Who is Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.

Who is Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr.? The world knows him by his stage name of Lil Wayne. Formerly a member of the rap group the Hot Boys, he joined the Cash Money Records collective as a teenager. He worked with B.G. on the album True Story and eventually recorded for the label. Get It How U Live, released in 1997, was Lil Wayne's first album with Hot Boys, and Tha Block is Hot, his solo debut, came out 1999. Block debuted in the top ten on the American Billboard 200 chart and Lil Wayne was nominated for "Best New Artist" from The Source magazine the same year. Following this success, Wayne soon featured on other rappers' singles, including "Bling Bling" by B.G. and "#1 Stunna" by the Big Tymers in 2000.

After his hit debut album Tha Block Is Hot and two more albums released with little promotion, Lil Wayne reached higher popularity with 2004's Tha Carter and its two subsequent albums Tha Carter II (2005) and Tha Carter III (2008). He appears on several mixtapes and singles of other artists.


He was born September 27, 1982, he grew up in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. Carter enrolled in the gifted program of Lafayette Elementary School and in the drama club of Eleanor McMain Secondary School. At age eleven, he met Bryan Williams, rapper and owner of Cash Money Records. Lil Wayne recorded freestyle raps on Williams' answering machine; Williams would eventually mentor the young Carter and include him in Cash Money-distributed songs. When he was 12, he played the part of the Tin Man in his middle school drama club's production of The Wiz. He dropped out of school at age 14 but later earned his GED.

1997, Lil Wayne formed the group Hot Boys along with rappers Juvenile, Turk, and B.G.; at age 15, Wayne was the youngest member at that time. Hot Boys' debut album Get It How U Live! was released the same year, followed in 1999 by the group's major-label debut Guerrilla Warfare, which reached #1 on the Billboard magazine Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #5 on the Billboard 200. During their career, the Hot Boys had two charting singles, "We On Fire" from Get It How U Live! and "I Need a Hot Girl" from Guerrilla Warfare. Lil Wayne was also featured on Juvenile's single "Back That Azz Up", which reached #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.[8] Let 'Em Burn, a compilation album of unreleased tracks recorded during 1999 and 2000, came out in 2003, several years after the group disbanded. It reached #3 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #14 on the Billboard 200.

Lil Wayne's debut solo album Tha Block Is Hot at age 17 featured significant contributions from the Hot Boys and went double platinum, climbing to #3 on the Billboard album charts. The album earned him a 1999 Source magazine award nomination for "Best New Artist", and also became a Top Ten hit. The lead single was "Tha Block Is Hot". After the release of Tha Block is Hot, Lil Wayne was featured on the single, "Bling Bling", with B.G., Juvenile, Turk, and Big Tymers.

Wayne has a daughter named Reginae Carter with Antonia "Toya" Johnson, his high school sweetheart. The two were married on Valentines Day of 2004; they divorced in 2006. During his acceptance speech for "Lyricist of the Year" at the 2008 BET Awards, Lil Wayne announced that he is expecting a son. His newborn son is, Dwayne Carter III, was born Oct. 22 at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. The child's mother is still unknown. In an interview with Blender, Lil Wayne revealed one of his favorite bands from childhood to be rock group Nirvana, and cites them as a major influence in his music.

He has announced several possible projects following Tha Carter III, including a collaboration album I Can't Feel My Face with rapper Juelz Santana that has been in production for several years. On the website HipHopDX.com, he has discussed a possible R&B album titled Luv Sawngz, for which he will heavily rely on a vocoder. He has also talked with singer Lloyd about doing a collaboration album in the future. DJ Drama stated that there would be a third installation of the Dedication mixtape series with Lil Wayne, who has instead stated that he will do an full album under the title. In interviews, Wayne has asserted that he might make an album titled Tha Carter IV. On June 19, 2008, Lil Wayne and T-Pain formed a supergroup called T-Wayne and planned to release an album.

