Jackson was born August 29, 1958, the seventh child of the Jackson family, and made his professional debut in 1964 as part of the Jackson 5.  Michael and his brothers got their big break when they signed with Motown, and they made the lucky break payoff… Their first four singles all went to number one on the Billboard 100.  Michael kicked off his solo career in 1971 with “Ben,” a song that played over the credits of the movie about killer rats.  It was originally intended for Donny Osmond, but Osmond was on tour and couldn’t get into the studio, so MJ was called, and he soon had his first solo number one hit.

His album, Off the Wall, released in 1979, firmly established him as a mega-hit and showed his range with songs from a variety of genres: disco, funk, soft-rock, jazz and pop ballads.  The album yielded four top ten singles with two going to number one.  Critics loved it and so did the public.  Michael Jackson had arrived as a serious talent. But it was his next album that changed the music world.

In 1982, MJ released Thriller. It was a multi-media juggernaut for Michael Jackson. Lyrics and music came together beautifully. Seven of the tracks made the top ten of the Billboard 100 — with “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” both going straight to number one.  While the music was incredible, it was the music video that really grabbed the world’s attention.  Directed by John Landis, it was a complete game-changer for videos.  It also helped bring power, fame and glory to a fairly new cable channel, something called MTV.  Thriller went on to become the best-selling album in the history of the world. Jackson dubbed himself The King of Pop and no one could disagree.

Throughout the ‘80s MJ stood at the heart of pop culture. Along with his music, there was his presence as a pop culture icon, closely chronicled in the tabloids: his close friendships with Diana Ross and Elizabeth Taylor; dating Brooke Shields; having a chimpanzee (the famous Bubbles) as a pet.  Towards the end of the decade and into the ‘90s, the stories became more and more bizarre:  MJ slept in a hyperbaric chamber to stay young; he bleached his skin (actually he suffered from a medical condition known as vitiligo which lightened his skin); his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley was thought to be nothing but a publicity stunt, and it went on and on… In the ‘90s came the darker allegations of inappropriate behavior and child sexual abuse (a 1993 accusation was settled out of court with no formal charges being brought, and in the 2005 case that did go to trial, the jury found him not guilty of all charges).

Despite it all, Jackson was poised for a comeback. He was still the King of Pop and was readying a show that would showcase the talents that had made him a worldwide superstar. Titled This Is It!, the concert series was eagerly anticipated.  Reports were that he was looking and sounding phenomenal. Then disaster struck. On June 25, 2009, Michael Jackson died of an overdose of propofol and benzodiazepine and after suffering a heart attack. The L.A. County Coroner ruled MJ’s death a homicide, and his personal physician was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

All the wild rumors and tabloid stories were forgotten as the world mourned. His memorial service was broadcast live on television to a worldwide audience that is estimated at one billion people. In the wake of his passing, the world remembers the music he had given us. His legacy and music will continue as seven more Michael Jackson albums are slated for release.

Although James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, was always called “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business,” an argument could be made that the title should now go to Tägtgren. Since 1990, Tägtgren has been assaulting audiences with his own brand of industrial metal, death metal, black metal and grindcore.  Yeah, he’s a fun guy at a party. But he doesn’t have much time to party because he’s always making more music.

And with PAIN, that’s a big job. You see, Tägtgren is not just the founder of PAIN, he’s also its only member. Oh sure, when PAIN is touring, then he’s joined by David Wallin on drums, Michael Bohlin on guitar and Johan Husgafvel on bass, but when he’s in the studio, it’s all Tägtgren all the time.

Tägtgren was born June 3, 1970 in Sweden. In a move that his parents no doubt regretted, he began playing the drums at age 9. He later learned the keyboard, guitar and bass, setting the foundation for his career as an in-studio one-man band.  He moved to the United States after his first band, Conquest, disbanded. In the U.S., he got to know Phil Fasciana, the guitarist for Malevolent Creation, and began jamming with him. Peter Tägtgren became part of the death metal scene and took it with him when he returned to Sweden.

