June 28: Gilda Radner – “Saturday Night Live,” Roseanne Roseannadanna, "Baba Wawa,” Emily Latella and Candy Slice and the Slicers -was born on this date in 1946…

… she died on May 20, 1989 at the age of 42 from ovarian cancer.

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Gilda Susan Radner was born June 28, 1946 in Detroit, Michigan. She grew up in Detroit with a nanny, Elizabeth Clementine Gillies, whom she called "Dibby"; whom she based her famous character Emily Litella).

In Ann Arbor, Radner began her broadcasting career as the weather girl for college radio station WCBN, but dropped out in her senior year to follow her then-boyfriend, a Canadian sculptor to Toronto, Canada. In Toronto, she made her professional acting debut in the 1972 production of Godspell with future stars Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber and Martin Short. Afterward, Radner joined the Toronto Second City comedy troupe.

Radner was a featured player on the National Lampoon Radio Hour, a comedy program syndicated to some 600 U.S. radio stations from 1974 to 1975. Fellow cast members included John Belushi, Richard Belzer, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Rhonda Coullet.

Radner gained name recognition as one of the original "Not Ready for Prime Time Players,” a member of the freshman group on the first season of Saturday Night Live. She was the first performer cast for the show. Between 1975 and 1980, she created such characters as obnoxious personal advice expert Roseanne Roseannadanna, "Baba Wawa,” a parody of Barbara Walters, and Emily Litella, an elderly hearing-impaired woman who gave angry and misinformed editorial replies on "Weekend Update". Radner also parodied such celebrities as Lucille Ball, Patti Smith, and Olga Korbut in SNL sketches.

Radner wrote in her autobiography It's Always Something that toward the end of her life she, "coped with stress by having every possible eating disorder from the time I was nine years old. I have weighed as much as 160 pounds and as little as 93.” Gilda once told a reporter that she had thrown up in every toilet in Rockefeller Center.

 

In 1979, incoming NBC President Fred Silverman offered Radner her own prime time variety show, which she ultimately turned down. That year, she was one of the hosts of the Music for UNICEF Concert at the United Nations General Assembly.

Radner met actor Gene Wilder on the set of the Sidney Poitier film Hanky Panky, when the two appeared together. Radner went on to make a second film, The Woman in Red, released in 1984 with Wilder and their relationship grew. The two were married on September 18, 1984, in St. Tropez. The pair made a third film together, Haunted Honeymoon, released in 1986.

Radner won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Continuing or Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in Variety or Music" for her performance on Saturday Night Live in 1977. She posthumously won a Grammy for "Best Spoken Word Or Non-Musical Recording" in 1990.

In 1992, Radner was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame for her achievements in arts and entertainment. On June 27, 2003, she also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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June 30: Cheryl Ann Cole – AKA "Tweedy" of Girls Aloud – is 30-years-old today.

 

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Cheryl Ann Cole - AKA "Tweedy" -  was born 30 June 1983 was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyneside. she appeared in a television advert for British Gas when she was a young child.

Cheryl started sequence dancing at the age of four, then joined The Royal Ballet's summer school at the age of nine. She won modelling competitions, including the titles of Boots Group's "bonniest baby,” Mothercare's Happy Faces Portrait competition, "Best Looking Girl of Newcastle,” The Evening Chronicle's "Little Miss and Mister,” and "Most Attractive Girl" at the MetroCentre.

She attended Walker Comprehensive School in Newcastle, but left in July 1999, after being suspended twice: once for fighting with another pupil and again for swearing on a bus. She then became a waitress.

She rose to fame in late 2002 when she auditioned for the reality television show Popstars: The Rivals on ITV. The programme announced that Cole had won a place as a member of the girl group, Girls Aloud. She has been part of the group ever since, and during that time the group  achieved 20 top-ten singles (including four number one singles) in the UK and six platinum albums (two of which went to number one) and earned five BRIT Award nominations from 2005 to 2010. In 2009, Girls Aloud won "Best Single" with their song "The Promise.” In early 2013, Girls Aloud announced that they had split up. Other members of the group were Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh.

