title: James Hemings

texts:
<mask> (17651801) was the first American to train as a chef in France. He was African American and born in Virginia in 1765. At 8 years old, he became enslaved by Thomas Jefferson through an inheritance. He was an older brother of <mask> and a half-sibling of Jefferson's wife Martha Jefferson, with whom he shared John Wayles as father. As a young man, Hemings was selected by Jefferson to accompany him to Paris when the latter was appointed Minister to France. There Hemings was trained to be a French chef; independently, he took lessons to learn how to speak the French language. He returned to the United States with Jefferson, likely because of kinship ties with his large Hemings family at Monticello.Jefferson continued to pay Hemings wages as his chef when he worked for Jefferson in Philadelphia. Hemings negotiated with Jefferson for his freedom, which he gained in 1796, after training his brother Peter for three years to replace him as chef. Said to suffer from alcoholism, Hemings died by suicide at age 36. Biography

Early life
<mask> was born into slavery to <mask>, who was the mixed-race daughter of an enslaved African mother, and  an English sea captain father whose surname was <mask>. <mask> was the second of her six children by her enslaver John Wayles, who took Betty as a forced concubine after he was widowed for the third time. This situation lasted for 12 years, until his death, and he had six children with her. They were three-quarters European by ancestry.Betty had four older children by another man. Wayles died in 1773, leaving Betty and the 10 children to his daughter Martha Jefferson, half-sister to his children by Betty. Martha was then married to Thomas Jefferson, who became their enslaver by marriage. In 1784 Thomas Jefferson took <mask> with him when he went to Paris as Minister to France, as he wanted the young man, then 19, trained as a chef. While they were in France, Jefferson paid Hemings a wage of four dollars per month. Hemings studied cooking and apprenticed to pastry chefs and other specialists. He paid personally to learn the language from a French tutor.He earned the role of chef de cuisine in Jefferson's kitchen on the Champs-Élysées. He served his creations to the European aristocrats, writers and scientists whom Jefferson invited to dinner. Career
It was during his time in France that Hemings learned the French dish of pasta and cheese. He prepared a dish called "macaroni pie". This dish evolved to what Americans call macaroni and cheese today. In Paris, Jefferson became concerned that Hemings might learn that he could be free when France had abolished slavery in 1789. He wrote about this issue to another American enslaver in a similar situation.According to the 1873 memoir of <mask>, his uncle <mask> and (future) mother Sally actively considered staying in France for freedom while they were in Paris. (<mask> had accompanied one of Jefferson's daughters to France and worked for the family until they returned to the United States.) While fearful of their seeking freedom, Jefferson, who was in debt for most of his life, was also concerned about having paid for training <mask>. In 1789, however, both the Hemingses returned to America with Jefferson; he continued to pay <mask> wages to work as his chef. They first returned to Monticello. They lived briefly in a leased house on Maiden Lane in New York City (when the national government was based there), where <mask> ran the kitchen. In the spring of 1791, when <mask> and Jefferson were resident in Philadelphia, then the capital, the young enslaved man accompanied Jefferson and <mask> on a month-long vacation in the Northeast.The party traveled through New York and Vermont, stopping at Albany, Lake George, Lake Champlain and Bennington. Jefferson often entrusted Hemings to travel alone ahead of the others to arrange accommodations along the way. After returning south through western Massachusetts and Connecticut, Jefferson and Hemings returned for a long-term stay in Philadelphia. As Pennsylvania did not allow slavery, Jefferson paid Hemings a wage while he worked there. After two years in Philadelphia, Jefferson made plans to return to Virginia. Reluctant to return to a slave state, Hemings negotiated a contract with Jefferson by which he would gain freedom after training a replacement chef at Monticello to take his place. In the 1793 agreement, Jefferson wrote:

Having been at great expence in having <mask>s taught the art of cookery, desiring to befriend him, and to require from him as little in return as possible, I hereby do promise & declare, that if the said <mask> should go with me to Monticello in the course of the ensuing winter, when I go to reside there myself, and shall there continue until he shall have taught such person as I shall place under him for that purpose to be a good cook, this previous condition being performed, he shall thereupon be made free ...Considering that Hemings had served Jefferson well for years, some historians have described this as a grudging manumission. For two years, Hemings trained his younger brother Peter, also enslaved from birth, as chef at Monticello, and finally gained his freedom in 1796. He spoke French and English and was literate; his handwritten inventory of kitchen supplies made before he left Monticello is held by the Library of Congress. He also left recipes and other writings. After traveling to Europe, Hemings eventually returned to the United States, where he found work as a cook in Philadelphia. Little is known about Hemings' personal life. He never married, nor did he have children.According to culinary historian Michael Twitty, it is possible that Hemings had a "somewhat fluid sexuality". In 1801, Jefferson offered Hemings a position at the White House, which Hemings declined, as he felt he could not immediately leave his position in Baltimore. When Jefferson inquired a second time, Hemings responded through an intermediary, Francis Sayes, who had worked with Hemings when they were in New York and in Philadelphia. Sayes reported, "I have spoke to <mask> according to your Desire he has made mention again as he did before that he was willing to serve you before any other man in the Union but sence he understands that he would have to be among strange servants he would be very much obliged to you if you would send him a few lines of engagement and on what conditions and what wages you would please to give him with your own hand wreiting." Jefferson did not write Hemings, reasoning that he did not want to "urge him against inclination." Hemings later returned briefly to Monticello, working for a month and a half in the kitchen and earning thirty dollars before leaving. Later, while employed as a cook in a tavern in Baltimore, he died by suicide, at age 36.Jefferson's friend William Evans in Baltimore made inquiries, and on November 5, 1801, he wrote: The report respecting <mask>s having committed an act of suicide is true. I made every inquiry at the time this melancholy circumstance took place. The result of which was, that he had been delirious for some days prior to committing the act, and it was the general opinion that drinking too freely was the cause. On November 9, 1801, Jefferson wrote from Washington, DC, to <mask>, the Irish joiner managing much of the construction at Monticello, recounting the circumstances of Hemings' death, presumably with instructions to tell his mother Betty and his brother John, who was Dinsmore's assistant. On December 4, 1801, Jefferson wrote to his son-in-law, Thomas Mann Randolph, characterizing <mask>' death as a "tragical end." Further reading
Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 2008, winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for History and 15 other history/literary awards
Lucia Stanton, Free Some Day: The African-American Families of Monticello, Charlottesville: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2000. Thomas J. Craughwell, Thomas Jefferson's Creme Brûlée: How a Founding Father and His Slave <mask>s Introduced French Cuisine to America, Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2012, 233 pages; .Charles A. Cerami, Dinner at Mr. Jefferson's: Three Men, Five Great Wines, and the Evening that Changed America, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2008, 270 pages; . References

