Carrie Underwood, an amazing singer and songwriter, was born on March 10, 1983. Her singing career began when she auditioned for American Idol when she was a senior at Northeastern State University. She won the show’s fourth season in 2005. After that, her career set off. She went on to win several Grammy’s, country music association and academy of country music awards. In 2008, she became the youngest member of the Grand Ole Opry at just 26 years old. She is one of the most popular country music singers today.
Before Carrie Underwood became famous, she sung in church, school plays and local talent shows. According to Oxford Music Online, “Underwood was only 10 when she first started performing in public and made her first studio recordings
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barely three years later. In the late 90’s she began working with the Star Rise Band, performing at festivals and shows throughout the southern states” (“Encyclopedia of Popular Music”). She grew up in Checotah, Okla and lived on a farm. When she auditioned for American Idol in 2004, she impressed all of the judges, including Simon Cowell. She sung a rendition of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” earning a spot to compete in Hollywood. Before Underwood even had a chance to sing again after her first appearance, Simon Cowell was already predicting that she would win the contest and sell more records than anyone in Idol history. And, she has. She remains American Idols’s most successful contestant. The small town girl has turned into a country music superstar with selling more than 11.5 million albums in the U.S. On November 15, 2005, Carrie Underwood released her debut album Some Hearts, which featured her inspirational single called “Jesus Take The Wheel.” The album sold more than 300,000 copies in the first week and eventually sold more than five million copies. Underwood became the highest-debuting country artists in history. Her Some Hearts album is the best selling debut CD of any Idol contestant, even Kelly Clarkson. The album won five-billboard music Awards in 2006, including album of the year. Carrie Underwood graduated from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma with a Bachelors degree in mass communications on May 6, 2006.
She has won many different awards including three female vocalist awards from CMA and ACM. In 2010, when Carrie Underwood garnered her second win as ACM entertainer of the year, she became the first female artist to win the award twice, and only the seventh female to take the award in the 40-year history of the ACM category. She also received the ACM Triple Crown award from her past wins for the categories of entertainer of the year, top female vocalist and top new female vocalist, which has been won by only one other female artist. IN addition to her eleven ACM awards and 5 CMA awards, she has won 7 American music awards, 6 peoples choice awards, 9 CMT music awards, 12 American country awards, and 9 BMI songwriter awards. She also received a Golden Globe nomination in 2010 for best original song for “There’s A Place For Us” from Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which she both recorded and co-wrote. In just a few years, Carrie Underwood went from American Idol Champion to award winning biggest music …show more content…
superstars. Although a Christian, Underwood has tended to take the subtle approach to expressions of her faith, and her music focuses largely on relationships and life through a lens anyone can relate to. She has co-written seventy songs for the album and gives herself plenty of time between projects to ensure her best work, even if it was to the chagrin of a few people in the country music industry. Although Carrie Underwood produces songs that mostly everyone can relate too, she has produced a couple of religious songs. Her new song, “Something in the Water” is a perfect example of her publicly expressing her deep Christian faith. The song expresses the importance of baptism and conversion as means to changing your life. It is a very joyous, uplifting song about changing your life for the better and waking up to a different life from that moment forward. Carrie Underwood doesn’t worry that speaking out about her faith will alienate her fans. Personally, I don’t think it has. I am not a Christian, but I still love all of her songs, including “Something in the Water.” Underwood’s songs range from big ballads and songs about faith, to commercial crossover pop songs, and include some more challenging subject matter as well.
Her song “Last Name” is about a drunken night that ends with an impromptu marriage. When the woman wakes up the next morning, she says, “I don’t even know my last name.” Another great song from her is “Just a Dream.” It is about an eighteen-year-old girl going to church in her wedding dress, but at the end it turns out she is going to the funeral of her husband who is a soldier. Her song “Blown Away” is a song about revenge for things that had happened in the past and how they get blown away. In the song, a girl has grown up in a bad home with her dad and when she hears that a tornado is coming she wishes it would take everything away. When the storm comes, she goes and hides in the cellar knowing her father is passed out on the couch. She doesn’t try and save him, and feels she got revenge for everything he ever did to her. Every one of Carrie Underwood’s songs is powerful. But, she isn’t just an inspiration for her powerful music. When it comes to singing about her values and beliefs, she is not afraid to be open and assertive. That is fearless. Each of her songs has a different purpose/meaning and she portrays them
perfectly. In the book, Carrie Underwood: A Biography, Carrie Underwood states, “I love being able to perform in front of people. I like potentially making a difference in somebody’s day or somebody’s life” (Hackett 78). Carrie Underwood is an amazing person. She is a great role model not just for girls, but also for everyone. She gives the positive message of never giving up on what you want to be in life. She knows what she wants in life and is clear focused. A lot of celebrities claim they never asked to be a role model, but Carrie Underwood takes he responsibility to heart. Carrie Underwood is known for her good-girl persona, and she portrays it perfectly.