The lineup for New Orleans' 2008 Voodoo Experience concert, to be held in October, will feature Lil Wayne. Jonathan Cohen of Billboard magazine reported that the event will mark his biggest hometown headlining set of his career. Lil Wayne will be reuniting with Hot Boys alongside Juvenile, Turk, and B.G. They plan to release an album after B.G.'s solo album Too Hood to Be Hollywood is completed. Wayne also performed as the 2008 Virgin Mobile Music Fest with Kanye West, performing his "Lollipop (remix)" featuring West and also lip-syncing to Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You". Lil Wayne also performed at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards with Kid Rock ("All Summer Long"), Leona Lewis ("DontGetIt (Misunderstood)") and T-Pain ("Got Money"). Lil Wayne was also featured on the 34th season premiere episode of Saturday Night Live as the musical guest and is also set to perform at Vanderbilt University's homecoming on October 23. Wayne was then revealed to be performing at the 2008 BET Hip Hop Awards along with Ludacris, T-Pain, The Game, and Young Jeezy among others, where he leads all nominations with 12 total. He won 6 of them, and one with Dj Khaled for the song "Out Here Grindin'." He is expected to start a nationwide tour, practising with a live band and working on logistics. It was revealed that M.I.A. dropped out of performing on the tour due to her pregnancy, however Jay Z is expected to perform with Wayne on the song "Mr. Carter" at select shows.

In an interview on MTV's Mixtape Monday, Wayne stated that Tha Carter IV is "nice" but fans should be looking for Dedication 3 with DJ Drama. Following Tha Carter III's achievement of selling over 2 million copies, becoming 2008's best record, Wayne re-signed with Cash Money Records for a multi-album deal. On September 24, Lil Wayne published his first blog for ESPN in their issue, ESPN The Magazine. Wayne revealed he was a tennis fan, a Green Bay Packers fan, a Boston Bruins fan, a Los Angeles Lakers fan, and a Boston Red Sox fan.

On November 11, 2008, Wayne became the first hip-hop act to ever perform at the Country Music Awards. He played alongside Kid Rock for the song, "All Summer Long", in which Wayne did not rap but instead played guitar along Kid Rock's band. Shortly after, Wayne was nominated for eight Grammys - the most for an artist nominated.


On January 23, 2008, Lil Wayne was arrested alongside two others. His tour bus was stopped by Border Patrol agents near Yuma, Arizona. A K-9 Unit recovered 105 grams of marijuana (3.7 ounces), almost 29 grams of cocaine (1.02 ounces), 41 grams of MDMA (1.4 ounces) and $22,000 dollars in cash. Lil Wayne was charged with four felonies: possession of narcotic drug for sale, possession of dangerous drugs, misconduct involving weapons and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was granted permission to travel outside of the state and remain out of custody on the $10,185 bond he posted. On May 6, 2008 Wayne returned to court in Arizona to plead not guilty to the charges.

Who is Madonna Louise Ciccone?

Madonna was born Madonna Louise Ciccone, the world knows her as Madonna. She was born in Bay City, Michigan in 1958. Her mother, Madonna Louise (née Fortin), was of French Canadian descent, and her father, Silvio "Tony" P. Ciccone, was a first-generation Italian American Chrysler/General Motors design engineer whose parents originated from Pacentro, Abruzzo, ItalyMadonna is the third of six children; her siblings are Martin, Anthony, Paula Mae, Christopher, and Melanie.

Madonna was raised in the Detroit suburbs of Pontiac and Avon Township (now Rochester Hills). Her mother died of breast cancer at age 30 on December 1, 1963. Her father married the family housekeeper, Joan Gustafson, and they had two children; Jennifer and Mario Ciccone. "I didn't accept my stepmother when I was growing up," Madonna said, "in retrospect I think I was really hard on her." Madonna convinced her father to allow her to take ballet classes. Madonna attended St. Frederick's Elementary School and St. Andrew's Elementary School (present day Holy Family Regional) and West Middle School. She attended Rochester Adams High School, becoming a straight-A student and a member of the cheerleading squad. Madonna received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan after graduating from high school. After performing as member of the pop musical groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her self-titled debut album in 1983, and then produced three consecutive number-one studio albums on the Billboard 200 in the 1980s and four more since year 2000.