External links
Thomas Jefferson – <mask>s Deed of Manumission
François Furstenberg, "Jefferson's Other Family: His concubine was also his wife's half-sister", review of Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello, Slate, September 23, 2008

1765 births
1801 deaths
18th-century African-American people
American chefs
American male chefs
18th-century American slaves
Hemings family
People from Charles City County, Virginia
Suicides by firearm in Maryland
Virginia colonial people
Presidents of the United States and slavery
1800s suicides
American people of English descent

masks:
James Hemings
Sally Hemings
James Hemings
Betty Hemings
Hemings
James
James Hemings
Madison Hemings
James
Sally Hemings
James
James
James Hemings
James Hemings
James Madison
James Heming
James
James
James Heming
James Dinsmore
Hemings
James Heming
James Heming


title: LaToya London

type: original

texts:
<mask> (born December 29, 1978) is an American R&B and soul singer and stage actress who was fourth-place finalist on the third season of American Idol. Her debut album, Love & Life, was released in September 2005 and spawned a number of moderate R&B chart hits. She has concentrated on stage work, including originating and performing the role of Nettie in the national tour of the Broadway musical The Color Purple from 2007 to 2010, for which she won an Ovation Award. She was the lead in the U.S. regional debut of The Bodyguard, a musical based on the 1992 film. Early life
<mask> was born in San Francisco, California and raised in Oakland, California, where she had her first public musical performance when, at the age of 7, she sang in her mother's wedding. Her interest in singing began when she was just 4 years old, when she frequently sang when attending Allen Temple Baptist church. As a teenager, she sang with the Oakland Youth Chorus from 1993 to 1996.In 1996, she graduated from Skyline High School (the same school actor Tom Hanks and basketball player Gary Payton attended). She also worked as a waitress and a bartender and sang in a Christian rock group. She was also a backup vocalist and did frequent guest vocals for several Bay Area artists. When she began American Idol, she was the lead vocalist in a band, All-Star Jukebox, which usually performed at weddings. American Idol

London auditioned for the third season of American Idol in Los Angeles, California. Although she moved on through each round, she had not been featured prominently in any aired footage and was written off by many fans before the first studio performances. However, as a member of the third group of eight semifinalists, she sang Eric Carmen's "All by Myself," and received a standing ovation from celebrity judges Donna Summer, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul.Jackson labeled her performance as "brilliant" and "what the search for a superstar is all about," Abdul called her "unbelievable" and praised her "quiet confidence," and Simon Cowell said she was "the best of the group" and that it was a "superb, outstanding performance." She was voted through to the final 12 contestants with 32.3 percent of audience votes, the largest percentage for every week of the semifinals. In the following nine weeks, London had several high points on American Idol. Cowell called her performance of Chaka Khan's "Ain't Nobody" "amazing" and "awesome." Abdul said that she reminded her of "a young Gladys Knight" after she performed the Garth Brooks song "Ain't Goin' Down ('Til the Sun Comes Up)," Nickolas Ashford of famed soul duo Ashford & Simpson called her performance of "Ooo Baby Baby" by Smokey Robinson as "beautiful" and full of "sex appeal," Film director Quentin Tarantino called her a "powerhouse" after her performance of "Somewhere" from the musical West Side Story, and Cowell announced her as "the best singer in the competition" after she sang "All the Time" by Barry Manilow and gave her "a ten out of ten" for her performance of "Don't Rain on My Parade," which also garnered standing ovations from Abdul and Jackson. London was central to one of the first controversies of the show. On April 21, 2004, the night after the final seven contestants performed Barry Manilow songs, <mask>, Jennifer Hudson, and eventual winner Fantasia Barrino ended up in the bottom three with the least viewer votes.Together, these three had been dubbed "The Three Divas" for their critically acclaimed performances. London had the highest vote totals out of the three, and Hudson was ultimately eliminated. Because all three of the singers were African American and the frontrunners of the competition, music icon Elton John deemed the voting as "racist," igniting a flurry of news and speculation over the validity of the voting system. John complained at a promotional news conference that, "The three people I was really impressed with, and they just happened to be black, young female singers, and they all seem to be landing in the bottom three." London's second controversy occurred on May 11, 2004, when the final four contestants each performed two disco songs. Simon Cowell, who previously endorsed her as the best singer in the competition, suggested that his only complaint with London was that after ten weeks he still did not know anything at all about her. Cowell also suggested that contestant Jasmine Trias would almost certainly be voted off the next day.However, on May 12, London became the ninth of the 12 finalists to be eliminated, finishing in fourth place, with Barrino also landing in the bottom two. London's farewell song was "Don't Rain on My Parade." Performances
The songs London sang on the show follow:

