NYS Music 202​1

Tag: birthday

  • Happy Birthday, Cyndi Lauper!

    Today, talented singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT+ activist, and pioneer in music Cynthia (Cyndi) Ann Stephanie Lauper celebrates her 69th birthday. From her residence in New York’s Upper West Side to childhood in Ozone Park, Cyndi Lauper is a true New Yorker through and through.

    Cyndi lauper birthday

    The perpetually campy orange haired princess of pop like her image in “Girls Just Want to Have Fun“, Lauper is underrated as a master across genres. With one of the greatest rock voices of her generation, she described her struggle even to emerge as the pop artist she was labeled as.

    Cyndi lauper birthday
    Cyndi Lauper in Girls Just Wanna Have Fun/ credit: MEDIAPUNCH

    Despite misogynistic barriers that initially barred her from entry into the industry, Lauper’s album She’s So Unusual was the first debut album by a female artist to achieve four top-five hits on the Billboard Top 100s, earning her a Best New Artist Grammy award in 1985. 

    Iconoclast who revolutionized the role of women in rock and roll

    Songwriters Hall of Fame

    Lauper’s discography spans across genres, movie soundtracks like The Goonies, and even Broadway numbers like Kinky Boots, earning her Grammys, Emmys, Tonys, MTV Video Music Awards, Billboard Awards, and American Music Awards. She’s one of the few singers to have earned 3 out of the 4 EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

    Throughout her entire career, Lauper has consistently taken on serious topics including racism, homophobia, spousal abuse and AIDS. Her sincere advocacy for gay and transgender rights even earned her an invitation as a special guest to attend President Barack Obama’s second-term inauguration. As the co-founder of True Colorshttp://Nysmusic.com/tag/LGBTQ United, Lauper sought to eliminate youth homelessness among LGBTQ+ young people and even uses her iconic song True Colors to raise awareness for issues among the gay community. A true humanitarian, she was even presented the High Note Global Prize in 2019 by United Nations Human Rights. 

    As we all wish Cyndi Lauper a happy birthday, let us not forget all her contributions to the music industry and human rights alike!

  • Happy Birthday, Lana Del Rey!

    Today, June 21, marks the 37th birthday of Grammy-nominated singer Lana Del Rey.

    While she may often sing about the beaches of California and of stories inspired by Old Hollywood, Del Rey has many connections to the Empire State.

    lana del rey birthday
    Photo by Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images

    Born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant in Manhattan in 1985, Del Rey moved to Lake Placid at an early age where she remained until high school. After her graduation from boarding school in Connecticut, a young Lizzy Grant lived on Long Island for a year where she waitressed and began writing music after her uncle taught her basic guitar chords.

    Before the official birth of Lana Del Rey, Grant enrolled at Fordham University in the Bronx, graduating in 2008. During her college years, Grant recorded several EPs under the various aliases of May Jailer, Sparkle Jump Rope Queen and Lizzy Grant and the Phenomena and played small club shows around Brooklyn.

    In advance of her first full album, Grant settled on the stage name of Lana Del Rey. “Lana” came from film starlet Lana Turner while “Del Rey” drew inspiration from a vintage Ford sedan and her general fondness of the Spanish language (translating to “of the king”).

    “Lana Del Rey reminded us of the glamour of the seaside. It sounded gorgeous coming off the tip of the tongue.”

    Lana Del Rey

    Born To Die was released in 2012 and shot Del Rey to national stardom. She subsequently released the Paradise EP which featured even more Americana-driven tracks and songwriting discussing glamour, drugs, life on the road, fame and relationships. Her voice can travel from breathy falsetto to deep and rich, all in one verse.

    Next came Ultraviolence (2014), a darker, edgier and more rock-driven featuring psychedelic flares and collaboration with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. Del Rey’s fourth studio album, Honeymoon (2015), reverted back to the orchestral, baroque pop sound of Born To Die and Paradise with a more polished finesse.

    Del Rey’s most recent projects, Lust For Life (2017), Norman Fucking Rockwell! (2019) and Chemtrails Over The Country Club (2021), cement her status as one of the strongest modern songwriters. Now a resident of California, the ’60s and ’70s Laurel Canyon folk-rock influences are obvious in Del Rey’s music, which often feels incredibly nostalgic.

    lana del rey birthday
    Lust For Life featured collaborations with The Weeknd (above), A$AP Rocky and more. Photo accessed from factmag.com

    Norman Fucking Rockwell! arguably stands out as Del Rey’s magnum opus. The album received multiple Grammy nominations, including one for Album of the Year, and featured her most seamless collaboration yet with acclaimed pop producer Jack Antonoff.