A lot of musicians have a tough time handling one band.  Not Peter — the more the merrier!  He formed his own death metal band, Hypocrisy, which began with him playing all the instruments. As Hypocrisy began playing live, he picked up bandmates, while he stayed on as vocalist and guitarist. All that work must have gotten to him because as a “hobby,” he formed PAIN, the industrial metal band. He wanted to create a metal band with influences from techno and ‘80s style electro-industrial music.

Peter not only performs all the instruments on PAIN recordings, he also does all the vocals, and of course all PAIN lyrics and music are written and composed by him. There is one track on the latest album, You Only Live Twice, that’s not composed by Peter – it is PAIN doing a cover of the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby recorded live at the Sundown Festival in 2008. It is as subversive a track as you will ever find. With a driving beat and Peter exhorting the crowd to sing along, when they hit the chorus, “Ahh, look at all the lonely people,” it feels as though Hell’s demon chorus has just spotted a lot of tasty human snacks that better run for their lives. The track is, in a word, brilliant.

While Hypocrisy has developed a worldwide following with regular tours (including the U.S.), Peter still works at his other projects.  PAIN of course just released its seventh album in June of 2011, You Only Live Twice.  Peter is the vocalist for the grindcore/death metal group Lock Up, and vocalist for the death metal band Bloodbath. His forays into black metal include playing drums, bass and singing vocals for The Abyss, and performing vocals for War, another black metal group. Peter is also a respected and much sought after record producer. He owns his own studio, The Abyss, where he has produced such bands as Dimmu Borgir, Amon Amoarth, Celtic Frost and Immortal, among others.

It is always fascinating to see what Peter Tägtgren is up to.  He is a man obsessed by music, but his obsession is a lucky thing for the rest of us.

The band is relatively new… They got together in December 2010 and have already made a name for themselves. Here are the guys who make up Secrets.

Xander Bourgeois – Vocals
Richard Rogers – Vocals/ Guitar
Michael Sherman – Guitar
Marc Koch – Bass
Joe English – Drums

Bourgeois, Sherman, Koch and English were in a band that was breaking up. They needed someone for vocals and guitar. Their manager asked Richard Rogers, who was in another band, if he’d like to join. At first he said no, but soon changed his mind, and Secrets was born.

The rise of Secrets has been quick. Everything has been breaking right for them. They recorded their first EP with Tom Denney (who was with A Day To Remember) and their manager started sending it out.  Dave Shapiro at Velocity Records heard them and was interested.  He took the guys out to dinner (at TGI Fridays) and signed them.  It’s rare that a band gets signed so quickly, that easily and in such a straight forward manner.  Dave went to meet with Craig Ericson at Rise Records and he loved them, too.  So, Secrets is signed with Velocity and Rise, and just a year after they got together, their first full album was released in January 2012, and they were set to tour with Sleeping With Sirens and Abandon All Ships beginning in February 2012.

For the uninitiated, post-hardcore was derived from hardcore punk. Many of the hardcore bands moved into post-hardcore when they began to feel limited by the constraints of loud, fast, power chords and gang vocals. San Diego became a hotbed of innovation and talent in the mid-‘90s for post-hardcore, so it’s no surprise to see a San Diego group carrying the genre forward. Xander Bourgeois is the screamer and Richard Rogers provides the clean vocals along with playing guitar. Rogers vocals move more into pop territory and he admits that Death Cab For Cutie is one of his favorite bands, so you know his contributions to Secrets lyrics and music will have the same ironic sensibilities as Death Cab.

The launch of Secrets happened so fast that it is hard to imagine. The guys are pretty much regular guys. In fact, as they were waiting to go on tour in February 2012, guitarist-vocalist Richard Rogers even went back to his day job working at Pizza Hut. Another great bit of pop culture cross-over trivia, Darrell “The Gambler” Sheets appeared on the hit A&E Network television show Storage Wars as the uncle of drummer Joe English.