Widely considered country music’s first superstar, Hiram/Hank Williams was born September 17, 1923, in mount olive, Alabama. Williams, the third child of Lon and Lillie Williams, grew up in a household that never had much money. His father worked as a logger before entering the Veterans’ Administration hospital when young hank was just six. Father and son rarely saw each other over the next decade, with William’s mother, who ran rooming houses, moving the family to Greenville, and later, Montgomery, Alabama. (Hank Williams) Everyone knew Hank was a good guy, but like any man had his ups and his downs throughout the short life he lived. Hank grew up rough and he knew it; however nothing was going to stop this young man from doing what he set out to pursue. What he did was astonishing changing art or “so called” music. Hank redefined country music with his personal opinion on what music really was.
Hank Williams Jr as we know him was born Hank Randall Williams, born in small town Shreveport, Louisiana, on May 26, 1949. Hank Jr was only three when his father Hank died, but that did not stop his music dream. At just the age of 8 Hank Jr began singing his dad songs on stage. “Williams made his stage debut at the age of 8 and his first appearance at Nashville's famed Grand Ole Opry at age 11. At age 15, Williams had his first Top 5 hit on the country charts. " (http://www.biography.com/) Even though his father was gone, Hank Jr helped carry on his legacy through music. His mother being his biggest supporter, helped him along the way.
Houston started her singing career at New Hope Baptist Church, where her mom was choir minister. When Houston was 15 years old, she was trying to get her first record deal. A few years later
Dolly Parton changed her community because she showed that no matter what you have to do to achieve your goal it's all possible. She has described her family as being "dirt poor...Parton was born in Sevier County, Tennessee, the fourth of twelve children...” stated bio.com. Her childhood was difficult, but she was able to overcome it by not only surviving, but also gaining a net worth of $500 million. Parton began performing as a child, singing on local radio and television programs in the Eastern Tennessee area. By ten, she was appearing on The Cas Walker Show on both WIVK Radio and WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee. At thirteen, she was recording (the single "Puppy Love") on a small Louisiana label, Goldband Records, and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry where she first met Johnny Cash,
Faith Evans was born on June 10, 1973, and grew up in Newark, NJ, where she began singing in church at the mere age of two. A high school honor student, she sang in her school's musical productions before winning a full scholarship to Fordham University. After just one year, though, she left college to put her jazz and classical training to use in the field of contemporary RB. It didn't take her long to find work and over the next few years, she sang backup and wrote songs for artists like Hi-Five, Mary J. Blige, Pebbles, Al B. Sure, Usher, Tony Thompson, and Christopher Williams. Thanks to her work on Blige's 1994 sophomore effort, My Life, Evans met producer/impresario Sean "Puffy" Combs, who signed her to his Bad Boy label. In 1995, Evans released her debut album, Faith, which went platinum on the strength of the hit RB singles "You Used to Love Me" and "Soon as I Get Home." The same year, she met fellow Bad Boy artist the Notorious B.I.G. (some accounts say at a photo shoot, others a phone conversation) and married him after a courtship of just nine days; shortly thereafter, she guested on a remix of his smash single "One More Chance."
Who really runs the world? Beyonce is running the music industry while climbing the charts, she truly knows what she’s doing. Being driven and striving for greatness will lead you to success. She may have had bumps in the road during her career and still could experience some, but she doesn’t give up. The power of one person can have an effect on people all over the World for a good cause or not. Beyonce, twenty time Grammy winner, uses her confidence towards her acting skills, and her musical talents to show and inspire other artists and people around the world.
Whitney Houston to most was a very amazing and talented person who allowed life and its mishaps break her down. As a young girl she grew up in the church where she felt like it was a sign from God that she should be singing. Freud believes that religion is an illusion, an attempt to gain control over the external world. In his eyes saying that anything is a sign from God depends on how you vision life. There were times in her life where she would produce more music just to get thru the thing that she would be going through. She would use her music as a defense mechanism to get away from all of the abuse, problems with her marriage, neglect, and drugs. Defense mechanisms are ways to distort reality to reduce anxiety: Rationalization is giving a positive reason to a stressor and regression is withdrawing from reality and going to pastime.