Madonna is known for her works that explore religious symbolism and sexual themes which also drew criticism from the Vatican in the late 1980s.[2] In 1992, she founded an entertainment company, Maverick, which published a book of photographs (Sex). She also released a studio album (Erotica) and starred in a film (Body of Evidence) with erotic themes. These works generated negative publicity and coincided with a fall in commercial sales in the 1990s.Madonna's career was revived in 1998, when the release of her album Ray of Light garnered critical acclaim.

Madonna has acted in 22 films. Although many failed critically and commercially, she earned a Golden Globe Award for her role in the 1996 film Evita. In 1996 Madonna conceived a daughter, Lourdes Maria (also known as Lola) by personal trainer Carlos Leon before marrying film director Guy Ritchie in 2000. She and Ritchie have two sons, Rocco and David Banda, a Malawian boy they adopted in 2006, which caused media allegations they violated that country's adoption laws.

Madonna has been regarded as "one of the greatest pop acts of all time" and dubbed the "Queen of Pop" by various sources. She is ranked by the Recording Industry Association of America as the best-selling female rock artist of the twentieth century and the second top-selling female artist in the United States with 63 million certified albums. Guinness World Records list her as the world's most successful female recording artist of all time and the top-earning female singer in the world with an estimated net worth of US$490 million, having sold over 200 million records worldwide. On March 10, 2008, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.


Madonna's ballet teacher persuaded her to pursue a career in dance, so she left the college at the end of 1977 and relocated to New York City. Madonna had little money and for some time lived in squalor, working at Dunkin' Donuts and with modern dance troupes. Speaking of her move to New York, Madonna said, "It was the first time I'd ever taken a plane, the first time I'd ever gotten a taxi cab. I came here with $35 in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I'd ever done." While performing as a dancer for the French disco artist Patrick Hernandez on his 1979 world tour, Madonna became romantically involved with the musician Dan Gilroy, with whom she later formed her first rock band, the Breakfast Club, in New York. In it, she sang and played drums and guitar before forming the band Emmy in 1980 with drummer and former boyfriend Stephen Bray. She and Bray wrote and produced dance songs that brought her local attention in New York dance clubs. Disc jockey and record producer Mark Kamins was impressed by her demo recordings, so he brought her to the attention of Sire Records founder Seymour Stein.


In the late 1970s, Madonna dated Dan Gilroy, with whom she formed the band Breakfast Club. In the early 1980s, she dated her collaborator Stephen Bray, artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, DJ and record producer Mark Kamins, and musician Jellybean Benitez. While filming the music video for "Material Girl" in 1985, Madonna dated actor Sean Penn and married him later that year. After filing and withdrawing divorce papers in December 1987, they separated on New Year's Eve 1988 and divorced in January 1989. Of her marriage to Penn, Madonna said, "I was completely obsessed with my career and not ready to be generous in any shape or form." Madonna then began a relationship with Warren Beatty while working on the film Dick Tracy. The couple broke up in the fall of 1990, after a year and a half together.


Madonna with husband Guy RitchieIn late 1990, Madonna dated Tony Ward, a bisexual model and porn star who starred in her music videos for "Cherish" and "Justify My Love" (1990). Their relationship ended by early 1991, and Madonna began an eight-month relationship with rapper Vanilla Ice, who appeared in her Sex book.[180] Madonna dated basketball player Dennis Rodman in the mid 1990s. In September 1994, in Central Park, Madonna met fitness trainer Carlos Leon who became her trainer and lover. On October 14, 1996, Madonna gave birth to Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon in Los Angeles, California. Madonna dated Andy Bird, who sold his story about their eighteen-month relationship in late 2000. Madonna became involved with Guy Ritchie, whom she had met in 1999 through mutual friends Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler. On August 11, 2000, she gave birth to their son, Rocco in Los Angeles. On December 22, 2000, Madonna and Ritchie were married in Scotland. As of 2008, Madonna resides in Marylebone, London and her country estate in Berwick St. John, Wiltshire, with Ritchie, their two sons, and her daughter. On October 15, 2008, a spokeswoman confirmed that Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie have filed for divorce in October 2008. A preliminary decree of divorce was granted Friday, November 21, 2008, and will become final on Friday, January 2, 2009. On November 21, 2008, TV Guide reported that Madonna and Ritchie were granted a preliminary “quickie divorce.” The document released by the court states that Madonna, said in a sworn statement that the reason for filing for her divorce is due to Ritchie's "unreasonable behavior."By December 15, 2008, the couple had agreed a divorce settlement, the terms of which grant Richie between £50million and £60million, a figure that includes the value of the couple's country house in England. Custody of the couple's children has yet to be finalised.