There is already a second tour in the works for the band, and their following is building every day. Their debut album, The Ascent, is aptly named because Secrets is clearly a band on the rise.

Growing Up Pitbull

Despite some unfounded rumors, Pitbull was born right here in the United States.  His parents were immigrants from Cuba and on January 15, 1981, they welcomed Armando Christian Perez into the world.  His parents didn’t want their son to forget his Cubano roots, so they made him recite the poems of Cuban poet Jose Marti, ingraining the importance and the power of words into the mind of young Armando. His parents separated and young Armando spent time with a foster family in Georgia, before moving back with his mother, who ended up kicking him out of the house for following in his daddy’s footsteps as a drug dealer.

After he graduated from high school, Armando made a decision to go for his dreams and focus on a career in rapping.  Early on, it was tough to get people to give him a shot.  There weren’t a lot of people who took him seriously:  a white, blue-eyed guy from the South.  Throw his Cubano heritage into the mix and it was even tougher.  But he kept coming no matter how tough it seemed.  That’s where his nickname Pitbull comes from.  He explained in an interview with the Washington Post, “They bite to lock. The dog is too stupid to lose.”  Pitbull kept pushing, and his refusal to lose seems like anything but stupid.

Breaking In

When crunk started taking over radio play, Pitbull knew his time had come. He saw crunk as Miami bass music with the music slowed down.  He had grown up with Miami bass, and now he was ready to step up.  He met Lil Jon, who took a liking to him and gave him his own track, “Pitbull’s Cuban Ride Out,” on Jon’s Kings of Crunk.  In 2004 Pitbull released his first album, M.I.A.M.I. (which stands for Money Is A Major Issue) with the single “Culo” (or “Ass” in English) doing pretty well.

Blowing Up

Pitbull then joined the Anger Management Tour, which was headlined by Tour founder Eminem and 50 Cent.  Pitbull returned to the studio and recorded three more albums, El Mariel (2006), The Boatlift (2007), Armando (2010).  He did a guest-starring role on UPN’s television series South Beach, and is the host of his own show Pitbull’s La Esquina on Mun2 cable network.  La Esquina translates as The Corner, so now you know where Pitbull’s hanging out.  Then came the 2011 release of Planet Pit.  He worked with T-Pain on the first single, “Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor)”, and then came “Give Me Everything,” with Ne-Yo, Nayer, and Afrojack, which became Pitbull’s first Number One single on the Billboard Hot 100.

The man works hard at his job… When he was starting out, he was constantly trying to get his music in front of people.  He brings something special to the world of music.  His background is definitely reflected in his music, growing up listening to merengue and other Latin and Caribbean rhythms.  Pitbull lyrics reveal a deeper, more serious side.  Sure, he has good-time party tracks, but many of his songs express his political views. When Cuban dictator Fidel Castro announced he was stepping down, Pitbull quickly recorded Ya Se Acabo (“It’s Over” in English). But it is far from over for Pitbull.  Actually, it’s only just beginning.

Early Influences

Adele was born Adele Laurie Blue Adkins on May 5, 1988, in Tottenham, London, England.  She began singing at a very early age, and one of her earliest influences was the Spice Girls.  Like many other seven-year-olds, she absolutely loved them and they made a big impression on her.  Another pivotal moment came when she got to see Pink perform live at the Brixton Academy.  Adele has been quoted as saying she had never had an experience like it, of being blown away by the power of Pink’s voice singing live. It was a stunning revelation about the power of the human voice. She began training her own incredible voice at the Brit School, which also includes Kate Nash and Amy Winehouse as proud alumni.

Breaking In

Adele got her break through a MySpace page set up for her music by a friend, but success didn’t happen immediately.  In fact, it took over a year for her to start getting some attention. Then, she was contacted by XL.  At first she thought the offer was bogus because Virgin Records was the only music company she knew of.  Still thinking it might all be a scam, she took a friend with her to the meeting.  Needless to say, the meeting was on the level.  In 2007 “Hometown Glory” was released and Adele was off and running.

