Did you know that "Just The Way You Are" earned Bruno Mars a Grammy Award?

"Just The Way You Are" earned Bruno Mars a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 53rd Grammy Awards?

"Just the Way You Are" has sold 12.5 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time. "Just The Way You Are" is a pop and R&B song with an instrumentation that features piano, keyboard sounds and breakbeat. The instruments are arranged into what critics described as a "nice smooth ballad with vocals".

Bruno said of the song, "It took me months to come up with 'Just the Way You Are'... I wasn't thinking of anything deep or poetic. I was telling a story. Get ready to fall in love!" He added, "I'm a big fan of songs like Joe Cocker's 'You Are So Beautiful' and Eric Clapton's 'Wonderful Tonight' - songs that go straight to the point. You know, there's no mind-boggling lyrics or twists in the story - they just come directly from the heart. And to me 'Just The Way You Are' is one of those songs. There's nothing mind-blowing about it. I'm just telling a woman she looks beautiful the way she IS - and, let's be honest, what woman doesn't wanna hear those lyrics?!"

Mars' A&R who was responsible for finding songs and songwriters to help in the process of composing the song, Aaron Bay-Schuck, told HitQuarters that as soon as "Just the Way You Are" was finished they knew they had the first single, saying:

"It had a massive chorus, an instantly memorable melody and lyric, and was a natural transition from the B.o.B and Travie McCoy songs ... [Also] it didn’t sound like anything else on the radio. It had everything we could want in a first single for Bruno."

His real name is Peter Gene Hernandez. He was nicknamed "Bruno" by his father at the age of two, because he was a chubby kid and there was a famous chubby wrestler at the time named Bruno Sammartino. At the start of his career he added "Mars" to his stage name because "a lot of girls say I'm out of this world, so I was like I guess I'm from Mars."

                                              Source: Wikipedia, Artistfacts, TheGleeWikiProject, YouTube

                          

Did you know that "Just The Way You Are" earned Bruno Mars a Grammy Award?

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Did you know that Jay-Z used to write down ryhmes on a paper bag?

Deep in the heart of Jay-Z, he knew that rap offered him the best opportunity to get out of the drug business. He said "Rap was my way out, the only talent I had, and my shot of making something of myself. And it was legal!"

In an interview with NPR, Jay shared how he began putting down rhymes: "I would run into the corner store, the bodega, and just grab a paper bag or buy juice — anything just to get a paper bag. And I'd write the words on the paper bag and stuff these ideas in my pocket until I got back. Then I would transfer them into the notebook. As I got further and further away from home and my notebook, I had to memorize these rhymes — longer and longer and longer. By the time I got to record my first album, I was 26, I didn't need pen or paper — my memory had been trained just to listen to a song, think of the words, and lay them to tape"

 

Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known by his stage name Jay-Z (sometimes styled Jay Z or JAY Z), is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He is one of the most financially successful hip-hop artists and entrepreneurs in America. In 2012, Forbes estimated Carter's net worth at nearly $500 million. He has sold approximately 75 million records worldwide from all of his albums, while receiving 17 Grammy Awards for his musical work, and numerous additional nominations. Consistently ranked as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was ranked number one by MTV in their list of The Greatest MCs of All-Time in 2006. Three of his albums, Reasonable Doubt (1996), The Blueprint (2001), and The Black Album (2003), are considered landmarks in the genre with all of them featured in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Jay-Z went back to selling drugs after  his recording job with Jaz-O, but music was becoming his main focus. He described this in an interview cited in Jay-Z... and the Roc-A-Fella Dynasty.

"Ironically, using memorization to hold on to my lines is the way I develop the writing style I use today. No pen, paper, or paper bags needed. Just point out the track and I'm all over it....and yet... I also became fully committed to putting my hustle down. I kept moving further south-from Trenton, NJ, to Maryland, and finally to Virginia. I spent less and less time in New York, but when I did come h ome, I would go to parties and jump on the mike, freestyling here and there."

Knowing that selling drugs would never be enough to get  him and his family out of the projects, Jay-Z constantly worked on honing his craft-his rhymes, his flow, everything that went into the technique of rapping. He also know from the beginning that the subjecct of his raps would be his life and the lives of others like him living in poverty in the project. According to Jay-Z... and the Roc-A-Fella Records Dynasty, he know that his goal as a rapper would be "to have a conversation with the world...I'm telling the world my plight. I was speaking about the people and the neighborhoods and mentality of someone who comes from nothing. ..I didn't want to sell drugs. I want a better life."

