Name	Daily Mail
Type	Daily newspaper
Format	Tabloid
Foundation	4 May 1896
Owners	Daily Mail and General Trust
Political	Pro-Conservative
Publisher	Associated Newspapers Ltd
Editor	Paul Dacre
Circulation	2,100,855
Language	English
Website	dailymail.co.uk }}

The ''Daily Mail'' is a British, daily middle market tabloid newspaper. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after ''The Sun''. Its sister paper ''The Mail on Sunday'' was launched in 1982. Scottish and Irish editions of the daily paper were launched in 1947 and 2006 respectively. The ''Daily Mail'' was Britain's first daily newspaper aimed at the newly-literate "lower-middle class market resulting from mass education, combining a low retail price with plenty of competitions, prizes and promotional gimmicks", and the first British paper to sell a million copies a day. It was, from the outset, a newspaper for women, being the first to provide features especially for them, and is still the only British newspaper whose readership is more than 50% female.

Overview

The ''Mail'' was originally a broadsheet but switched to a compact format on 3 May 1971, the 75th anniversary of its founding. On this date it also absorbed the ''Daily Sketch'', which had been published as a tabloid by the same company. The publisher of the ''Mail'', the Daily Mail and General Trust is currently a FTSE 250 company and the paper has a circulation of around two million which is the third-largest circulation of any English language daily newspaper and one of the highest in the world.

Circulation figures according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations in November 2010 show gross sales of 2,100,855 in November 2010 for the ''Daily Mail''. According to a December 2004 survey, 53% of ''Daily Mail'' readers voted for the Conservative Party, compared to 21% for Labour and 17% for the Liberal Democrats. The main concern of Viscount Rothermere, the current chairman and main shareholder, is that the circulation be maintained. He testified before a House of Lords select committee that "we need to allow editors the freedom to edit", and therefore the newspaper's editor was free to decide editorial policy, including its political allegiance. The ''Mail'' has been edited by Paul Dacre since 1992.

Under Dacre, the Mail has a reputation for a conservative editorial stance on topics such as immigration, working women and teenage sex.

History

Early history

The ''Daily Mail'', devised by Alfred Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe) and his brother Harold (later Lord Rothermere), was first published on 4 May 1896. It was an immediate success. It cost a halfpenny at a time when other London dailies cost one penny, and was more populist in tone and more concise in its coverage than its rivals. The planned issue was 100,000 copies but the print run on the first day was 397,215 and additional printing facilities had to be acquired to sustain a circulation which rose to 500,000 in 1899. Lord Salisbury, 19th-century Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, dismissed the ''Daily Mail'' as "a newspaper produced by office boys for office boys." By 1902, at the end of the Boer War, the circulation was over a million, making it the largest in the world.

With Harold running the business side of the operation and Alfred as Editor, the Mail from the start adopted an imperialist political stance, taking a patriotic line in the Second Boer War, leading to claims that it was not reporting the issues of the day objectively. From the beginning, the Mail also set out to entertain its readers with human interest stories, serials, features and competitions (which were also the main means by which the Harmsworths promoted the paper).

In 1900, the ''Daily Mail'' began printing simultaneously in both Manchester and London, the first national newspaper to do so (in 1899, the ''Daily Mail'' had organised special trains to bring the London-printed papers north). The same production method was adopted in 1909 by the ''Daily Sketch'', in 1927 by the ''Daily Express'' and eventually by virtually all the other national newspapers. Printing of the ''Scottish Daily Mail'' was switched from Edinburgh to the Deansgate plant in Manchester in 1968 and, for a while, ''The People'' was also printed on the Mail presses in Deansgate. In 1987, printing at Deansgate ended and the northern editions were thereafter printed at other Associated Newspapers plants.

In 1906, the paper offered £1,000 for the first flight across the English Channel and £10,000 for the first flight from London to Manchester. ''Punch'' magazine thought the idea preposterous and offered £10,000 for the first flight to Mars, but by 1910 both the Mail's prizes had been won. (For full list see Daily Mail aviation prizes.)

The paper was accused of warmongering before the outbreak of World War I, when it reported that Germany was planning to crush the British Empire. Northcliffe created controversy by advocating conscription when the war broke out. On 21 May 1915, Northcliffe wrote a blistering attack on Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War. Kitchener was considered a national hero, and, overnight, the paper's circulation dropped from 1,386,000 to 238,000. 1,500 members of the London Stock Exchange ceremonially burned the unsold copies and launched a boycott against the Harmsworth Press. Prime Minister H. H. Asquith accused the paper of being disloyal to the country.

When Kitchener died, the Mail reported it as a great stroke of luck for the British Empire. The paper then campaigned against Asquith, who resigned on 5 December 1916. His successor, David Lloyd George, asked Northcliffe to be in his cabinet, hoping it would prevent him from criticising the government. Northcliffe declined.

Inter-war period

As Lord Northcliffe aged, his grip on the paper slackened and he might have nothing to do with it for months at a time. But light-hearted stunts might enliven him, such as the Hat campaign in the winter of 1920. This was a contest with a prize of £100 for new design of hat — a subject in which Northcliffe took a particular interest. There were 40,000 entries and the winner was a cross between a top hat and a bowler christened the ''Daily Mail Sandringham Hat''. The paper subsequently promoted the wearing of it but without much success. In 1922, when Lord Northcliffe died, Lord Rothermere took full control of the paper.

In 1919, Alcock and Brown made the first flight across the Atlantic winning a prize of £10,000 from the ''Daily Mail''. In 1930, the ''Daily Mail'' made a great story of another aviation stunt, awarding another prize of £10,000 to Amy Johnson for making the first solo flight from England to Australia.

The ''Daily Mail'' had begun the Ideal Home Exhibition in 1908. At first, Northcliffe had disdained this as a publicity stunt to sell advertising and he refused to attend. But his wife exerted pressure upon him and he changed his views, becoming more supportive. By 1922, the editorial side of the paper was fully engaged in promoting the benefits of modern appliances and technology to free its female readers from the drudgery of housework. The ''Mail'' maintained the event until selling it to Media 10 in 2009.

On 25 October 1924, the ''Daily Mail'' published the forged Zinoviev Letter, which indicated that British Communists were planning violent revolution. This was a significant factor in the defeat of Ramsay MacDonald's Labour Party in the 1924 general election, held four days later.

From 1923, Lord Rothermere and the ''Daily Mail'' formed an alliance with the other great press baron, Lord Beaverbrook. Their opponent was the Conservative party politician and leader Stanley Baldwin. By 1929, George Ward Price was writing in the Mail that Baldwin should be deposed and Beaverbrook elected as leader. In early 1930, the two Lords launched the United Empire Party which the ''Daily Mail'' supported enthusiastically.

