Jane Birkin Biography (1946-)

Jane Birkin was born in London on 14 December 1946, the daughter of Judy Campbell, an actress, and David Birkin, a captain in the Royal Navy. She first trod the boards at the age of 17 and met John Barry, who signed her up in 1965 for his musical comedy Passion Flower Hotel. They married shortly afterwards, and…

Aimee-Lynn Chadwick Biography (1980-)

Born in the small town of Sandwich, MA, Aimee Lynn Chadwick got her start in theater while studying at the Capachionies School of Performing Arts. While there, she landed such roles as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, Martha in the Secret Garden, Adelaide in Guys in Dolls (etc) and performed with Jon Secada in the Orange Bowl Half-Time…

Jay-Z Biography (1969-)

Rapper. One of the greatest successful hip-hop artists of all time, Jay-Z was born Shawn Corey Carter on December 4, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York. “He was the last of my four children,” Jay-Z’s mother later recalled, “the only one who didn’t give me any pain when I gave birth to him, and that’s how I knew he was…

Belinda Carlisle Biography (1958-)

Musician. Born August 17, 1958, as Belinda Jo Kurczeski to Walt and Joanne Kurczeski in Hollywood, California. Belinda’s father abandoned the family when she was 5 years old. Her mother remarried, and the family’s lower middle-class household eventually expanded to include seven children. As a youth, Belinda was often tasked with babysitting her three younger brothers and three younger…

Kathie Lee Gifford Biography (1953-)

Television personality. Kathryn Lee Epstein was born on August 16, 1953, in Paris, France. Her father, Aaron Leon Epstein, was an American naval officer and weekend jazz saxophonist, and her mother, Joan (nee Cuttell), was a former Naval secretary turned radio singer.

Kathie Lee and her two siblings, David and Michelle, grew up in France and several other…

Sarah Brightman Biography (1960-)

Sarah Brightman is an internationally well-known soprano whose activity in several musical genres places her among the leading crossover artists of her time. Her light soprano voice is attractive and chameleonic: conductor David Caddick has observed that Brightman actually possesses two rather distinctive voices: one for pop-oriented music and the other for more serious fare. She has sung…

Grey DeLisle Biography (1973-)

Multi-talented singer/songwriter, actress, autoharpist, and comedian Grey DeLisle was born August 24, 1973, outside of San Diego in Fort Ord. Her mother was a singer and musician while her father was a truck driver who loved country music, giving the young DeLisle the pedigree that would shape her professional career (she is rumored to have written her first…

Alyson Stoner Biography (1993-)

One of the more popular “tweener” stars during the 2000s, Toledo native Alyson Stoner followed the path of many a 21st century ingenue by entering show business courtesy of Disney. Born in August 1993, Stoner began performing at the age of three, with jazz, tap, and ballet classes at O’Connell’s Dance Studio in Holland, OH; she also modeled…

Rhona Mitra Biography (1976-)

British actress Rhona Mitra’s rise to success was helped by two unlikely and dissimilar factors: a video game and an American teen drama. Born in London’s Paddington district on August 9, 1976, Mitra was, by her own admission, a troubled adolescent who was expelled from two boarding schools and spent several years involved in London’s club culture. In…

Jani Lane Biography (1964-2011)

In a genre of music where survival of the fittest is not just a cliché but a way of life, Jani Lane embodies the spirit of a decade of excess, hedonism, and rock & roll. As the lead singer of Warrant, he helped to propel the band into the upper stratosphere with such hits as “Heaven,” “Down Boys,”…

Sinead O’Connor Biography (1966-)

Sinéad O’Connor ranked among the most distinctive and controversial pop music stars of the 1990s, the first and in many ways the most influential of the numerous female performers whose music dominated airwaves throughout the decade. Brash and outspoken — her shaven head, angry visage, and shapeless wardrobe a direct challenge to the popular culture’s long-prevailing notions of…