lemmy is one of the few musicians to have been mentioned on Beavis and Butt-Head without being made fun of. Upon seeing Lemmy making a cameo appearance in the Ramones' "Substitute" video, Butthead exclaims, "He's Lemmy. He can walk into any damn video he wants!" and Beavis adds that Lemmy "rules," the highest compliment that the two are known to pay to an artist. Lemmy made an appearance in the music videos for the 1986 Boys Don't Cry song "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" and the 1998 Rap song "Freak of the Week" by adult film star Ron Jeremy.
Motörhead performed the entrance theme song "The Game" for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s Triple H (who at one point wore his mustache and sideburns like Lemmy as a tribute), as well as "Line in the Sand" for Triple H's now defunct wrestling stable, Evolution. In 2006, they once again provided theme music for WWE as they recorded the song "King of Kings" for Triple H on the Wreckless Intent CD. He also provided his voice for the video game Brütal Legend, voicing the Kill Master, a character designed and based on his likeness. Lemmy also appears in the new Airbourne music video for "Runnin' Wild". He plays a trucker driving wildly while the police chase him down a highway.
Lemmy recently has appeared on Down and Dirty with Jim Norton as the series deejay, and also created the theme music.
Lemmy also appears briefly, but with some confiding words, in the Penelope Spheeris film "The Decline of the Western Civilization, Part II".
Lemmy also took part in a comedy skit titled "The Easy Guitar Book Sketch" with comedian Rowland Rivron and fellow British musicians Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour, Mark King from Level 42, and Gary Moore.
Dave Grohl, on his Probot website, summarises musicians he worked with. For Lemmy's entry he wrote:
We recorded his track in Los Angeles in maybe two takes about a year and a half ago. Until then I'd never met what I'd call a real rock 'n' roll hero before. Fuck Elvis and Keith Richards, Lemmy's the king of rock 'n' roll - he told me he never considered Motörhead a metal band, he was quite adamant. Lemmy's a living, breathing, drinking and snorting fucking legend. No one else comes close.
'Sex Legend'
In a Channel 4 documentary called "Motörhead: Live Fast, Die Old", broadcast on 22 August 2005, it was claimed that Lemmy had "bedded" in excess of 2,000 women. Maxim magazine has Lemmy at number 8 on its top ten "Living Sex Legends" list, as they claim that he has slept with around 1,200 women.
In the documentary he explained that while in school he noticed a pupil who had brought a guitar to school and had been "surrounded by chicks". His mother had a guitar, which he then took to school, even though he could not play, and was himself surrounded by girls: "In those days just having a guitar was enough... that was it".
During Lemmy's time with Hawkwind, he developed an appetite for amphetamine and LSD and was to become renowned for his use of amphetamine. Before joining Hawkwind, he recalled Dik Mik, a former Hawkwind sound technician, visiting his squat in the middle of the night and taking speed with him. They became interested in how long "you could make the human body jump about without stopping", which they did for a few months, until Mik ran out of money and wanted to return to Hawkwind, taking Lemmy with him.
I first got into speed because it was a utilitarian drug and kept you awake when you needed to be awake, when otherwise you'd just be flat out on your back. If you drive to Glasgow for nine hours in the back of a sweaty truck you don't really feel like going onstage feeling all bright and breezy... It's the only drug I've found that I can get on with, and I've tried them all — except smack and morphine: I've never fixed anything.
—Lemmy
In November 2005, he was invited to the Welsh Assembly as a guest speaker by Tory Welsh assembly member William Graham. He was asked to express his views on the detrimental effects of drugs. However he shocked the Assembly Members and Welsh public when he called for the legalisation of heroin: "I have never had heroin but since I moved to London from north Wales in '67 I have mixed with junkies on a casual and almost daily basis," he said. "I also lived with a young woman who tried heroin just to see what it was like. It killed her three years later. I hate the idea even as I say it, but I do believe the only way to treat heroin is to legalise it." He stated that legalisation would eradicate the drug dealer from society.
