Avenged Sevenfold's Biography

The cartoonish metalcore band Avenged Sevenfold, also known as A7X, mix screamed vocals and a hardcore punk-inspired metal guitar attack with pop hooks, creating a musical cocktail as contradictory as the band's political outlook. Claiming to be conservative patriots, the band advocates the traditional heavy-metal lifestyle of strippers, substance abuse and horror-show lyrics.
Singer M. Shadows (b. Matthew Charles Sanders, July 31, 1981, Huntington Beach, Calif.) and guitarist Zacky Vengeance (b. Zachary James Baker, Dec. 11, 1981) were still in high school when they formed Avenged Sevenfold in 1999 in Huntington Beach, California. Later adding guitarist Synyster Gates (b. Brian Elwin Haner, Jr., July 7, 1981, Huntington Beach), bassist Johnny Christ (b. Johnathan Lewis Seward, Nov. 18, 1984, Huntington Beach) and drummer The Rev, aka The Reverend Tholomew Plague (b. James Owen Sullivan, Feb. 10, 1981), the band released its first album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (2001) on the Belgian indie label Good Life Recordings. The following year, A7X signed with L.A.-based punk indie Hopeless Records, which re-released the debut and followed it with 2003's Waking the Fallen, which reached Number 12 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart. Warner Bros.' signed the band and released City of Evil (Number 30, 2005), which spawned successful rock singles "Bat Country" (Number Two Mainstream Rock, Number 6 Modern Rock, 2005) and "Beast and the Harlot" (Number 19 Mainstream Rock, Number 40 Modern Rock, 2006).
A7X's popularity soared with the release of its 2007 self-titled album, which went to Number Four on the Billboard 200 pop albums chart. The album, which found the band flirting with genres far outside its comfort zone including pedal steel-fueled country ("Dear God") and a Queen-style show tune ("A Little Piece of Heaven"), spawned the popular single "Almost Easy" (Number Three Mainstream Rock, Number Six Modern Rock, 2007).

When producer Rob Cavallo was not available to work on their self-titled LP, Avenged Sevenfold took a drastic turn to get their own hands on the entire production. This bold move apparently was not such a bad idea after all for the two singles that they released in advance of the album proved to be great impacts to influence their fans into buying the LP. Single 'Critical Acclaim' was released to give the first taste of the water, but it was the second one, 'Almost Easy', that really showed the credibility of the whole album. Since its release in mid September, the song peaked at #67 in U.K. Singles chart, helping to boost the sales number of the album that was released one month later. 'Avenged Sevenfold' the album quickly took the fourth position on Billboard Hot 200 after selling 94,000 copies in the first week.

Although the idea of naming a band after a Bible excerpt that punishment will be sevenfold when you kill someone, the band is not as scary as they sound, nor do they as religious. Avenged Sevenfold (A7X) was formed in Huntington Beach, California in 1999. Vocalist Matthew Sanders who took the stage name M. ...

Shadow and guitarist Zachary Baker who goes by the name Zacky Vegeance have been friends since High School. The two of them had been in several punk bands that didn't go successful until they formed A7X and roped in two more members, bassist Justin Meacham aka Justin Sane and drummer Jimmy Sullivan aka The Rev. While still in their teens, the band recorded an album titled 'Sounding the Seventh Trumpet' which would later be released under indie label Good Life Recordings. However, the album that was dropped in January 2001 was not enough for them to gain nationwide success, but the second one did.

They went through a line-up change soon after the release of 'Seventh Trumpet'. Brian Haner, Jr. aka Synyster Gates was brought in as lead guitarist while Jonathan Seward aka Johnny Christ replaced the old bassists Sane and Dameon Ash. With the new line-up they re-released the band's debut album in 2002 while recording new materials for their sophomore set in Houston, Texas. Under Hopeless Records, 'Walking the Fallen' was released on August 26, 2003. The album was notified not only for the new players but also a change in sound from Shadows. The vocalist no longer screamed as part of metalcore roots that was projected in the first album. It turned to more melodic sound after he reportedly burst a blood vessel while stretching his vocal. Shadows had denied in later interview that the band changed its musical direction due to his vocal problem, pointing that he was actually better at screaming after the surgery. 'Walking the Fallen' eventually brought the attention of executives from Warner Bros. Records who immediately took the band under their wing in 2004.

With the new management, the third album 'City of Evil' received critical success although it was not hailed as much as the previous one. It was released in June 2005 and the lead single 'Bat Country' was praised for its thickness in Hard rock elements. Through the single, the band ultimately won Best New Artist Award at 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. That year, Kerrang! Awards also put them under the nomination of Best Band on the Planet but they unfortunately lost to My Chemical Romance. While serving a worldwide tour in 2006, materials for the fourth studio album were accumulated. Canceling their fall and winter tour, the band decided to enter the studio to work on the ...

fourth studio album. The recording was finished in August 2007 and some of the materials were displayed during a tour in Asia later on that year. Many songs were leaked, but the final version of the album was later on released on October 30, 2007.

