186529161

***J. Lo*** Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24, 1969[1]), popularly nicknamed J.Lo, is a Golden Globe Award-nominated American actress, a Grammy Award-nominated singer, songwriter, a dancer, and a fashion designer. She is the richest Hispanic in Hollywood according to Forbes magazine[2] and also the most influential Hispanic entertainer in America according to People en Español's list of 100 Most Influential Hispanics which pays tribute to Hispanics who have had an impact on their communities.Lopez was born and raised in Castle Hill, an upper-class neighborhood in the Bronx, New York City, New York to Puerto Rican parents Guadalupe Rodríguez and David Lopez. Lopez spent her entire academic career in Catholic schools. She also financed singing and dancing lessons for herself from the age of nineteen. After leaving a one-semester career at Baruch College, Lopez divided her time between working in a legal office, dance classes, and dance performances in Manhattan clubs at night. After months of auditioning for dance roles, Lopez was selected as a dancer for various rap artists' music videos, and was given a guest spot at the American Music Awards as a backup dancer for the New Kids on the Block and their performance of their song "Games" in 1991. After being rejected twice, Lopez gained her first regular high-profile job as a "Fly Girl" dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color in 1991. Soon after, Lopez became a backup dancer for famed singer Janet Jackson and made an appearance in her 1993 video "That's the Way Love Goes".Lopez owns a clothing line, JLO by Jennifer Lopez, whose brand has been licensed for a term by Warnaco Group. Her line includes different types of clothing for young women, including jeans, T-shirts, coats, belts, purses, and lingerie. In 2005, she launched a new clothing line called Sweetface. She is planning to launch a jewelry line, as well as an accessory line that includes hats, gloves, and scarves.[8] Lopez has also done photoshoots to represent the Louis Vuitton Winter 2003 campaign. In the fall of 2007, Lopez will retire JLO by Jennifer Lopez and launch a new juniors' line called JustSweet.[9] The ad campaign will be featured in major magazines such as Glamour and Vogue. A runway show during New York Fashion Week is expected.Lopez's frequent use of animal fur in her clothing lines and personal wardrobe has brought the scorn of people concerned with animal rights. At the Los Angeles premiere of Monster-in-Law, more than one hundred protesters from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) held a demonstration to highlight their concerns. Lopez told a radio DJ she was open to being educated on the topic.On April 12, 2002, Lopez opened an elegant Cuban restaurant in the South Lake district of Pasadena, California named Madre's. A media sensation was creating when during a press shoot for the fancy restaurant, a mysterious man appeared out of the sidelines and gave Lopez a floral arrangement from Ben Affleck, even as then-husband Cris Judd stood next to her. Lopez was widely criticized for what appeared to be infidelity on her part.Lopez has also ventured in the perfume industry, with her debut "Glow by J.Lo" which broke numerous records in sales.[citation needed] In October 2003, Lopez introduced a perfume called "Still". Before launching another completely new fragrance, she revisited 2002 "Glow" by creating a limited edition spin-off entitled "Miami Glow by J.Lo", in homage to her adopted hometown of Miami. Around the same time, Lopez came up with a "Glow" body line, which featured different body lotions and bronzers. For the Christmas season of 2005, she launched another fragrance, "Live by Jennifer Lopez". Most recently, for 2006 Valentine's Day, "Miami Glow" was replaced by yet another "Glow" spinoff — "Love at First Glow by J.Lo". Her latest fragrance is called "Live Luxe" and was released in August 2006, with "Glow After Dark" following its release in January 2007.Lopez is also a spokesperson for Lux shampoo in Japan, appearing in the product's television commercials.Lopez is the first actress-singer to have a film (The Wedding Planner) and an album (J. Lo) at number one in the same week.[20] Lopez's perfume, "Glow", made history in 2001, by being the number-one perfume in more than nine countries in less than four months. Lopez is the first woman who has been placed number one two years in a row for FHM magazine's list of the 100 Sexiest Females in the World and the 100 Sexiest Females in the U.S. Lopez was on the The Hollywood Reporter's list of the top ten actress salaries in 2002, 2003, and 2004. Lopez made the 2007 Forbes magazine's list of The Richest 20 Women In Entertainment and ranked ninth. Her wealth is estimated at $110 million.[21] Lopez is the first Latin actress to get the cover of Vogue magazine. Lopez has five number-one hits in the U.S. and a combined twenty weeks at number one. Lopez also has five number-one hits on the United World Chart and a combined nineteen weeks at number one. Lopez's album J to tha L-O!: The Remixes is the first remix album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200.[6] It is also the third all-time biggest-selling remix album in the world, after Michael Jackson's Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix (1997) and Madonna's You Can Dance (1987). Lopez has sold over forty-eight million records worldwide.[22] Lopez appeared in the 2007 Guinness World Records as the most powerful actress. Lopez is the first artist to have a Spanish video ("Qué Hiciste") at number one on MTV's Total Request Live daily countdown. Lopez holds the record of having the most lead videos credit on MTV's Making the Video series with eight. Lopez holds the record for largest debut record sales for a Spanish album.***Alicia Keys*** Alicia Keys (born Alicia J. Augello-Cook on January 25, 1980) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, composer, pianist, record producer, philanthropist, and occasional actress and author. Keys is a renowned artist who has sold twenty-eight million albums and singles worldwide and won numerous awards, including nine Grammy Awards, eleven Billboard Music Awards, and three American Music Awards.Keys was born to an Irish-Italian mother, Terri Augello, and a Jamaican father, Craig Cook,[1] in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, New York. Terri was a paralegal and actress,[2] but Keys was raised in a poor home in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Keys' mother and father separated during her early childhood, thus she was raised by her mother during her formative years; the two shared a one-room apartment with Alicia sleeping on the couch.