Collector
Lemmy collects Nazi memorabilia, and has an Iron Cross encrusted on his bass, which has led to accusations of Nazi sympathies. He has stated that he collects this memorabilia for aesthetic values only, and considers himself an anarchist or libertarian, and that he is "anti-communism, fascism, any extreme," saying that "government causes more problems than it solves". According to Keith Emerson's autobiography, two of Lemmy's Hitlerjugend knives were given to Emerson during Lemmy's time spent as a roadie for The Nice. Emerson used these knives many times as keyholders when playing the Hammond Organ during concerts with The Nice and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
Equipment
Lemmy positions his microphone in an uncommonly high position, angled so that he appears to be looking up at the sky rather than at the audience. He said that it was for "personal comfort, that's all. It's also one way of avoiding seeing the audience. In the days when we only had ten people and a dog, it was a way of avoiding seeing that we only had ten people and a dog".
He has used Rickenbacker 4001 and 4003 bass guitars almost exclusively since his Hawkwind days, although some of these instruments were modified with the installation of Gibson Thunderbird pickups in the neck position. Rickenbacker produced a 60-bass run of Lemmy Kilmister signature basses, the 4004LK, which is fitted with three pickups, gold hardware, and elaborate wood carving in the shape of oak leaves. Lemmy currently uses a customised 4004.
He uses hot-rodded Marshall JMP Superbass II amplifiers from the late 1960s/early 1970s. Each amp, with a nominal output of 100 watts, is used with a 4x12 speaker cab and a custom-made 4x15 cab. He uses two such stacks, one on each side of the drum riser. For many years the amps were nicknamed "No Remorse", "Killer" (left side amp) or "Murder One" (right side amp) with appropriate nameplates. "No Remorse" was subsequently replaced by a new amp nicknamed "Marsha" when, as Kilmister said in an October 2004 interview, it "blew up". "Killer" and "Murder One" were believed to have been destroyed in Argentina when all the other equipment was stolen but this was later proven to be untrue. In 2006 Marshall designed new, prototype versions of "Murder One" which were then put into production, whilst the original amplifier was retired. A limited number of these bass heads have been released by Marshall in 2008 as the "1992LEM", a signature series copy of Lemmy's 1992 100 Watt Super Bass Head, "Murder One".
The phrase "everything louder than everyone else" sums up Lemmy's sonic approach, as he plays at the loudest possible levels. He uses the bridge pickup exclusively (giving his bass sound more definition) and turns all the tone and volume knobs on the bass up full. On the amplifiers, he turns off the bass and treble, and the midrange up all the way, with the volume and presence up to the 3:00 position. The result is a biting mid-range sound which is somewhat distorted but not "fuzzed out" or "blurry", a formula well-suited to his use of open-string drones and power chords. In the 1990s after a Motörhead show at Hultsfred, Sweden a radio reporter asked Lemmy "If you were to play here again in ten years, how do you think you would sound?" Lemmy replied "Same, but louder..."
Lemmy has occasionally played electric or acoustic guitar, notably on the acoustic song "I Ain't No Nice Guy" from Motörhead's March Ör Die album, the title track on 1996's Overnight Sensation, "Limb from Limb" on Overkill (on which he plays the second lead break), "Boogeyman" on Rock 'n' Roll, and a mouth harp on "Whorehouse Blues" from the Inferno album. On "lost Johnny " by Hawkwind he play sings, plays bass, lead and rhythm guitars.
In September 1996, his Rickenbacker bass was featured in the Bang Your Head exhibition at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
1974 – "Ejection" / "Catch a Falling Starfighter" (7" single)
1974 – Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters
1980 – "Lord of the Hornets" / "The Greenfly and the Rose" (7" single)
Side projects and career spanning
1990 – Lemmy & The Upsetters – Blue Suede Shoes
2000 – Lemmy, Slim Jim & Danny B – Lemmy, Slim Jim & Danny B
2006 – The Head Cat – Fool's Paradise
2006 – The Head Cat – Rockin' the Cat Club: Live from the Sunset Strip
2006 – Lemmy – Damage Case (Compilation)
2007 – Keli Raven & Lemmy Kilmister "Bad Boyz 4 Life" (single).
descent, while Kline's Irish-American mother, the daughter of an emigrant from County Louth, was Catholic. Kline and his siblings were raised as Catholic.
dashing portrayal of the Pirate King. In 1983, he played the role in a film version of the musical, also with Ronstadt, Smith and Angela Lansbury, which had a limited theatrical release.