Breaking Through

Adele’s second single, “Chasing Pavements,” was released on January 14, 2008, two weeks before her debut album 19 (which gets its name from her age when she recorded it).  It was a huge hit in the UK, but her attempt to break into the U.S. market seemed a complete failure.  However, things turned around dramatically after she appeared on Saturday Night Live on October 18, 2008, the same night vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was scheduled to appear.  SNL drew its highest rating since 1994 with 17 million viewers.  Adele performed “Chasing Pavements” and “Cold Shoulder,” and 19 rocketed up the charts the very next day.  The album continued to sell and Adele garnered critical success as well, winning Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards in 2009.

Her second album, 21, again named for her age, was a hit from the beginning.  This was a somewhat different sound for Adele. Song lyrics and music have been described as both roots music and country, which she heard for the first time when she toured the South.  Her single “Rolling In The Deep” went to Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there.  The album has gone Platinum in many countries, and Adele is the first living artist since the Beatles to have two Top Five hits on the Singles Chart and Album Chart.  Among dozens of other awards and groundbreaking industry honors for a female artist, the album and Adele racked up six nominations for the Grammy Awards in 2012. The only blot on this landscape of success was Adele having to undergo surgery on her vocal cords to remove a polyp. The good news is the surgery went well and Adele and her amazing voice should be cranking out great music for many years to come.

With the Grammy’s on Sunday, we looked at usage of our TuneWiki Social Music Player App to try and predict who is going to win a Grammy this weekend. To compare against what the public thought, we partnered with Research Now for an Omnibus survey to ask music fans around the country what they thought. The results were very interesting so we put together this graphic to show you how they compare. Use the comments at the bottom of the page to tell us what you think!

CLICK THE IMAGE TO VIEW FULL-SIZE

“Little Lion Man” is a song that everyone seems to remember hearing for the first time. Unlike anything else on the radio when it hit U.S. airwaves in the summer of 2010, the track was the odd-man-out on popular radio… until it became clear that 1.) It was really, really good, and 2.) The band behind the song, Mumford & Sons, was not going to be a one-hit wonder.  By the end of 2010, they had begun to perform regularly on U.S. network TV, and that led to both an increase in their popularity and their evident status as break-out stars by 2011.

The first single off their debut album entitled Sigh No More, “Little Lion Man” is a sweetly melodic folk song complete with poetic lyrics and twangy banjos. Marcus Mumford, lead vocalist, guitarist, and obvious namesake, has said that the lyrics arose from a dark part of his life, when he wasn’t proud of himself. And indeed, the words can be a big self-chastising. (“Weep for yourself, my man / You’ll never be what is in your heart / Weep little lion man / You’re not as brave as you were at the start”) And yes, there’s certainly an element of melancholy to the lyrics, but overall the track is a very feel-good, sing-loudly-by-yourself song.

By the time the Grammys rolled around in 2010, Mumford & Sons was nominated for Best New Artist and Best Rock Song, as well as asked to play their second single, “The Cave” during the awards show. Not winning was absolutely not a deterrent to their success – they’ve sold over 1,000,000 copies of Sigh No More to date. And better still, “The Cave,” was a terrific follow-up to “Little Lion Man” – proving to the world that they’ve got both a unique sound and the skill for musical variety.

In 2011, aside from playing live throughout the U.S. at many sold-out shows (including Coachella and Bonnaroo), they won three Billboard Music Awards – Top Rock and Top Alternative Albums for Sigh No More, as well as Top Alternative Artist. At this point, they announced they were working on a second album – one that had been written primarily in the U.S., and fans eagerly awaited a potential release date in 2011. However, 2011 has come and gone, with no album to satisfy listeners. The only detail the band has given is a track: “Ghosts That We Knew.” And Mumford has even deemed this title “tentative.” The delay seems to have only added to the buzz surrounding the album; music fans are wondering what the holdup is all about. In the meantime, we’re pacifying our growing anticipation by hoping that good things really do come to those who wait…

Our Top 5 Favorite 2011 Performances

The only thing we love more than music is live music. Boy, do we love live music. And there have been some fantastic live performances in the past year that we won’t be forgetting anytime soon. Here is one top-5 list but there are so many others. What’s your top 5? Add them in the comments and we’ll check them out.