Post-Idol

Immediately after being eliminated from the series, London was featured in the Norman Lear-helmed Declare Yourself voting campaign by famed photographer David LaChapelle, alongside music stars like Christina Aguilera and André 3000. Her appearance on Idol host Ryan Seacrest's daily television talk show was one of its highest-rated episodes, and Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown officially declared May 4 to be LaToya London Day; one month later, she officially received the key to the city. Her rendition of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes "If You Don't Know Me by Now" on the top-selling compilation disc, American Idol Season 3: Greatest Soul Classics, was praised as one of the album's best. She was also heavily featured on the group track, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." In the summer of 2004, London performed with the other top 10 finalists in American Idol season three international tour, which crossed the United States and also visited China and Singapore.She had a guest co-hosting gig on the national entertainment news show, Access Hollywood, and she has performed for such events and galas as the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation, 100 Black Men of America, and the Clear Channel holiday party. London has also performed the national anthem for numerous National Football League games, including the 2005 Super Bowl NFL Commissioner pre-game party. She has shared the stage with such icons and superstars as Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, Barry Manilow, Gladys Knight, Nancy Wilson, Chaka Khan, Rachelle Ferrell, Goapele, and Burt Bacharach. In November 2004, it was announced that <mask> had been signed to jazz recording label Peak Records, an imprint of Concord Records, the final label of jazz legend Ray Charles before his death. Her first single, "Appreciate," which featured a guest rap from Black Thought of the Hip-Hop group The Roots, hit the airwaves in July, and a music video of that song followed. The CD single, "Appreciate/Every Part of Me/All By Myself" reached number eight on the Billboard Singles Sales Chart. The single sold 8,500 units.2005–2006: Love & Life
Her debut studio album, Love & Life, was released on September 20, 2005. A mix of R&B, soul, jazz, and hip-hop, Love & Life featured songwriting by <mask>, along with songs by well-known producers such as David Foster and Narada Michael Walden. The San Francisco Chronicle called her "impassioned and polished" with "sumptuous, wondrously elastic mezzo pipes," People magazine called it one of the best post-American Idol albums, and Apple Computer's iTunes named it one of the best albums of 2005, and her song "Non A What'cha Do" as one of the best individual recordings of the year. Love & Life sold 12,546 albums in its first week, landing at number 82 on Billboard Top 200 Albums chart and at number 27 on Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. To date, it has sold approximately 58,000 copies. Additionally, London has sold over 15,000 digital downloads. London released two follow-up singles, "Every Part of Me" and "State of My Heart" in 2006, the latter of which hit number 40 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and number five on the radio industry periodical Friday Morning Quarterbacks Adult Contemporary spin chart.<mask> was also nominated for an award in the R&B category of the 2006 Bay Area Rap Scene (BARS) Awards; however, violence and disruption ended the show early before the award winners were announced. Latoya was competing against R&B star Goapele, among others. <mask> announced that despite having an initial three-album deal, she had parted ways from Peak Records and Concord Records. She is currently writing songs for her second album and is shopping for a new recording label. In February 2006, she landed a lead role in Laterras R. Whitfield's touring dramatic comedy play Issues: We All Have 'Em. She sang a jazz-tinged version of "Hark! Hear the Bells" on the VH1 Soul Train Christmas television special, and sang the same song on a special edition of the 40th Anniversary A Charlie Brown Christmas album.In late summer 2006, <mask> made her Los Angeles professional stage debut with a starring role in the retro musical, Beehive, at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood. <mask> and the show earned rave reviews. That same year, the cast was nominated by the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle for Best Ensemble Performance in their annual awards. <mask> was featured as a guest vocalist on Paul Taylor's new album, Ladies' Choice, released in May 2007. <mask> played Nettie in The Color Purple, which debuted at the Cadillac Palace Theatre for an extended run in Chicago, Illinois. <mask> ended her run in 2010 and received a nomination for a NAACP Theatre Award in 2008 in the best supporting actress in an equity production category. 2010–present: Urban Punk
<mask> joined with hip-hop artist H2O in 2010 to form the group Urban Punk,Interview with former ‘Idol’ contestant La Toya <mask>, now of ‘Urban Punk’  producing music that combines Europop melodies with hip-hop rhythms.They have released two tracks, "Around the World" and "Twisted". In June 2013, <mask> joined the cast of the Carolina Opry in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. <mask> has starred in a number of national tours, including Redemption of a Dogg, and Tyler Perry's Madea on the Run, as well as regional productions, including Silence! The Musical and as Shug Avery in Celebration Theatre's production of The Color Purple. She was the lead in the U.S. regional debut of The Bodyguard, a musical based on the 1992 film. Personal life
London suffered a setback when she had to pull out of the VH1 Soul Tour with Jaguar Wright and Kindred due to a "family emergency." Additionally, when Ebony magazine named her one of the hottest African American bachelorettes in America in its July 2005 issue, speculation about the state of her marriage sparked off.While she was on American Idol, she proudly stated that she was married and had stepchildren. She later confirmed that she and her husband had divorced. Politics and endorsements
London posed for a political print advertising campaign by Declare Yourself, encouraging voter registration among youth for the 2008 United States presidential election. In the ads by photographer David LaChapelle, London has a nail through her upper and lower lips, pinning her mouth shut in a symbolic function. The ads drew national attention. London also performed "Ain't Nobody" in Oakland on Election Day 2008 celebrating Barack Obama's historic victory. Discography
Albums

Singles
 Appreciate/Every Part of Me/All By Myself (August 2005)
 Every Part of Me
 State Of My Heart Number 40 Hot AC Tracks

Guest contributions

 "If U Buyin'" (with C-Bo) (1999)
 "I Know You Want Me" (with H2O from "The Mixtape Vol.1") (2004)
 "I Want to Show You" (with H2O from "The Mixtape Vol. 1") (2004)
 "Konfessions" (with H2O from "The Mixtape Vol.

masks:
LaToya Renee London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London
London


title: Rolles Gracie Jr.

texts:
<mask> (born July 14, 1978) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, and professional wrestler. As the son of <mask>, he is a third generation martial arts member of the <mask> family, and a 5th degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. MMA career
<mask> stepped into the International Fight League for his first MMA fight on the undercard of the IFL World Team Championships in 2007. He joined his cousin <mask>'s New York Pitbulls in the IFL. <mask>'s younger brothers Igor and Gregor are also mixed martial artists. <mask> was set to fight Ricardo Romero at Ring of Combat 24, April 17, 2009, but he withdrew from the fight a week before due to an injury sustained in practice. <mask> signed with Art of War Fighting Championship and made his debut on May 23, 2009, where he defeated in a mixed martial match Magomedbag Agaev from Daghestan at 5:09 seconds in Round 1.<mask>, in his second fight for the Art of War FC promotion, defeated K-1 kickboxing veteran, but at the time 0–2 in MMA, Peter Graham early in the first round. Ultimate Fighting Championship
<mask> was expected to make his UFC debut on February 6, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada against Mostapha Al-Turk  Due to Mostapha Al Turk having visa troubles, <mask> instead faced Joey Beltran in his UFC debut. <mask> secured a takedown early, and managed to take Beltran's back. However he would quickly become exhausted, and Beltran would defend the rest of his takedowns with ease. In the second round, <mask> attempted another takedown but was denied, and Beltran immediately started landing ground and pound which <mask> was unable to defend, causing referee Herb Dean to stop the fight. Following the defeat, Renzo <mask> described <mask>' performance as "embarrassing", saying his exhaustion was caused by nerves and the pressure he put on himself. <mask> was released from the UFC after just one fight.Post-UFC
<mask> was to face Mike Ciesnolevicz at a Shine Fights event on January 8, 2011. The event, however, did not materialize. Instead, <mask> made his first post-UFC appearance on April 22, 2011 at UCC 4: Supremacy. He defeated Braden Bice via submission in the first round. ONE Fighting Championship
On December 8, 2011 it was announced that <mask> had signed for Asian promotion ONE Fighting Championship. He made his debut at ONE FC: Battle of Heroes in Jakarta, Indonesia on February 11, 2012 where he took on Bob Sapp. <mask> won the fight in the first round by submission due to strikes.<mask> faced Tony Bonello in a Heavyweight bout at ONE FC: Pride of a Nation in Quezon City, Philippines. He won via submission in the third round. World Series of Fighting
Gracie was set to take on Dave Huckaba at WSOF 3 on June 14, 2013. However <mask> was forced out of the fight due to a wrist injury. In his promotion debut, <mask> faced Derrick Mehmen on WSOF 5 on September 14, 2013 at World Series of Fighting 5: Arlovski vs. Kyle, where he was knocked out in the second round after outboxing Mehmen in the first. KSW
After signing with the Polish MMA promotion KSW, <mask> challenged Karol Bedorf for the KSW Heavyweight Championship at KSW 28 on October 4, 2014. He lost the fight by TKO in the first round.He then faced former Polish strongman and five-time World's Strongest Man winner Mariusz Pudzianowski at KSW 31 on May 23, 2015. <mask> lost in surprising fashion by KO after Pudzianowski landed a punch just 27 seconds into the first round. Professional wrestling career
On October 14, 2013, <mask>, along with <mask>, made an appearance for professional wrestling promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) at the King of Pro-Wrestling pay-per-view, issuing an open challenge for the January 4, 2014, Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome event, which was later answered by Yuji Nagata and Kazushi Sakuraba, the latter known as the "Gracie Hunter" for his MMA bouts with members of the <mask> family. The Gracies lost the match via disqualification, after Daniel choked Nagata out with his gi. A rematch between the two teams took place on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka and saw <mask> submit Sakuraba for the win. On April 6 at Invasion Attack 2014, the Gracies defeated Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano in another tag team match. The Gracies' win streak continued on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2014, where they defeated Sakuraba and Shinsuke Nakamura.On May 25 at Back to the Yokohama Arena, <mask> wrestled his first singles match, where he was defeated by Sakuraba. Personal life
<mask> is the eldest son of <mask> (1951–1982), and grandson of <mask> (1902–1994). He is the older brother of <mask> and <mask>. <mask> lives in New Jersey where he is the main instructor at his cousin Renzo <mask>’s jiu-jitsu school in Middletown, New Jersey. He also owns and operates the Rolles Gracie Academy in Old Bridge, New Jersey and West Long Branch, NJ. He has a son named Hollis and three daughters named Kiara Georgia & Ella. Achievements
Submission Grappling

