Trending

Popular people

Lee Pomeroy

Biography

Bassist Lee Pomeroy is what one might call a man of musical extremes. On the one hand, he has made a name for himself playing with one of the greats of progressive rock, Rick Wakeman, in the English Rock Ensemble. On the other, he is the regular touring bass player with the hugely successful boy band Take That. Hardly surprising, then, that a player of such obvious versatility is fast becoming one of the UK's most sought-after session men. Lee is an award winning composer & producer as well as being an in demand professional bass player. Alongside writing partner, Martin Price, Lee has composed many pieces of music for Boosey & Hawkes, EMI Production Music, Universal Production Music, Boost Music, Music House, Reliable Source Music and Audio Network.
Read more

Johnathan Rice

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Johnathan Rice (born May 27, 1983) is a Scottish-American singer-songwriter. He frequently collaborates with Jenny Lewis. His first album, Trouble is Real, was released on Reprise Records on April 26, 2005. His follow-up, Further North, was released by Reprise on September 11, 2007. He has also worked as a producer on Jenny Lewis' Acid Tongue (2008) and Voyager (2014), and as a songwriter on the self-titled record by Nashville band The Apache Relay. He has served as a session and live musician with Elvis Costello on 2008's Momofuku). In 2010, he released a collaborative album "I'm Having Fun Now" with Jenny Lewis, as Jenny and Johnny. In 2013–14, Rice and Lewis scored and wrote seven original songs for the movie Song One (2014), starring Anne Hathaway.
Read more

Grigori Aleksandrov

Biography

Grigori Vasilyevich Aleksandrov or Alexandrov (original family name was Mormonenko; 23 January 1903 - 16 December 1983) was a prominent Soviet film director who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1947 and a Hero of Socialist Labor in 1973. He was awarded the Stalin Prizes for 1941 and 1950. Initially associated with Sergei Eisenstein, with whom he worked as a co-director, screenwriter and actor, Aleksandrov became a major director in his own right in the 1930s, when he directed Jolly Fellows and a string of other musical comedies starring his wife Lyubov Orlova. Though Aleksandrov remained active until his death, his musicals, amongst the first made in the Soviet Union, remain his most popular films. They rival Ivan Pyryev's films as the most effective and light-hearted showcase ever designed for Stalin-era USSR. Description above from the Wikipedia article Grigori Aleksandrov, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read more

Sean Connery

Biography

Sir Thomas Sean Connery (August 25, 1930 – October 31, 2020) was a Scottish actor and producer. He won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award), and three Golden Globes, including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award. Connery was the first actor to portray the character James Bond in film, starring in seven Bond films (every film from Dr. No to You Only Live Twice, plus Diamonds Are Forever and Never Say Never Again), between 1962 and 1983. In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables. His films also include Marnie (1964), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), A Bridge Too Far (1977), Highlander (1986), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Dragonheart (1996), The Rock (1996), and Finding Forrester (2000). Connery was polled in a 2004 The Sunday Herald as "The Greatest Living Scot" and in a 2011 EuroMillions survey as "Scotland's Greatest Living National Treasure". He was voted by People magazine as both the “Sexiest Man Alive" in 1989 and the "Sexiest Man of the Century” in 1999. He received a lifetime achievement award in the United States with a Kennedy Center Honor in 1999. Connery was knighted in the 2000 New Year Honours for services to film drama. On October 31, 2020, Connery died at the age of 90.
Read more

Maurice Vander

Biography

Maurice Vanderschueren, better known as Maurice Vander (born 11 June 1929, Vitry-sur-Seine, died 16 February 2017, Montmorillon ) was a French jazz keyboardist. Vander worked in the 1950s with Don Byas, Django Reinhardt, Bobby Jaspar, Jimmy Raney, Stephane Grappelli, Chet Baker, and Kenny Clarke. He won the Prix Django Reinhardt in 1962. In the 1960s he was a session musician for Roger Guerin, Pierre Gossez, and Boulou Ferré, and played with Claude Nougaro and Ivan Jullien. He played with Baker again in the late 1970s and with Johnny Griffin; his later work included performing and recording with Clarke, Richie Cole, Art Farmer, and Benny Powell. Vander is the adoptive father of Christian Vander (musician). Source: Article "Maurice Vander" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Read more

Sacha Distel

Biography

Alexandre "Sacha" Distel (29 January 1933 – 22 July 2004) was a French singer, guitarist, songwriter and actor who had hits with a cover version of "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" in 1970, which reached No 10 in the UK Charts, "Scoubidou", and "The Good Life". He was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur in 1997. He had also scored a hit as a songwriter when Tony Bennett recorded Sacha's song for The Good Life in 1963. It peaked at #18 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and Top 10 on the Easy Listening chart. Distel was the son of Russian-French emigre Léonide Distel who was born in Odessa (Russian Empire) and French-Jewish pianist Andrée Ventura (1902–1965), born in Constantinople. His uncle was bandleader Ray Ventura. After Ventura settled in Paris with his orchestra Les Collégiens, Distel gave up piano and switched to guitar. During his career, Distel worked with Kenny Clarke, Jimmy Gourley, Lionel Hampton, Slide Hampton, Bobby Jaspar, Barney Kessel, John Lewis, Pierre Michelot, Bernard Peiffer, Henri Renaud, Fats Sadi, Art Simmons, Martial Solal, René Urtreger, and Barney Wilen. As well as his musical career he also did some acting, primarily on French television. He had a cameo appearance in the 1960 film Zazie dans le Métro. He appeared in "Fallen Angels" by Noel Coward on British television in 1974. Distel was involved with actress Brigitte Bardot in 1958, having invited her to his birthday party in Saint-Tropez. The relationship ended in 1959. He married championship Olympic skier Francine Bréaud in 1963. Distel publicly stated that he remained faithful to his wife: "Anything I want in a woman I can get at home." Distel died of cancer at the age of 71 on 22 July 2004 at his mother in law's home in Rayol-Canadel, near Saint-Tropez, France. Source: Article "Sacha Distel" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
Read more