Cole embarked on a solo career and released her first solo studio album 3 Words (2009) through Polydor records, "3 Words" saw the release of three successful singles, the lead single from the album Fight for This Love debuted at number one on the UK charts becoming the best selling single of the year. "3 Words" and "Parachute" both peaked within the top five of the UK charts. 2010 saw the release of Cole's second studio album Messy Little Raindrops, which produced two singles, the first being "Promise This" which went straight to number one.

Cole released her third solo album A Million Lights on 18 June 2012, with lead single "Call My Name" being becoming Cole's third number one single.

During her solo career Cole has earned three BRIT Award nominations. She has been photographed for the covers of British Vogue, Elle and Harper's Bazaar, while also becoming the new face of cosmetic company L'Oreal.

Cole became a judge on The X Factor in 2008, becoming the winning judge twice out of the three series she judged. In 2011, Cole left the UK version of The X Factor to judge the American version. However, Cole was fired from the show.

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For more about Cheryl, visit her Website at -

http://www.cherylcole.com/

And

http://www.girlsaloud.com/

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June 30: Lena Horne was born on this date in 1917...

... she died on May 9, 2010 at the age of 92.

Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. Her mother, Edna Scottron, daughter of inventor Samuel R. Scottron, was an actress with a black theatre troupe and traveled extensively. Lena was raised by her grandparents, Cora Calhoun and Edwin Horne.

In 1933, Horne joined the chorus line of the Cotton Club in New York City. In the spring of 1934, she had a featured role in the Cotton Club Parade starring Adelaide Hall who took Lena under her wing. A few years later she joined Noble Sissle's Orchestra, with which she toured and with whom she recorded her first record release, a 78rpm single issued by Decca Records.

After she separated from her first husband, Horne toured with bandleader Charlie Barnet in 1940–41, but disliked the travel and left the band to work at the Café Society in New York. She replaced Dinah Shore as the featured vocalist on NBC's popular jazz series The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street. The show's resident maestros, Henry Levine and Paul Laval, recorded with Horne in June 1941 for RCA Victor. Horne left the show after only six months to headline a nightclub revue on the west coast.

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Horne already had two low-budget movies to her credit: a 1938 musical feature called The Duke is Tops (later reissued with Horne's name above the title as The Bronze Venus); and a 1941 two-reel short subject, Boogie Woogie Dream. Horne was primarily a nightclub performer during this period, and it was during a 1943 club engagement in Hollywood that talent scouts approached Horne to work in pictures. She chose Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and became the first black performer to sign a long-term contract with a major Hollywood studio.

In November 1944 she was featured in an episode of the popular radio series, Suspense, as a fictional nightclub singer, with a large speaking role along with her singing. In 1945 and 1946 she sang with Billy Eckstine's Orchestra.

She made her debut with MGM in Panama Hattie in 1942, and the following year, performed the title song of Stormy Weather based loosely on the life of Adelaide Hall. 

Published in the Feb.1944 issue of Esquire

She appeared in a number of MGM musicals, most notably Cabin in the Sky, but was never featured in a leading role because of her race and the fact that films featuring her had to be re-edited for showing in states where theaters could not show films with black performers.

As a result, most of Horne's film appearances were stand-alone sequences that had no bearing on the rest of the film, so editing caused no disruption to the storyline. Cabin in the Sky was a notable exception since it was an all-black musical; although one number was cut because it was considered too suggestive by the censors.

"Ain't it the Truth" was the song (and scene) cut before the release of the film Cabin in the Sky. It featured Horne singing "Ain't it the Truth," while taking a bubble bath - considered too "risqué" by the film's executives. This scene and song are featured in the film That's Entertainment! III (1994) which also featured commentary from Horne on why the scene was deleted prior to the film's release.

She was blacklisted during the 1950s for her political views. By the mid-1950s, Horne was disenchanted with Hollywood and increasingly focused on her nightclub career.