 2005 ADCC World Championship participant
  ADCC World Champion (2007)

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

  No-Gi American National Super Heavyweight Champion (2010)
  No-Gi Pan-American Champion (2008)
  3× Pan-American Champion (1996, 2000, 2006)
 Ranked #1 North America (2005)
  Grapplers Quest Copa Atlantica (2005)
 Brazilian Teams Champion (2000)
  3rd Place, World Championship (1999)
  2× Brazilian National Champion (1996, 1999)
  2nd Place, World Jiu-Jitsu Championships (1998) (defeated by Carlos "Carlão" Santos)
  3× Rio de Janeiro State Champion (1989, 1991, 1993)

Judo

  Sunshine States Games (1998)
  Miami Dade Open (1998)

Mixed martial arts record

|-
| Loss
| align=center|8–4
| Mariusz Pudzianowski
| KO (punch)
| KSW 31: Materla vs. Drwal
|
| align=center|1
| align=center|0:27
| Gdańsk, Poland
|
|-
| Loss
| align=center|8–3
| Karol Bedorf
| TKO (body kick and punches)
| KSW 28: Fighters Den
|
| align=center|1
| align=center|4:04
| Szczecin, Poland
| For the KSW Heavyweight Championship.

masks:
Rolles Gracie
Rolls Gracie
Gracie
Gracie
Renzo Gracie
Gracie
Gracie
Gracie
Rolles
Gracie
Gracie
Gracie
Gracie
Gracie
Gracie
Rolles
Rolles
Gracie
Gracie
Gracie
Gracie
Rolles
Gracie
Gracie
Gracie
Gracie
Rolles
Daniel Gracie
Gracie
Rolles
Rolles
Gracie
Rolls Gracie
Carlos Gracie
Igor Gracie
Gregor Gracie
Gracie
Gracie


title: John So

texts:
<mask>  (; born 2 October 1946) is a Hong Kong Australian businessman who served as the 102nd Lord Mayor of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, Australia. He was the first Lord Mayor in the city's history to be directly elected by voters; previously, Lord Mayors were elected by the councillors. He is also the first Lord Mayor of Melbourne of Chinese descent. First elected in 2001 and re-elected in 2004, <mask> is the second-longest-serving Lord Mayor of Melbourne, serving for seven-and-a-half years. In 2006, he won the World Mayor award. On 1 October 2008, <mask> announced that he would not seek re-election for a third term as Lord Mayor. He was succeeded by Robert Doyle.<mask> currently serves as chairman of the Global Business Council, an international forum established by the World Chinese Economic Forum in Malaysia aimed at facilitating trade between China, India, ASEAN and the Middle East. In December 2013, <mask> was appointed by the Chinese government as a special advisor to the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese. Background
<mask> was born in British Hong Kong on 2 October 1946. When he was 17 years old, he moved to Melbourne and completed his secondary education at University High School. He then went on to tertiary studies, obtaining a Diploma of Education and Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Melbourne. After graduating, he taught physics at Fitzroy High School. <mask> became a business operator in 1973, with interests across Australia, Hong Kong and Mainland China.<mask>'s political career has included positions as director of Asia Society's AustralAsia Centre, commissioner of Victoria Ethics Affairs Commission, director of Melbourne Water, honorary member of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change, former executive member of the Committee For Melbourne, president of the Lord Mayor's Charitable Fund, chairman of the Asia Pacific Racing Carnival and chairman of the Victorian Chinese Welfare Centre. <mask> is actively involved in Australia's major sporting events. He was the number-one ticket holder for the Melbourne Demons football club and number-one ticket holder for the Melbourne Victory soccer club. Politics

In 1991, <mask> contested politics for the first time and was elected as one of the councillors of the City of Melbourne. He was re-elected in 1996 and 1999. In 1999, <mask> came within one vote of being elected Lord Mayor, losing 4-5 to Peter Costigan. In 2001, the Victorian Government dismissed the Lord Mayor, Deputy Lord Mayor and councillors for ongoing infighting that resulted in the council's inability to function.The government immediately reformed the system to give the Lord Mayor a stronger mandate. Under the new system, the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor were to be directly elected by the citizens in a US presidential-style election, as opposed to being elected in-house among the councillors. First term as Lord Mayor, 2001–2004
In the 2001 Lord Mayoral election, <mask> polled 14.9% of the primary vote, second only to Peter Sheppard, who received 15.2%, but after preferences were distributed, <mask> comfortably defeated Sheppard. <mask> also defeated the then-Premier Steve Bracks's preferred candidate, Peter McMullin, and former federal minister and Australian Democrats founder Don Chipp. <mask> presided over a prosperous term in which Melbourne was voted World's Most Livable City on more than one occasion. Along with television presenter Livinia Nixon, he was the face of the "That's Melbourne" campaign to encourage tourism to the city. He campaigned against crime and was a member of the Police Minister's Crime Prevention Council.He also pushed for the federal government to build a national indigenous museum in Melbourne. <mask> was criticised for his communication skills, partly due to his heavily Cantonese-accented English. A restaurant with ties to <mask> was also fined $75,000 for breaches of the Food Safety Act by his own council. In 2002, <mask> was accused of putting his relationship with the Chinese government ahead of Melbourne by refusing to meet the Dalai Lama during his Australian visit. The council was also punished by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for prohibiting Falun Gong from participating in the city's annual Moomba parade. Second term as Lord Mayor, 2004–2008