Born on May 26, 1949 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Hank Williams Jr. was performing Hank Sr.'s songs on stage at age 8. In the 1970s, he created his own musical identity, combining country with Southern rock and blues. Williams was severely injured in a mountain-climbing accident in 1975. He spent two years recovering from his injuries. By the 1980s, Williams had become one of country music's top performers. Williams made his stage debut at the age of 8 and his first appearance at Nashville's famed Grand Ole Opry at age 11. At age 15, Williams had his first Top 5 hit on the country charts with a cover of his father's song, "Long Gone Lonesome Blues." He performed throughout his teens to sold-out crowds and on national television, carrying on his
On the 11th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Mariah Carey was given the chance to induct Gladys Knight and the Pips who were a soul and R&B family group into this Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She gave a heartwarming speech on how Ms. Knight was a huge impact. Some words she said were, “ thank you so much for being a constant influence on me.” Mariah Carey was also inspired by different genres of music like Jazz, Gospel, R&B, Soul, Pop, Dance, soft rock, hip hop, and country. To add on, Mariah Carey was blessed with the opportunity to perform with the queen of soul, Aretha Franklin. They performed on live television singing Aretha Franklin’s hit song, “Chain of Fools.” Aretha and her met at the Grammy’s and became good friends. Mariah Carey is often referred to as our generation Aretha Franklin and is often compared to Whitney Houston and Celine
The song I chose is called “Before He Cheats”. It was composed by Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins, and it was performed by Carrie Underwood. It is about when a guy cheats on Carrie Underwood so she demolishes his truck. I chose this song because it is hilarious and I like it. It also has a lot of imagery.
This masterpiece became a best-selling soundtrack in history with more than 30 million copies and a special piece of her career. Although this song brought her more fame, Celine Dion had a different feeling toward this song before it became so majestically successful. According to Mickey Rapkin’s article “The Oral History of Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’”, a special article for 2017 Billboard Music Awards, Celine was not really excited for this song. “When I recorded it, I didn’t think about a movie; I didn’t think about radio,” she told Billboard during her interview. For Celine, it seemed like she didn’t really want to sing the song. Yet twenty years later, this song still means a lot of her fans, and in honor of twenty years of the song’s influence, she angelically performed it at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards. The song keeps the same romantic and sentimental effect throughout the years. Not only this song was created to make Titanic even more heartbreaking, but also to give Celine’s career an everlasting
Swift’s debut song isn’t like the others. Her big debut song wasn’t about revenge or heartbreak, but rather her inspiration, Tim McGraw. ‘Tim McGraw” was written in Taylor’s math class when she was 16, along side of Liz Rose. Not only does it remind her of her true inspiration, but also of her un-named summer love, who was going to college, and had to dump Swift. But, not only was this her big debut, it also happened to be her first ever published song. It was published June 19, 2006 by Big Machine Records, and has sold over a million downloads. It reached about 40 and 6 on the “Billboard Top 100” and “Hot Country Songs” in the United States.
Taylor Allison Swift was born December 13th, 1989 to proud parents Scott Swift and Andrea Swift in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania (Taylor Alison Swift). From a very young age Swift proved to be a talented young performer while performing at various fairs, exhibitions, and recitals. Her parents recognized her ambition and decided to move to Nashville, Tennessee in order to pursue her career as a country artist (Taylor Swift). After many trials she was finally signed to Big Machine Records in 2004 and became the youngest artist ever to sign with a Sony records label. Swift started out her professional career by practicing her song writing and attending school while making time to hang out with friends and family (Taylor
Have you ever had those certain catchy songs that you just can not get out of your head? For me Taylor Swift is always at the top of my playlist. Taylor Swift was born on December 13, 1989 and grew up on a small tree farm. Swift has has a family background of singing in her family. Ever since she started recording her albums. she has written and performed all of her songs. Swift started becoming successful at a young age by performing and writing new songs whenever she got the chance. When Swift was 11 years old, she performed the national anthem at a Philadelphia 76ers NBA game. (“Facts”) The contributions to music demonstrated by the career of Taylor Swift prove beyond a doubt the Country Music Hall of Fame should induct this singer. Swifts worthiness of this award is shown in her awards, charitable contributions, and impact up on the music world and all of her fans.
Personally, I absolutely love Taylor Swift. As a fellow singer/songwriter, I am envious of her ability to be so poetically honest because that is what I struggle with most when songwriting. I am always afraid that something I write will end up sounding silly or stupid, which ultimately prevents me from creating something amazing. But fear has surely never stopped Taylor Swift, and I think that’s what makes an artist like her so special. She openly writes about what she’s going through, and she doesn’t care about what other people might think about her. Whenever I listen to one of Swift’s songs, I can’t help but feel like it could have been written specifically for me. It’s almost as if she takes my thoughts and puts them into words, which is quite a valuable talent if you ask me. In fact, for every big milestone in my teenage life, there has been a Taylor Swift song that I could rel...