She only made two major appearances in MGM films during the decade, 1950's Duchess of Idaho, and the 1956 musical Meet Me in Las Vegas. She returned to the screen three more times, playing chanteuse Claire Quintana in the 1969 film Death of a Gunfighter, Glinda in The Wiz (film), and co-hosting the 1994 MGM retrospective That's Entertainment! III, in which she was candid about her treatment by the studio.

Returning to her roots as a nightclub performer, Horne took part in the March on Washington in August 1963, and continued to work as a performer, both in nightclubs and on television, while releasing well-received record albums.

Lena Horne announced her retirement in March 1980, but the next year starred in a one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, which ran for more than three hundred performances on Broadway and earned her numerous awards and accolades. She continued recording and performing sporadically into the 1990s, disappearing from the public eye in 2000.

In January 2005, Blue Note Records, her label for more than a decade, put out a collection of rare and unreleased recordings by Horne made during her time on Blue Note. Remixed by her longtime producer Rodney Jones, the record includes versions of such signature songs as "Something to Live For," "Chelsea Bridge," and "Stormy Weather." The album, originally titled Soul but renamed Seasons of a Life, was released on January 24, 2006.

The 83rd Academy Awards presented a tribute to Horne by actress Halle Berry at the ceremony held February 27, 2011.

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June 30: Actress & "Singer" Lizzy Caplan is 31-years-old today.

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Elizabeth Anne Caplan was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Caplan attended Alexander Hamilton High School, a public high school on Los Angeles's Westside, as a student at the school's prestigious Academy of Music, a performing arts program.

She decided to pursue drama after she lost interest in playing the piano. She starred in productions of Much Ado About Nothing and You Can't Take It with You.

Caplan began her television acting career in 1999 playing the minor role of Sara on the critically acclaimed series Freaks and Geeks, most memorably as a disco dancer in the episode "Discos and Dragons." Caplan had a series of guest appearances on numerous shows, and was a guest on The Sharon Osbourne Show. She also appeared in Jason Mraz's music video "You and I Both."

In 2001, she played freak of the week Tina Greer in an episode of Smallville, and reprised her role on the show in 2003. She appeared in two episodes of the ABC series Once and Again as Sarah, the ex-girlfriend of Mischa Barton's character, Katie Singer.

Although already an experienced actress, she gained notice in the 2004 movie Mean Girls, where she played the alternative-styled Janis Ian, named for the singer-songwriter. In 2003, she starred in the television series The Pitts, playing Faith Pitt. In the second season of Tru Calling, she played Avery Bishop, a friend of Tru Davies.

Caplan landed a starring role in 2005, playing Marjee Sorelli, the troubled sister in Related, a one-hour dramedy on The WB. The show was canceled after one season. In 2006, Caplan played the starring role of Sara Weller in Wesley Strick's thriller, Love is the Drug. She was named one of “10 Actors to Watch” that year by Daily Variety.

After Related ended, Caplan was cast in the CBS sitcom The Class, which premiered on September 18, 2006, and lasted one season. She played Kat Warbler, one of several elementary-school friends that reunite after 20 years.

Caplan, along with Jason Ritter, presented a People's Choice Award for Favorite Soundtrack From a Movie in January 2007. She appeared with her The Class co-star Heather Goldenhersh on the talk show The View in early 2007.

In 2008, Caplan appeared in the film Cloverfield playing Marlena Diamond, and was nominated for a Saturn award as Best Supporting Actress. She also appeared in the romantic comedy My Best Friend's Girl playing Ami, the roommate of Kate Hudson's character Alexis.

She is the voice of Faith Pitt in the animated version of The Pitts, released in 2009. In 2008, Caplan guest starred on the vampire-themed HBO show True Blood in a multiple-episode story arc as Amy Burley, the drug-addled girlfriend of Sookie Stackhouse's brother, Jason.

Caplan also appeared in the recently cancelled, yet critically acclaimed Starz ensemble comedy Party Down, playing a struggling comedienne who is part of a catering crew.