Beyoncé – 2011 VMAs: “Love on Top”

Beyoncé’s performance is larger-than-life and flawless. If there was a defining moment in her career as a live performer, this performance (one showcasing her raw talent as a vocalist and commitment as an entertainer) has to be it. By the middle, the whole crowd is standing, clapping, and the camera even cuts to a surprised Adele, who was caught singing the lyrics with Beyoncé. When you think the song can’t get any better, or more epic, there’s a key change, and she keeps going. And another key change. And another. (At this point, the camera catches Lady Gaga, as her male alter-ego Jo Calderone bobbing her head to the beat.) Finally, Beyoncé finishes the song by ripping open her jacket to reveal a baby bump, officially announcing her pregnancy. The song is suddenly more poignant, as husband Jay-Z is in the audience, and the lyrics were clearly meant to be directed at him. Bam! We’ve got chills. What an ending.

Lady Gaga – HBO Monster Ball Special

If you’ve ever been to a Monster Ball, you’ll know that it’s an experience unique to Lady Gaga and her fans. HBO captured parts of the experience in their special that showed the entirety of her concert, as well as behind-the-scenes extras. The Monster Ball grossed a total of $227.4 million, and that number is due purely to the quality of a show that Gaga puts on. She’s often described her concerts as a giant dance party, and she’s right. Besides dancing, her fans are visually stimulated by Gaga’s use of technology and her set pieces. At one point, a giant Angler Fish attacks the singer. Really. You can’t say Gaga isn’t an entertainer.

Kanye West – Coachella 2011

Whether you were in the audience of this headlining performance at Coachella last year, or you were sitting at home watching the live stream, this concert was full-energy, all-out incredible. Concerts of that caliber often become difficult because the performer can’t sustain the energy required to finish the long set. Kanye, by the end, was clearly exhausted… but he kept powering through, all the way to the 25^th song – “Hey Mama.” It was both impressive and inspiring – and it was a good cap to his A+ album of 2010, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.” Fans of the album could appreciate his give-all performance at Coachella.

Adele – 2011 VMAs “Someone Like You”

We’ve raved about this one before, but it has to make the list. Adele’s simple, yet powerful performance (with only a piano behind her voice) was the moment of 2011 where the whole country just went silent, and listened. It’s cheesy to say, but Adele’s voice has a way of bringing out the melancholy in everyone. Her lyrics are all about heartache, and even the toughest of souls will shed a tear when she sings, “I wish nothing but the best for you. Don’t forget me.” This VMA performance was just the perfect demonstration of how honest, powerful music is beginning to mix with pop again. What a great time for music.

Jay-Z & Kanye West Tour

We can’t say no to a Jay-Z and Kayne collaboration (“Watch the Throne,” debuted number one album on Billboard in August of 2011), but it gets even better when the two of them ditch the studio for the stage. They went on tour together at the end of last year, and wowed audiences at sold-out shows around the country. They also had a strange tendency to end concerts by rapping “Ni**er in Paris”… nine, count ‘em, nine times. Excessive, maybe, but impressive, certainly.

Five years ago, no one could have guessed that a musical TV series about the dramatic lives of high school glee club singers would be Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG Award worthy. But here we are, in 2012, with FOX’s Glee still going strong. What’s even more of an enigma is how successful the Glee cover songs themselves have become. In a way, they’re an entire second element that can (and does) exist entirely out of context of the show. (Soundtracks have accompanied the seasons – the latter two of which debuted at number one in U.S. album charts.) Put simply, you can still be a fan of Glee songs without ever having to watch the series. And on top of that, they tend to cover some pretty fantastic songs of all genres.