    Del Rey plans to release her newest album, Blue Banisters, on July 4. While she may now be on the “West Coast,” we will never forget her New York roots. Happy birthday, Lana Del Rey!

  • Celebrating the Life of Tupac Shakur: What to Know about the Rap Legend

    Today marks what would have been Tupac Shakur’s 50th birthday. 25 years after his tragic death, Shakur is still relevant within pop culture as his influence has paved the waved for the generations that followed. Born, Lesane Parish Crooks, in the East Harlem Section of Manhattan, Tupac is widely recognized as one of the most influential rap artists of all time and was even named on Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of 100 Greatest Artists.

    Every rapper who grew up in the Nineties owes something to Tupac. People either try to emulate him in some way, or they go in a different direction because they didn’t like what he did. But whatever you think of him, he definitely developed his own style: He didn’t sound like anyone who came before him.

    — 50 Cent

    Despite hailing from New York, Shakur’s ambitions were never rooted to the City, attending performing arts school in Baltimore, alongside Jada Pinkett, later moving out West in pursuit of his dreams as a rapper. Shakur would link up with hip hop group Digital Underground in 1991, going from dancer to roadie to band member. Much of his early solo work was produced by Shock G, Digital underground’s frontman.

    Here we can see a young Tupac Shakur performing live on the Arsenio Hall Show alongside Shock G during the height of the group’s popularity, serving on backup dancer duty.

    Shakur was placed in the center of the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry in the mid-1990’s. On November 30, 1994, after arriving at the world-renowned Quad Studios for a recording session, Tupac was ambushed by a group of stick up kids looking to relieve the rapper of his jewelry. Shakur shot himself in the groin while reaching for a gun to protect himself. The Notorious B.I.G. and Puff Daddy were at Quad Studios at the time of the attack. Tupac subsequently blamed them for setting him up, and thus began the rivalry that would eventually prove fatal to both sides.

    Shakur’s parents had been active Black Panther Party members in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A month before Tupac’s birth, his mother Afeni was tried in New York City as part of the Panther 21 criminal trial.

    Watch How Tupac Influenced the popular book, The Hate You Give

    Tupac’s first stage name was MC New York, in 1989. Shakur’s discography includes eleven albums, seven of which were posthumously released. Greatest Hits, a collection of Tupac’s most popular songs is currently the best selling rap-compilation album of all time

    Watch Tupac And Biggie Preform in Brooklyn

    Tupac is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, selling over 75 million records worldwide. In 2002, he was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible.

    Watch Tupac Roam the Streets of NYC

    During Shakur’s film career, he starred in the movie Juice, which was written and shot in NYC.

    25 years after his death, Tupac and his music is still a significant impact in our society. Tupac’s birthday is celebrated by hip hop and music lovers worldwide.

    On September 7, 1996, Tupac Shakur was fatally shot after leaving a boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. At approximately 11:15 pm, a white Cadillac pulled up next to the BMW sedan that was escorting Tupac and fired several shots. Shakur was hit four times and the driver — Death Row head honcho, Suge Knight — had a bullet lodged in his head. Shakur remained on life support for six days after his shooting. Eventually passing on September 13, 1996.

    Whats your favorite Tupac Song? Let us know in the comments below.

    Fans can celebrate Tupac’s career by listening to his music here on Spotify.

  • Happy Birthday, Busta Rhymes!

    Trevor George Smith Jr., better known by his stage name, Busta Rhymes, celebrates his 49th birthday today.

    Born in Brooklyn in 1972, Busta Rhymes later moved with his family to Uniondale, Long Island where he and fellow MCs’ Charlie Brown, Dinco D, and others formed the hip hop group Leaders of The New School who released their first album,  A Future Without a Past, in 1991.

    busta rhymes

    It wasn’t until 1995 when Busta’s solo career kicked off. With the release of his debut album, The Coming in 1996 which was highly praised by the hip hop community at the time. Lead singles such as “Woo Hah!! Got You all in Check” ( which was later remixed featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard) brought Busta Rhymes into the public eye, securing a #8 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

    Busta’s work carried into the 21st century, collaborating with famed hip hop producer Dr. Dre on his fifth studio album Genesis released in 2001. Instead of making a quiet exit from the scene like other MCs from the golden era of hip hop, Busta stayed relevant by continuing to work and collaborate with trending artists of the 2000s.

    Continuing to keep the music interesting in 2020, Busta Rhymes delivered his 9th studio album Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God which featured the single “Look Over Your Shoulders’ ft. Kendrick Lamar. For hip hop enthusiasts, “Look Over Your Shoulders” might be the perfect balance of old-school meeting new-school, and it never sounded so good.

    2021 marks the 25th anniversary of Busta Rhymes’s debut full-length album, The Coming, which recently received a deluxe reissue.

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