In 2010, she appeared in 127 Hours, a film directed by Danny Boyle. Based on a true story, Caplan played the sister of hiker Aron Ralston, played by James Franco, who was forced to amputate his own arm after being trapped by a boulder.


Caplan appeared in the new TV comedy New Girl starring Zooey Deschanel.






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June 29: English singer Becky Jane Taylor is 24-years-old today.

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Becky Jane Grosvenor-Taylor was born in Hammersmith, London. Her first experience on the stage at the age of seven in London's West End, playing Little Eponine at the Palace Theatre. Other early achievements include winning the Thorndike Talent competition for ages 8–24, and winning a British Arts Award for her dance performance of the Secret Garden, both when she was 8-years-old.

She also appeared on Blue Peter, performing "My Heart Will Go On" at the age of 10. She attended Danes Hill School, Surrey before studying for her GCSEs and A Levels at Tormead School, Guildford.

At the age of 12 she landed a recording contract with EMI, making her the youngest artist to have ever been signed to the record label. Her debut album, A Dream Come True, released in 2001, and which recorded at Abbey Road Studios enjoyed international success. That same year she sang at the Farm Aid benefit gala concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

Taylor has toured worldwide promoting her music, and she has enjoyed particular success in the Far East, reaching number one in the album record charts in Japan and Taiwan.
Her US tour was supported by promotional performances on Live With Regis and Kelly hosted by guest presenter Usher and the MDA Labor Day Telethon, Los Angeles.

 Taylor released her first album of show tunes at the age of thirteen in 2001 and her second album, a crossover album By Your Side, in 2005. Over the past five years, Taylor has performed extensively alongside musicians including Jose Carreras, Russell Watson, Andre Rieu and Katie Melua.

In 2005, she performed at the Last Night of the Audley End and Kenwood Proms with Wynne Evans. In January and February 2012, Taylor appeared as a guest artist on both The Soldiers and Alfie Boe's UK tours. Taylor has graduated from the University of Durham after undertaking a three year degree in History.

Becky has performed the theme tunes for a number of films and television programmes including BBC Christmas feature film Second Star To The Left starring Barbara Windsor and Hugh Laurie and Barbie as Rapunzel.

She is currently in the studio writing and recording new material.

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For more about Becky Jane, visit her Website at –

http://beckyjanetaylor.co.uk/

 

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June 29: musical theatre actress and singer Emily Skinner is 43-years-old today.

 

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Emily Scott Skinner was born June 29, 1970 in Richmond, Virginia. After attending college at Carnegie Mellon University, she moved to New York in 1992 and took part in a workshop of Jekyll and Hyde. A few years later, she created the role of "Emily" (young Scrooge's love interest) in the 1994 musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol at the Paramount Theatre at Madison Square Garden.

In 1997, Skinner joined the original Broadway cast of Jekyll and Hyde as an ensemble member and understudy for the leads of Emma and Lucy. During previews, Linda Eder, who played Lucy, developed laryngitis, and Skinner sang some of Lucy's songs from backstage, while Eder acted and sang some songs onstage.

Other Broadway credits include Side Show, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty, the Encores! stagings of the Gershwin musical Pardon My English, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and "No Strings," all at New York City Center, and Broadway Actor's Fund benefit concert performances of Dreamgirls and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Skinner has appeared Off-Broadway in numerous productions at The WPA Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theater Club, and the York Theatre. She has also directed several concerts in the "Broadway By the Year" series at Town Hall, New York City, including "Musicals of 1979" on June 16, 2008. She was also in the American premiere at Carnegie Hall of Jerry Springer: The Opera in 2008.

Skinner's role as one half of a pair of Siamese twins in Side Show earned her critical acclaim and a Tony Award nomination shared with co-star Alice Ripley. It was the first time in Tony history that two performers were co-nominated as a team for the Best Actress award.

Skinner played the role of "Mrs. Wilkinson" in Billy Elliot in Chicago, starting in March 2010, and since October 2010 has played the role in the Broadway production.

Skinner and Ripley have collaborated on three recordings: Duets, Unsuspecting Hearts, and Raw at Town Hall, taped live during their October 21, 2006 concert. Skinner also recorded a self-titled solo album, which was released in 2001.

She toured the U.S. in 2004 and 2005 in the Disney revue On the Record. She has also sung with orchestras around the world, including the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, The Virginia Symphony, and The Sydney Pops.

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June 29: Nicole Scherzinger, Pussycat Dolls, "Don't 'Cha," "Dancing with the Stars," is 35 today.

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Born Nicole Prescovia Elikolani Valiente Scherzinger in Honolulu,  Hawaii, and growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, Nicole has a long resume for performing. She is a singer, songwriter, dancer and occasional actress who is best known as the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls, a judge on "Sing Off" and a winner on "Dancing with the Stars."

Scherzinger began performing in Louisville, attending the Youth Performing Arts School at duPont Manual High School and performing with Actors Theatre of Louisville. As a teenager, Scherzinger was the first runner-up at the 1996 Kentucky State Fair's Coca-Cola Talent Classic contest. Nicole majored in acting and musical theatre at Wright State University, where she played Velma Kelly in Chicago and Julie La Verne in Show Boat. She put her studies on hold in 1999 to sing backup vocals for the rock band Days of the New.

In 2001, Scherzinger competed in the premiere season of The WB's television show Popstars, on which she earned a spot in the all-girl pop group Eden's Crush. She became one of the main vocalists for the group. Their 2001 US single "Get Over Yourself (Goodbye)" peaked at number one in sales and hit the top ten on Billboard Hot 100.

Recommended (Press album covers for direct links to entire Amazon Website):

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After Eden's Crush disbanded, Scherzinger made a few promotional solo appearances under the stage name of Nicole Kea, including covering "Breakfast in Bed" for the soundtrack to 50 First Dates in 2003.



Eden's Crush

She then worked with Yoshiki of Japanese rock band X Japan on his Violet UK project. She sang the English version of "I'll Be Your Love" live with the Tokyo Symphonic Orchestra. The track also appeared on the 2003 album Exposition of Global Harmony.

In May 2003, she joined the Pussycat Dolls and became the lead vocalist during the transition to a popular music group.  Other members of The Pussycat Dolls are Carmit Bachar, Melody Thornton, Ashley Roberts, Jessica Sutta and Kimberly Wyatt.
The Pussycat Dolls 2006 debut album PCD went double-platinum in America and sold over 9 million copies worldwide, with several Top 10 hit songs, including "Don't Cha," "Buttons," and "Stickwitu."

Following the success of PCD, Scherzinger recorded a series of duets and guest vocal appearances with artists such as P.Diddy, 50 Cent, Timbaland, Vittorio and several others. She also released two solo singles and videos before recording the second Pussycat Dolls Album Doll Domination, which has sold over 5 million copies, and contains hits like "When I Grow Up," and "I Hate This Part."

In 2009, Nicole wrote and recorded an adaptation of the AR Rahman Song "Jai Ho" from the film "Slumdog Millionaire." The song went #1 in 17 countries.

Scherzinger is currently writing and recording new songs for release in 2010, while pursuing her love for acting and musical theater. She was the winner of "Dancing with the Stars" in May 2010. She also starred in "Rent" as Maureen at the Hollywood Bowl, directed by Neil Patrick Harris (and also starring High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens as drug-addled, HIV-positive stripper Mimi. )

Over the past five years Scherzinger was ranked Maxim's Hot 100 in 2006 and 2007 she ranked at twenty-two and twenty-one respectively. In 2008 she ranked at number nineteen along with the Pussycat Dolls. In 2009, she ranked at number forty-nine, and in 2010 landed at number twenty-four.

Nicole made The X Factor history as the first judge to have worked on the US and UK shows. In season ten of the show, all three acts in Scherzinger's category made it to the final five, the first time this has happened in the history of The X Factor. She also had both lasting contestants in the final show.

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For more about Nicole, visit her Website at -

http://www.nicolescherzingermusic.com/#!featured

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