Cristiano Ronaldo's Biography

     Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro was born on 5th February 1985 in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. The youngest of four children by mother Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro and his late father José Dinis Aveiro. His mother worked as a cook and his dad was a humble gardener.
     They lived in a run down shack in the working class district of Funchal. Funchal is now a modern City and the largest of the Madeira Islands. Cristiano’s mother Maria still lives there. Cristiano Ronaldo was named after former US president Ronald Reagan, who was his father’s favourite actor. Growing up he supported Benfica, arch rivals of the team he was to later join.
     As a young child Ronaldo was obsessed with football. His mother would ask him if had any homework to do after school, Cristiano used to lie and say no. He just wanted to play football. While his mother was making dinner for the family Ronaldo would just grab some fruit and climb out of the window. Sometimes he would not come home till nine o’clock at night because he had been playing football.

     He first club was the less well known Andorinha. They are an amateur club from Funchal  
who allow local professional side Maritimo to play there youth team games on there pitch. Cristiano’s dad worked for Andorinha as a kit man. Ronaldo used to get teased by the other players as he would regularly cry when he passed the ball to a team mate and they lost possession or wasted a chance. Such was his determination to succeed.
     Two seasons there left nobody in any doubt that Ronaldo had talent and at just 10 years of age two local professional clubs came calling; CS Maritimo and CD Nacional. The bigger of the two sides, Maritimo were favourites to sign the young kid but they missed a vital meeting which paved the way for Nacional. He spent two seasons winning the title in his second season, when Sporting Lisbon offered the 11 year old Ronaldo a trial.
     It was a big decision for him and his parents to make as going to Lisbon would mean the young kid being away from his family and friends. It was either he goes to Lisbon or stay in Madeira and not get the same level of coaching. His mother was nervous about letting Cristiano leave but he wanted to go and develop with a bigger club.

Source:  http://www.cristianoronaldo.org.uk/early-year/

Jason Mraz's Biography

     Jason Mraz hails from Mechanicsville, Virginia, where the singer/songwriter grew up amidst the sounds of the Dave Matthews Band and local roots musicians the Agents of Good Roots. However, it was Mraz's interest and participation in musical theater that served as his first introduction to music. Following high school, he moved to New York to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, but dropped out a year later when he took up the guitar and began to focus on songwriting. Nonetheless, Mraz's training as a vocalist would later show itself on his debut album, which was marked by the pure clarity and range of his tenor range.
     After busking around New York, Mraz eventually returned to Virginia; in 1999, however, he made his way out West and settled in San Diego, California, having been drawn to the city's coffeehouse scene and historical support of singer/songwriters, most notably Jewel. Mraz began playing shows and soon landed a weekly residency at the local hot spot Java Joe's, which had previously played host to Jewel during the early stages of her career. He also formed a duo with drummer Noel "Toca" Rivera, who accompanied Mraz's acoustic material by banging the djembe. Together, the musicians honed a live show that featured as much comedic banter as actual music.
     Over the next two years, Mraz's following expanded outside of the San Diego limits and began to encompass Los Angeles, garnering the attention of record labels. Mraz signed to Elektra Records in early 2002 and returned to Virginia to write and record his debut album, a project that saw him working with producer John Alagía (the Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer) and his high school heroes, the Agents of Good Roots, who became his backing band. The resulting effort, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, was released that same November, blending Mraz's early influences with elements of country, roots rock, and coffeehouse folk. The buoyant first single "Remedy [I Won't Worry]," which Mraz had co-written with pop hitmakers the Matrix, proved to be a big hit, and Mraz headed out on the road to support it. One of those shows, an October 2003 date at the Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee, was later documented on Mraz's summer 2004 live release Tonight, Not Again. The album tided his fans over until July 2005, when the songwriter returned with the sophomore studio effort Mr. A-Z. Mraz's popularity reached a new high in 2008 with the release of We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things, which peaked at number three and spawned his first chart-topping single, "I'm Yours." The concert album, Jason Mraz's Beautiful Mess: Live on Earth, arrived in 2009, followed by his fourth studio album, Love Is a Four Letter Word, in 2012. ~ Christina Saraceno, Rovi

Some of my fav songs of Jason Mraz are Make It Mine, I'm Yours, Wordplay, I Won't Give Up, etc.

Source:  http://www.mtv.com/artists/jason-mraz/biography/