Artist research - Dizzee Rascal

Dizzee Rascal was born as Dylan Kwabena Mills on 1 October 1985. He is a British rapper, songwriter and record producer of Nigerian and Ghanaian descent. His music is a blend of garage, hip hop, grime, ragga, pop and electronic music, with extremely eclectic samples and more exotic styles.

Dizzee was born in Bow, east London. His father died when he was young, and he was raised for most of his life in a single-parent family by his mother, Priscilla, who did the best she could for her rebellious son.

He attended a number of schools in East London, excluded from four secondary schools in four years - it was a teacher who first called him "Rascal". In early interviews he mentioned what his rebellion as a child included as he described himself fighting with teachers, stealing cars and robbing pizza delivery men. In the fifth school, Langdon Park in Poplar, he was excluded from most classes except music. He also used to attend YATI (Young Actors Theatre Islington). He began making music on the school's computer, encouraged by a music teacher and during the summer holidays attended a music workshop organised by Tower Hamlets Summer University of which he is now a patron.

Experimenting with his decks and styles, he became an amateur DJ, making occasional appearances on a local pirate radio station. Aged 16, he self-produced his first single, "I Luv U". In 2002, he jointly formed the Roll Deep Crew, a 13-piece garage collective, with former school friends. Signed by the XL record label, he signed an additional solo deal. After winning a Sidewinder Award for Best Newcomer MC in 2002, in June 2003 the re-recorded and re-produced by Jacob Freitt single I Luv U was released, becoming a Top 30 hit single.

Boy in da corner
Dizzee's first solo album, Boy in da Corner, was released in August 2003, entering the UK Top 40 at #40. The album peaked at #23. In the same week the album was released, while performing with Roll Deep Crew, the rapper was stabbed six times in Ayia Napa. Many newspapers suggested that this event was connected to an apparent feud between Dizzee and So Solid Crew, and him pinching Lisa Maffia's bottom. After Dizzee was hospitalised, So Solid Crew member "Megaman" was questioned about the incident, but was immediately released by Cypriot police. Following the success of single "I Luv U" and the album, the second single from Boy in da Corner was "Fix Up, Look Sharp". The single gave Dizzee his first UK Top 20 single and also became the biggest hit from his debut album. In September, Dizzee was awarded the Mercury Prize for the best album of 2003. Along with being picked as the #1 album of the year by Planet Sound, Boy in da Corner was also chosen as one of the top 50 albums of the year by Rolling Stone magazine. The third and final single, taken from his debut album, was "Jus' a Rascal", which became his fourth top 30 success. The song was also featured in the film "Kidulthood", released in 2006.



Showtime
His second album, Showtime, was released in September 2004, jumping ahead of his debut album by entering the UK Albums Chart at #8. The first single from the album, was titled Stand Up Tall; it was written and produced by dubstep DJ Youngsta and entered the UK Top 10. The second single "Dream", another top 20 hit, was released in November 2004. It sampled and used the chorus of Captain Sensible's song "Happy Talk". The "Dream" music video consisted of a mock 1950s style children's marionette show depicting scenes corresponding to the lyrics about Dizzee's youth; street culture, crime, single teenage mothers, pirate radio and garage clubs. Later in 2004, Dizzee Rascal was part of Band Aid 20, a group of British musicians who re-recorded "Do They Know It's Christmas?" but rather than singing his two lines, he rapped them. In 2004, Dizzee Rascal made an international endorsement deal with urban brand Eckō and designed his own shoe with Nike in 2005.

Maths + English
Dizzee's third album, Maths + English, was released on 4 June 2007. He stated in an interview before the album's release that "Maths" refers to producing, in terms of beats, deals and money and "English" to writing lyrics. The first single off this album, Sirens, was released on 21 May. In 2008, Dizzee Rascal recorded a song for suicide charity CALM; the song "Dean" was about a friend of his who took his own life. In December of that year, he was arrested following an alleged incident involving a baseball bat in Southeast London. He was released on bail to return to a police station later in December.

Tongue N' Cheek
Dizzee Rascal released his 4th album, Tongue N' Cheek, on 21 September 2009. It included his 4 number-one hits "Dance Wiv Me", "Holiday", "Bonkers" and "Dirtee Disco". Its release was announced on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, where Dizzee Rascal revealed some details about the album, including track information and production. Dizzee also confirmed in an interview on Radio One, that he would be leaving his grime roots behind, in favour of more mainstream pop. On the 16th February at the Brit Awards, Dizzee Rascal won the award for Best British Male.