2004 election
Though he had been a relatively popular mayor, <mask> was widely expected to be defeated at the 2004 election. Despite this, he polled well on election day, achieving 42.2% of the primary vote (compared to his nearest rival who received 9.2%), and was re-elected.<mask>'s ticket for the Councillor positions was also successful, winning a historic majority in the Town Hall. Commonwealth Games
During the 2006 Commonwealth Games, <mask> was warmly welcomed by Melbourne as a figurehead of the city. This led to "<mask>, he's our bro'." T-shirts and "<mask> for PM'" shirts and stickers being manufactured and worn by some Melburnians as a testament to the city's tolerance and multiculturalism. At the closing ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, at every mention of <mask>'s name, there was a tremendous applause from the crowd, which became progressively louder with each occurrence. Planning and development
<mask> presided over a number of major developments throughout his second term. The most significant of these include the refurbishment of the city's key shopping complex, the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre; construction of the Council's second building, Council House 2, the first Six Green Star-rated building in Australia; development, in partnership with the State Government, of the new Melbourne Convention Centre; and refurbishment of Melbourne's key shopping precinct Bourke Street Mall.During <mask>'s term, the Council also regained from the State Government jurisdiction over Melbourne's new waterfront, Melbourne Docklands. Controversies
In 2007, <mask> was criticised for redundancies of staff at the Melbourne City Council after an efficiency review found that the Council had a A$4.2 million budget discrepancy. <mask> used his casting vote to defeat a "vote of no confidence" by opposition councillors over the incident. Following the vote, opposition councillors stepped up their attack and criticised <mask> for not meeting with the Dalai Lama during the latter's 2007 visit, and claimed <mask> had also tried to stop them from meeting the Dalai Lama. World Mayor
<mask>'s popularity in office resulted in him being named World Mayor for 2006. He won the contest ahead of Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen and Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed. World Mayor cited, amongst other things, the successful staging of the 2006 Commonwealth Games and <mask>'s popularity among the young population of Melbourne as a reason for his victory.In its verdict, the judging panel described <mask> as "possibly the first city leader to enjoy 'cult status. <mask> told the media he was "delighted to be elected" and that "the honour belongs to the amazing people of this wonderful city and the hard-working team at the City of Melbourne". Retirement as Lord Mayor
Speculation had been rife that <mask> was preparing to stand for the Lord Mayoral election in November 2008. Rumours surfaced that former Victoria Premier Jeff Kennett might be able to challenge <mask> effectively and Kennett confirmed that several Liberal Party members had approached him on this matter. In late September 2008, Kennett announced that he would not run for Lord Mayor. On 1 October 2008, <mask> officially announced that he would not seek re-election, stating "you can't work at 110 percent forever and that is what this job requires." Honours and positions
In 2006, <mask> was named World Mayor ahead of other candidates including Job Cohen, Ray Nagin, Michael Bloomberg and Shintaro Ishihara.In 2006, <mask> was among eleven recipients of the You Bring Charm to the World Award, presented at Peking University in Beijing. The award was jointly sponsored by Phoenix Television, Baidu, and Beijing Youth Daily and recognised the achievements of the "most influential Chinese in 2006". In 2007, <mask> received an honorary degree of Doctor of the University from Victoria University, in recognition of his services to local government. In 2010, <mask> was appointed as one of the six panel members of the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize Council. In 2011, <mask> was a recipient of the World Chinese Economic Forum Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2013, <mask> was awarded the Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop Asia Medal. On the Queen's Birthday in 2014, <mask> was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for "distinguished service to local government and community relations, as an ambassador for cultural diversity, and to the promotion of Melbourne as a tourist and investment destination".<mask> is also a Member of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change. Personal life
<mask> has been married twice and has four children. His partner, Wendy Cheng, served as the Lady Mayoress of Melbourne and chaired the Lady Mayoress' Committee between 2001 and 2008. <mask>'s youngest son, <mask> Jnr, an investment banker and businessman, ran unsuccessfully to be elected as Deputy Lord Mayor of Melbourne alongside Australia Sotheby's CEO, Gary Singer, in the 2012 Melbourne City Council Elections. Singer was previously Deputy Lord Mayor while <mask> Snr was in office. <mask> supports the Melbourne Demons in the Australian Football League. References

External links
<mask> – Official Website
<mask> No.1 World Mayor
WCEF Global Business Council

Mayors and Lord Mayors of Melbourne
Businesspeople from Melbourne
Australian politicians of Chinese descent
Australian politicians of Hong Kong descent
University of Melbourne alumni
Hong Kong emigrants to Australia
1946 births
Living people
People educated at University High School, Melbourne
Politicians from Melbourne
Officers of the Order of Australia

masks:
John Chun Sai So
So
So
So
So
So
So
So
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John So
John So
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title: Marcia C. Inhorn

texts:
<mask> is a medical anthropologist and William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at Yale University where she serves as Chair of the Council on Middle East Studies. A specialist on Middle Eastern gender and health issues, <mask> conducts research on the social impact of infertility and assisted reproductive technologies in Egypt, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, and Arab America. Before joining the Yale faculty in 2008, <mask> was a professor of medical anthropology at the University of Michigan and director of the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies. <mask> served as president of the Society for Medical Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association. Research

Egypt
<mask>’s scholarship is firmly situated at the intersection of feminist science and technology studies (STS), Middle East gender studies (including masculinity studies), and the anthropology of reproduction. She was the first anthropologist to study infertility and assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) outside of the West, following the globalization of IVF to Egypt.Working in Egypt during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, she was able to document the significant social, religious, kinship, and gender ramifications of infertility and its treatment, as well as the impact that IVF had on both the medical system and gender relations in the country. In the decade between 1993-2003, she published an “Egyptian trilogy”—three books called Quest for Conception (1994), Infertility and Patriarchy (1996), and Local Babies, Global Science (2003). These books could be described, respectively, as a classic medical anthropological ethnography, a gender studies ethnography, and an STS ethnography of the globalization of IVF into the Muslim Middle East. Throughout these volumes, <mask> charts Egyptian social and cultural understandings of infertility as a problem of personhood, marriage, kinship, and community life, while explaining how treatment options such as IVF are fundamentally shaped by local religious moralities. In the final book, based on research in Cairo’s IVF clinics, she argues that numerous “arenas of constraint”—social, structural, ideological, and practical—limit and sometimes curtail access to IVF, even among elite Egyptian couples who engage in transnational quests to create a “baby of the tubes.” These books have won several medical anthropology and feminist awards, including the American Anthropological Association’s Diana Forsythe Prize for outstanding feminist anthropological research on work, science, technology, and biomedicine, and the Society for Medical Anthropology’s Eileen Basker Memorial Prize for the most significant contribution to anthropological scholarship on gender and health. Lebanon

