October 25: Ciara - "Princess of Crunk & B" - is 26-years-old today.

Ciara Princess Harris - who performs under the name Ciara - is a recording artist, dancer, actress, and fashion model.

Since making her musical debut in 2004, Ciara has attained five Billboard Hot 100 top ten singles including a number one.

Prior to the release of her third album, Ciara has sold over seven million albums worldwide, and as of June 2010, she has sold more than 4.3 million albums and 6.9 million digital tracks in the United States alone.

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Ciara was born in Austin, Texas. Since her father was in the United States Army, Ciara grew up on army bases in Germany, New York, Utah, California, Arizona, and Nevada. During her teens, her family settled in Atlanta, Georgia. Ciara said that watching Destiny's Child and Janet Jackson perform on TV inspired her to pursue a career in music.

In her mid-teens Ciara formed the all girl group Hearsay with two of her friends. The group recorded demos, but eventually parted ways. Ciara ended up signing a publishing deal as a songwriter. Her first success was the song "Got Me Waiting" for R&B singer Fantasia Barrino's debut album, Free Yourself.

While writing songs she met music producer, Jazze Pha, whom she called her "music soulmate." In 2002, the two recorded four demos, "1, 2 Step," "Thug Style," "Pick Up the Phone," and "Lookin' at You," which all appeared on her debut album entitled Goodies which was released in 2004 by LaFace Record. The former was the second single released from it and became a hit.

Following the release of the album, Ciara was hailed as the "Princess or First Lady of Crunk&B." She worked with several writers and producers on the album besides Jazze Pha, including Lil Jon, Bangladesh, R. Kelly, Johntá Austin, Sean Garrett, and Keri Hilson, among others.

Goodies sold over five million copies worldwide and certified triple platinum in the United States. The album earned her four nominations at the 2004 Grammy Awards.
The album charted at twenty-six on the UK Albums Chart, and spent twenty weeks on the chart. It was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry, remaining to be Ciara's sole certified album in the UK.

Ciara made a guest appearance on Missy Elliott's single "Lose Control" and also on Bow Wow's single "Like You," which both peaked at number three in the United States and obtained worldwide success.

At the 48th Grammy Awards, Ciara received four nominations including a Grammy award for "Best New Artist," "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration" for "1, 2 Step," and "Best Rap Song" for "Lose Control" for Elliot's single. She won "Best Short Form Music Video" with Elliott for the single.

In 2006, she released her second album, Ciara: The Evolution which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and included the hits "Get Up" and "Promise." Ciara: The Evolution became Ciara's first number one album on the US Billboard 200 and second on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts with sales of more than 338,000 becoming her highest first week of sales to date.

(Press album cover for direct link to the entire Amazon Website):

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The album went on to be certified platinum by the RIAA in the U.S., within only five weeks of its release. It sold over two million copies worldwide. The album's international lead single "Get Up" which features Chamillionaire reached number seven in the United States and gained a platinum accreditation.

In October 2008 Ciara was honored as Billboard's "Woman of the Year," because of her success as a recording artist and leadership in embracing the changing music business.

Her third album Fantasy Ride released in May 2009, included the worldwide top ten hit single "Love Sex Magic" with Justin Timberlake which earned her a nomination at the 52nd Grammy Awards for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals."

Her fourth studio album Basic Instinct was released in December 2010.

Basic Instinct debuted at number forty-four on the US Billboard 200 chart. "Ride," which features Ludacris, was released as the album's lead single on April 26, 2010. It peaked at number forty-two on the US Billboard Hot 100, number three on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart., and achieved minor success in the U.K.


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October 25: "I Am Woman," Helen Reddy, is 70-years-old today.

 

Born into a well-known Australian show business family in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia singer Helen Reddy enjoyed success in the 1970s, placing fifteen singles in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Three of those fifteen songs reached #1, including her signature hit "I Am Woman."

 

As a teenage mother, Reddy traveled to New York with little money to pursue a singing career. Her first hit was "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar in 1971.