He later performed a mash-up entitled "You Got the Dirtee Love" with Florence and the Machine. This collaboration was released as a charity single the following day and peaked at number 2 in the UK charts. On the 31st May 2010 Dizzee re-released the album Tongue N' Cheek with a few new tracks on which was released on 24 May 2010. It went straight to Number 1 on the UK singles chart and as a result gave Dizzee the record for the most number one singles on an album by solo male artist.

Dirtee Stank
Dizzee Rascal has created his own record label, called Dirtee Stank. It was not until 2005 that Dizzee Rascal really started with the label and made his first signings, Klass A and Newham Generals. The label's MySpace page states that the ethos of the company is "about bridging the gap between indie, majors and the street. Stank is the way forwards". The label's logo is a picture of flies circling faeces. When asked why this logo was chosen, Dizzee stated that it was the "streetest thing I could think of"

This is the performance of "You've got the dirtee love" at the BRIT awards by Dizzee Rascal and Florence and the machine:

Artist research - Eminem

Eminem was born as Marshall Bruce Mathers III on October 17th 1972. He was born in Saint Joseph, Missouri but moved across various towns and cities such as Kansas City and Michigan with his poverty stricken mother Deberah Mathers after his father left them when Eminem was aged 2 and never returned.

Eminem was performing rap from the age of 14 under the name M&M. After retaking the 9th grade twice due to truency and failing grades, he dropped out of school at age 17.

Early Career and "Infinate"
Eminem was signed by the record company FBT Productions in 1992 whilst he was still working at his minimum wage job at a resturant cleaning. In 1996, his debut album Infinite was released. Subjects covered were his struggles with raising his newborn daughter Hailie Jade Scott while on limited funds and his strong desire to get rich. After the release of Infinite, Eminem's personal struggles and abuse of drugs and alcohol culminated in an unsuccessful suicide attempt.
Jimmy Iovine, CEO of Interscope Records, requested a demo tape of Eminem's work after he won second place at the 1997 Rap Olympics. Eminem had also won Wake Up Show's Freestyle Performer Of The Year award helping him acquire a record deal. Iovine played the tape for record producer Dr. Dre, founder of Aftermath Entertainment. The two began recording tracks for Eminem's upcoming major-label debut The Slim Shady LP.



The Slim Shady LP
After being signed to Aftermath Entertainment in 1998, Eminem released his first major studio album, The Slim Shady LP, heavily based on the production by Dr. Dre, one year later in 1999. It went on to be one of the most popular albums of 1999, going triple platinum by the end of the year. With the album's popularity came controversy surrounding many of the album's lyrics. In "'97 Bonnie and Clyde", he describes a trip with his infant daughter, disposing of his wife's body.


The Marshall Mathers LP
The Marshall Mathers LP was released in May 2000. It went on to sell 1.76 million copies in its first week, breaking the records set by Snoop Dogg. The first single released from the album, "The Real Slim Shady", was a success and created some controversy by insulting celebrities. In another single, "Stan", Eminem attempts to deal with his new-found fame, taking on the persona of a deranged fan who kills himself and his pregnant girlfriend. Q magazine named "Stan" the third-greatest rap song of all time.

The Eminem Show
Eminem's third major album, The Eminem Show, was released in summer 2002 selling well over 1 million copies in its first week of release. It featured the single "Without Me", in which he makes contraversial comments about boy bands, Limp Bizkit and Moby. The album reflected on the impact of his rise to fame, his relationship with his wife and daughter, and his status in the hip-hop community. He also addresses the charges he faced over assaulting a bouncer he saw kissing his wife in 2000.

Encore
In 2004, Eminem released his fourth major album, Encore. It sold over 700,000 copies in its first week of release. The album was driven by the single "Just Lose It", notable for being disrespectful towards Michael Jackson. Despite the comedic theme of the lead single, Encore had its fair share of serious subject matter, including the anti-war track "Mosh".

In 2005, some industry insiders speculated that Eminem was considering ending his rapping career after six years. He released a greatest hits album under the name Curtain Call: The Hits, on December 6 2005 under Aftermath Entertainment. In July 2005, news broke out of a potential final bow for Eminem as a solo performer, quoting friends who said that he will begin to fully embrace the role of producer and label executive. On the same day of the release of the compilation album, Eminem denied that he was retiring on a radio interview, but implied that he would at least be taking a break as an artist.

Relapse
In September 2007, Eminem told a radio station he was in limbo on whether to release another album. In December 2008, he gave more details on the album, which he reported was being titled Relapse. "We Made You", the first official single and its music video, were released on April 7. While Relapse didn't manage to sell as well as Eminem's previous efforts, it was still a commercial success that received some critical acclaim, while also re-establishing his presence in the hip hop world. Relapse was named one of the top albums of 2009. Relapse has sold more than five million copies worldwide.