Since 2003, <mask> has undertaken three Middle Eastern research projects outside of Egypt. All have been funded by the National Science Foundation’s Cultural Anthropology and Science, Technology, and Society programs, as well as the U.S. Department of Education's Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad program.Her book, The New Arab Man: Emergent Masculinities, Technologies, and Islam in the Middle East (Princeton University Press, 2012), is the culmination of one of these projects, based in Lebanon, and strongly reflects her intellectual engagements in Middle East gender studies. Indeed, The New Arab Man is the first anthropological ethnography devoted to the exploration of Arab masculinity in the 21st century. It is also the only book focusing on male infertility and men’s uses of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), a variant of IVF designed to overcome this “hidden” male reproductive health problem. In The New Arab Man, <mask> interrogates Raewyn <mask>’s theory of “hegemonic masculinity,” suggesting that this concept, when applied to the Middle East, only serves to reinforce static dualisms and neo-Orientalist stereotypes. Inspired by the work of Raymond Williams, she offers a new concept of “emergent masculinities” as a way to encapsulate change over the male life course, between generations, and throughout social history, as men enact transformative events such as the 2011 Arab uprisings. As <mask> argues in this book, many Middle Eastern men today are engaged in a self-conscious critique of local gender norms, attempting to unseat forms of patriarchy in the process. These men, who perhaps represent the “silent majority,” share their hopes, dreams, and desires in the book, which is filled with ethnographic stories of men’s lives, often in conflict-ridden settings.The New Arab Man is, above all else, a humanizing account, based on in-depth research conducted with more than 300 Arab men, including Sunni and Shia Muslims, Christians, and Druze, from nearly a dozen Middle Eastern countries. The New Arab Man received the 2014 JMEWS Book Award from the Association of Middle East Women’s Studies. In 2015, it received the 2015 Robert B. Textor and Family Prize for Excellence in Anticipatory Anthropology, an award given annually by the American Anthropological Association. United Arab Emirates

Middle East’s most “global city” and a new medical tourism hub. Her book Cosmopolitan Conceptions: IVF Sojourns in Global Dubai (Duke University Press, 2015), explores the stories of infertile couples from fifty countries and five continents, all of whom have attempted to seek assisted conception in Dubai’s emergent IVF sector. The increasing global magnitude of travel to new cosmopolitan “reprohubs” such as Dubai is a reflection of the fact that IVF services are either absent, inaccessible, illegal, expensive, or harmful in many of the world’s nations, particularly in the global South. As the first ethnographic study of so-called “reproductive tourism,” Cosmopolitan Conceptions challenges this term as an inappropriate descriptor for couples’ painful and tortuous IVF journeys across international borders.Instead, Cosmopolitan Conceptions adopts the term “reprotravel” to represent these journeys—part of a new conceptual “reprolexicon” introduced in the book and inspired by recent developments in globalization theory. Cosmopolitan Conceptions ends with an activist agenda, arguing for alternative pathways to parenthood; support for the infertile, especially infertile women; and provision of safe, low-cost IVF services, particularly in the global South. Arab America

Inhorn’s most recent book is America’s Arab Refugees: Vulnerability and Health on the Margins (Stanford University Press, 2018), based on a five-year ethnographic study carried out in “Arab Detroit,” Michigan, the so-called “capital” of Arab America. Set against the backdrop of America’s stratified healthcare system and Detroit’s status as the poorest big city in America, America’s Arab Refugees provides the first in-depth analysis of the post-war health problems and struggles of infertile Arab refugees as they attempt to make new lives and new families in America. Forwarding the concept of “reproductive exile,<mask> examines the ways in which Arab refugees, particularly from the country of Iraq, have been made infertile by the toxic legacies of American military intervention. Yet, after being forced to flee, they are exiled from America’s costly healthcare system by poverty and reproductive racism. The book also interrogates the widespread anti-Arab/anti-Muslim sentiment that has been felt in the United States since 9/11, but that has been significantly exacerbated by the contemporary political climate and imposition of the “Muslim ban.” To examine these new forms of racism, America’s Arab Refugees draws inspiration from intersectionality theory as developed by US Black feminist scholars.One chapter of the book compares the interlocking and multiplicative forms of discrimination faced by both Arab and Black populations living side by side on the margins of Detroit. America’s Arab Refugees thus represents the first attempt to apply intersectionality theory to the study of Arab lives in the US, showing that this theoretical approach has great utility in interrogating axes of oppression among marginalized immigrant and refugee communities. Ultimately, <mask>’s book interrogates the health costs of war, the health inequities and structural vulnerabilities faced by Muslim refugees in this country, and the US government’s moral duty to assist those whose lives it has destroyed through its ongoing wars in the Middle East. United States

<mask>’s current scholarly project is based solely in the US, although she is collaborating with an anthropology colleague at the University of Haifa in Israel. This National Science Foundation-funded project, carried out from 2014 to 2016, focuses on oocyte cryopreservation (egg freezing), which is increasingly being used by women around the world to preserve their fertility. Experimentally developed for women facing medical conditions such as cancer, the technology has moved into IVF clinics since 2012, where it is being used by otherwise healthy women. Although most of the feminist and media commentary about egg freezing focuses on women’s career ambitions, in-depth interviews show a quite different story about women’s motivations and experiences.<mask>’s ethnographic research with more than 150 women shows that egg freezing is largely about partnership problems, leaving  highly educated women with fewer relationship options than men. These partnership problems reflect growing but little-discussed gender imbalances in higher education—not only in America, but in more than 75 other countries around the world, leading to an emerging “global turn” to egg freezing. <mask>’s study has been featured in multiple outlets, including NPR, CNN, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Jezebel, and the Huffington Post. As of 2020, <mask> appears in Netflix’s newly released “Explained” feature on “Fertility.”

Editorships
<mask> is the founding editor of the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies (JMEWS). She is also Co-Editor in Chief of Reproductive BioMedicine and Society, Associate editor for population and health of the journal Global Public Health, and Co-editor of the "Fertility, Reproduction, and Sexuality" series at Berghahn Books. She is also editor or co-editor of ten volumes on medical anthropology, gender, reproduction, and the Middle East. Publications

Books

 <mask>, <mask>. (2018).America’s Arab Refugees: Vulnerability and Health on the Margins. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. <mask>, <mask>. (2015). Cosmopolitan Conceptions: IVF Sojourns in Global Dubai. Duke University Press.