Her Confessions Tour is the highest grossing concert tour by a female artist. In the United Kingdom, she is the most successful female in the singles chart history and has more number one singles than any other female solo artist. In 2008, she surpassed Elvis Presley as the artist with most top ten hits in the history of Billboard Hot 100. In 2007, Madonna was listed by VH1 as eighth in the Greatest Women of Rock & Roll.On March 10, 2008, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

There has been speculation about her relationships with other women, including Naomi Campbell and Sandra Bernhard. The book Sex depicts her in sexual situations with men and women, and she has been credited with educating people about bisexuality. Madonna has been criticized by the Roman Catholic Church, particularly during her "Who's That Girl", "Blond Ambition" and "Confessions" tours. The New York Times journalist and author Gay Talese relates this to her Italian ancestry – people from Pacentro have been in a long tradition of rebellion against Catholics. Madonna had her son Rocco baptized in a Presbyterian Church.

Madonna has generated academic interest. Interdisciplinary research and publications address her relationship to and place within commodity culture, the mass-media spectacles she creates, and the iconography of minority groups such as gay and lesbian people, which she uses in videos such as those for "Vogue", "Like a Prayer", "La Isla Bonita" and "Borderline". These publications were so extensive that in the 1990s, academics would refer to "Madonna Studies" as a sub-field of media studies.

In 2006 a new water bear species (Latin: Tardigrada), Echiniscus madonnae, was named after Madonna. The paper with the description of E. madonnae was published in the international journal of animal taxonomy Zootaxa in March 2006 (Vol. 1154, pages: 1–36). The authors' justification for the name of the new species was: "We take great pleasure in dedicating this species to one of the most significant artists of our times, Madonna Louise Veronica Ritchie." The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) number of the species is 711164. more

Who is Tara Reid?

Who is Tara Reid? She was (born November 8, 1975). Tara is a U.S. actress. She is known for her roles in the films The Big Lebowski (1998), Urban Legend (1998), American Pie (1999), American Pie 2 (2001), National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), My Boss's Daughter (2003), and Alone in the Dark (2005). Reid was born and raised in Wyckoff, New Jersey, the daughter of Donna and Tom Reid, both of whom are teachers and day-care center owners. She attended Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School and subsequently Ramapo High School and graduated from alternative high school Barnstable Academy. Both high schools were in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey; Barnstable is now in Oakland. Reid has twin younger siblings Colleen and Patrick and a brother Tom.

Reid began her career at the age of nine in 1985 on the game show Child's Play. As an adult she had roles in a number of commercials for McDonald's, Crayola, and Jell-O. She grew up in New York City suburbs, and attended the Professional Children's School along with such celebrities as Christina Ricci, Ben Taylor, Jerry O'Connell, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Macaulay Culkin.[2] Although her break-through role was in American Pie in 1999, followers of the 1998 cult film The Big Lebowski already knew her as Bunny Lebowski. Reid spent the late 1990s appearing more often on the cover of tabloid magazines than on screen. Her extroverted social life soon gave her a reputation as a party girl; in fact, U.S. magazine In Touch Weekly, recently voted Reid "top party animal". She played that image with her role on the N.B.C. comedy-drama Scrubs as Danni Sullivan, main character J.D.'s promiscuous drinking and smoking girlfriend.
During summer 2005, she was busy filming Incubus in Romania at an assortment of clubs with Bucharest's local socialites. Taradise, her half-hour television show on the E! network, premiered in September 2005; it was canceled the following month. The show was an up-dated incarnation of E!'s well-known series Wild On, in which a celebrity host traveled to exotic places to party. In January 2007, Reid filmed a commercial with Daniel Conn for Dodo, an Australian budget telephone and Internet provider. Reid appeared in the September 2007 issue of FHM magazine.
On December 12, 2008 publicist Jack Ketsoyan said Reid checked into the Promises Treatment Center. He did not specify what addiction she was being treated for. more