Here are some of the songs we like.

ROLLING IN THE DEEP (ADELE)

Reimaging this song as a duet is a fantastic idea. Check out the lyrics. It’s perfect for the tension between two lovers who have lost each other and feel the pain of a breakup. Of course, the two actors can’t quite top the original, with Adele’s booming voice and clear heartache, but Lea Michele does bring a sadness to it that’s lovely to listen to, all the same.

TEENAGE DREAM (KATY PERRY)

If you thought this song couldn’t be any catchier, you clearly haven’t heard or seen the Glee version. First of all, it’s sung entirely by an a capella group of cute guys in prep uniforms. Second, there’s dancing. In sync. The effect is less teen pop and more sweet love song, and it’s a perfect take on Katy Perry’s Lyrics.

DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’ (JOURNEY)

Classic song, and classic Glee. This was actually the first full-cast number on the show, and it continues to be a favorite. It’s difficult to dislike the original version and we find that the cover has the same likeability. Needless to say, this version is a little more pop, a little less rock ‘n roll, but it holds its own as a pop song, and it stands out as an unsurprisingly excellent choice for many voices. Get the song here.

DEFYING GRAVITY (FROM “WICKED”)

Last but not least, we like this rendition of “Defying Gravity” that was written – literally – for musical theatre. Not quite as outrageous as the previous covers, but there’s something fantastic about watching Chris Colfer’s character sing his heart out in this song. His falsetto is unreal, and it’s songs like this that showcase his true talent (in combination with his poignant portrayal of high schooler, Kurt Hummel). Colfer was on Time magazine’s list of 100 Most Influential People in 2011, and it’s not at all difficult to see why.

A successful singer starting out with a Disney contract is not a new concept. See: The Mickey Mouse Club. The program’s 90s revival launched the likes of Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera into career trajectories towards stardom. Today, there is no current iteration of The Mickey Mouse Club, but Disney is still turning out talented singers who are topping charts and entertaining music fans everywhere. These artists are not only enjoyed by the tweens and children from their original fan base, but have taken over popular radio and now appeal to millions of older listeners.

Miley Cyrus became known to most of the world as Hannah Montana on Disney’s hugely popular show of the same name. The daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, Miley beat out hundreds of girls for the lead role at age eleven – she had the musical talent on top of the acting chops. How could Disney have said no? Hannah Montana, about a high schooler who was also secretly a teen pop star, became an empire, and Miley was at the heart of it. Her first single, which was also the show’s theme song, “Best of Both Worlds,” was the precursor to the first Hannah Montana soundtrack, on which Miley sung nine tracks. By 2007, she had another soundtrack and her own debut, self-credited album under her belt and went on tour to promote both. From there, it was only a matter of time before Miley started to break free of Disney’s control and show the world who she wanted to become as a musician. Her 2009 EP, “The Time Of Our Lives,” saw great success with “Party in The U.S.A.,” which was a fun summer hit, debuting at number two at on the Billboard 100. At the conclusion of Hannah Montana in 2010, Miley released “Can’t Be Tamed,” a pop album with a more adult sound than her previous work. As of 2011, she was listed as the richest teen in Hollywood, at $120 million.

And Miley’s certainly not the only ex-Disney singer on the scene at the moment. Demi Lovato’s career began with the serendipitous day in 2007 when she booked both Disney’s series “Sonny With A Chance,” and their original movie, “Camp Rock.” The popularity of both programs jettisoned Lovato into the spotlight, and into the world of music. With the help of the Jonas Brothers, Lovato released her debut album, “Don’t Forget,” topping off at number two on the Billboard 200. Since then, she dated a Jonas Brother, put out a second album, toured internationally, and came out as an anti-bullying activist, citing her own personal struggles as the reason for her involvement. In 2011, she released her third album, “Unbroken,” on which she worked with Timbaland.

It’s safe to say that these Disney stars are no longer leaning on the network to achieve success – Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus are clearly their own artists with long roads ahead.