Geneviève Grad

Biography

Geneviève Gabrielle Grad (5 July 1944 – 7 November 2024) was a French actress. She played Nicole Cruchot, the daughter of police officer Ludovic Cruchot (Louis de Funès) in the first three films of the Gendarme of Saint-Tropez series from 1964 to 1968. She has, among others, played in two films with Paul Guers as his partner: Flash Love (1972) and Libertés sexuelles (1977). She has also appeared in several made for TV films and TV series in the 1960s and 1970s. She had a son with Igor Bogdanoff. She has been married to Jean René André Yvon Guillaume since March 19, 1993. She lives in Vendôme in the Loir-et-Cher.
Read more

René Clément

Biography

René Clément (March 18, 1913, Bordeaux – March 17, 1996, Monte Carlo, Monaco) was a French film director and screenwriter. Clément studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts where he developed an interest in filmmaking. In 1936, he directed his first film, a 20 minute short written and featuring Jacques Tati. Clément spent the latter part of the 1930s making documentaries in parts of the Middle East and Africa. In 1937, he and archaeologist Jules Barthou were in Yemen making preparations to film a documentary, the first ever of that country and one that includes the only known film image of Imam Yahya. Almost ten years passed before Clément directed a feature but his French Resistance film, La Bataille du rail (1945), gained much critical and commercial success. From there René Clément became one of his country's most successful and respected directors, garnering numerous awards including two films that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the first in 1950 for The Walls of Malapaga (Au-delà des grilles) and the second time two years later for Forbidden Games (Jeux interdits). Clément had international success with several films but his star-studded 1966 epic Is Paris Burning?, written by Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Paul Graetz was a costly box office failure. Clément continued to make a few films until his retirement in 1975, including an international success with Rider On The Rain that starred Charles Bronson and Marlène Jobert. In 1984 the French motion picture industry honored his lifetime contribution to film with a special César Award. René Clément died in 1996 and was buried in the local cemetery in Menton on the French Riviera where he had spent his years in retirement. Description above from the Wikipedia article René Clément, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read more

Alysa King

Biography

Alysa King is a Canadian-born actor, singer, and live performer. During her early childhood years she was featured in several nationwide commercials and magazines, and later returned to the industry once she had completed her post-secondary education. Upon completing high school she trained at Sheridan College and graduated their Theatre Arts program with honours. She then switched gears and continued on to Queen’s University in Kingston, where she received her Bachelor of Arts Honours degree in Dramatic Arts and English Literature & Language, and a Bachelor of Education. While at Queen's, she remained an avid member of the theatrical community and appeared in several Kingston productions, creating new Canadian roles with the Plastic People Theatre Company’s “Punchline” and Facebox Theatre’s “Framed”. She also had the privilege of performing in Canada's first student Shakespearean Repertory Company, Vagabond Theatre, and revamped the classic play "Romeo and Juliet", by playing Romeo as a female lead. Upon graduating, Alysa returned to film and television, and in 2014 she starred in the award-winning genre film "Berkshire County" directed by Audrey Cummings. Praised for her intense and compelling portrayal of Kylie Winters, her performance earned her two "Best Actress" awards from festivals world-wide and the film screened on 5 continents to rave reviews. It has a national theatrical run in Canada at Landmark Cinemas and was in the top 5 earning Canadian films for several weeks during its screening window. Most recently, Alysa was a recurring character on the hit TV series Slasher, a co-production of Shaftesbury Films and Super Channel starring Jurassic World’s Katie McGrath, which aired on NBC Universal's 'Chiller' channel in 2016 to excellent reviews and great ratings. She also plays the lead role in Black Fawn Distribution’s latest film "Bed of the Dead", which swept the 2016 festival circuit and was selected to play at Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival, the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, and Spain’s famed Sitges Film Festival (the only academy award qualifying genre festival in the world).
Read more

Aluna Francis

Biography

Aluna Francis was born in Wales in July 1988 to a Jamaican father and an Indian mother. After her parents separated, she was raised in New Jersey and London. Her name “Aluna” means “come here” in the Mwera dialect of Tanzania, “pupil” in Portuguese and “Mother Earth” in Mayan. Before working in the music industry, Francis worked as a reflexologist. Francis' first venture into the music industry came when she sang in a group called My Toys Like Me. In 2013, Francis appeared as a panellist on the BBC music game show Never Mind the Buzzcocks. In July 2019, Francis announced that she was expecting a child by the end of the year. Francis announced on 17 November 2019 via Instagram that she had given birth to a girl named Amaya. Francis released a solo album, Renaissance on 28 August 2020 through Mad Decent. In January 2022, Francis teamed up with Diplo, Kelli-Leigh, and Italian producer Durante for an indie-dance single called “Forget About Me”, which was nominated for a Grammy. In 2023, Francis featured on the Skrillex track "Inhale Exhale" alongside Kito. Later that year, on 7 July, Francis released her sophomore album, titled MYCELiUM, featuring collaborations with producers such as Route 94, MNEK, Tchami, MK, and Chris Lake.
Read more