Rueben's Ramblings

Bif Naked

 Bif Naked (born Beth Torbert) is a Juno Award-winning, multi-platinum record selling, Canadian rock singer (as well as writer, cartoonist, poet, motivational speaker and actress), who was born in New Delhi and subsequently adopted by American missionaries. While she spent her childhood in Kentucky, she spent most of her life in Canada between Manitoba and Winnipeg.

Before going solo, Bif Naked played with punk bands like Gorilla Gorilla and Chrome Dog. She has toured Europe, the United States and Canada, performing alongside Billy Idol, Dido, Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow and The Foo Fighters (among others).

Her studio albums include her self-titled debut album released in 1995, which included singles “Tell On You” and “My Whole Life” and a spoken word album in 1997 entitled “Okenspay Ordway: Things I Forgot To Tell Mommy”.

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Emmy Rossum

Actress and Singer Emmy Rossum was born in New York City. When she 7 years of age, she joined the Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus based on her ability to sing “Happy Birthday” in 12 different keys. Over the course of 5 years, she sang onstage with the chorus and performed with opera greats like Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. Over that time she sang in six different languages, in 20 different operas, including La bohème, Turandot, a Carnegie Hall presentation of La damnation de Faust and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She also worked under the direction of Franco Zeffirelli in Carmen.

By the age of 12, her increasing interest in acting led her to take classes with The New Actors Workshop in New York City, which in turn led her to eventually appear in television shows such as Law & Order, Snoops, As the World Turns and The Practice. She appeared in the made-for-TV movies A Will of Her Own, The Audrey Hepburn Story, and Nola as well as the motion pictures Mystic River, The Day After Tomorrow, The Phantom of the Opera, Poseidon, Dragonball: Evolution and Dare.

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eastmountainsouth

eastmountainsouth (yes, in all lowercase letters) was an American folk-pop duo formed in 2001 by singers-songwriters Kat Maslich Bode and Peter Bradley Adams. Within a year they were signed by DreamWorks Record and released their self-titled debut album in 2003. The duo then toured for a year and half exclusively with recording artists such as Lucinda Williams, Tracy Chapman, Joan Baez and Nelly Furtado.

The duo’s album produced a number of popular songs including “You Dance,” which became a radio hit as well as “Hard Times,” “Show Me The River” and today’s Song of the Day – “So Are You To Me”. This song was written by Adams and while it is the shortest song on the album, its melodic sound is memorizing.

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Adam Lambert

Adam Lambert is an American singer, songwriter and actor from San Diego, California who was the runner up on the 8th season of American Idol, which aired in 2009. He got his start as a stage actor at the age of 10 years old when he appeared in the San Diego production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. He then appeared in Fiddler on the Roof at the age of 12 and was in tnhe productions of Hello, Dolly!, Chess, Camelot, The Music Man, Grease and Peter Pan during his teens.

At the age of 19, he performed overseas with Anita Mann Productions and appeared in the European production of Hair. This led to Lambert being in the US productions of Brigadoon and 110 in the Shade. He followed those productions with a role in The Ten Commandments: The Musical with Val Kilmer.

In 2005, he met producer Malcolm Welsford, who has helped develop his recording career. Adam then spent a short time moonlighting as the front man for the underground rock back The Citizen Vein and regularly performing at the Upright Cabaret and the Zodiac Show.

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Orianthi

Orianthi Panagaris, who simply goes by Orianthi, is an Australia singer-songwriter and extremely talented guitarist. She learned to play acoustic guitar at the age of 6 then started on electric guitar when she was 11. At the age of 14 she was playing in various bands in England and France and did her first stage show with Steve Vai at 15. Three years later she had the chance to meet and jam with Carlos Santana and by late 2006 she signed with Geffen Records.

Among the accomplishments of this talented young musician include performing with Prince, having a song featured in Bratz: The Movie, being named as one of the 12 Greatest Female Electric Guitarists, appearing at the 51st annual Grammy Awards as lead guitarist for Carrie Underwood, having a guitar solo on the Adam Lambert song “Sleepwalker” and appearing alongside the late Michael Jackson in his “This Is It” film.

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Pete Yorn

Pete Yorn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist who gained international recognition after his debut album “Musicforthemorningafter” was released to critical acclaim in 2001. But Yorn started out in music at a young age, teaching himself to play the drums at age nine and then learning the guitar shortly thereafter. He, of course, played drums in his band in high school and then made music his primary focus while attending Syracuse University. After graduating, he moved to Los Angeles and three years later was signed to Columbia Records in 1999.

His music caught the attention of film producer Bradley Thomas (There’s Something About Mary), and this led to Yorn scoring all of the music to the film and contributing the songs “Strange Condition” and “Just Another” to the film and its soundtrack. It was after this work that his debut album was released in 2001 and it went gold thanks in great part to the single “Life on a Chain”.

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Oasis

Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991 and consisted of members Liam Gallagher (vocals and tambourine), Paul Arthurs (guitar), Paul McGuigan (bass) and Tony McCarroll (drums), who were soon joined by Liam’s older brother Noel Gallagher (lead guitar and vocals).

Their record-setting debut album “Definitely Maybe” was released in 1994 and featured their hit single “Supersonic”. The following year, the band released their second album “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory? ” with their new drummer Alan White. This album included their hit singles “Wonderwall” and “Champagne Supernova” and became the third largest selling album of all time in the UK.

Two years later, the band released “Be Here Now,” which debuted at number 2 on the Billboard charts in the United States. But by 1999, Paul Arthurs and Paul McGuigan both left the group while the 3 remaining members continued to record their next album. Replacement members Colin Archer and Andy Bell joined the band and in 2000 their fourth album “Standing on the Shoulder of Giants” was released, but, up to that point, became their lowest selling studio album.

In 2002, the album “Heaven Chemistry” was released and reached number 1 in the UK and number 23 in the United States. Once again, the band had a change of members with drummer Andy White leaving, being replaced by Zak Starkey. They then released their sixth album “Don’t Believe the Truth” in 2005; which was followed by a double album compilation called “Stop the Clocks” in 2006.

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