 . Winner of the Diana Forsythe Prize for Outstanding Feminist Anthropological Research on Work, Science, and Technology, including Biomedicine; Society for the Anthropology of Work and The Committee on the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing (CASTAC), American Anthropological Association, 2007

 . Winner of the Eileen Basker Prize for Outstanding Research on Gender and Health, Society for Medical Anthropology, American Anthropological Association, 1995.Edited volumes

  (Winner of Council on Anthropology and Reproduction, Society for Medical Anthropology, Book Prize for “Most Notable Recent Edited Collection"). Selected book chapters

 Mazzarino, Andrea, <mask><mask>, and <mask> (2019) “Introduction: The Health Consequences of War.” In War and Health: The Medical Consequences of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, eds. <mask> and Andrea Mazzarino, pp. 1–37. New York University Press. <mask>, <mask>., Daphna Birenbaum-<mask>, Soraya Tremayne, and Zeynep B. Gurtin (2019) “Kinship and Assisted Reproductive Technologies: A Middle Eastern Comparison.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Kinship, ed. Sandra Bamford, pp.507–530. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. <mask>, <mask>. (2018) “Fertility, Demography, and Masculinities in Arab Families: From 1950 to 2015 and Beyond.” Invited Chapter in Arab Family Studies: Critical Reviews, ed. Suad Joseph, pp. 449–466. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. <mask>, <mask>. (2017) “Wanted Babies, Excess Fetuses: The Middle East’s In Vitro Fertilization, High-order Multiple Pregnancy, Fetal Reduction Nexus.” In Abortion Pills, Test Tube Babies, and Sex Toys: Emerging Sexual and Reproductive Technologies in the Middle East and North Africa, eds.L. L. Wynn and Angel Foster, pp. 99–111. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press. <mask>, <mask>. (2016) “Multiculturalism in Muslim America? The Case of Health Disparities and Discrimination in “Arab Detroit,” Michigan. Invited Chapter in New Horizons of Muslim Diaspora in North America and Europe, ed. Moha Ennaji, pp.177–187. London: Palgrave MacMillan. Bharadwaj, Aditya, and <mask><mask> (2015) “Conceiving Life and Death: Stem Cell Technologies and Assisted Conception in India and the Middle East.” In The Anthropology of Living and Dying, eds. <mask> and Veena Das, pp. 67–82. New York: Wiley-Blackwell. <mask>, <mask>. (2014) “New Arab Fatherhood: Emergent Masculinities, Male Infertility, and Assisted Reproduction.” In  Globalized Fatherhood, eds.<mask><mask>, <mask>, and Jose-Alberto Navarro, pp. 243–263. New York: Berghahn Books. <mask>, <mask>. (2012) “Diasporic Dreaming: Return Reproductive Tourism to the Middle East.” In Transforming Ethnographic Knowledge, eds. Kamari <mask> and Rebecca Hardin, pp. 113–133. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.<mask>, <mask>. C., and Emily Wentzell (2012) “Medical Anthropology at the Intersections.” In Medical Anthropology at the Intersections: Histories, Activisms, Futures, eds. <mask><mask> and Emily Wentzell, pp. 1–20. Durham: Duke University Press. <mask>, <mask> Knecht, Maren Klotz, and Stefan Beck, Berlin: Campus Verlag. <mask>, <mask>. (2010) "’Assisted’ Reproduction in Global Dubai: Reproductive Tourists and Their Helpers." In Globalized Motherhood, eds. <mask> and JaneMaree Maher, pp. 180-202. New York: Routledge Press. <mask>, <mask>., and Daphna Birenbaum-<mask> (2010) "Male Infertility, Chronicity, and the Plight of Palestinian Men in Israel and Lebanon," in Chronic Conditions, Fluid States: Globalization and the Anthropology of Illness, eds.Lenore Manderson and <mask>-Morris, pp. 77–95. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Birenbaum-<mask>, Daphna, and <mask><mask> (2009) "Introduction: Assisting Reproduction, Testing Genes: Global Encounters with New Biotechnologies." In Assisting Reproduction, Testing Genes: Global Encounters with New Biotechnologies, eds. Daphna Birenbaum-<mask> and <mask><mask>, pp. 1–26.New York: Berghahn Books. <mask>, <mask>. (2009) "Middle Eastern Masculinities in the Age of Assisted Reproductive Technologies." In Assisting Reproduction, Testing Genes: Global Encounters with New Biotechnologies, eds. Daphna Birenbaum-<mask> and <mask><mask>, pp. 86–110. New York: Berghahn Books. <mask>, <mask>., Tjørnhøj-Thomsen, Tine, Goldberg, Helene, and Maruska <mask>ur Mosegaard (2009)"Introduction—The Second Sex in Reproduction?Men, Sexuality, and Masculinity." In Reconceiving the Second Sex: Men, Masculinity, and Reproduction, eds. <mask><mask>, Tine Tjørnhøj-Thomsen, Helene Goldberg, and Maruska <mask>ur Mosegaard, pp. 1–17. New York: Berghahn Books. <mask>, <mask>., <mask>, and Robert Nachtigall (2009) "Marginalized, Invisible, and Unwanted: American Minority Struggles with Infertility and Assisted Conception." In Ethnicity, Infertility and Reproductive Technologies, eds.<mask>, Nicky Hudson, and Floor B. van Rooij, pp. 181–197. London: Earthscan Books. Hahn, Robert A., and <mask><mask> (2009) "Introduction: Anthropology and Public Health." In Anthropology and Public Health: Bridging Differences in Culture and Society, eds. Robert A. Hahn and <mask><mask>, pp. 1–31.New York: Oxford University Press. <mask>, <mask>. (2007) “Loving Your Infertile Muslim Spouse: Notes on the Globalization of IVF and Its Romantic Commitments in Sunni Egypt and Shi’ite Lebanon.” In Love and Globalization: Transformations of Intimacy in the Contemporary World, eds. Mark B. Padilla, Jennifer S. Hirsch, Miguel Munoz-Laboy, Robert Sember, and Richard G. Parker, pp. 139–160. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press. <mask>, <mask>., and Aditya Bharadwaj. (2007) "Reproductively Disabled Lives: Infertility, Stigma, and Suffering in Egypt and India."Disability in Local and Global Worlds, eds. Benedicte Ingstad and Susan Reynolds Whyte, pp. 78–106. Berkeley: University of California Press. <mask>, <mask>. (2003) "The Risks of Test-tube Baby Making in Egypt." Risk, Culture, and Health Inequality: Shifting Perceptions of Danger and Blame, eds. Barbara Herr Harthorn and Laury Oaks, pp.57–78. Westport, CT: Praeger. Van Balen, Frank, and <mask><mask> (2002) "Introduction—Interpreting Infertility: A View from the Social Sciences." In Infertility Around the Globe: New Thinking on Childlessness, Gender, and Reproductive Technologies, eds. <mask><mask> and Frank van Balen, pp. 3–23. Berkeley: University of California Press.<mask>, <mask>. (2002) "The ‘Local’ Confronts the ‘Global’: Infertile Bodies and New Reproductive Technologies in Egypt." In Infertility Around the Globe: New Thinking on Childlessness, Gender, and Reproductive Technologies, eds. <mask><mask> and Frank van Balen, pp. 263–282. Berkeley: University of California Press. Selected journal articles