The rise of the new party dominated the newspaper and, even though Beaverbrook soon withdrew, Rothermere continued to campaign. Vice Admiral Taylor fought the first by-election for the United Empire Party in October, defeating the official Conservative candidate by 941 votes. Baldwin's position was now in doubt but, in 1931, Duff Cooper won the key by-election at St George's, Westminster, beating the United Empire Party candidate, Sir Ernest Petter, supported by Rothermere, and this broke the political power of the press barons.

In 1927, the celebrated picture of the year ''Morning'' by Dod Proctor was bought by the ''Daily Mail'' for the Tate Gallery.

Lord Rothermere was a friend and supporter of both Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, which influenced the ''Mail'''s political stance towards them during the 1930s. Rothermere's 1933 leader "Youth Triumphant" praised the new Nazi regime's accomplishments, and was subsequently used as propaganda by them.

Rothermere and the ''Mail'' were also editorially sympathetic to Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists. Rothermere wrote an article entitled "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" in January 1934, praising Mosley for his "sound, commonsense, Conservative doctrine". This support ended after violence at a BUF rally in Kensington Olympia later that year.

Post-war history

On 5 May 1946, the ''Daily Mail'' celebrated its Golden Jubilee. Winston Churchill was the chief guest at the banquet and toasted it with a speech,

In reply, Lord Rothermere II had something to say about the newsprint shortages at that time for, while the ''Mail'' of 1896 was 8 pages, the Mail of 1946 was reduced to just 4.

The ''Daily Mail'' was transformed by its editor of the seventies and eighties, Sir David English. Sir David began his Fleet Street career in 1951, joining ''The Daily Mirror'' before moving to ''The Daily Sketch'', where he became features editor. It was the ''Sketch'' which brought him his first editorship, from 1969 to 1971. That year the ''Sketch'' was closed and he moved to take over the top job at the ''Mail'', where he was to remain for more than 20 years. English transformed it from a struggling rival selling two million copies fewer than the ''Daily Express'' to a formidable journalistic powerhouse, which soared dramatically in popularity. After 20 years perfecting the Mail, Sir David English became editor-in-chief and chairman of Associated Newspapers in 1992.

The paper enjoyed a period of journalistic success in the 1980s, employing some of the most inventive writers in old Fleet Street including the gossip columnist Nigel Dempster, Lynda Lee Potter and sportswriter Ian Wooldridge (who unlike some of his colleagues — the paper generally did not support sporting boycotts of white-minority-ruled South Africa — strongly opposed Apartheid). In 1982, a Sunday title, the ''Mail on Sunday'', was launched (the ''Sunday Mail'' was already the name of a newspaper in Scotland, owned by the Mirror Group.) There are Scottish editions of both the ''Daily Mail'' and ''Mail on Sunday'', with different articles and columnists. In 1992, the current editor, Paul Dacre, was appointed.

Scottish, Irish, Continental and Indian editions

Scottish ''Daily Mail''

The ''Scottish Daily Mail'' was published as a separate title from Edinburgh, starting in 1947. The circulation was poor though, falling to below 100,000 and the operation was rebased to Manchester in December 1968. In 1995 the ''Scottish Daily Mail'' was relaunched printed in Glasgow. With a circulation in Dec 2009 of 113,771 making it the third highest daily newspaper sale in Scotland.

Irish edition

The Daily Mail officially entered the Irish market with the launch of a local version of the paper on 6 February 2006; free copies of the paper were distributed on that day in some locations to publicise the launch. Its masthead differs from that of UK versions by having a green rectangle with the word "IRISH", instead of the Royal Arms. The Irish version includes stories of Irish interest alongside content from the UK version. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the Irish edition had a circulation of 63,511 for July 2007, falling to an average of 49,090 for the second half of 2009. Since 24 September 2006 ''Ireland on Sunday'', the Irish Sunday newspaper acquired by Associated in 2001, was replaced by an Irish edition of the ''Mail on Sunday'' (the ''Irish Mail on Sunday''), to tie in with the weekday newspaper.

Continental and Overseas Daily Mail

Two foreign editions were begun in 1904 and 1905; the former titled the "Overseas Daily Mail", covering the world, and the latter titled the "Continental Daily Mail", covering Europe and North Africa.

''Mail Today''

The newspaper entered India on 16 November 2007 with the launch of ''Mail Today'', a 48-page compact size newspaper printed in Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida with a print run of 110,000 copies. Based around a subscription model, the newspaper has the same fonts and feel as the Daily Mail and was set up with investment from Associated Newspapers and editorial assistance from the ''Daily Mail'' newsroom.

Libel lawsuits

The ''Daily Mail'' has been involved in a number of notable libel suits. Among them are:

2010, July—£47,500 award to Parameswaran Subramanyam for falsely claiming that he secretly sustained himself with hamburgers during a 23-day hunger strike in Parliament Square to draw attention to the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka. 2009, January—£30,000 award to Dr Austen Ivereigh, who had worked for Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, following false accusations made by the newspaper concerning abortion. 2006, May—£100,000 damages for Elton John, following false accusations concerning his manners and behaviour. 2003, October—Actress Diana Rigg awarded £30,000 in damages over a story commenting on aspects of her personality. 2001, February—Businessman Alan Sugar was awarded £100,000 in damages following a story commenting on his stewardship of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

Editorial stance

In the late 1960s, the paper went through a phase of being liberal on social issues like corporal punishment, but soon returned to its traditional conservative line. In Tony Blair's early years as Labour leader and then Prime Minister, the paper wrote positively about him and his reforms of the party.

The editorial stance changed to become critical of Tony Blair in his later years as Prime Minister, and the ''Mail'' endorsed the Conservative Party in the 2005 general election. Writing for the ''New Statesman'', Johann Hari accused columnist Richard Littlejohn of having a "psychiatric disorder" about homosexuality with a "pornographic imagination."

The paper is generally critical of the BBC, which it says is biased to the left. The ''Mail'' has also opposed the growing of genetically-modified crops in the United Kingdom, a stance it shares with many of its left-wing critics.

On international affairs, the ''Mail'' broke with the establishment media consensus over the 2008 South Ossetia war between Russia and Georgia. The ''Mail'' accused the British government of dragging Britain into an unnecessary confrontation with Russia and of hypocrisy regarding its protests over Russian recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia's independence, citing the British government's own recognition of Kosovo's independence from Russia's ally Serbia.

Melanie Philips, once known as a voice for The Guardian and New Statesman moved to the right in the 1990s, writes for the ''Daily Mail'', covering political and social issues from a conservative perspective. She has defined herself as a liberal who has "been mugged by reality".

Famous stories

''The Daily Mail'''s front page of 8 July 1934, featured the headline "Hurrah for the Blackshirts". The ''Mail'' also referred to Hitler's "sturdy young Nazis".