Recovery
In April 2010, Eminem let all his followers on Twitter know he was releasing a new album by tweeting "Recovery" with a link to his website. The album was released on 21st June. The first single, "Not Afraid", was released on April 29, and debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.



Acting career
Eminem made his official Hollywood acting debut with the semi-autobiographical 8 Mile, released in November 2002. He has said the movie is not an account of his life, but a representation of growing up in Detroit. He recorded several new songs for the soundtrack, including "Lose Yourself", which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2003. It was reported on November 8, 2009 that Eminem will star in the upcoming 3D horror anthology, Shady Talez, directed by John Davis. He has also been involved in various voice overs for example in the 50 cent video game "Bulletproof".

Drug issues
Eminem has spoken openly about his addiction to alcohol and prescription drugs, including Vicodin, Ambien, Valium and Methadone. His group-mate Proof from D12 stated that Mathers "sobered up" in 2002 from drug and alcohol dependence. However, he did turn to zolpidem sleeping pills for relief from sleeping troubles. This caused Mathers to cancel the European leg of the Anger Management Tour in August 2005 and eventually go into rehab for treatment for a "dependency on sleep medication". In a 2009 interview with Jonathan Ross, Eminem admitted that at the height of his addiction, he considered suicide, saying that "I just wasn't taking care of myself, at times I wanted to just give it up." He also confirmed that he is now sober, commenting that "Rap was my drug ... Then I had to resort to other things to make me feel that. Now rap's getting me high again."

This is the video for the song Lose Yourself which Eminem released for his film 8 mile:

Artist research - Tom Jones

Tom Jones was born in the small mining village of Trefforest, Pontypridd near Cardiff in Wales on the 7th June 1940. He was born with the name Thomas John Woodward but later decided to use the stage name Jones due to his mothers maiden name and his Welsh nationality.


Tom Jones is a singer but has also been involved in television when he had 2 variety shows. His first was called "This is Tom Jones" which was on air from 1969 until 1971 on ITV in the UK and on ABC in America. His second variety show lasted for a series of 24 episodes which was called "The Tom Jones show". As a singer, Tom Jones has recorded and released songs from a wide range of genres including pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, and techno which has sold over 100 million records.

Tom Jones started off his singing career in the 1960's when he was the front man of the Welsh beat group "Tommy Scott and the Senators". The group was introduced to manager Phil Soloman when they were spotted performing one night locally in Wales but the partnership was unfortunatly short lived. The group continued singing locally in pubs and gentlemens clubs when Tom Jones was spotted one night by Gordon Mills, a London manager.



Many record companies found Jones' stage presence, act, and vocal delivery too raucous and raunchy. Eventually, Mills got Jones a recording contract with Decca. His first single was "Chills and Fever" which was released in 1964. It didn't chart, but the follow-up, "It's Not Unusual", which Gordon Mills wrote, became an international hit. It reached number one in the UK and the top ten in the USA even though the BBC refused to show it and it had to be promoted by a pirate radio station.

In mid 1960s Gordon Mills got Jones a number of film theme tunes such as "Whats new pussy cat?" and "Thunderball" which he recorded. He was then awarded the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1965.

Tom Jones moved to Las Vegas where he started to perform at the Flamingo. This was the start of Jones' recognisable and famous charasmatic performances where the reponses from the crowd were a knicker hurling frenzy. His time in Las Vegas resulted in his meeting of his idol Elvis Presley who he became closer and closer to until his unfortunate death in 1977.

In the 1970s Jones' popularity within his music started to decline and his hits were not reaching chart levels. His friend and manager Gordon Mills sadly died from cancer in 1986 and this led to his son Mark to become his new manager. He saw an oppertunity for his father to regain popularity by changing his genre of music to something more modern and this resulted in hits such as "A Boy From Nowhere" and "If I Only Knew".

Tom Jones carried on recording and performing hits into the 21st century when he was awarded a BRIT for best male in 2000 and then another BRIT award in 2003 for his outstanding contribution to music.



The singer was awarded an OBE in 1999 which was then followed by a knighting from the Queen in 2006 for his services to music.








Tom Jones is still blooming in his music career as he performed at the Glastonbury fesitval last year in 2009 and has just announced he will be releasing a new album called "Praise and Blame" on 26th July 2010.



http://www.tomjones.com - this is the offical Tom Jones website where people can look at tour dates, news, photos and buy Tom Jones merchandise.

http://www.myspace.com/tomjones - this is Tom Jones offical MySpace page with all the latest news, videos and interviews.

http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialTomJones - this is the official youtube channel for Tom Jones where there are videos of him in the studio and documenting the making of his new album.


This is my favourite song by Tom Jones "Delilah". I like this song because it tells a story and the music to go with the song creates tension. I have been brought up listening to Tom Jones music and this has been one of my favourite songs from a young age: