title: Barry Manilow

text: As well as producing and arranging albums for himself and other artists, Manilow has written and performed songs for musicals, films, and commercials for corporations such as McDonald's, Pepsi-Cola, and Band-Aid. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award (winning once) as a producer, arranger and performer a total of fifteen times (and in every decade) from 1973 to 2015. He has also produced Grammy-nominated albums for Bette Midler, Dionne Warwick, Nancy Wilson and Sarah Vaughan. Manilow has sold more than 85 million records as a solo artist worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Barry Manilow was born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Edna Manilow and Harold Pincus (who went by his own stepfather's surname, his birth surname being Keliher). His maternal grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants, and his paternal grandfather was Jewish, though his grandmother was a Catholic of Irish descent. His Irish roots trace back to Limerick, Ireland.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Manilow grew up in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn and graduated in 1961 from the now-defunct Eastern District High School. While in high school, he met Susan Deixler, and they later married for a short time. He enrolled in the City College of New York, where he briefly studied before entering the New York College of Music. He also worked at CBS while he was a student in order to pay his expenses.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In 1964, Manilow met Bro Herrod, a CBS director, who asked him to arrange some songs for a musical adaptation of the melodrama "The Drunkard". Instead, Manilow wrote an entire original score. Herrod used Manilow's composition in the Off Broadway musical, which had an eight-year run at New York's 13th Street Theatre. Manilow then earned money by working as a pianist, producer and arranger.


title: Barry Manilow

text: During this time, he began work as a commercial jingle writer and singer, which continued through the remainder of the 1960s. Many of the TV jingles he composed he would also perform, including State Farm Insurance ("Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there") or Band-Aid ("I am stuck on Band-Aid, 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me!"), for which he adopted a childlike voice and wrote the music (Donald B Wood wrote the lyrics). His singing-only credits include commercials for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pepsi ("all across the nation, it's the Pepsi generation"), McDonald's ("you deserve a break today"), and Dr Pepper. Manilow was awarded an Honorary Clio at the 50th Anniversary Clio Awards in Las Vegas in 2009 for his 1960s work as a jingle writer and singer. When accepting the award, he stated that he learned the most about making pop music by working for three or four years as a writer in the jingle industry.


title: Barry Manilow

text: By 1967, Manilow was the musical director for the WCBS-TV series "Callback", which premiered on January 27, 1968. He next conducted and arranged for Ed Sullivan's production company, arranging a new theme for "The Late Show", while writing, producing, and singing his radio and television jingles. At the same time, he and Jeanne Lucas performed as a duo for a two-season run at Julius Monk's Upstairs at the Downstairs club in New York.


title: Barry Manilow

text: By 1969, Manilow was signed by Columbia/CBS Music vice-president and recording artist, Tony Orlando, who went on to co-write with and produce Manilow and a group of studio musicians under the name "Featherbed" on the Columbia Pictures' newly acquired Bell Records label."


title: Barry Manilow

text: Manilow recorded and accompanied artists on the piano for auditions and performances in the first two years of the 1970s. He recorded four tracks as Featherbed, produced by Tony Orlando on Bell Records. Three of the tracks: "Morning", a ballad; "Amy", a psychedelic-influenced pop song; and an early, uptempo version of his own composition with Orlando as co-writer, "Could It Be Magic". A fourth tune recorded was "Rosalie Rosie", which was to be the flip side of "Could It Be Magic", but Bell Records went with "Morning" as the flip for Featherbed's second release instead. Neither of two singles released impacted on the charts.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Bette Midler saw Manilow's act in 1971 and chose the young musician as her pianist at the Continental Baths in New York City that year, and subsequently as a producer on both her debut and second record albums "The Divine Miss M" (1972) and "Bette Midler" (1973). He also acted as her musical director on the tour mounted for her first album. In 1973, Manilow was nominated for the Album Of The Year Grammy Award for his production role on 'The Divine Miss M'. Manilow worked with Midler from 1971 to 1975.


title: Barry Manilow

text: After the Featherbed singles failed to impact on the music charts, in July 1973, Bell Records released the album, "Barry Manilow", which offered an eclectic mix of piano-driven pop and guitar-driven rock music, including a song called "I Am Your Child", which Manilow had composed with Marty Panzer for the 1972 Vietnam War drama "Parades".


title: Barry Manilow

text: Among other songs on the album were Jon Hendricks' vocalese jazz standard "Cloudburst", most successfully recorded by his group Lambert, Hendricks and Ross in 1959, and a slower-tempo version of "Could It Be Magic". The latter's music was based on Chopin's "Prelude in C Minor", and provided Donna Summer with one of her first hits. (It was also covered by Take That in the 1990s, as an up-beat disco version of the song. Take That have since performed Manilow's original version in their Beautiful World Tour.)


title: Barry Manilow

text: In 1974, Clive Davis became temporary president of Bell with the goal of revitalizing Columbia Pictures's music division. With a $10 million investment by CPI, and a reorganization of the various Columbia Pictures legacy labels (Colpix, Colgems, and Bell), Davis introduced Columbia Pictures' new record division, Arista, in November 1974, with Davis himself owning 20% of the new venture. Bell had its final number 1 hit in January 1975 with Manilow's breakthrough 1974 release of the single "Mandy" (Bell 45,613), followed shortly by the label's final hit, as well as its final single, "Look in My Eyes Pretty Woman" by Tony Orlando and Dawn (Bell 45,620—US #11) after which the more successful Bell albums were reissued on Arista. The final releases utilizing the Bell imprint have the designation "Bell Records, Distributed by Arista Records, 1776 Broadway, New York, New York 10019" around the rim of the label.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Davis' reorganization efforts continued to bear fruit in 1974, with the release of Manilow's second album, "Barry Manilow II", with "Mandy" as the lead single. Manilow had not wanted to record the song, which had originally been titled "Brandy" when originally recorded by its co-writer Scott English, but the song was included at the insistence of Davis. The title was changed to "Mandy" during the actual recording session on August 20, 1974, due to the fact that there had already been a song called "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" performed by Looking Glass and released in 1972 on Davis' Epic label.


title: Barry Manilow

text: "Mandy" was the start of a string of hit singles and albums that lasted through the early 1980s, coming from the multi-platinum and multi-hit albums "Tryin' to Get the Feeling", "This One's for You", "Even Now", and "One Voice". Following the success of "Barry Manilow II", the first Bell Records album was remixed and reissued on Arista Records as "Barry Manilow I". When Manilow went on his first tour, he included in his show what he called "A V.S.M.", or "A Very Strange Medley", a sampling of some of the commercial jingles that he had written, composed, and/or sung in the 1960s. The medley appeared later on his triple-platinum 1977 album "Barry Manilow Live".


title: Barry Manilow

text: Beginning with Manilow's March 22, 1975, appearance on "American Bandstand" to promote the second album, a productive friendship with Dick Clark started. Among their projects together were numerous appearances by Manilow on Clark's productions of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve", singing his original seasonal favorite "It's Just Another New Year's Eve"; "American Bandstand" anniversary shows; "American Music Awards" performances; and the 1985 television movie "Copacabana", starring Manilow and executive produced by Clark.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Despite being a songwriter in his own right, several of Manilow's commercial successes were songs written by others. In addition to "Mandy", other hits that he did not write or compose include "Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again" (by David Pomeranz), "Weekend in New England" (by Randy Edelman), "Ships" (by Ian Hunter), "Looks Like We Made It" (by Richard Kerr and Will Jennings), "Can't Smile Without You" and "Ready to Take a Chance Again" (by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel). His number 1 hit "I Write the Songs" was composed by Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys. According to album liner notes, Manilow did, however, perform co-production as well as arrangement duties on all the above tracks along with Ron Dante, most famous for his vocals on records by The Archies.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Manilow's breakthrough in Britain came with the release of "Even Now", the first of many top-20 albums on that side of the Atlantic, which contained four singles that became major hits in the US. This was quickly followed by "Manilow Magic The Best Of Barry Manilow", also known as "Greatest Hits". In the late 1970s and early 1980s, ABC aired four variety television specials starring Manilow, who served as an executive producer. "The Barry Manilow Special" with Penny Marshall as his guest premiered on March 2, 1977, to an audience of 37 million. The special was nominated for four Emmys and won in the category of "Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Special." "The Second Barry Manilow Special" in 1978, with Ray Charles as his guest, was also nominated for four Emmys.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Manilow's "Ready to Take a Chance Again" originated in the film "Foul Play", which also featured "Copacabana", from his fourth studio album "Even Now". "Ready to Take a Chance Again" was nominated that year for the "Best Original Song" Oscar. On February 11, 1979, a concert from Manilow's sold-out dates at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles aired on the HBO series "Standing Room Only", which was the first pay-television show to pose a serious threat to network primetime specials for ratings. From the same tour in 1978, a one-hour special from Manilow's sold-out concert at the Royal Albert Hall aired in the UK.


title: Barry Manilow

text: On May 23, 1979, ABC aired "The Third Barry Manilow Special", with John Denver as his guest. This special was nominated for two Emmy awards and won for "Outstanding Achievement in Choreography". Also in 1979, Manilow produced Dionne Warwick's "comeback" album "Dionne", her first to go platinum. He scored a top ten hit of his own, in the fall of 1979, with the song "Ships" (written and composed by Ian Hunter, former lead singer of Mott the Hoople) from the album "One Voice".


title: Barry Manilow

text: The 1980s saw Manilow top the Adult Contemporary radio charts with songs such as "The Old Songs", "Somewhere Down the Road", "Read 'Em and Weep" (written by Jim Steinman), and a remake of the 1941 Jule Styne and Frank Loesser standard "I Don't Want to Walk Without You". Manilow's songs continued to receive frequent radio airplay throughout the decade. In the UK, Manilow performed five sold-out concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. In the United States, at Radio City Music Hall, his 1984 10-night run set a box-office sales record of nearly $2 million, making him the top draw in the 52-year history of the venue. In 1980, Manilow's "One Voice" special, with Dionne Warwick as his guest, was nominated for an Emmy for "Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction".


title: Barry Manilow

text: Also in 1980, a concert from Manilow's sold-out shows at England's Wembley Arena was broadcast while he was on a world tour. Manilow released the self-titled "Barry" (1980), which was his first album to not reach the top ten in the United States, stopping at number 15. The album contained the top 10 hit "I Made It Through the Rain" (originally a minor hit for its writer, Gerard Kenny) and "Bermuda Triangle". The album "If I Should Love Again" followed in 1981, with two top 40 recordings that both hit number 1 on the AC chart "The Old Songs" and "Somewhere Down The Road" and a third single that became a hit in the UK a cover of the 1965 Four Seasons smash "Let's Hang On". This was the first of his own albums that Manilow produced without Ron Dante, who had co-produced all the previous albums. Manilow's sold-out concert at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh aired nationally on Showtime, and locally on Philadelphia's now-defunct PRISM. In 1982, a concert from his sold out Royal Albert Hall show was broadcast in England. The live album and video "Barry Live in Britain" also came from his Royal Albert Hall shows.


title: Barry Manilow

text: On August 27, 1983, Manilow performed a landmark open-air concert at Blenheim Palace in Britain, an event that he told the audience was "one of the most exciting nights" in his life. It was the first such event ever held at that venue and was attended by an estimated 40,000 people. This concert was also taped for airing on Showtime. In December 1983, Manilow was reported to have endowed the music departments at six major universities in the United States and Canada. The endowments were part of a continuing endeavor by Manilow to recognize and encourage new musical talent.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In 1984, Manilow released "", a jazz/blues collection of original barroom tunes recorded in one live take in the studio. That same year, Showtime aired a documentary of Manilow recording the album with a number of jazz legends including Sarah Vaughan and Mel Tormé. In 1984 and 1985, England aired two one-hour concert specials from his National Exhibition Centre (NEC) concerts. In 1985, Manilow left Arista Records for RCA Records, where he released the pop album "Manilow", and began a phase of international music, as he performed songs and duets in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese. The "Manilow" album was a complete about-face from the "Paradise Cafe" album, containing a number of uptempo tracks that featured synthesizers. In 1985, Japan aired a Manilow concert special where he played "Sakura" on the koto.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In his only lead acting role, he portrayed Tony Starr in the 1985 CBS film "Copacabana", which was based on his 1978 hit song "Copacabana", alongside Annette O'Toole as Lola Lamarr and Joseph Bologna as Rico. Manilow penned all the songs for the movie, with lyrics provided by his longtime collaborators Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman. A soundtrack album for the TV film, "", was released on RCA Records.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In October 1986, Manilow, along with Bruce Sussman, Tom Scott, and Charlie Fox, went to Washington, D.C. for two days of meetings with legislators, including lunch with then Senator Al Gore (D-TN). They were there to lobby against a copyright bill put forward by local television broadcasters that would mandate songwriter-producer source licensing of theme and incidental music on syndicated television show reruns and would disallow use of the blanket license then in effect. The songwriters said without the blanket license, artists would have to negotiate up front with producers individually, without knowing if a series would be a success. The license now pays according to a per-use formula. Manilow said that such a bill would act as a precedent for broadcasters to get rid of the blanket license entirely.


title: Barry Manilow

text: The following year, McGraw-Hill published Manilow's autobiography, "Sweet Life: Adventures on the Way to Paradise", which took three years to complete. While promoting the work, Manilow defended his music in a telephone interview: "I live in laid-back L.A., but in my heart, I'm an energetic New Yorker and that's what has always come out of my music. I've always been surprised when the critics said I made wimpy little ballads." Manilow returned to Arista Records in 1987 with the release of "Swing Street". The album, a mixture of traditional after-dark and techno jazz, contained "Brooklyn Blues", an autobiographical song for Manilow, and "Hey Mambo", an uptempo Latin style duet with Kid Creole, produced with the help of Emilio Estefan, Jr., founder of Miami Sound Machine.


title: Barry Manilow

text: CBS aired Manilow's "Big Fun on Swing Street" special in March 1988. It featured songs and special guests from his "Swing Street" and "2:00 AM Paradise Cafe" albums, including Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Phyllis Hyman, Stanley Clarke, Carmen McRae, Tom Scott, and Uncle Festive, a band within Manilow's band at the time. The special was nominated for two Emmys in technical categories, and won in the category of "Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music program".


title: Barry Manilow

text: In 1988, Manilow performed "Please Don't Be Scared" and "Mandy/Could It Be Magic" at "That's What Friends Are For: AIDS Concert '88", a benefit concert for the Warwick Foundation headed by Dionne Warwick and shown on Showtime a few years later. In the 1988 Walt Disney Pictures animated feature "Oliver & Company", Bette Midler's character sang a new Manilow composition called "Perfect Isn't Easy". The 1989 release of "Barry Manilow", which contained "Please Don't Be Scared", "Keep Each Other Warm", and "The One That Got Away", ended Manilow's streak of albums of original self-written material (he only wrote or arranged two of the album's songs) and began a phase of his recording career consisting of covers and compilations.


title: Barry Manilow

text: From April 18 to June 10, 1989, Manilow put on a show called "Barry Manilow at the Gershwin", making 44 appearances at the Gershwin Theatre (also known as the Uris Theatre), where he had also recorded "Barry Manilow Live" in 1976. A best-selling 90-minute video of the same show was released the following year as "Barry Manilow Live On Broadway". The Showtime one-hour special "Barry Manilow SRO on Broadway" consisted of edited highlights from this video. Manilow followed this set of shows with a world tour of the Broadway show.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Manilow released a number of cover tunes during the 1990s, starting with tracks on the 1989 release "Barry Manilow", and continuing with his 1990 Christmas LP "Because It's Christmas". On the Christmas album, Manilow was joined by pop girl trio Exposé and together they recreated, note for note, a 1943 million-selling recording of "Jingle Bells" by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters. Manilow has credited Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne Andrews as inspiring him, perhaps most evident in his recording of "Jump, Shout Boogie". Consequent "event" albums followed, including: "Showstoppers", a collection of Broadway songs (1991), "Singin' with the Big Bands" (1994) and a late 1970s collection "Summer of '78" (1996), which included the hit "I Go Crazy", formerly a hit for Paul Davis in 1978. The decade ended with Manilow recording a tribute to Frank Sinatra "Manilow Sings Sinatra" (1998) released months after Sinatra's death.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In 1990, Japan aired "National Eolia Special: Barry Manilow On Broadway" where he sang the title song "Eolia", which was used as a song there in a commercial for an air conditioner company of the same name, as well as other songs from his 1989–1990 "Live on Broadway" tour. In the early 1990s, Manilow signed on with Don Bluth to compose the songs with lyricists Jack Feldman and Bruce Sussman for three animated films. He co-wrote the Broadway-style musical scores for "Thumbelina" (1994) and "The Pebble and the Penguin" (1995). The third film, entitled "Rapunzel", was shelved after the poor performance of "The Pebble and the Penguin". Manilow was also to be cast as the voice of a cricket. Manilow also composed the score and wrote two songs with Bruce Sussman for "Disney Sing Along Songs: Let's Go To The Circus".


title: Barry Manilow

text: Manilow produced the 1991 album "With My Lover Beside Me" by legendary jazz vocalist Nancy Wilson. The record is based on lyrics left behind by famed composer Johnny Mercer that had never been set to music. Manilow was invited in 1993 by Mercer's widow to complete the songs. His own recording of "When October Goes", with lyrics by Mercer, was released as a single in 1984, from his album "". Further Mercer compositions were set to music by Manilow over the following years, culminating in the 1991 Nancy Wilson release. Manilow is featured in a duet on the record in the final cut "Epilogue".


title: Barry Manilow

text: On February 19, 1992, Manilow testified before the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and Judicial Administration House Committee in support of H.R. 3204, The Audio Home Recording Act of 1991. The bill was signed into law on October 28, 1992, by President George H. W. Bush and became effective immediately. In 1993, PBS aired "Barry Manilow: The Best of Me", which was taped at Wembley Arena in England earlier that year. The BBC also played a one-hour version of the same show including "The Best of Me", sung during the concert, as a bonus song or "lucky strike extra" as Manilow says, not seen in "The Greatest Hits...and then some", the video release of the show; however, the song was included on the DVD of the same title, with Manilow seated in front of a black curtain, lip-syncing to the recording. He performed 14 concerts as part of an extended tour covering Germany, Austria and Denmark. Manilow branched out in another direction and, with long-time lyricist Bruce Sussman, launched "Copacabana", a musical play based on previous Manilow-related adaptations. They wrote new songs and it ran for two years on the London West End, and a tour company formed.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In December 1996, A&E aired "Barry Manilow: Live By Request", the first of his two "Live By Request" appearances. The broadcast was A&E's most successful music program, attracting an estimated 2.4 million viewers. The show was also simulcast on the radio. In March 1997, VH-1 aired "Barry Manilow: The Summer of '78", a one-hour special of Manilow solo at the piano being interviewed and playing his greatest hits as well as songs from "Summer of '78", his latest release at the time. In another collaboration between Manilow and Sussman, they co-wrote the musical "Harmony", which previewed October 7 to November 23, 1997, at the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, California. Later in 2003, "Harmony" was originally scheduled for a tryout run in Philadelphia before going to Broadway, but was canceled after financial difficulties. After a legal battle with Mark Schwartz, the show's producer, Manilow and Sussman in 2005 won back the rights to the musical.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In 1998, Manilow released the record album "Manilow Sings Sinatra" which earned him a Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammy Award nomination in 1999.


title: Barry Manilow

text: On October 23, 1999, NBC aired the two-hour special "StarSkates Salute to Barry Manilow" taped at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring numerous figure skaters performing to Manilow's music. Manilow also performed.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In 2000, Manilow had two specials, "Manilow Country" and "Manilow Live!", taped over two consecutive days at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville, Tennessee. On April 11, 2000, The Nashville Network (TNN) aired the two-hour "Manilow Country", which featured country stars Trisha Yearwood, Neal McCoy, Deana Carter, Jo Dee Messina, Lorrie Morgan, Kevin Sharp, Lila McCann, Gillian Welch and Jaci Velasquez singing their favorite Manilow hits with a "country" twist; Manilow also performed. This special was TNN's first High Definition (HD) broadcast and became one of TNN's highest rated concert specials.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In June 2000, DirectTV aired the two-hour concert special "Manilow Live!" where Manilow had his band, a 30-piece orchestra, and a choir. This HDTV special documented the concert tour at the time with the greatest hits of his career and was also released to video. Also that year, he worked with Monica Mancini on her Concord album "The Dreams of Johnny Mercer", which included seven songs of Mercer's lyrics set to Manilow's music. Meanwhile, Manilow's record contract with Arista Records was not renewed due to new management. He then got a contract at Concord Records, a jazz-oriented label in California, and started work on the long-anticipated concept album "Here at the Mayflower". The album was another eclectic mix of styles, almost entirely composed and produced by Manilow himself.


title: Barry Manilow

text: While Manilow was at Concord Records, the Barry Manilow Scholarship was awarded for four consecutive years (2002–2005) to the six highest-achieving students to reward excellence in the art and craft of lyric writing. The UCLA Extension course "Writing Lyrics That Succeed and Endure" was taught by long-time Manilow collaborator Marty Panzer, and each student received three additional "master class" advanced sessions as well as a three-hour private, one-on-one session with Panzer. Scholarship recipients were selected by the instructor based on progress made within the course, lyric writing ability, and the instructor's assessment of real potential in the field of songwriting. In February 2002, Manilow returned to the charts when Arista released a greatest hits album, "Ultimate Manilow". On May 18, 2002, Manilow returned to CBS with "Ultimate Manilow", his first special at the network since his "Big Fun on Swing Street" special in 1988. The special was filmed in the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, and was nominated for an Emmy in the category of "Outstanding Music Direction".


title: Barry Manilow

text: Produced by Manilow, "Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook" was released on September 30, 2003. It was the first time that the pair had worked together in more than twenty years. The album went gold, and they collaborated again in 2005 on "Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook". On December 3, 2003, A&E aired "A Barry Manilow Christmas: Live by Request", his second of two concerts for the series. The two-hour special had Manilow taking requests for Christmas songs performed live with a band and an orchestra. Manilow told the audience that he was what Clay Aiken was going to look like in thirty years, thus acknowledging an ongoing comparison between the two. Also on the special were guests Cyndi Lauper, José Feliciano, and Bette Midler (Midler, busy preparing her own tour in Los Angeles, appeared only in a pre-taped segment).


title: Barry Manilow

text: Then 2004 brought the release of two albums, a live album, "2 Nights Live!" (BMG Strategic Marketing Group, 2004); and "Scores: Songs from Copacabana & Harmony", an album of Manilow singing songs from his musicals. "Scores" was the last of Manilow's creative projects with the Concord label.


title: Barry Manilow

text: During his third appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on September 15, 2004, Winfrey announced that Manilow is one of the most requested guests of all time on her show. On the show, he promoted his "One Night Live! One Last Time!" tour. It was around this time period where Manilow appeared for the first time on the mainstream FOX program "American Idol" in which his back-up singer, Debra Byrd, doubles as voice coach on the series. Manilow also appeared on Clay Aiken's TV special, "A Clay Aiken Christmas".


title: Barry Manilow

text: Las Vegas Hilton executives in a press conference with Manilow on December 14, 2004, announced his signing to a long-term engagement as the house show. He began the residency in February 2005 with a show entitled "Manilow: Music and Passion". In March 2006, Manilow's engagement was extended through 2008.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Manilow returned to Arista Records under Davis for a new covers album, released January 31, 2006, called "The Greatest Songs of the Fifties". Manilow said he was blown away with the idea, which Davis presented when he visited Manilow's Las Vegas show. "When he suggested this idea to me, I slapped my forehead and said, 'Why hasn't anyone thought of this idea?'" Manilow said. It was an unexpected success, debuting at number one in the "Billboard" 200, marking the first time a Manilow album debuted at the top of the album chart as well as the first time a Manilow album has reached number one in 29 years. It was eventually certified Platinum in the U.S., and sold more than 3 million copies worldwide.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In March 2006, PBS aired "Barry Manilow: Music and Passion", a Hilton concert recorded exclusively for the network's fundraising drive. Manilow was nominated for two Emmys, winning for "Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program". A sequel album to his best-selling fifties tribute album, "The Greatest Songs of the Sixties" was released on October 31, 2006, including songs such as "And I Love Her" and "Can't Help Falling in Love". It nearly repeated the success of its predecessor, debuting at number 2 in the Billboard 200.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In January 2007, Manilow returned to his hometown of New York City for three shows at Madison Square Garden. These included showing onscreen Manilow performing in one of his first television appearances, while the "live" Manilow played along onstage. The same year saw him playing several shows on the east coast of the United States in August. Four more took place in December, half in the NY tri-state area in Uniondale and East Rutherford, and two in Cleveland, Ohio, and Detroit. Manilow launched another short tour in early 2008, visiting several large venues including the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. A further album in the decades themed series went on release September 18, 2007. "Barry Manilow: Songs from the Seventies", a PBS concert special based on the work, was taped in Manilow's home town, Brooklyn, October 2007. The show aired on PBS in December 2007 and was rebroadcast over New Year 2009. He appeared on American Idol on February 3, 2009, during Hollywood Week to give advice to the contestants.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Manilow released the record album "In The Swing of Christmas" in 2007, which earned him another Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammy Award nomination in 2008.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In December 2008, Manilow narrated the animated Christmas special "A Cranberry Christmas" which was broadcast on ABC Family and produced by (fittingly) Ocean Spray. He also sang two original songs he composed with his long time collaborator, lyricist Bruce Sussman: "Christmas Is Just Around The Corner" and "Watch Out For Mr. Grape".


title: Barry Manilow

text: In October 2009, Manilow TV, a monthly video subscription service, launched. Once a month, Barry Manilow picks a different concert from his personal archive to show to subscribers. The first month, the first episode showed performances on April 20–21, 1996, at Wembley Arena in London.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Manilow ended his residency at the Hilton with a show entitled "Ultimate Manilow: the Hits" on December 30, 2009, after 300 performances for 450,000 fans.


title: Barry Manilow

text: On January 26, 2010, Manilow released "The Greatest Love Songs of All Time", and, in December of that year, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.


title: Barry Manilow

text: He opened his new show "Manilow Paris Las Vegas" at the Paris Hotel & Casino at Las Vegas in March 2010.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Manilow completed work on his new album, "15 Minutes", in March 2011, with his official Facebook page announcing that he had completed putting "finishing touches" to the album on March 16, 2011.


title: Barry Manilow

text: On March 13, 2011, Manilow appeared at the Olivier Awards 2011 at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, singing "Copacabana" with the BBC Concert Orchestra and also singing with hit West End star, Kerry Ellis.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Since March 2011, he has hosted "They Write the Songs", a documentary series for BBC Radio 2 in which he looks at the life and work of popular composers.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In May 2011, Manilow recorded his concerts at the O2 Arena in London, for CD and DVD release in early 2012.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In a June 2011 interview with the "Los Angeles Times", Manilow said that his new album is influenced by Britney Spears; the album is about the pleasures and pitfalls of fame. It was influenced directly by Spears' personal struggles in late 2007. The album "15 Minutes" debuted at number 7 on the U.S. Billboard 200 Album Chart. The first single from "15 Minutes", "Bring on Tomorrow", entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 200 Singles Chart's top 40, becoming Manilow's 47th top 40 hit.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In November 2011, Manilow recorded his shows at the Paris Las Vegas for an upcoming TV special and DVD release.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Manilow concluded his two-year residency at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas on December 11, 2012. This also ended his seven-year stay in Las Vegas.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In January 2013, Manilow returned to Broadway with his concert series "Manilow on Broadway". It was his first appearance on Broadway in more than two decades.


title: Barry Manilow

text: On July 4, 2013, Manilow performed live on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol as part of "A Capitol Fourth". This was his second appearance on the PBS program.


title: Barry Manilow

text: On September 6, 2013, the musical "Harmony" started a second run. This time at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre. The musical is also booked for performances in Los Angeles in 2014.


title: Barry Manilow

text: On March 11, 2014, Manilow released "Night Songs", an album of standards performed only with piano and synthesized acoustic bass by Manilow himself. It earned him a Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammy nomination that year.


title: Barry Manilow

text: On October 28, 2015, Manilow released "My Dream Duets", which won him his fourth Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammy Award nomination. This was the fifteenth Grammy Award nomination of his career with nominations occurring in every decade since the 1970s.


title: Barry Manilow

text: On February 11, 2015, Manilow began his One Last Time! tour at the CenturyLink Center Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska with stops at most major North American venues. Other destinations included Chicago at the United Center, Los Angeles at the Staples Center, and Brooklyn at the Barclay's Center for the tour finale on June 17, where Manilow celebrated his 72nd birthday during his Barclays Center debut.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In 2017, "Billboard" Magazine declared that Manilow has been on a "Billboard" 200 hot streak since 2002, when his greatest-hits collection "Ultimate Manilow" debuted and peaked at No. 3 (February 23, 2002), becoming his highest-charting set (and first top 10) since 1979's "One Voice" (No. 9). Since 2002, Manilow has logged a dozen top 40 efforts (including Ultimate). Further, he has notched at least one top 40 album in each of the five decades from the 1970s through the 2010s.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In 2019, it was announced that Manilow's original musical "Harmony" would make its New York debut at National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene in the Museum of Jewish Heritage, running from February 11 until March 29, 2020. The run was canceled due to the start of the COVID-19 health crisis and rescheduled for Spring of 2022.


title: Barry Manilow

text: On February 14, 2020, Manilow released "Night Songs II", which debuted at No. 32 on the Billboard 200, marking his sixth consecutive decade of top 40-charting albums beginning with "Barry Manilow II" in 1975.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In April 2020, Manilow scored his 36th top-20 Billboard Adult Contemporary chart hit with "When the Good Times Come Again" which peaked at number 12 on the week of July 2. The song was originally recorded for his self-titled 1989 album and never released as a single. A fan made a lyric video for the song when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Barry found the video and posted it on his Facebook page, leading his management company to send the song to radio stations for airplay.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Manilow married his high-school sweetheart, Susan Deixler, in 1964. Manilow later stated that he was in love with his wife and that his passion for a music career, in addition to his lack of maturity, put a strain on their relationship. He left the woman he considered "the perfect wife" after just one year of marriage in pursuit of a "wondrous musical adventure". Manilow credits the response he received from "Playboy" in December 1965 for the courage to leave everything behind and begin a career in music. "I asked a lot of people what I should do, and they all said different things", Manilow said. "Finally, I was so desperate, I wrote to the Playboy Advisor." In 1966, Deixler had the marriage annulled. Manilow stated in 2017 that, despite his later long-term relationship with a man, he had been in love with Deixler and the failure of his marriage was not related to issues of sexual orientation.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In 1978, Manilow began a relationship with TV executive Garry Kief, who soon became his manager. The two married in 2014, after same-sex marriage became legal in California. They kept the relationship and his sexual orientation private until the marriage made headlines in 2015. Manilow did not want his personal relationship with Kief to become public. The media began to publicize the event when a friend of Manilow's, Suzanne Somers, publicly disclosed the private exchange of vows at Manilow's home in Palm Springs. No official paperwork was filed, but it was reported that Manilow and Kief exchanged wedding bands as a sign of their dedication. Manilow officially came out in April 2017, telling "People" that he had kept his sexual orientation quiet out of concern that it would disappoint his largely female fan base. However, when his fans learned of the marriage, they were supportive.


title: Barry Manilow

text: In 1979, Manilow's musical style was satirized in the song "I Need Your Help Barry Manilow" performed by Ray Stevens. The song leads off with a musical phrase resembling the opening of "I Write the Songs" and also references "Mandy", "Copacabana", "Can't Smile Without You", "Weekend in New England", "Could It Be Magic" and "Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again" in a storyline where the singer details a litany of comedically unfortunate events in his life, reaching the conclusion that he needs Manilow to sing one of his more melancholy and wistful songs to comfort him, as several of Manilow's biggest hits have story lines about suffering and misfortune.


title: Barry Manilow

text: The song reached number 49 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 number 11 on the Adult Contemporary Chart. It spent a total of eight weeks on Hot 100 chart and also charted in Great Britain, Canada and Australia. The single's cover art is a spoof of Manilow's album "Barry Manilow II," and the song's album spoofs title and cover art of Manilow's "Tryin' to Get the Feeling".


title: Barry Manilow

text: In 1989, an American tabloid claimed that Manilow was engaged to porn star Robin Byrd. On a June 22, 1989, appearance on "The Tonight Show", Johnny Carson asked Manilow about the headline story. Manilow replied that he was just friends with Byrd, an innocent picture had been taken, and that there was no truth to the supposed engagement. After he met Byrd, his band gave him a videotape of "Debbie Does Dallas" as a present for his birthday. Manilow told Carson that he could not watch his friend doing what she does in that movie.


title: Barry Manilow

text: To help with the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo in 1989, which affected the Charleston, South Carolina, area, Manilow held a benefit concert November 12, 1989, at the University of South Carolina's Carolina Coliseum in Columbia, where the $10 tickets sold out in three hours, and asked concertgoers to bring canned food to be donated to residents in disaster areas. Before his concert, Mayor T. Patton Adams named that day "Barry Manilow Day", and Manilow presented the Red Cross and the Salvation Army with checks of $42,500 each.


title: Barry Manilow

text: On January 15, 1994, three hours before showtime, Manilow canceled a performance at an Ethnic Pride and Heritage Festival hosted at the Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Benefactors included the Children's Hospital of New Jersey in Newark, the Community Foundation of New Jersey as well as United Hospitals Medical Center Foundation and Newark Museum in Newark during the pre-inaugural activities for then New Jersey Governor-elect Christie Whitman. Manilow said in a statement that he was specifically told in writing that the concert would be part of a non-partisan event.


title: Barry Manilow

text: On February 8, 1994, Manilow sued Los Angeles radio station KBIG (104.3 FM), seeking $13 million in damages and $15 million in punitive damages, claiming that one of their advertisements was causing irreparable damage to his professional reputation. The ad, a thirty-second spot which began airing on January 31, suggested that people listen to KBIG because it does not play Manilow's music. The lawsuit was filed in Orange County Superior Court by Los Angeles attorney C. Tucker Cheadle. Two days later, KBIG/104.3 FM agreed to drop the commercial poking fun at the singer, but a lawyer representing his business interests stopped short of agreeing to withdraw a $28 million lawsuit.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Arizona Court of Appeals Judge Philip Espinosa sued Manilow over the volume of a December 23, 1993, concert he attended with his wife. The judge said in a lawsuit he has had a constant ringing in his ears (tinnitus) and nearly blew his ears out. Espinosa sought unspecified damages, and the trial was set for September 23, 1997. The suit also named Manilow's production company, an Arizona concert promoter and the city of Tucson, Arizona, which runs the convention center where the concert was held. In July 1997, to settle the suit it was reported that Manilow donated $5,000 to the American Tinnitus Association.


title: Barry Manilow

text: To help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, for every US dollar donated by his fans to the American Red Cross through the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope website, Manilow personally matched, and the fund itself also matched, tripling the original donation. The fund delivered $150,000, raised in 48 hours, to the American Red Cross.


title: Barry Manilow

text: Manilow made headlines in June 2006 when Australian officials blasted his music from 9:00 p.m. until midnight every Friday, Saturday and Sunday to deter gangs of youths from congregating in a residential area late at night. In February 2022, New Zealand authorities employed a similar tactic against protesters who camped outside the country's parliament building to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates.


title: Barry Manilow

text: On October 27, 2011, Manilow visited Joplin, Missouri, a little more than five months after a tornado destroyed one-third of that city, including its only high school. His "Manilow Music Project" made a contribution of $300,000 to restore the musical program and instruments that were lost.


Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a 2008 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and the fourth installment in the "Indiana Jones" series. Released and taking place 19 years after the previous film, it is set in 1957, pitting Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) against Soviet KGB agents led by Irina Spalko (Cate Blanchett)—searching for a telepathic crystal skull. Jones is aided by his former lover, Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), and their son, Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf). Ray Winstone, John Hurt, and Jim Broadbent are also part of the supporting cast.


title: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

text: Screenwriters Jeb Stuart, Jeffrey Boam, Frank Darabont, George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson wrote drafts before David Koepp's script satisfied the producers. The filmmakers intended to pay tribute to the science fiction B-movies of the 1950s era. Shooting began on June 18, 2007, at various locations in New Mexico, New Haven, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Fresno, California, as well as on sound stages in Los Angeles. To maintain aesthetic continuity with the previous films, the crew relied on traditional stunt work instead of computer-generated stunt doubles, and cinematographer Janusz Kamiński studied Douglas Slocombe's style from the previous films.


text: The film premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2008 and was released worldwide on May 22, 2008. It received generally positive reviews from critics but mixed responses from audiences. Critics praised the film for its cast, action sequences, pulpy tone, John Williams's musical score, but criticized the dialogue, storyline, pacing, and overuse of CGI. It was also a financial success like the previous three films in the series, grossing over $790 million worldwide, becoming the franchise's highest-grossing film when not adjusted for inflation, as well as the second-highest-grossing film of 2008.


text: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is also the last film in the "Indiana Jones" franchise to be distributed by Paramount Pictures, as The Walt Disney Company became the distributor of its future films following the company's acquisition of Lucasfilm in October 2012, with Paramount still retaining this film and its predecessors and receiving "financial participation" from any additional films beginning with "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny", which is scheduled for release on June 30, 2023, with Ford set to reprise his role.


text: In 1957, Soviet KGB agents, working under Irina Spalko, kidnap Indiana Jones and his partner George "Mac" MicHale. The Soviets infiltrate a secret government warehouse, located in Nevada, labeled "Hangar 51", and force Jones to locate a mummified alien corpse from the Roswell UFO incident, which he was forced to work on 10 years earlier. Shortly after retrieving the corpse, Mac reveals he has become a double agent on the KGB’s payroll. Jones unsuccessfully attempts to steal the body, and fights with Spalko's henchman Dovchenko, before escaping to a nearby model town right before an atomic bomb test. He takes shelter in a lead-lined refrigerator, and FBI agents eventually rescue, decontaminate, and interrogate him, suspecting him of working for the Soviets. Though eventually freed, Jones is put on an indefinite leave of absence from Marshall College, and dean Charles Stanforth resigns to spare Jones from being fired.


text: Greaser Mutt Williams approaches Jones, notifying him that Jones’ former colleague, Professor Harold Oxley, found a crystal skull in Peru, but has since been kidnapped along with Mutt's mother, Marion, who went after him. Jones tells Mutt of the legend of crystal skulls found in Akator, and Mutt gives Jones a letter from his mother, which contains a riddle from Oxley in an ancient language. Two Soviet agents attempt to capture them, but Jones and Mutt escape and, following the riddle's meaning, reach Peru. At the local psychiatric hospital, carvings on the walls and floor of Oxley's cell lead them to the grave of Francisco de Orellana, a Conquistador who searched for Akator. They find the skull at the grave, and Jones reasons that Oxley had returned it there. While the two are departing the tomb, Mac and the Soviets take them hostage and deliver them to the Soviet camp in the Amazon jungle. There, the pair find an addled Oxley and Marion, who is actually Marion Ravenwood, an old partner of Jones'; she reveals to Jones that Mutt is his son.


text: Spalko believes the crystal skull belongs to an alien life form that holds great psychic power. Finding more skulls in Akator will grant the Soviet Union the ability to control the world via telepathy. Jones realizes that Oxley is attempting to communicate through automatic writing and locates a route to Akator. The next day, while en route to the ancient city, Jones and his team fight their way out of the KGB's clutches, with Dovchenko being devoured by a swarm of army ants. Mac informs Jones he is a CIA double agent. After surviving three waterfalls in an amphibious vehicle, Jones and Oxley identify a skull-like rock formation that leads them to Akator, unaware that Mac had lied about being a CIA agent and has been dropping transceivers to allow the surviving Soviets to track them.


text: Jones's team evades the city's guardians, gains access to the temple, and finds it filled with artifacts from many ancient civilizations. They realize the aliens are "archaeologists" studying the different cultures of Earth. They find and enter a chamber containing 13 crystal skeletons, one of which is missing its skull. When Spalko arrives and replaces the skull, the skeletons telepathically offer to give a reward to the group, using Oxley as a translator. She demands to simply know all the knowledge of the aliens; the aliens reanimate and transfer an overwhelming amount of knowledge into her mind, killing her. A portal to their dimension is activated, and Mac and all of the remaining Soviets are drawn in, while Jones and his team escape. As the city crumbles, a flying saucer rises from the ruins and departs for another dimension, and the waters of the Amazon flood the hollow left by its takeoff.


text: The following year, Jones is reinstated at Marshall College as its associate dean, and marries Marion, with Oxley, who has regained his sanity, and Mutt as witnesses.


text: Additionally, Igor Jijikine portrays Russian Colonel Antonin Dovchenko, Spalko's second-in-command. His character stands in for the heavily built henchmen that Pat Roach played in the three previous films, as Roach died in 2004 from throat cancer. Joel Stoffer and Neil Flynn have minor roles as FBI agents Taylor and Paul Smith interrogating Indiana in a scene following the opening sequence. Alan Dale plays General Ross, who protests Indiana's innocence. Andrew Divoff and Pasha D. Lychnikoff play Soviet agents Grant and Roosevelt, respectively. Spielberg cast Russian-speaking actors so their accents would be authentic. Ilia Volok and Dimitri Diatchenko play Russian Suit and Spalko's right-hand man Dimitri who battle Indiana at Marshall College. Diatchenko bulked up to 250 pounds to look menacing, and his role was originally minor with 10 days of filming. When shooting the fight, Ford accidentally hit his chin, and Spielberg liked Diatchenko's humorous looking reaction, so he expanded his role to three months of filming. Ernie Reyes Jr. plays a cemetery guard. Chet Hanks plays Student in Library.


text: Sean Connery turned down an offer to cameo as Henry Jones, Sr., as he found retirement too enjoyable. Lucas stated that in hindsight it was good that Connery did not briefly appear, as it would disappoint the audience when his character would not join the film's adventure. Ford joked, "I'm old enough to play my own father in this one." Connery later admitted that his true reason for turning the part down was that it was too small, stating: "It was not that generous a part, worth getting back into the harness and go for. And they had taken the story in a different line anyway, so the father of Indy was kind of really not that important. I had suggested they kill him in the movie, it would have taken care of it better." The film addresses Connery's absence by Indiana implying that both Henry, Sr. and Marcus Brody (played in the previous films by Denholm Elliott, who died in 1992) died before the film's events. Connery later stated that he liked the film, praising it as "rather good" but also "rather long." Michael Sheard, who portrayed Adolf Hitler in the third film, expressed interest in appearing in the film, but he died in August 2005.


text: John Rhys-Davies was asked to reprise his role as Sallah as a guest in the wedding scene. He turned it down as he felt his character deserved a more substantial role.


text: In 1979, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg made a deal with Paramount Pictures for five "Indiana Jones" films. Following the 1989 release of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", Lucas let the series end as he felt he could not think of a good plot device to drive the next installment. He chose instead to produce the prequel television series "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles". Harrison Ford played Indiana in one episode, narrating his adventures in 1920 Chicago. When Lucas shot Ford's role in December 1992, he realized the scene opened up the possibility of a film with an older Indiana set in the 1950s. The film could reflect a science fiction 1950s B-movie, with aliens as the plot device. Meanwhile, Spielberg believed he was going to mature as a filmmaker after making the trilogy and felt his role in any future installments would be relegated to that of mere producer.


text: Ford disliked the new angle, telling Lucas, "No way am I being in a Steven Spielberg movie like that." Spielberg himself, who depicted aliens in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial", resisted it. Lucas came up with a story, which Jeb Stuart turned into a script from October 1993 to May 1994. (Stuart had previously written "The Fugitive", which starred Ford.) Lucas wanted Indiana to get married, which would allow Henry Jones, Sr. to return, expressing concern over whether his son is happy with what he has accomplished. After he learned that Joseph Stalin was interested in psychic warfare, he decided to have Soviets as the villains and the aliens to have psychic powers. Following Stuart's next draft, Lucas hired "Last Crusade" writer Jeffrey Boam to write the next three versions, the last of which was completed in March 1996. Three months later, "Independence Day" was released, and Spielberg told Lucas he would not make another alien invasion film. Lucas decided to focus on the "Star Wars" prequels.


text: In a 2000 interview, Spielberg said that his children constantly asked when he would make the next "Indiana Jones" film, and that the project would soon be revived. The same year, Ford, Lucas, Spielberg, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy met during the American Film Institute's tribute to Ford, and decided they wanted to enjoy the experience of making an "Indiana Jones" film again. Spielberg also found returning to the series a respite from his many dark films during this period, such as "A.I. Artificial Intelligence", "Minority Report", and "Munich". Lucas convinced Spielberg to use aliens in the plot by saying they were not "extraterrestrials", but "interdimensional", with this concept taking inspiration in the superstring theory. Spielberg and Lucas discussed the central idea of a B-movie involving aliens, and Lucas suggested using the crystal skulls to ground the idea. Lucas found those artifacts as fascinating as the Ark of the Covenant, and had intended to feature them for a "Young Indiana Jones" episode before the show's cancellation. M. Night Shyamalan was hired to write for an intended 2002 shoot, but he was overwhelmed writing a sequel to a film he loved like "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and claimed it was difficult to get Ford, Spielberg and Lucas to focus. Stephen Gaghan and Tom Stoppard were also approached.


text: Frank Darabont, who wrote various "Young Indiana Jones" episodes, was hired to write in May 2002. His script, entitled "Indiana Jones and the City of Gods", was set in the 1950s, with ex-Nazis pursuing Jones. Spielberg conceived the idea because of real life figures such as Juan Perón in Argentina, who protected Nazi war criminals. Darabont claimed Spielberg loved the script, but Lucas had issues with it, and decided to take over writing himself. Lucas and Spielberg acknowledged the 1950s setting could not ignore the Cold War, and the Soviets were more plausible villains. Spielberg decided he could not satirize the Nazis after directing "Schindler's List", while Ford noted, "We plum[b] wore the Nazis out."


text: Jeff Nathanson met with Spielberg and Lucas in August 2004 and turned in the next drafts in October and November 2005, titled "The Atomic Ants". David Koepp continued on from there, giving his script the subtitle "Destroyer of Worlds", based on the J. Robert Oppenheimer quote. It was changed to "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", as Spielberg found it more inviting a title and actually named the plot device of the crystal skulls. Lucas insisted on the "Kingdom" part. Koepp's "bright [title] idea" was "Indiana Jones and the Son of Indiana Jones", and Spielberg had also considered having the title name the aliens as "The Mysterians", but dropped that when he remembered that was another film's title. Koepp collaborated with "Raiders of the Lost Ark" screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan on the film's "love dialogue."


text: Unlike the previous Indiana Jones films, Spielberg shot the entire film in the United States, stating he did not want to be away from his family. Shooting began on June 18, 2007, in Deming, New Mexico. An extensive chase scene set at the fictional Marshall College was filmed between June 28 and July 7 at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut (where Spielberg's son Theo was studying). To keep in line with the fact the story takes place in the 1950s, several facades were changed, although signs were put up in between shots to tell the public what the store or restaurant actually was.


text: Afterwards, they filmed scenes set in the Amazon jungle in Hilo, Hawaii until August. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was the biggest film shot in Hawaii since "Waterworld", and was estimated to generate US$22 million to $45 million in the local economy. Because of an approaching hurricane, Spielberg was unable to shoot a fight at a waterfall, so he sent the second unit to film shots of Brazil's and Argentina's Iguazu Falls. These were digitally combined into the fight, which was shot at the Universal backlot.


text: Half the film was scheduled to shoot on five sound stages at Los Angeles: Downey, Sony, Warner Bros., Paramount and Universal. Filming moved to Chandler Field in Fresno, California, substituting for Mexico City International Airport, on October 11, 2007. After shooting aerial shots of Chandler Airport and a DC-3 on the morning of October 12, 2007, filming wrapped. Although he originally found no need for re-shoots after viewing his first cut of the film, Spielberg decided to add an establishing shot filmed on February 29, 2008, in Pasadena, California.


text: Spielberg and Janusz Kamiński, who has shot all of the director's films since 1993's "Schindler's List", reviewed the previous films to study Douglas Slocombe's style. "I didn't want Janusz to modernize and bring us into the 21st century", Spielberg explained. "I still wanted the film to have a lighting style not dissimilar to the work Doug Slocombe had achieved, which meant that both Janusz and I had to swallow our pride. Janusz had to approximate another cinematographer's look, and I had to approximate this younger director's look that I thought I had moved away from after almost two decades." Spielberg also hired production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas after admiring his design work for "Superman Returns". Spielberg did not want to fast cut action scenes, relying on his script instead for a fast pace, and had confirmed in 2002 that he would not shoot the film digitally, a format Lucas had adopted. Lucas felt "it looks like it was shot three years after "Last Crusade". The people, the look of it, everything. You'd never know there was 20 years between shooting." Kamiński commented upon watching the three films back-to-back, he was amazed how each of them advanced technologically, but were all nevertheless consistent, neither too brightly or darkly lit.


text: While shooting "War of the Worlds" in late 2004, Spielberg met with stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong, who doubled for Ford in the previous films, to discuss three action sequences he had envisioned. However, Armstrong was filming "" during shooting of "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", so Dan Bradley was hired instead. Bradley and Spielberg used previsualization for all the action scenes, except the motorcycle chase at Marshall College, because that idea was conceived after the animators had left. Bradley drew traditional storyboards instead, and was given free rein to create dramatic moments, just as "Raiders of the Lost Ark" second unit director Michael D. Moore did when filming the truck chase. Spielberg improvised on set, changing the location of Mutt and Spalko's duel from the ground to on top of vehicles.


text: The Ark of the Covenant is seen in a broken crate during the Hangar 51 opening sequence. Lucasfilm used the same prop from "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Guards were hired to protect the highly sought-after piece of film memorabilia during the day of its use. A replica of the staff carried by Charlton Heston in "The Ten Commandments" was also used to populate the set to illustrate the hangar's history.


text: Producer Frank Marshall stated in 2003 that the film would use traditional stunt work so as to be consistent with the previous films. CGI was used to remove the visible safety wires on the actors when they did their stunts, such as when Indy swings on a lamp with his whip. Timed explosives were used for a scene where Indiana drives a truck through crates. During the take, an explosive failed to detonate and landed in the seat beside Ford. It did not go off and he was not injured.


text: Spielberg stated before production began that very few CGI effects would be used to maintain consistency with the other films. During filming significantly more CGI work was done than initially anticipated as in many cases it proved to be more practical. There ended up being a total of about 450 CGI shots in the film, with an estimated 30% of the film's shots containing CG matte paintings. Spielberg initially wanted brushstrokes to be visible on the paintings for added consistency with the previous films, but decided against it. The script also required a non-deforested jungle for a chase scene, but this would have been unsafe and much CGI work was done to create the jungle action sequence. Visual effects supervisor Pablo Helman (who worked on Lucas's "" and "" as well as Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" and "Munich") traveled to Brazil and Argentina to photograph elements that were composited into the final images. Industrial Light and Magic then effectively created a virtual jungle with a geography like the real Amazon.


text: The appearance of a live alien and flying saucer was in flux. Spielberg wanted the alien to resemble a Grey alien, and also rejected early versions of the saucer that looked "too "Close Encounters"". Art director Christian Alzmann said the esthetic was "looking at a lot of older B-movie designs—but trying to make that look more real and gritty to fit in with the Indy universe." Other reference for the visual effects work included government tapes of nuclear tests, and video reference of real prairie dogs shot in 1080p by Nathan Edward Denning.


text: John Williams began composing the score in October 2007; 10 days of recording sessions wrapped on March 6, 2008, at Sony Pictures Studios. Williams described composing for the Indiana Jones universe again as "like sitting down and finishing a letter that you started 25 years ago". He reused Indiana's theme ("The Raiders March") and also Marion's from "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and also composed five new motifs for Mutt, Spalko and the skull. Williams gave Mutt's a swashbuckling feel, and homaged film noir and 1950s B-movies for Spalko and the crystal skull respectively. The movie's first scene is accompanied by Elvis Presley's 1956 version of "Hound Dog", arguably the biggest hit of the movie's era, and an RIAA-certified 4× Platinum recording. As an in-joke, Williams incorporated a measure and a half of Johannes Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture" when Indiana and Mutt crash into the library. The soundtrack features a Continuum, an instrument often used for sound effects instead of music. The Concord Music Group released the soundtrack on May 20, 2008.


text: "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2008, a couple of days ahead of its worldwide May 21–23 release. It was the first Spielberg film since 1982's "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" to premiere at Cannes. The film was released in approximately 4,000 theaters in the United States, and dubbed into 25 languages for its worldwide release. More than 12,000 release prints were distributed, which is the largest in Paramount Pictures' history. Although Spielberg insisted his films only be watched traditionally using a film projector at theaters, Paramount chose to release the film in digital cinemas as part of a scheme to convert 10,000 U.S. cinemas to the format. "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is also notable for being the last film in the series to be distributed by Paramount, as Walt Disney Studios will release the upcoming fifth film, since its parent company's acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012.


text: Frank Marshall remarked, "In today's information age, secrecy has been a real challenge. ... People actually said, 'No, we're going to respect Steven's vision.'" Prior to release, moviegoers on the Internet scrutinized numerous photos and the film's promotional Lego sets in hope of understanding plot details. Spielberg biographer Ian Freer wrote, "What "Indy IV" is actually about has been the great cultural guessing game of 2007/08. Yet, it has to be said, there is something refreshing about being ten weeks away from a giant blockbuster and knowing next to nothing about it." To distract investigative fans from the film's title during filming, five fake titles were registered with the Motion Picture Association of America; "The City of Gods", "The Destroyer of Worlds", "The Fourth Corner of the Earth", "The Lost City of Gold" and "The Quest for the Covenant". Lucas and Spielberg had also wanted to keep Karen Allen's return a secret until the film's release, but decided to confirm it at the 2007 Comic-Con.


text: An extra in the film, Tyler Nelson, violated his nondisclosure agreement in an interview with the "Edmond Sun" on September 17, 2007, which was then picked up by the mainstream media. It is unknown if he remained in the final cut. At Nelson's request, "The Edmond Sun" subsequently pulled the story from its website. On October 2, 2007, a Superior Court order was filed finding that Nelson knowingly violated the agreement. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. A number of production photos and sensitive documents pertaining to the film's production budget were also stolen from Spielberg's production office. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department set up a sting operation after being alerted by a webmaster that the thief might try to sell the photos. On October 4, 2007, the seller, 37-year-old Roderick Eric Davis, was arrested. He pleaded guilty to two felony counts and was sentenced to two years and four months in prison.


text: Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing, attributed the film's large marketing campaign to it having been "nineteen years since the last film, and we are sensing a huge pent-up demand for everything Indy". Marketing relied heavily on the public's nostalgia for the series, with products taking inspiration from all four films. Paramount spent at least $150 million to promote the film, whereas most film promotions range from $70 to 100 million. As well as fans, the film also needed to appeal to younger viewers. Licensing deals include Expedia, Dr Pepper, Burger King, M&M's, Snickers, Lunchables, and Papa John's. Paramount sponsored an Indiana Jones open wheel car for Marco Andretti in the 2008 Indianapolis 500, and his racing suit was designed to resemble Indiana Jones's outfit. The distributor also paired with M&M's to sponsor the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, with NASCAR driver Kyle Busch behind the wheel, in the 2008 Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway. Kyle Busch and the #18 team won the race and visited victory lane with Indiana Jones on the car. With the film's release, producer Frank Marshall and UNESCO worked together to promote conservation of World Heritage Sites around the world. Disneyland hosted "Indiana Jones Summer of Hidden Mysteries" to promote the film's release.


text: The Boston-based design studio Creative Pilot created the packaging style for the film's merchandise, which merged Drew Struzan's original illustrations "with a fresh new look, which showcases the whip, a map and exotic hieroglyphic patterns". Hasbro, Lego, Sideshow Collectibles, Topps, Diamond Select, Hallmark Cards, and Cartamundi all sold products. A THQ mobile game based on the film was released, as was a based on the past films. Lego also released a series of computer-animated spoofs, "Lego Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Brick", directed by Peder Pedersen. Stern Pinball released a new Indiana Jones pinball machine, designed by John Borg, based on all four films. From October 2007 to April 2008, the re-edited episodes of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" were released in three DVD box sets.


text: Random House, Dark Horse Comics, Diamond Comic Distributors, Scholastic, and DK published books, including James Rollins's novelization of "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", a two-issue comic book adaptation written by John Jackson Miller and drawn by Luke Ross (""), children's novelizations of all four films, the "Indiana Jones Adventures" comic book series aimed at children, and the official "Indiana Jones Magazine". Scholastic featured Indiana and Mutt on the covers of "Scholastic News" and "Scholastic Maths", to the concern of parents, though Jack Silbert, editor of the latter, felt the film would interest children in archaeology.


text: The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America on October 14, 2008, and in the UK on November 10. This THX certified release includes a two-disc special-edition DVD, a two-disc special-edition Blu-ray, and a one-disc edition DVD. The film made its worldwide television premiere on USA on December 9, 2010. On September 18, 2012, it was re-released on Blu-ray as part of "Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures".


text: In 2021, a remastered 4K version of the film was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, produced using scans of the original negatives. It was released as part of a box set for the then four films in the Indiana Jones film series.


text: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is distributed by one entity, Paramount, but owned by another, Lucasfilm. The pre-production arrangement between the two organizations granted Paramount 12.5% of the film's revenue. As the $185 million budget was larger than the original $125 million estimate, Lucas, Spielberg and Ford turned down large upfront salaries so Paramount could cover the film's costs. In order for Paramount to see a profit beyond its distribution fee, the film had to make over $400 million. At that point, Lucas, Spielberg, Ford, and those with smaller profit-sharing deals would also begin to collect their cut.


text: The film was released on May 22, 2008, in North America, playing at 4,260 theaters. At that time, it achieved the third-highest number of screenings, behind "" and "Spider-Man 3". For its opening day, the film grossed $25 million, making it the fourth-highest Thursday opening, behind "", "The Matrix Reloaded" and "". In its opening weekend, it grossed an estimated $101 million and ranked number one at the box office. The film would go on to set opening weekend records for both a Steven Spielberg film and Harrison Ford film, breaking the previous records held by "" and "Air Force One" simultaneously. Within its first five days of release, it grossed $151.1 million, combined with $126 million from the four-day opening weekend. It ranked as the second-biggest Memorial Day weekend release, after "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End". During Memorial Day, the film had already generated a total of $26.7 million, becoming the second-highest Monday gross of any film, trailing only behind "Spider-Man 2". It was the third-most-successful film of 2008 domestically, behind "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man", respectively, and the year's second-highest-grossing film internationally, behind "The Dark Knight". In February 2010, it was the 25th-highest-grossing film of all time domestically, and 44th-highest-grossing worldwide, as well as the most financially successful "Indiana Jones" film when not adjusted for inflation of ticket prices.


text: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" received strongly polarized but mostly positive reviews; as a result, it has been nominated both for numerous "best of" and "worst of" awards. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "Though the plot elements are certainly familiar, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" still delivers the thrills and Harrison Ford's return in the title role is more than welcome." Metacritic, gives the film a weighted average rating of 65 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Surveys conducted by CinemaScore indicated an average rating of "B" from audiences, on an A+ to F scale, down from the previous film's "A".


text: Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars out of four, the same rating he gave "The Last Crusade", finding it "same old, same old", but what "I "want" it to be", particularly as "a lover of pulp fiction": "What I want is goofy action—lots of it. I want man-eating ants, swordfights between two people balanced on the backs of speeding jeeps, caverns of gold, vicious femme fatales, plunges down three waterfalls in a row, and the explanation for flying saucers. And throw in lots of monkeys." Leonard Maltin also gave the film 3½ stars out of 4, more than he gave "Temple of Doom" and "Last Crusade, "and wrote that "Indy returns with the same brand of high adventure that marked the original "Raiders of the Lost Ark."" "Empire"'s Damon Wise criticized the use of CGI but praised Ford's performance and wrote that "It won't change your life but, if you're in the right frame of mind, it will change your mood: you might wince, you might groan, you might beg to differ on the big, silly climax, but you'll never stop smiling."


text: James Berardinelli gave the film 2 stars out of 4, calling it "the most lifeless of the series" and "simply [not] a very good motion picture." Margaret Pomeranz of "At the Movies" gave the film 2½ stars out of 5, saying that the filmmakers "had 19 years since the last Indiana Jones movie to come up with something truly exciting and fresh, but I feel there's a certain laziness and cynicism in this latest adventure." Associated Press reported that J. Sperling Reich, writing for FilmStew.com, said: "It really looked like they were going through the motions. It really looked like no one had their heart in it." "USA Today" stated reviews were "mixed" and reviewers felt the "movie suffers from predictable plot points and cheesy special effects."


text: The Communist Party of the Russian Federation called for a ban on the film, accusing the production team of "demonizing" the Soviet Union. Spielberg responded: "When we decided the fourth installment would take place in 1957, we had no choice but to make the Russians the enemies. World War II had just ended and the Cold War had begun. The U.S. didn't have any other enemies at the time."


text: According to Associated Press, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" received a "respectful" but "far from glowing" reception from "Indiana Jones" fans, and that "some viewers at its first press screening loved it, some called it slick and enjoyable though formulaic, some said it was not worth the 19-year wait." "South Park" parodied the film in the episode "The China Probrem", broadcast five months after the film's release. The episode parodied the negative fan reaction, with the characters filing a police report against Lucas and Spielberg for "raping Indiana Jones".


text: Some disappointed "Indiana Jones "fans used the term "nuking the fridge", a reference to the scene in which Jones survives a nuclear blast by hiding in a refrigerator, to denote the point when a franchise crosses into the absurd, similar to "jumping the shark". This phrase has appeared across the internet, and was chosen as #5 on "Time" magazine's list of "top ten buzzwords" of 2008. Asked about the scene and phrase, Spielberg said: "Blame me. Don't blame George. That was my silly idea ... I'm proud of that. I'm glad I was able to bring that into popular culture." Lucas denied this, saying Spielberg was "protecting him". According to Lucas, he had assembled a dossier of research data to convince Spielberg; Lucas stated that his research claimed the odds of surviving in the refrigerator are about "50-50."


text: The mixed fanbase reaction did not surprise Lucas, who was familiar with mixed response to the "Star Wars" prequels, and predicted that "we're all going to get people throwing tomatoes at us." David Koepp said: "I knew I was going to get hammered from a number of quarters [but] what I liked about the way the movie ended up playing was it was popular with families. I like that families really embraced it." Although Spielberg said "I'm very happy with the movie. I always have been", he also said "I sympathize with people who didn't like the MacGuffin [the interdimensional beings] because I never liked the MacGuffin."


text: At the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, LaBeouf told "Los Angeles Times" he had "dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished" and felt that "the movie could have been updated ... we just misinterpreted what we were trying to satiate." In 2011, in response to LaBeouf's comments, Harrison Ford said: "I think I told [LaBeouf] he was a f***ing idiot ... As an actor, I think it's my obligation to support the film without making a complete ass of myself. Shia is ambitious, attentive and talented—and he's learning how to deal with a situation which is very unique and difficult." LaBeouf said he regretted his comments and their effect on his relationship with Spielberg: "He told me there's a time to be a human being and have an opinion, and there's a time to sell cars. It brought me freedom, but it also killed my spirits because this was a dude I looked up to like a sensei."


text: Film critic Matt Zoller Seitz praised the film despite its alienation of fans, understanding that the film was "more an ensemble piece" compared to the previous films in the series, but adding that "there was a point to this approach: "Crystal Skull" was Spielberg's immense and spectacular version of an Old Man movie... rather like the films Howard Hawks and John Ford were making in the mid- to late '60s". Seitz also considers the "nuke the fridge" scene as one of the series' best, stating that "It brings Indy forward into the world that birthed Steven Spielberg and his Boomer-fueled fantasies of earlier generations. And the construction of it, the shots and cuts, is brilliant. The ramping up. The satirical touches. And the 'nuclear family' pun at the heart of it."


text: The film was nominated for Best Action Movie at the 2009 Critics' Choice Awards. The Visual Effects Society nominated it for Best Single Visual Effect of the Year (the valley destruction), Best Outstanding Matte Paintings, Best Models and Miniatures, and Best Created Environment in a Feature Motion Picture (the inside of the temple). The film ranks 453rd on "Empire"s 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. It was nominated at the Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Costumes and Best Special Effects. It won Best Costumes. At the 51st Grammy Awards, John Williams won an award for the Mutt Williams theme.


text: In 2008, the film won the Razzie Award for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel. Comcast voted it the 11th-worst film sequel of all time. "Paste" magazine ranked the movie 10th on its list "The 20 Worst Sequels to Good Movies". Listverse.com ranked the film 8th on its list of the "Top 10 Worst Movie Sequels".


text: In late 2012, the director of the Institute of Archaeology of Belize, Dr. Jaime Awe, sued Lucasfilm, Disney, and Paramount Pictures on behalf of the country Belize for using the Mitchell-Hedges skull's "likeness" in the film. (Awe claimed that if the Mitchell-Hedges skull was actually found in Belize, then it had been stolen from his country, and the defendants were profiting off its likeness.)


text: On March 15, 2016, Walt Disney Studios announced that Spielberg and Ford would both return for a fifth "Indiana Jones" film, initially scheduled for release on July 19, 2019. After multiple delays, this was finally changed to June 30, 2023. In February 2020, it was revealed that Spielberg had stepped down as the film's director and that James Mangold had entered negotiations to direct. Spielberg, Kennedy, and Marshall will serve as producers.


title: Ja Rule

text: Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New York City, he debuted in 1999 with "Venni Vetti Vecci" and its lead single "Holla Holla". During the 2000s, Ja Rule was signed to Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. Records, formerly known as The Inc. From 1999 to 2005, Ja Rule had multiple hits that made the top 20 of the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, including "Between Me and You" (featuring Christina Milian), "I'm Real (Murder Remix)" and "Ain't It Funny" (both with Jennifer Lopez)—which both topped the Hot 100—the number 1 hit "Always on Time" (featuring Ashanti), "Mesmerize" (featuring Ashanti), and "Wonderful" (featuring R. Kelly and Ashanti).


title: Ja Rule

text: Rule has been nominated for two American Music Awards and four Grammy Awards with respective collaborators Lil' Mo, Vita, Ashanti and Case. Following the release of his platinum-selling debut "Venni Vetti Vecci" (1999), he released his respective second and third albums "" (2000) and "Pain Is Love" (2001). Both albums topped the US "Billboard" 200 album chart, launching him into the mainstream, selling over a combined 15 million units to a wide audience, and attaining triple platinum status from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), becoming his best-selling albums to date. Rule followed up with his respective fourth, fifth and sixth albums "The Last Temptation" (2002), "Blood in My Eye" (2003), and "R.U.L.E." (2004), with "The Last Temptation" attaining platinum status and "R.U.L.E." reaching gold status. As of 2018, Rule has sold 14.4 million units in the US and has sold over 30 million records worldwide. In 2019, he joined the main cast of WeTV's "".


title: Ja Rule

text: Outside of music, Ja Rule is also well known for his role in the fraudulent Fyre Festival, which he co-founded with con artist Billy McFarland. In November 2019, he was cleared of any legal wrongdoing from his role in the festival.


title: Ja Rule

text: Ja Rule was born Jeffrey Bruce Atkins on February 29, 1976, to Debra and Will in Hollis, a section of the Queens borough of New York City. Jeffrey's father left the family when he was very young. Atkins was raised as an only child, as his younger sister, Kristen, died in the womb when Atkins was 5. His mother, Debra, was a healthcare worker, and due to the amount of time she spent working, Atkins was largely raised by his grandparents as a Jehovah's Witness. Atkins' mother left the Jehovah's Witness religion when he was 12. Soon after, Atkins began selling drugs in Hollis.


title: Ja Rule

text: Atkins began his rap career in 1994 with the hip hop group Cash Money Click alongside members Chris Black and O-1. He took the stage name "Ja Rule", telling MTV News that the name came from a friend who addressed him by that name; other friends simply called him "Ja". Together they worked with producer DJ Irv to produce a number of songs, releasing their debut single ""Get Tha Fortune"" independently in 1994. After the group signed with TVT Records, the song was re-released through the label later that year as the B-side to their second single, ""4 My Click"". "4 My Click" featured Mic Geronimo and became popular on pirate radio, eventually receiving airplay on Yo! MTV Raps. Plans for the release of the group's eponymous debut studio album were brought to a halt in 1995 after Chris Black was sentenced to five years in prison and the group was dropped from TVT, which led to their third single ""She Swallowed It"" never officially being released, however it was later bootlegged. With no label, the group disbanded shortly after being dropped.


title: Ja Rule

text: After being dropped from TVT, Ja Rule maintained a close relationship with DJ Irv, who was working as an executive producer for Def Jam at the time. DJ Irv, now known as Irv Gotti, was hired as an A&R for the label and was able to get Ja Rule a contract with Def Jam. In 1995, he made his first solo appearance on Mic Geronimo's "Time to Build" alongside Jay-Z and DMX, who were also in their early stages of their careers. He later appeared on the song "Usual Suspects" from Mic Geronimo's second album Vendetta in 1997, alongside The Lox, DMX and Tragedy Khadafi. He also had a brief cameo in the video for "Walk In New York" by Queens hardcore rap group Onyx. Later in 1997, Irv Gotti was granted his own imprint from Def Jam, known as Murder Inc. Records. Ja Rule was promoted as the label's flagship artist, and he continued to make guest appearances on songs by other artists, including Method Man, Redman, Nas, DMX, LL Cool J and Dru Hill. He later appeared on Jay-Z's 1998 hit single "Can I Get A...", for which he wrote the hook. It was originally planned to be Ja Rule's debut single until Jay-Z heard the track and requested it for himself. During this time, he rapped under the slightly modified stage name Jah.


title: Ja Rule

text: Returning to the Ja Rule name, his debut single Holla Holla was released in March 1999 and became a hit, peaking at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100. Fueled by the success of Holla Holla, Ja Rule's debut album, "Venni Vetti Vecci", was released in 1999, peaking at #3 on the "Billboard" 200 with 184,000 copies sold in its first week. It eventually reached platinum status in the US due to the popularity of "Holla Holla". A remix of "Holla Holla" was later released, featuring Jay-Z, Vita, Cadillac Tah, Black Child, Memphis Bleek and Busta Rhymes.


title: Ja Rule

text: Ja Rule's second single, "Between Me and You", featuring Christina Milian, was released in June 2000 as the first single from his second studio album and became his first major crossover hit, earning Top 40 airplay and reaching #11 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The album's next single, "Put It on Me", featuring Vita and Lil' Mo, was released in December 2000 and became one of the biggest hits of 2001, reaching #8 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and becoming the first top 10 hit for both Ja Rule and Vita. The video for "Put It on Me" also topped the MTV Video Countdown for a week, and became the first music video to be retired on BET's "106 & Park" after spending more than 60 days on the countdown. The video also ranked #1 on BET's "Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2001".


title: Ja Rule

text: Ja Rule's second album, "", was released on October 10, 2000, and went in a much different stylistic direction from Venni Vetti Vecci, changing his almost trademark hardcore hip-hop sound to mainstream-oriented pop-rap, debuting at #1 on the "Billboard" 200 with 276,000 copies sold in its first week, making it Ja Rule's first number one album. The album later went on to be certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).


title: Ja Rule

text: The success of Rule 3:36 promoted Ja Rule to international status, and made Murder Inc. one of the biggest labels in the United States. The same success followed with his third album, which spawned three top 10 singles, two of them reaching #1. The first, "Livin' It Up", featuring Case, was released in July 2001 and reached #6 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. It also achieved success in the United Kingdom, reaching #5 on the UK Singles Chart. The second single, "Always on Time", was released in October 2001 and marked the first major guest appearance for Murder Inc's youngest artist Ashanti, and became both Ja Rule and Ashanti's first song to top the "Billboard" Hot 100. The remix of Jennifer Lopez's "I'm Real" featuring Ja Rule was included on the album and topped the "Billboard" Hot 100 for five non-consecutive weeks, beginning September 8, 2001, and also topped the Hot 100 Airplay chart. The song was a staple of R&B/hip hop and pop radio during the summer and fall of 2001, spending fifteen weeks total in the top five of the Hot 100. In 2009 the single was named the 30th most successful song of the 2000s, on the "Billboard" Hot 100 Songs of the Decade. The album's fourth single, "Down Ass Bitch" featuring Charli Baltimore was also successful, reaching #21 on the Hot 100.


title: Ja Rule

text: Ja Rule released his third studio album, "Pain Is Love", on October 2, 2001. Like its predecessor, "Pain Is Love" topped the "Billboard" 200 with first-week sales of 361,000 copies and is certified triple platinum by the RIAA. The album also received a Grammy nomination in 2002 for Best Rap Album. By 2007, 3.6 million copies of "Pain Is Love" had been sold.


title: Ja Rule

text: "The Last Temptation", Ja Rule's fourth album, was released on November 19, 2002. It spawned two hit singles, "Thug Lovin'", featuring Bobby Brown, which peaked at #42 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and "Mesmerize", a duet with Ashanti that peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. "The Last Temptation" debuted at #4 on the "Billboard" 200 with first-week sales of 237,000 copies and was certified platinum by the RIAA in December 2002.


title: Ja Rule

text: Shortly after the release of his fourth studio album, Ja Rule's ongoing beef with fellow Queens rapper 50 Cent reached its peak, with both artists taking to radio stations almost daily to trade insults and diss tracks.<ref name="http://hiphopdx.com"></ref> On January 3, 2003, the Murder Inc. offices were raided by FBI agents and NYPD officers due to accusations of money laundering and drug trades toward Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, who was associated with Irv Gotti. Due to the federal investigation, Ja Rule had a late response in his beef with 50 Cent. By association, 50 Cent's labelmates Eminem, Obie Trice, D12, and Ja Rule's former friends and associates DMX and Busta Rhymes were brought into the feud too. Ja Rule released the diss track ""Loose Change"" in April 2003, where he attacks 50 Cent, as well as Eminem, Busta Rhymes and Dr. Dre. 50 Cent eventually responded with ""Hail Mary"", which used the beat from 2Pac's song of the same name and featured Eminem and Busta Rhymes. The beef continued to be highly publicised throughout 2003, and eventually led to Ja Rule meeting with Minister Louis Farrakhan in October, who wanted to intervene and prevent escalating violence in the feud.


title: Ja Rule

text: Ja Rule's fifth studio album, "Blood in My Eye", was released on November 4, 2003, under the Murder Inc. label, which renamed itself "The Inc." several days after the album release. The material was intended simply as a mixtape, but was released as an album to fulfill Ja Rule's contractual commitment to Murder Inc. to release one annually. The album was described as a "hate" album directed at various rappers, including 50 Cent, G-Unit, Eminem, Proof, Dr. Dre, DMX, Busta Rhymes and others, and marked a return to the hardcore style Ja Rule had used in his earlier career. It spawned one hit single, "Clap Back", which reached #44 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and won a Source Award for "Fat Tape" song of the year. It peaked at #6 on the "Billboard" Hot 200, selling 139,000 copies in its first week of release, and had sold over 468,000 copies in the U.S. by 2008.


title: Ja Rule

text: Ja Rule's sixth studio album, "R.U.L.E.", was released in November 2004, debuting at #7 and selling 166,000 copies in its first week of release. Its lead single, "Wonderful", featuring R. Kelly and Ashanti, peaked at #5 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The single was followed by the street anthem "New York", featuring Fat Joe and Jadakiss, which charted at #27 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The third single was the love song "Caught Up", featuring Lloyd, which had failed to make an impact on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The RIAA certified "R.U.L.E." Gold on January 14, 2005, and by October 2007 the album had sold 658,000 copies.


title: Ja Rule

text: On December 6, 2005, The Inc. released "Exodus", a greatest hits album whose only new tracks were the song "Me" and intro and outro tracks. "Exodus" was the last album on Ja Rule's contract with The Inc. After its release, Ja Rule took a hiatus from recording music. Meanwhile, The Inc. Records was still under investigation because of alleged drug trades with Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff. This led to Def Jam Recordings refusing to renew The Inc.'s contract. From 2005 to 2006, Gotti searched for other labels, finally reaching a deal with Universal Records (part of the same company as Def Jam). A few years later The Inc. left Universal Records due to business issues and failure to secure funds for projects. In 2007, Ja Rule founded record label Mpire Music Group.


title: Ja Rule

text: In February 2011, it was announced that Ja Rule had started working on a new album, "Pain Is Love 2", to be produced by the producers of the original "Pain Is Love" album to "recreate magic". Most of the production was to be done by 7 Aurelius (who co-produced "Down Ass Bitch"), while Irv Gotti was to be executive producer. Ja Rule had planned on releasing it on June 7, 2011, but decided to delay the release in order to allow more time to perfect the "level and quality of the records" and to avoid "doing an injustice to [his] fans". A revised release date of October 11, 2011, was also pushed back. During the delay, Ja Rule released a new track, "Falling to Pieces", produced by 7 Aurelius, which samples The Script's "Breakeven". On October 2, 2011, another track, "Spun a Web", was released, also produced by 7 Aurelius and sampling Coldplay's "Trouble". The following day a teaser video premiered on YouTube, and the official video was released on October 11. "Pain Is Love 2" was finally released on February 28, 2012, by which time Ja Rule was serving a two-year sentence in prison for gun possession and tax evasion.


title: Ja Rule

text: Ja Rule was released from prison on May 7, 2013. Alongside Lil Wayne and Birdman, he appeared on the remix of the track "She Tried", which appeared on the N.O.R.E album "Student of the Game." On September 18, 2013, Ja Rule released a track titled "Fresh Out Da Pen". The track had first premiered on Hot 97. A few days later he released "Everything". Both tracks were produced by Visionary producers Reefa and Myles William. On September 27, 2013, both tracks were released on iTunes for digital download. In September 2013, it was confirmed that Ja Rule and Gotti had relaunched Murder Inc Records.


title: Ja Rule

text: In 2014, Ja Rule released a memoir, "Unruly: The Highs and Lows of Becoming a Man", in which he reflected on his past struggles with a difficult adolescence in New York City and everything that followed, from breakout success and destructive rivalries to fatherhood and a two-year prison sentence. In July 2014, Ja Rule announced his eighth studio album, which was eventually pushed back to a 2016 release. Also in 2014, MTV announced that Ja Rule and his family would star in the upcoming reality show "Follow the Rules" which was co-produced by Queen Latifah. A sneak peek trailer of the show surfaced on the internet in September 2014 and the show premiered on October 26, 2015. In October 2015, Rule announced that he and Gotti had partnered with Paramount Pictures on a TV drama series based on the history of Murder Inc., set to premiere in 2016. In February 2016, Ja Rule announced that his upcoming eighth studio album would be titled "Coup De Grâce" and would be his last album. In December 2016, he appeared on "The Hamilton Mixtape", rapping Hamilton's verse in Ashanti's performance of "Helpless", referencing Lin-Manuel Miranda's impression of him in the last line of that verse. On June 26, 2018, Ashanti confirmed that she and Ja Rule are working on a collaborative album.


title: Ja Rule

text: On October 15, 2021, in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the release of his third studio album, "Pain is Love", Ja Rule released the single, "Sincerely, Jeffrey" for all streaming platforms.


title: Ja Rule

text: Aside from rapping, Ja Rule has established a career as an actor. His first film was a buddy movie with Pras, "Turn It Up"; he appeared in a minor role in "The Fast and the Furious". He appeared in several movies including "Back in the Day" with Ving Rhames and Pam Grier and "Half Past Dead" as Steven Seagal's co-star. He also starred in the movies "The Cookout" with Queen Latifah and "Assault on Precinct 13". In 2013, he starred in "I'm in Love with a Church Girl".


title: Ja Rule

text: In 2004, Ja Rule and Gotti launched an urban clothing line called "ErvinGeoffrey". In 2006, Ja Rule launched a liquor company, The Mojito.


title: Ja Rule

text: In May 2015, Ja Rule partnered with Billy McFarland, the CEO of the credit card service company Magnises, to become its creative head and spokesman. In August 2015, Ja Rule collaborated with footwear businessman Steve Madden on a new line of men's sneakers called "Maven x Madden", which were released for sale by fall 2015.


title: Ja Rule

text: In 2016, Ja Rule co-founded "Fyre Media, Inc.", a talent booking agency, with Billy McFarland. In April 2017, the venture touted its Fyre Festival in Hamilton, Bahamas, as a luxury event, but it was fraudulent, disappointing hundreds of ticket-buyers. Rule and McFarland faced a $100 million class action suit.