On 7 January 1967, the ''Mail'' published a story, "The holes in our roads", about potholes, giving the examples of Blackburn where it said there were 4,000 holes. This detail was then immortalised by John Lennon in the Beatles song "A Day in the Life", along with an account of the death of 21-year-old socialite Tara Browne in a car crash on 18 December 1966, which also appeared in the same issue.

On 16 July 1993 the ''Mail'' ran the headline "Abortion hope after 'gay genes' finding"; this headline has been widely criticised in subsequent years, for example as "perhaps the most infamous and disturbing headline of all" (of headlines from tabloid newspapers commenting on the Xq28 gene).

The ''Mail'' campaigned on the case of Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager who was murdered in a racially motivated attack in Eltham, London in April 1993. On 14 February 1997, the ''Mail'' led its front page with a picture of the five men accused of Lawrence's murder and the headline "MURDERERS", stating that it believed that the men had murdered Lawrence and adding "if we are wrong, let them sue us". This attracted praise from Paul Foot and Peter Preston.

On 9 October 2009 the ''Mail'' ran the headline "Hunger striker's £7m Big Mac: Tamil who cost London a fortune in policing was sneaking in fast-food" The article stated that "Scotland Yard surveillance teams using specialist monitoring equipment had watched in disbelief" as Parameswaran Subramaniyan, a Tamil hunger striker protesting outside the Houses of Parliament, covertly broke his fast by secretly eating McDonald's burgers. When a request for an apology and retraction of this story was refused, Mr Subramanyam issued proceedings against the paper. In court, the newspaper's claim was shown to be entirely false; the Met superintendent in charge of the policing operation confirmed there had been no police surveillance team using the "specialist monitoring equipment". As a result, on 29 July 2010, Mr Subramanyam is understood to have accepted damages of £47,500 from the Daily Mail. The newspaper also paid his legal costs, withdrew the allegations and apologised "sincerely and unreservedly" for the distress that had been caused.

A 16 October 2009 Jan Moir article on the death of Stephen Gately, which many people felt was inaccurate, insensitive, and homophobic, generated over 25,000 complaints, the highest number of complaints for a newspaper article in the history of the Press Complaints Commission. Major advertisers such as Marks and Spencer responded to the criticism by asking for their own adverts to be removed from the ''Mail Online'' webpage around Moir's article. The ''Daily Mail'' removed all display ads from the webpage with the Gately column.

Supplements and features

{| |-valign=top |width=50%| ''Daily Mail'' ''City & Finance'' – City & Finance is the business part of the Daily Mail, and the Financial Mail is the business paper free with the Mail on Sunday. City & Finance features City News and the results from the London Stock Exchange, and also has its own website called ''This is Money''.

''Travelmail'' – Contains travel articles, advertisements etc.

''Femail'' – Femail is an extensive part of the ''Daily Mail'''s newspaper and website, being one of four main features on Mail Online others being News, TV & Showbiz and Sport. It is designed for women.

''Weekend'' – The ''Daily Mail Weekend'' is a TV guide published by the ''Daily Mail'', included free with the ''Mail'' every Saturday. Weekend magazine, launched in October 1993, is issued free with the Saturday ''Daily Mail''. The guide does not use a magazine-type layout but chooses a newspaper style similar to the ''Daily Mail'' itself. In April 2007, the "Weekend" had a major revamp. A feature changed during the revamp was a dedicated Freeview channel page.

|width=50%|

''Mail on Sunday''

''Financial Mail on Sunday'' – now part of the main paper, this section includes the Financial Mail Enterprise, focusing on small business.

''You'' – ''You'' magazine is a women's magazine featured in the ''Mail on Sunday''. It is a mix of in-depth features plus fashion, beauty advice, practical insights on health and relationships, food recipes and interiors. The ''Mail'' markets it, with ''Live'' magazine, as the only paper to have a magazine for him (''Live'') and for her (''You''). The ''Mail on Sunday'' is read by over six million a week. ''Live'' – this magazine is aimed at men. The main features are columns by well-known people.

''Mail on Sunday 2'' This pullout includes review, featuring articles on the arts, books and culture and it consists of reviews of all media and entertainment forms and interviews with sector personalities, property, travel and health.

''Sportsmail'' – on the back pages of the ''Mail''. It features different sports including an emphasis on alternative sports such as darts and snooker.

''Football Mail on Sunday'' – this reviews Premier League, Championship and Football League games from Saturday as well certain international games.

|}

Regular cartoon strips

''Garfield''

''I Don't Believe It'' (discontinued)

''Odd Streak''

''The Strip Show''

''Chloe and Co.'' (by Knight Features)

''Up and Running'' (by Knight Features)

''The Gambols'' (Sunday, in the Cartoons section)

''Fred Basset''

''Peanuts'' (Sunday, in the Cartoons section)

Current cartoon strips that are in the ''Daily Mail'' include ''Garfield'' which moved from the ''Daily Express'' in 2006 and is also included in ''The Mail on Sunday''. ''I Don't Believe It'' is another 3/4 part strip, written by Dick Millington. ''Odd Streak'' and ''The Strip Show'', which is shown in 3D are one part strips. ''Up and Running'' is a strip distributed by Knight Features and ''Fred Basset'' follows the life of the dog of the same name in a two part strip in the ''Daily Mail'' since 8 July 1963. ''The Gambols'' are another feature in the ''Mail on Sunday''.

The long-running ''Teddy Tail'' cartoon strip, was first published on 5 April 1915 and was the first cartoon strip in a British newspaper. It ran for over 40 years to 1960, spawning the ''Teddy Tail League'' Children's Club and many annuals from 1934 to 1942 and again from 1949 to 1962. Teddy Tail was a mouse, with friends Kitty Puss (a cat), Douglas Duck and Dr. Beetle. Teddy Tail is always shown with a knot in his tail.

Online media

The ''Daily Mail'' and ''The Mail on Sunday'' publish most of their news online in a service called the Mail Online which is viewed daily by nearly 3 million users. Most of the site can be viewed for free and without registration, though some services require users to register.

Contributors

Notable regular contributors (present)

{|width=100% |-valign=top |width=25%| Journalists

Claire Bates

Craig Brown

Alex Brummer

Julie Burchill

Rebecca Camber

Patrick Collins

Derek Draper

Sam Greenhill

Roy Hattersley

Liz Jones

|width=25%|

Des Kelly

Lester Middlehurst

Tom Kelly

Ann Leslie

Quentin Letts

Richard Littlejohn

Edward Lucas

David Mellor

Jan Moir

Julie Moult

|width=25%|

Melanie Phillips

Graham Poll

Paul Sheehan

Norman Tebbit

Michael Winner

Stephen Wright

Janet Street-Porter

|width=25%|

Cartoonists

Alex Graham

Stanley McMurtry

Photographers

Dave Parker

Mark Richards

Jamie Wiseman

|}

Past writers

Paul Callan

William Comyns Beaumont (left in 1903 to create ''The Bystander'')

Anthony Cave Brown (worked from mid-1950s to mid-1960s, won "Reporter of the Year" award in 1958)

Nigel Dempster

Simon Heffer (left in 2005 to join the ''Daily Telegraph'')

Percy Izzard Gardening and country life correspondent for over 50 years.

Ralph Izzard Journalist, author, adventurer and one time Berlin Bureau Chief, Izzard was a staff writer for the ''Mail'' beginning in 1931 and continued contributing until his death in 1992, with the only interruption being his service in British Naval Intelligence during WWII.

Paul Johnson (left the ''Mail'' in 2001)

John Junor

Lynda Lee-Potter (wrote for the ''Mail'' from 1967 until her death in 2004)

William Le Queux A prolific writer of invasion literature in the pre-First World War period. Valentine Williams (1883–1946) General news correspondent and, during the First World War, chief of the ''Daily Mail'' war service. Later a popular mystery novelist.

Keith Waterhouse

Ian Wooldridge, a sportswriter on the paper from 1961 until his death in 2007

Political allegiance

The Daily Mail is a traditional supporter of the Conservative Party, although it did back Tony Blair's "New Labour" in the 2001 general election, where they were re-elected by a landslide.

Editors

:1896: S. J. Pryor :1899: Thomas Marlowe :1922: W. G. Fish :1930: Oscar Pulvermacher :1930: William McWhirter :1931: W. L. Warden :1935: Arthur Cranfield :1939: Bob Prew :1944: Sidney Horniblow :1947: Frank Owen :1950: Guy Schofield :1955: Arthur Wareham :1959: William Hardcastle :1963: Mike Randall :1966: Arthur Brittenden :1971: David English :1992: Paul Dacre

Source: D. Butler and A. Sloman, ''British Political Facts, 1900–1975'' p. 378

See also

''Daily Chronicle'', a newspaper which merged with the ''Daily News'' to become the ''News-Chronicle'' and was finally absorbed by the ''Daily Mail''

1910 London to Manchester air race

Notes

References

External links

''Mail Online''

Category:Daily Mail and General Trust Category:Publications established in 1896 Category:Newspapers published in the United Kingdom Category:British media Category:Edwardian era Category:1896 establishments in the United Kingdom *

af:Daily Mail (Suid-Afrika) ca:Daily Mail cy:Daily Mail da:Daily Mail de:Daily Mail es:Daily Mail eo:Daily Mail fr:Daily Mail it:Daily Mail nl:Daily Mail ja:デイリー・メール no:Daily Mail pms:Daily Mail pl:Daily Mail pt:Daily Mail ro:Daily Mail ru:Daily Mail simple:Daily Mail fi:Daily Mail sv:Daily Mail tl:Daily Mail tr:Daily Mail ur:ڈیلی میل

name	Barry Levinson
birth date
birth place	Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
occupation	Director, screenwriter, producer, actor
years active	1970–present
spouse	Valerie Curtin (1977–1982) Diana Rhodes }}

Barry Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television. His films include ''Bugsy'', ''The Natural'' and ''Rain Man''.

Early life

Levinson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Violet "Vi" (née Krichinsky) and Irvin Levinson, who worked in the furniture and appliance business. His family is of Russian Jewish descent. After growing up in Baltimore and graduating from Forest Park Senior High School, Levinson attended Baltimore City Community College, and American University in Washington, D.C., before moving to Los Angeles to work as an actor and writer. Levinson at one time shared an apartment with would-be drug smuggler (and basis for the movie ''Blow'') George Jung.

Career

Levinson's first writing work was for variety shows such as ''The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine'', ''The Lohman and Barkley Show'', ''The Tim Conway Show'', and ''The Carol Burnett Show''. After some success as a screenwriter — notably the Mel Brooks comedies ''Silent Movie'' (1976) and ''High Anxiety'' (1977) (in which he played a bellboy) and the Oscar-nominated script (co-written by then-wife Valerie Curtin) ''…And Justice for All'' (1979) — Levinson began his career as a director with ''Diner'' (1982), for which he had also written the script and which earned him a Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay.

''Diner'' was the first of a series of films set in the Baltimore of Levinson's youth. The others were ''Tin Men'' (1987), a story of aluminum-siding salesmen in the 1960s starring Richard Dreyfuss and Danny DeVito; the immigrant family saga ''Avalon'' (which featured Elijah Wood in one of his earliest screen appearances), and ''Liberty Heights'' (1999).

His biggest hit, both critically and financially, was ''Rain Man'' (1988), with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. (Levinson appeared in a cameo as a doctor.) The film won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. It also won the Golden Bear at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival.

Another of his notable films is the 1984 baseball drama ''The Natural'' starring Robert Redford, who would later direct ''Quiz Show'' and cast Levinson as television personality Dave Garroway. Levinson also directed ''Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987) and ''Toys'' (1992), both with Robin Williams, and the critically acclaimed ''Bugsy'' (1991) with Warren Beatty.

He directed Dustin Hoffman again in ''Wag the Dog'' (1997), a political comedy co-starring Robert De Niro about a war staged in a film studio. (Levinson had been an uncredited co-writer on Hoffman's 1982 hit comedy ''Tootsie'').

Levinson partnered with producer Mark Johnson to form the film production company Baltimore Pictures. The two parted ways in 1994. Levinson has been a producer or executive producer for such major productions as ''The Perfect Storm'' directed by Wolfgang Petersen (2000); ''Analyze That'' (2002), starring De Niro as a neurotic mob boss and Billy Crystal as his therapist, and ''Possession'' (2002), based on the best-selling novel by A. S. Byatt.

He has a television production company with Tom Fontana (The Levinson/Fontana Company) and served as executive producer for a number of series, including ''Homicide: Life on the Street'' (which ran on NBC from 1993–1999) and the HBO prison drama ''Oz''. Levinson also played an uncredited main role as a judge in the short-lived TV series ''The Jury''.

Levinson published his first novel, ''Sixty-Six'' (ISBN 0-7679-1533-X), in 2003. Like several of his films, it is semi-autobiographical and set in Baltimore in the 1960s. He directed two webisodes of the American Express ads "The Adventures of Seinfeld and Superman".

In 2004, Levinson was the recipient of the Austin Film Festival's Distinguished Screenwriter Award.

Levinson directed a documentary ''PoliWood'' about the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The documentary, produced by Tim Daly, Robin Bronk and Robert E. Baruc, had its premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.

Personal life

Levinson grew up in a Jewish family. He married his writing collaborator Valerie Curtin in 1975. They divorced seven years later. He later married Dianna Rhodes, whom he met in Baltimore while filming ''Diner''. He is the father of Sam, Jack, Michelle, and Patrick Levinson.

He is a minority owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.

Currently, he resides with his two sons and wife in Redding, Connecticut.

Filmography

''Diner (film) ''The Natural (film) ''Young Sherlock Holmes'' ''Tin Men'' ''Good Morning Vietnam'' ''Rain Man'' '' Avalon (1990 film) ''Bugsy'' ''Toys (film) ''Jimmy Hollywood'' ''Disclosure (film) ''Sleepers (film) ''Wag the Dog'' ''Sphere (film) ''Liberty Heights'' ''An Everlasting Piece'' ''Bandits'' ''Envy (2004 film) ''Man of the Year (2006 film) ''What Just Happened'' ''PoliWood'' ''The Band that Wouldn't Die'' ''You Don't Know Jack (film) ''Gotti (2013 film)

Year !! Film !! Oscar wins !! Oscar nominations
1982	Best Friends (film)>Best Friends''
1982	Diner'' ||		1
1984	The Natural'' ||		4
1985	|		1
1987	|
1987	|		1
1988	|	4	8
1990	Avalon'' ||		4
1991	|	2	10
1992	Toys'' ||		2
1994	|
1994	Disclosure'' ||
1996	Sleepers'' ||		1
1997	|		2
1998	Sphere'' ||
1999	|
2000	|
2001	|
2004	Envy'' ||
2006	Man of the Year'' ||
2008	|
2009	|
2009	|
2010	You Don't Know Jack'' ||
2013	Gotti'' ||

References

External links

Barry Levinson on Charlie Rose (March 24, 1994)

Category:1942 births Category:American film directors Category:American television directors Category:American University alumni Category:Best Director Academy Award winners Category:American Jews Category:Living people Category:People from Baltimore, Maryland Category:Writers Guild of America Award winners Category:Jewish American writers Category:Baltimore City Community College alumni Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent

an:Barry Levinson ca:Barry Levinson da:Barry Levinson de:Barry Levinson es:Barry Levinson eu:Barry Levinson fr:Barry Levinson ko:배리 레빈슨 hr:Barry Levinson it:Barry Levinson he:בארי לוינסון ka:ბარი ლევინსონი hu:Barry Levinson nl:Barry Levinson ja:バリー・レヴィンソン no:Barry Levinson pl:Barry Levinson pt:Barry Levinson ru:Левинсон, Барри fi:Barry Levinson sv:Barry Levinson tr:Barry Levinson uk:Баррі Левінсон

company name	Franck Muller
company type	Private company
company slogan	Master of Complications
foundation	1991
location city	Geneva
location country	Switzerland
key people	Franck Muller
industry	Watch manufacturing
products	WristwatchesJewelry
homepage	www.franckmuller.com }}

Franck Muller (born July 1958) is a noted Swiss watchmaker and the company of the same name known for creating complicated timepieces. The brand of watches carries the slogan "Master of Complications".

Franck Muller's watches are worn by various celebrities, among them are Demi Moore, Robin Williams, Elton John, 50 Cent, and José Mourinho.

Franck Muller timepieces are famous for their fusion of "modern" style, mostly inspired by American watches from the thirties, like Elgin tonneau, and traditional Swiss watch manufacturing. The president of the company that holds its name is Frank Muller himself. He claims to design the mechanism of every watch by himself.

Biography

Franck Muller was born in 1958. He spent his childhood in La Chaux-de-Fonds with his Italian mother and Swiss-born father. When 15, he enrolled in a watchmaking school.

In the early 1980s, he graduated from the Swiss school of watchmaking (). Afterwards he began repairing top-quality pocket watches. Close to an independent watchmaker by the name of Svend Andersen, Franck Muller became responsible for handling watches from the collection of Patek Philippe.

Most of the clientele were private individuals and museums. While he was working with complicated timepieces, he became passionate about their mechanisms and began to think of building his own workshop.

Business

Very soon, in 1984, Franck Muller designed his own tourbillon wristwatch. In the 1980s, few watchmakers were capable of creating such complicated timepieces, among them Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. The private clients of Franck Muller continued to come for new timepieces, and thus his business started growing.

The House of Franck Muller opened in 1991, and his ultra complicated timepieces instantly became famous in Europe and the United States. Today, his factory, which is also the headquarters of Franck Muller, produces a limited number of watches for private clientele. Franck Muller's collections include a variety of designs and price ranges.

He established a factory in the heart of Powell River, a village situated outside of The Mainland, but now the company has five sites (Genthod, Lajoux, Les Bois, Plan-les-Ouates, Meyrin).

World Premieres

Franck Muller is also known for its "World Premiers". Each year, the manufacturer launches at least one new line of timepieces, featuring something special and exclusive, that has never seen before in the watchmaking industry. The first such world premiere was launched in 1993. The watches had split seconds chronograph, minute repeater, and a perpetual calendar. In addition, the watches included an indicator showing the internal temperature.

Many of the world premieres from Franck Muller are patented. All his watches are mechanical, having either a manual or self-winding movements. Some of their watches use movements based on standard ETA calibers.

Notable timepieces include Revolution2, Revolution3, Crazy Hours and Colour Dreams. Further examples of Franck Muller's watches include the Endurance, which is a simple chronograph, the Master Banker, which is a tonneau-shaped watch capable of multiple time zone indication, and the Curvex Minute Repeater Tourbillon, whose production is limited to 25 pieces.

Notable timepieces

Aeternitas

Revolution2

Revolution3

Crazy Hours

Color Dreams

Casablanca

Conquistador

References

External links

Official website

Official US website

Official UK website

Official Japanese website

Interview with Franck Muller

Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:Swiss people Category:Watchmakers (people) Category:Watch brands Category:Luxury brands Category:Watch manufacturing companies of Switzerland

de:Franck Muller Watchland es:Franck Muller it:Franck Muller nl:Franck Muller ja:フランク・ミュラー

playername	Dave Kern
fullname	David Kern
dateofbirth	March 23, 1981
cityofbirth	Glenolden, Pennsylvania
countryofbirth	United States
height
position	Goalkeeper
clubnumber	0
youthyears1	1999–2002
youthclubs1	Misericordia Cougars
years1	2004–2007
clubs1	Harrisburg City Islanders
caps1	41
goals1	0
years2	2007–2010
clubs2	Baltimore Blast (indoor)
caps2	16
goals2	0
years3	2009
clubs3	Real Maryland Monarchs
caps3	13
goals3	0
nationalcaps1	| nationalgoals1
pcupdate	12 April 2010
ntupdate	}}

Dave Kern (born March 23, 1981 in Glenolden, Pennsylvania) is an American soccer player who last played for the Real Maryland Monarchs of the USL Second Division, and for Baltimore Blast in the Major Indoor Soccer League.

Career

College

Kern attended Cardinal O'Hara High School and played college soccer at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pennsylvania, where he posted at 0.75 goals against average en route to the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2000. He was named his team's MVP in 2001 and 2002, earned First-Team All-Middle Atlantic Region selections in 2000 and 2002, Second-Team All-Middle Atlantic Region in 2001 and was a three-time All-PA Conference selection.

Professional

Kern began his career in 2004 when he signed with the Harrisburg City Islanders in the USL Second Division, and subsequently became the team's starting goalkeeper in all four years at the team, winning the USL2 championship in 2007.

In September 2007 Kern left Harrisburg to join the Baltimore Blast of the Major Indoor Soccer League as their backup goalkeeper, helping the team win an American Indoor Championship in his debut season.

Kern signed for the Real Maryland Monarchs in 2009.

References

External links

Real Maryland Monarchs bio

Baltimore Blast bio

Category:1981 births Category:Living people Category:People from Glenolden, Pennsylvania Category:American soccer players Category:Baltimore Blast (current MISL) players Category:Baltimore Blast (NISL) players Category:Association football goalkeepers Category:Harrisburg City Islanders players Category:Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2008) players Category:Real Maryland F.C. players Category:Soccer players from Pennsylvania Category:USL Pro Soccer League players Category:USL Second Division players

name	Lupe Fiasco
background	solo_singer
birth name	Wasalu Muhammad Jaco
alias	Lupe Fiasco
born	February 16, 1982Chicago, Illinois, United States
origin	Chicago, Illinois
religion	Islam
instrument	Keyboards, Piano
genre	Hip hop
occupation	Musician
years active	2005 to Present Day
label	1st & 15th, Atlantic
associated acts	Child Rebel Soldier, Japanese Cartoon, Matthew Santos, B.o.B, All City Chess Club
website	}}

Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco ( ), is an American rapper, artist, producer and CEO of 1st and 15th Entertainment. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his critically acclaimed debut album, ''Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor''. He also performs as the frontman of post punk band Japanese Cartoon under his real name. He was raised in Chicago, Fiasco developed an interest in hip-hop after initially disliking the genre for its heavy use of profanity and vulgarity; Fiasco eventually adopted the name Lupe Fiasco beginning to record songs in his father's basement then later joining a group called "Da Pak". This group disbanded shortly after its inception and Fiasco then met the bestselling rapper Jay-Z who helped him get signed to a record deal with Atlantic Records. In 2006, Fiasco released his debut album ''Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor'' on the label; Fiasco's debut album became a commercial success as well being critically acclaim. In the next year, Fiasco released his second album, ''Lupe Fiasco's The Cool'' in December 2007 which the lead single is titled "Superstar"; this became a market success and later becoming a music hit, peaking at #10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Life and career

1982–98: Early life

Fiasco was born Wasalu Muhammad Jaco on February 16, 1982 in Chicago, Illinois. Born of West African descent, he was one of nine children of Shirley, a gourmet chef, and Gregory, a engineer. His father, who was a member of the Black Panther Party, was a prolific African drummer, karate teacher, operating plant engineer, and owner of karate schools and army surplus stores. Fiasco was raised Muslim on the Westside of Chicago on Madison Terrace housing project. At the age of three, Fiasco began taking martial arts classes. His parents divorced when he was at the age of five and he went on to live with his mother throughout the rest of his life; Fiasco's father still remained prevalent in his life, "After school, my father would come and get us and take us out into the world—one day, we're listening to N.W.A, the next day we're listening to Ravi Shankar, the next day, he's teaching us how to shoot an AK-47, the next day, we're at karate class, the next day, we're in Chinatown...". In the sixth grade, he went to live with his father in Harvey, Illinois; his father lived next door to a crack house and taught Fiasco to use guns to defend himself from drug dealers. Despite his unstable upbringing, Fiasco states that he was well-educated as a child, asserting that "I grew up in the hood around prostitutes, drug dealers, killers, and gangbangers but I also grew up juxtaposed: On the doorknob outside of our apartment, there was blood from some guy who got shot; but inside, there was ''National Geographic'' magazines and encyclopedias and a little library bookshelf situation. And we didn't have cable, so we didn't have the luxury of having our brains washed by MTV. We watched public television – cooking shows and stuff like that."

He initially disliked hip hop music for its use of vulgarity and profanity so he preferred to listen to jazz; Fiasco idolized clarinet player Benny Goodman. He began rapping when he was in the eighth grade and upon listening to Nas' 1996 album, ''It Was Written'', Fiasco began to get into hip hop. Early in his career, he went by stage names Little Lu/Lu tha Underdog. Growing up, Fiasco was given the nickname "Lu", the last part of his first name given by his mother; "Lupe" is an extension of this nickname which he borrowed from a friend from high school. "Fiasco," he says, "came from the Firm album, it had the song, 'Firm Fiasco'. I just liked the way it looked on paper." He also said more details on his name, "I simply like the way the word "looked" (Fiasco). You know how rappers always have names like MC Terrorist—like they're 'terrorizing' other rappers? I knew fiasco meant a great disaster or something like that but I didn't realize that the person named Fiasco would be the disaster, and that you should be calling other MCs fiascos—not yourself. I was moving real fast at the time and it kind of humbled me in a sense. It taught me like, 'Yo, stop rushing, or you're going to have some fiascos.' So I just kept it. It's like a scar, I guess, a reminder to not over think or overrun anything ever again." Fiasco later described the experience saying, "We had a song out about cocaine, guns, and women and I would go to a record store and look at it and think, 'What are you doing?' I felt like a hypocrite. I was acting like this rapper who would never be judged and I had to destroy that guy because what Lupe Fiasco says on this microphone is going to come back to Wasalu Jaco(speaking in third person). When the music cuts off, you have to go home and live with what you say." After turning away from gangsta rap, he developed a greater appreciation of the lyricism of the likes of Jay-Z and Nas. In the process, his mother had given him a record of The Watts Prophets, one of the first bands to use spoken words with music and would become the basis of the genre, Hip Hop.

Later, Fiasco later signed a solo deal with Arista Records but was dropped when President and CEO L. A. Reid was fired. During his short tenure at Arista, he did meet Jay-Z, who was the president of Def Jam Recordings at the time, he referred to him as a "breath of fresh air" saying that he reminded him of a younger version of himself. Jay-Z would later go on and help him get a record deal at Atlantic Records.

During his early hip hop career Fiasco remixed another one of West's songs, "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" by renaming it as "Conflict Diamonds". This caught Kanye West's attention thus resulting in him asking Fiasco to perform on the song "Touch the Sky" off his album ''Late Registration''; tise song which sampled Curtis Mayfield's "Move On Up" became a music hit in the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at #42. When Fiasco released his first Atlantic Records single, "Kick, Push" it was released earlier than expected, the song was a love story about two lovers sharing a passion for skateboarding. It would go on to be nominated for two 2007 Grammy Awards. Fiasco's "Kick, Push" and its accompanying music video helped Fiasco get respected but not revered in the hip hop community. During this time, he had guest appearances on singles on Tha' Rayne's "Kiss Me" and "Didn't You Know" and also K Foxx's 2004 "This Life"; he also released the song "Coulda Been" on a compilation of MTV's Advance Warning.

2006–08: ''Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor'' and ''The Cool''

In 2006, Jay-Z assisted him in the production of what would become his debut album ''Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor''. The title of the album is a reference to 'Food and Liquor' stores common in Chicago. He explains, "the store is where everything is at, whether it be the wino hanging by the store, or us kids going back and forth to the store to buy something. The 'Food' is the good part and the ''Liquors'' is the bad part. I try to balance out both parts of me... Food to me represents growth and progression. You eat food and you get strength. You need it to live. Liquor is not a necessity; it is a want. It destroys you. It breaks you down. I can see why it's prohibited in Islam...I've always felt like liquor represents the bad, the food represents the good, and everyone is made up of a little of both." His single "Kick, Push" became very popular and was featured in the videogame ''NBA Live 2007''. As his popularity steadily increased his anticipation for his upcoming album after ''Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor''. The debut album was officially released on September 19, 2006. The album featured production from Jay-Z, Kanye West, Mike Shinoda, The Neptunes, Prolyfic, and more. Singles from the album were "Kick, Push," "I Gotcha" and "Daydreamin'" featuring Jill Scott. The critically lauded album was later nominated for three Grammy Awards including Best Rap Album. Fiasco won "Best Urban/Alternative Performance" for "Daydreamin". In the same year, he was voted by ''GQ'' magazine as the "Breakout Man of the Year." He also received four BET Hip Hop Award nominations, and it made it to No. 8 on Billboard 200 and No.2 on Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

In 2007, Fiasco announced his second album, ''Lupe Fiasco's The Cool'', a concept album that expands on the story of the track of the same name on his first album. While recording this album, Fiasco's father died of type II diabetes and his business partner, Charles "Chilly" Patton, was convicted of attempting to supply heroin and was eventually sentenced to forty-four years in a correctional facility. These events greatly affected Fiasco and the subsequent themes discussed on the album; the album was released in December 2007 in United States while the first single and video from the album, "Superstar" featuring Matthew Santos was released the first week of November 2007. Baseball's Hanley Ramirez, Troy Tulowitzki, Ryan Zimmerman, Gerald Laird and Ryan Braun have used "Superstar" as their at-bat song. The song has also been featured in HBO's ''Hard Knocks'' TV show. The album's second single (released in the UK in April 2008) was "Paris, Tokyo" – a song based around Fiasco's experiences of touring the world between his first and second albums. Moreover, in 2007 it was revealed that Fiasco, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams had formed a group known as Child Rebel Soldier. CRS initially released one single, entitled "US Placers" and featuring a Thom Yorke sample. In October 2010, as part of Kanye West's G.O.O.D Friday's, a second song titled "Don't Stop" was released. In an interview with MTV, particularly posted on his blog, Lupe said that a full length CRS album would depend on fan demand. The three appeared on the Glow in the Dark Tour together, though under separate billing. In an interview with ''The Village Voice'', Fiasco revealed that he was writing a novel about a window washer aptly titled ''Reflections of a Window Washer''. In 2008, Fiasco and his band "1500 or Nothin" joined Kanye West's Glow in the Dark Tour which also featured Rihanna and N.E.R.D. The tour stopped in several cities, including his hometown of Chicago. In 2008, MTV named Fiasco the 7th Hottest MC in the Game and announced that he was remixing ''The Cool'' with French electro house act Justice. Fiasco's "Superstar" has been included in the video game ''Lips''.

2009–present: ''Lasers''

Fiasco announced at a Chicago concert late in 2008 that his next and most likely final album will be a three disc album called ''LupE.N.D.'' and that the first disc titled, "Everywhere" would come out in June 2009. On January 30, 2009, Lupe Fiasco originally announced that ''LupE.N.D.'' will be postponed indefinitely. In spite of the bad news that he would not release three albums Fiasco decided to plan a project titled. ''The Great American Rap Album''. In June 2009, Fiasco would released two following albums in December 2009 and June 2010 with rumored ''LupE.N.D.'' following afterward. However, it was announced by Fiasco that his next album would instead be titled, "''We Are Lasers''", yet later his official Rep. from Atlantic Records announced and confirmed that it would instead be titled simply "''Lasers''". On June 26, 2009, Fiasco announced at the Chicago Theater that the album would be released in the 4th Quarter of 2009, particular in December. The album's first single, "Shining Down" features Matthew Santos and is produced by Soundtrakk; this single was released on July 7, 2009. On January 26, 2010, a new song called "I'm Beamin" was released and Fiasco referred to the song as a 'taste' of what is to come... There are a few snippets of songs that have been released as of August 24, 2009, unofficially titled "Army Girl," "Ladies And Gentlemen," and "2 Ways." Besides the forever delays and rhetoric about the release date of his latest album, Fiasco ventured into making songs for movies; he has a bonus track on iTunes for the soundtrack to ''The Twilight Saga: New Moon'' called "Solar Midnight". In a post on his Myspace blog, Fiasco addressed concerns by fans who believed that he had "sold out" by making a song for the soundtrack saying, "I'm not SELLING OUT by doing a song for NEW MOON... People thought I 'SOLD OUT' when I did 'Kick, Push'". On October 7, 2009, Lupe released a song in response to the release of MTV's 2009 "Top 10 Hottest MC's List", he was undoubtedly absent from the list; Lupe stated that the track entitled, "Fire" would prove that he belonged in the number one spot on the list.

In October 2009, Fiasco released two new freestyles, "Turnt Up" and "Say Something". Both freestyles were included on his official mixtape ''Enemy of the State: A Love Story'' released on November 26, 2009. The mixtape also included beats from Diddy's "Angels", Lil Wayne's "Fireman," Slaughterhouse's The One, and Radiohead's "The National Anthem." In the likes of contributing to the hip hop community itself more, Fiasco contributed his vocals to Chris Brown's song "Girlfriend" on his 2009 album ''Graffiti'' and has provided a guest verse on the song "Past My Shades" from Atlanta rapper B.o.B's 2010 album, ''B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray''.

Later in 2010, Fiasco announced on Twitter that his new album is complete and is waiting for the release from Atlantic Records; the delay of the release for the album remains to be unclear thus resulted in fans later putting together an online petition demanding that Atlantic Records release ''Lasers''. Around the 3rd or 4th Quarter of 2010, the petition garnered considerable attention on hip hop blog sites as well as attaining over five thousands signatures since its creation, it has since reached over twenty-eight thousand signatures. In response to the petition, Fiasco released a song titled "B.M.F-Building Minds Faster" as a gift for his fans; the story was featured on many sites including Cable New Networks (CNN) and MTV

In April 2010, in association with Pharrell, Fiasco formed the hip-hop group All City Chess Club which included himself as well as Asher Roth, B.o.B., The Cool Kids, Charles Hamilton, Blu, Diggy Simmons, Wale, J. Cole, & Dosage. They have so far made one song, a remix of Lupe's "I'm Beamin" which features Asher Roth, Charles Hamilton, The Cool Kids, Blu, Diggy Simmons, B.o.B & Dosage.

On July 16, 2010, Fiasco under his real name Wasalu Jaco released his post-punk band Japanese Cartoon's debut album ''In The Jaws Of The Lords Of Death''. He created the album while waiting for Atlantic Records to release his upcoming album and stated that Japanese Cartoon was influenced by a variety of musical genres, saying, "I’ve always been a fan of all music. My favorite songs aren’t hip-hop songs, they’re songs from Queen like Somebody to Love. Hip-hop is just something I actually know how to do but I always had aspirations to participate in other forms of music. Once I got to create some hip-hop, it was like, 'Okay, what am I going to do now?' So my artistic side was like, 'Yo, let’s do some rock music.'"

In August 10, 2010, Fiasco released a snippet of a song "Go to Sleep," on his official Twitter page. That snippet/song had the album titled ''Food & Liquor II (TGARA)''. This led to speculation that "Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album" would be Lupe's follow-up to ''Lasers''. Near the End of August, Fiasco released "Go to Sleep" in its entirety while eventually performing at Wake Forest University's Alumni Weekend Concert in Winston-Salem, NC in October 2010; Fiasco revealed to the crowd that the album would be finally released in March of 2011 (confirmed). As what you've read before about the protests above it wasn't until the 4th Quarter of 2010 that Fiasco's dedicated fan base protested outside the Atlantic Records Headquarters in New York City for the release of his third studio album, ''Lasers''. After the long haul, a Representative officially confirmed an announcement of a release date while would be on March 8, 2011; the first single off of ''Lasers'' was "The Show Goes On" was played at the protest then later released to the public via Fiasco's Official Webpage. The song samples the song "Float On" by Modest Mouse. On a National Level, it was released to iTunes on November 9, 2010 and later debuted at No. 57 on the Billboard Hot 100. The entire album was released on March 8, 2011 which coincidentally was the day it was the No. 1 album on iTunes; the producers involved on the album include Alex Da Kidd, King David "The Future" and Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis. Featured artists include Skylar Grey; Trey Songz; and John Legend.

Philanthropy and business ventures

In 2001, Fiasco co-founded with Charles "Chilly" Patton 1st & 15th Entertainment (or "FNF", named after the traditional twice-monthly paycheck dates), Although Fiasco was initially to serve as vice-president, he became CEO after Patton was convicted on drug charges. Fiasco and singer Matthew Santos were two of the most recognizable signed artists. In November 2009, Fiasco announced he would get "rid of the entire First and Fifteenth Record Label. Me and Sarah Green are the only artists on the label, like I got rid of the whole label. It was just such a ‘this isn’t right for you right now. This isn’t gonna work for you right now. You need to be focused on you. Do you really want that, do you really have the capacity to do it?’

In 2005, he founded "Righteous Kung-Fu", a company that designs fashions, sneakers, toys, video games, comic books, and graphics for album covers and skateboard decks. He has also sponsored a skateboard team and has endorsements from DGK Skateboards.

In January 2006, Fiasco signed with major footwear and apparel corporation Reebok becoming part of the "O.G" marketing campaign where rap artists such as Lil Wayne and Mike Jones designed their own personal colorway of the Reebok "O.G" model. Fiasco also runs his own fashion label under the name "Trilly & Truly". Together with Le Messie of FALSE from Singapore he also runs a collaborative clothing line called "Fallacy Of Rome".

In 2009, Fiasco performed in ''The People Speak'', a documentary feature film that employs musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's ''A People's History of the United States''.

On January 7, 2010, Fiasco joined musician Kenna, actress Jessica Biel, and other celebrities and activists for an expedition to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro called Summit on the Summit to raise awareness of the billions of people worldwide who lack access to sanitary drinking water.

On January 20, 2010, Fiasco released a track called "Resurrection" with Kenna in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake. The song, part of a compilation released through the charity Music for Relief, aimed to encourage donations for immediate relief and long-term recovery following the devastating disaster.

Political views

Fiasco is known for his anti-establishment views. In an interview with Stephen Colbert on the satirical news show ''The Colbert Report'', Fiasco stated his credo on political philosophy: "You should criticize power even if you agree with it." In another interview in June 2011 on the CBS program "What's Trending," Fiasco discussed the political content of his music while stating, "My fight against terrorism, to me, the biggest terrorist is Obama and the United States of America. I'm trying to fight the terrorism that's actually causing the other forms of terrorism. You know, the root cause of terrorism is the stuff the U.S. government allows to happen. The foreign policies that we have in place in different countries that inspire people to become terrorists." Despite his strong political opinions, Fiasco clearly states he does not vote in U.S. elections nor gets involves himself in U.S. politics which he clearly stated that it was "meaningless." For his strong political views, Fiasco has been getting lots of heat in the media like, the Young Turks for sharing his "liberal" politics but yet stating that voting is "meaningless"; this sparked the anchors of the Young Turks to conclude his statements to be "stupid". Fiasco has also appeared on Fox News' Network's The O'Reilly Factor in Late June 2011 where he continues to states that the "biggest terrorist in America is Obama" and he expresses in detail on what he believes; Bill O' Reilly caught him on his views and questioned how young adults envy his music and his character. The interview was a heavy debate on foreign policy after the statements on Obama being a terrorist which Fiasco makes it clear that he believes the United States Leadership is abusing their power.

Discography

''Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor'' (2006)

''Lupe Fiasco's The Cool'' (2007)

''Lasers'' (2011)

''Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album'' (Rumored)

See also

List of awards and nominations received by Lupe Fiasco

References

External links

Lupe Fiasco at Allmusic

Lupe Fiasco at ''Rolling Stone''

Lupe Fiasco at Metacritic

Lupe Fiasco on Twitter

''Lupe Fiasco, Word Star'' – Lupe Fiasco interview with ''Chicago''

Category:1982 births Category:African American Muslims Category:African American rappers Category:American hip hop record producers Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Rappers from Chicago, Illinois Category:Living people Category:Rappers

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