                        

 

 

 

 

 

Sources: Wikipedia, RapGenius, Artistfacts, Jay Z Online, Google Books

 

 

 

 

 

Did you know that Jay-Z used to write down ryhmes on a paper bag?

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Did you know that Shakira's records have been banned in Argentina?

"Forbidden Songs" is what they call Shakira's records in Argentina in the year 2002. Refusing to sell albums of the epic artist Shakira in protest of the appearance of Antonio de la Rua in her video "Underneath Your Clothes", who happened to be Shakira's boyfriend. De la Rua is the son of the former Argentina president Fernando de la Rua. The said president tendered his resignation in December 2001 in the midst of profound economic and political turmoil in the country.

De la Rua's inclusion in Shakira's video has caused a stir in the local media. This is due to the fact that Antonio de la Rua is his father's closest advisor. Tower Records Argentina's spokesperson said the decision to bann her albums had been taken in protest against De la Rua and not against the pop star Shakira.

Shakira Bio:

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born on February 2, 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia. She is known professionally as Shakira. She is a singer-songwriter, dancer, record producer, choreographer and model. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she began performing in school, demonstrating Latin, Arabic, and rock and roll influences and belly dancing abilities. Shakira entered the English-language market with her fifth album, Laundry Service (2001), which has sold over 20 million copies worldwide.  Its lead single, "Whenever, Wherever", became the best-selling single of 2002.

Shakira has won many awards including five MTV Video Music Awards, two Grammy Awards, eight Latin Grammy Awards, seven Billboard Music Awards, twenty-eight Billboard Latin Music Awards and has been Golden Globe-nominated. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and she is the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, having sold a total of 125 million records worldwide, over 70 million albums and 55 million singles.

                                    

Sources: Wikipedia, Billboardbiz, Take40, MSNmusic

Did you know that Shakira's records have been banned in Argentina?

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Did you know that Avicii has a charitable heart?

We know that's he's very popular. As well as being an ace DJ with a knack for producing unique music that crosses over with mainstream pop, Avicii is a charitable guy. Since achieving widespread commercial success, Avicii began working with his manager and executive producer Ash Pournouri to start House for Hunger in 2011, a charity dedicated to alleviating global hunger. House for Hunger is a non-profit charity that is based on the idea that house music can bring people together, and that's exactly what Ash and Avicii are aiming to do. 

“We have traveled to nearly every corner of the world,” says Ash, “and witnessed the famine and hunger that are problems in every country, from the richest to the poorest. We were compelled by our experience to address the issue of hunger in an impactful way which would involve many people, gain great exposure, generate more commitment and engage people over time. We have the power to activate a whole generation of young people, speaking to them in a way in which no other organization can. They trust us and we can help them engage in the fight.”

“When Ash came to me about this idea, everything about the project just makes sense to me,” added Avicii, aka Tim Bergling. “I feel very blessed to be in the position that I'm in to begin with, being able to do what I love and traveling around the world seeing all these amazing places and meeting all of these different people from different cultures. Hunger hits everywhere and no country immune to it.”

Avicii explained, "You have to give something back. I am so fortunate to be in the position where I can actually do that. I feel lucky every day when I wake up and am able to do what I love and make a living." The House for Hunger has donated over a million dollars to Feeding America. It also funded The Feed Foundation, a charity founded by Lauren Bush, allowing it to distribute over 2 million school meals throughout Africa.

Avicii

Tim Bergling, better known as Avicii, was born on September 8, 1989 in Stockholm, Sweden. Aside from being a famous Swedish DJ and remixer, he is also a record producer. The meaning of the word avicii? "In Buddhism it means the lowest level of hell," says Tim. "I was honestly just looking for a MySpace name and had remembered the word Avicii from a friend. It just sounded cool."  

Avicii is a dance-genre DJ who ranked No. 6 on the Top 100 DJs list by DJ Magazine in 2011, No. 3 in 2012, and was ranked No. 3 again in 2013. Said Avicii in April 2011, "I've always been into music, and growing up with older siblings I've also had loads of different influences when it comes to my music taste. There are loads of other people that have influenced me but I think the biggest inspirations I've had aside from my manager has been the Swedish House Mafia guys and Eric Prydz, they were the ones who first got me into house!"

On a smaller scale, Avicii's known to be generous with his music, often releasing free tunes to his fans whenever he reaches social media milestones. What a guy!

                                       

Sources: HouseForHunger, PopSugar, Wikipedia, Facebook, Avicii

Did you know that Avicii has a charitable heart?

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