[2] Her mother was the one who most supported her during the time she was developing her musical talents. In 1985, Keys and a group of other girls won the parts of Rudy Huxtable's sleepover guests in an episode of The Cosby Show (the episode became the only time Keys was credited under her real name). She began playing piano when she was seven, learning classical music by composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, and her favorite, Chopin. The press reported in 2005 that Keys was attempting to reconcile with her father.[3] However, Keys denied this and said her words were misinterpreted.[4]Keys graduated from the Professional Performing Arts School, a high school in Manhattan, at the age of sixteen. Although accepted to Columbia University at age sixteen with a scholarship, she decided instead to pursue her musical career. Keys signed a demo deal with Jermaine Dupri and his So So Def label, then distributed by Columbia Records. She wrote and recorded a song entitled "Dah Dee Dah (Sexy Thing)", which appeared on the soundtrack to the 1997 blockbuster, Men in Black. The song was Keys' first professional recording; it was never released as a single and her record contract with Columbia Records was ended quickly. Keys later met Clive Davis, who signed her to Arista Records, which has since disbanded. Following her mentor Clive Davis to his newly formed J Records label, she recorded the songs "Rock wit U" and "Rear View Mirror", featured on the soundtracks to the films Shaft (2000) and Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) respectively. Keys then released her debut album Songs in A Minor in 2001, the title being a reference to both her classical aspirations and to the fact that she wrote most of the songs at a very young age.Keys has finished shooting a film alongside Ben Affleck, Ray Liotta, Common, Andy Garcia, Jeremy Piven, and Ryan Reynolds entitled Smokin' Aces,[16] released on January 26, 2007,[17][18] in which she plays an assassin named Georgia Sykes. Keys has received much praise from her co-stars in the film; Ryan Reynolds said Keys has "natural" acting ability as he was surprised she had not starred in films before.[19]Furthermore, she has finished shooting her second film The Nanny Diaries alongside Scarlett Johansson, which is due for release on September 7, 2007. She is playing Johannson's best friend in the film. The Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, New York was used to film the college graduation scene for the film.[20]Keys and her long-term manager Jeff Robinson have signed a first-look film production deal to develop live-action and animated projects with Disney, Variety reports. Their first film, a remake of the 1958 comedy Bell, Book and Candle, will star Keys as a witch who casts a love spell to lure a rival's fiance.[21] Keys and Robinson have also formed a television production company called Big Pita.[22] Their first project will be a CW Network TV series inspired by Keys' experiences as a biracial child growing up in New York, similar to the network's Everybody Hates Chris.[1] Keys has been tapped to executively produce an upcoming TV drama. The title and airing date are presently unconfirmed.[23] Keys and Robinson said they will develop live-action and animated projects at their company, Big Pita, Little Pita, with Keys participating as producer, thesp, banner spearheading soundtrack, and music supervision. She also played a voice in the "Mission to Mars" episode of The Backyardigans.Keys will also play 1940s biracial piano child prodigy Philippa Schuyler in an upcoming film entitled Composition in Black and White.[24] It is based on the 1995 biographical book of the same name by Kathryn Talalay and follows the story of Philippa Schuyler. "The challenge, in order to actually be able to play classical piano as a woman of mixed race, was by far more than I could ever imagine", Keys said. "That's what intrigued me about that role". The biopic will tell the difficult tale of Schuyler's controversial career, love-hate relationship with her mother and the black community, her second career as a writer, and her eventual death in a helicopter accident. "Her story is very deep, even up to the point where the relationship between her and her mother gets very strained and she chooses to go to Europe and pass as a Spanish woman in order to be able to play, in order to be able to live a more normal life", Keys said, adding that she and Halle Berry hope to start shooting in early 2008. "As of right now, we're still in the first, second draft of the script", she said. "So a little bit of time — at least a year".Besides being a musician, Keys is also an active philanthropist. She is a spokeswoman for Keep a Child Alive, a non-profit organization that provides life-saving AIDS medicines directly to children and families with HIV/AIDS in Africa. Keys and U2 lead singer Bono recorded a cover version of Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush's "Don't Give Up", in recognition of World AIDS Day 2006. Keys and Bono's version of the song has been retitled as "Don't Give Up (Africa)",[25] to show the two musicians' support for helping to raise awareness of people living with HIV and AIDS and acknowledging the twenty-five million Africans (forty million people worldwide) living with the disease. Cingular Wireless announced the debut of an exclusive Music Tone ringtone available only through the Cingular Sounds music program. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the ringtone sales will go to Keep a Child Alive.Keys has visited African countries such as Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa[26][27] to promote care for children affected by AIDS. Keys, the global ambassador and co-founder of Keep a Child Alive, will jet in on a four-day working visit on April 9, to bolster the HIV/AIDS crusade and give a ray of hope to families and children devastated by the scourge. Keys will visit sites funded by the organization "and bring footage home to the American public to encourage them to do more to help", according to a KACA statement. Throughout her visit, a film crew will follow and document the progress at both of these facilities for American news outlets.Keys is also a spokewoman for Frum tha Ground Up, a charity devoted to inspiring, encouraging, and motivating American youths to achieve success on all levels. Keys also participated in other humanitarian efforts in 2005 by performing at several exclusive concerts and television shows. On July 2, Keys performed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as part of the worldwide Live 8 concerts. The mission of the concerts was to raise awareness of the on-going poverty in Africa and to pressure the G8 leaders to take action by doubling aid, canceling debt, and delivering trade justice for Africa. In August 2005, Keys performed on ReAct Now: Music & Relief, a benefit program shown on music video channels to raise money for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. The following month, Keys performed at Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast, another Hurricane Katrina benefit concert.