"I Am Woman" was recorded and released in May 1972, but barely made the charts. However, female listeners soon adopted the song as an anthem and began requesting it from their local radio stations in droves, resulting in its September chart re-entry and eventual #1 hit status. "I Am Woman" earned a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Over the next five years, Reddy had more than a dozen other U.S. Top 40 hits, including two more #1 hits. These included the country ballad "Delta Dawn," #1 in 1973); "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)," "Keep on Singing," "You and Me Against the World" (written by Paul Williams and featuring daughter Traci reciting the spoken bookends), "Emotion," "Peaceful," "Angie Baby" - which reached (#1 in 1974, "Ain't No Way To Treat A Lady," "Somewhere in the Night," and the Carole King-Gerry Goffin song "I Can't Hear You No More."

 

Reddy's total sales figures for the United Sales are estimated in excess of 10 million singles and 15 million albums; her worldwide album sales tally is estimated in excess of 25 million.

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October 25: Katy Perry - "California Gurls," "I Kissed a Girl" & "Firework" - is 27-years-old today.

 

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Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents, Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson grew up listening to only gospel music, sang in her local church and was not allowed to listen to "secular music" as a child. After earning a GED during her freshman year of high school, she began to pursue a singing career.

She released a self-titled gospel album in 2001 as Katy Hudson but it flopped when the record label went out of business. In 2007, she used the stage name Katy Perry and released her first Internet single, "Ur So Gay." She then hit it big with her second single "I Kissed a Girl" in 2008, which went on to top international charts.

Katy's first major studio album, One of the Boys, followed that same year and became the thirty-third best selling album worldwide of 2008. It achieved platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Also, "I Kissed a Girl" and her second single "Hot n Cold" both received multi-platinum certifications. Perry was ranked the ninety-seventh Artist of the 2000–10 decade by Billboard.

In 2010, she recorded "California Gurls" with Snoop Dogg. (See below.)

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Her second album, Teenage Dream, was released in August 2010 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The album included the hit singles "California Gurls" and "Teenage Dream"; both of which topped the charts on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and on the charts in several other countries.

In June 2011, Perry released the single, "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" A remixed version featuring American rapper Missy Elliot was released in early August. The single has topped U.S. download and radio charts. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 on August 17, 2011, making Perry the first female artist ever to have five #1 singles from one album. 

Perry appeared at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28, 2011. She was nominated for ten awards, received the most nominations of the ceremony and was the only singer in history to have four different music videos shown on various categories, eventually winning three of those, including Video of the Year for "Firework," Best Collaboration and Best Special Effects for "E.T."

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October 24: Actress and singer, Shenae Grimes, is 22-years-old today.

A native of Toronto, Canada, Shenae Sonya Grimes attended City Academy for her last two years of high school.

Beginning with a minor role in 2004, Grimes became a lead character on Degrassi in 2006, playing the role of Darcy Edwards. Grimes won as Best Performance in a Children's or Youth Program or Series in the 22nd Gemini Awards for the episode Eyes Without a Face, Part 2 on Degrassi: The Next Generation.

In 2009, Grimes left the series and Canada after being cast as Annie Wilson in 90210, the CW's spin-off of Beverly Hills, 90210. Shenae was also a recurring guest star on the series Naturally, Sadie where she played Arden Allcott. She's also appeared on the TV show, Harry's Law.

Grimes appeared in a music video for rock band Our Lady Peace's single, "All You Did Was Save My Life," which was filmed in April 2009.

In 2010, she participated in YouTuber Freddie Wong's video "Gun Size Matters." She also appeared in music videos by the Cary Brothers and Plushgun.

Grimes wrote, sang, and directed the video for her song "Myself and I."

She will be making a cameo in the upcoming horror film, Scream 4, set to release in April 2011.

In 2011, Grimes started a campaign called "Spread The Heart" supporting Japan by victim relief after the tsunami and earth quakes they endured. Many celebrities joined the campaign which later became a big movement. In May 2011, during her 90210 hiatus, she took a six-week internship at Teen Vogue in New York City. She stated that working as an editor for a fashion magazine has always been her dream.

In the fall of 2011, she directed a music video for Megan & Liz's original song "Are You Happy Now?" to raise awareness about anti-bullying, in partnership with DoSomething.org. The video debuted on Teen.com on October 17th, 2011 and uploaded to Megan & Liz's YouTube channel the following day. Since then, it has received over 440,000 views and over 17,000 likes.

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For more about Shenae, visit her Website at -

www.officialshenaegrimes.com

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