References

External links

Faculty page at Yale
Curriculum Vitae
An interview with <mask>, Somatosphere, March 10, 2010. Living people
Medical anthropologists
Yale University faculty
University of California, Berkeley alumni
1957 births
University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health alumni
University of Michigan faculty

masks:
Marcia Claire Inhorn
Inhorn
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Connell
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” Inhorn
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Catherine Lutz
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Carmeli
Carolyn Smith
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Lorraine Culley
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Marcia Inhorn


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

texts:
Solofa Fatu Jr. (born October 11, 1965) is an American  professional wrestler, best known under the ring names <mask> and Fatu with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he is a one-time Intercontinental Champion, two-time World Tag Team Champion, and one-time WWE Tag Team Champion. He is a member of the Anoa'i family of Samoan wrestlers. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his sons, wrestlers Jey and Jimmy Uso, in 2015. Early life
Solofa Fatu was born on October 11, 1965, in San Francisco to  Solofa Fatu Sr. and Elevera Anoa'i Fatu. He grew up in the Sunnydale Projects in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood of the city, where his maternal grandparents were preachers. He attended Balboa High School, and competed on the wrestling team. In 1982, when he was seventeen years old, Fatu was wounded in a drive-by shooting that left him with a scar on his abdomen;  he claimed in a 2021 interview that he had died for three minutes in the emergency room before being revived.He spent two months in the hospital, after which his mother, fearing for his safety, sent him out of state to live with her brothers Afa and Sika Anoa'i, with whom he trained to become a professional wrestler. Professional wrestling career

Early career (1985–1992)

The Samoan Swat Team (1985–1992)
Fatu began his wrestling career in 1985, working for Gino Brito and Dino Bravo’s Lutte Internationale promotion in Montreal as Prince Alofa, a high-flying babyface. He often teamed with the territory's top faces. He and his cousin Samula Anoaʻi signed with the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico and became The Samoan Swat Team (Samu & Fatu). They used the "Samoan savage" gimmick their relatives, The Wild Samoans successfully used by working barefoot, never publicly speaking English, and no-selling attacks to the head. They became the new WWC Caribbean Tag Team Champions (after a long vacancy) on November 7, 1987, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico after defeating Invader I and Invader III. They held the title for just over a month before dropping it to Mark and Chris Youngblood before leaving the promotion.Samu and Fatu next appeared in Texas, working for Fritz Von Erich’s World Class Championship Wrestling. Storywise, Buddy Roberts brought them in to fight his fights against the Von Erich family and former Fabulous Freebirds partner Michael Hayes. The SST were given a big push right away; presented as an unstoppable force, they beat hometown heroes Kerry and Kevin Von Erich for the WCWA World Tag Team Championship on August 12, 1988. They remained undefeated in WCCW until they dropped the belts to Hayes and his new partner, Steve Cox, on September 12. They recaptured the title four days later. Hayes and Cox beat them for the title again on October 15, and, two days later, lost it back again. On September 12, 1988, The Samoan Swat Team became double champions by beating "Hollywood" John Tatum and Jimmy Jack Funk for the WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship.They made their pay-per-view debut at AWA SuperClash III, the AWA's first and last PPV. They successfully defended their World Tag title against Michael Hayes and Steve Cox. In early 1989, the SST left WCCW, vacating both championships. Swat Team signed with Jim Crockett Promotions, introduced as manager Paul E. Dangerously's replacement for The Original Midnight Express (Randy Rose and Dennis Condrey), who had left the promotion. The SST took over the Express’ feud with The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane), beating them at Clash of the Champions VI: Ragin' Cajun on April 2, 1989. The SST teamed with former rival Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, and Jimmy Garvin at the 1989 Great American Bash, losing a WarGames match to The Road Warriors, The Midnight Express, and Steve Williams. In the fall of 1989, Paul E. Dangerously was phased out and the SST took a new manager, "The Big Kahuna" Oliver Humperdink.They were also joined by Fatu's brother, The Samoan Savage. The SST lost more and more matches as 1989 drew to a close, but got a break when Sid Vicious was injured, leading his team, The Skyscrapers, to pull out of the "Iron Team Tournament" at Starrcade 1989. Fatu and The Samoan Savage, rebranded as The New Wild Samoans, replaced them. For the rest of their WCW career, Fatu and Savage teamed, while Samu only wrestled singles matches. After leaving WCW in the summer of 1990, Fatu and Savage worked for several independent promotions in the US, Europe, Puerto Rico and Japan, often teaming with cousin Kokina Maximus. The three worked for the Universal Wrestling Association in 1991, where they won the UWA Trios Tag Team Championship and held it for just under two months. They headlined the UWA's 16th anniversary show, losing the title to Dos Caras, El Canek, and Mil Máscaras.World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1992–2004)

The Headshrinkers (1992–1995)

After Samu and Fatu joined the World Wrestling Federation, they were renamed The Headshrinkers, but their savage gimmick remained. Kokina Maximus also joined the WWF, but was repackaged as Japanese sumo wrestler Yokozuna, and his relation to The Headshrinkers was not acknowledged. The Headshrinker's first notable angle came when they interfered to help Money Inc. beat The Natural Disasters for the WWF World Tag Team Championship. Soon after, The Headshrinkers feuded with The Natural Disasters and the recently formed High Energy. Between 1992 and early 1994, The Headshrinkers occasionally challenged for the tag title and made sporadic PPV appearances, feuding with The Smoking Gunns and Men on a Mission. Fatu would receive a WWF Championship match against Bret Hart on the March 1, 1993 episode of Monday Night RAW. Despite interference by Samu, Fatu was unsuccessful.The Headshrinkers helped Yokozuna win a casket match against The Undertaker at the 1994 Royal Rumble. In April, they turned face, took Lou Albano as their manager and challenged tag champions The Quebecers. They won the gold on the May 2 episode of Monday Night RAW. At King of the Ring on June 19, they successfully defended the title against Yokozuna and Crush. Their title reign ended at a house show in Indianapolis on August 28, when they lost to Shawn Michaels and Diesel. This happened a day before they were scheduled to defend against Irwin R. Schyster and Bam Bam Bigelow at SummerSlam. The match went on without the title, and The Headshrinkers lost by disqualification.Soon after, Samu left the WWF to recover from injuries and was replaced by Sione (formerly The Barbarian). They were called The New Headshrinkers. The storyline reason for Samu's departure was that he was not coping well with manager Lou Albano's attempts to civilize him, particularly about wearing boots. The New Headshrinkers made only two PPV appearances, at the 1994 Survivor Series, where they were eliminated from their ten-man tag match, but helped their team win and at the 1995 Royal Rumble; Sione lasted about seven minutes early on and Fatu over five nearer the end. They entered a tournament to crown new WWF tag team champions in late 1994/early 1995, and lost to Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka in the semi-finals. For the first half of 1995, they worked with Jacob & Eli Blu, usually putting them over. Their final match was a loss to Men on a Mission at a June 22 house show in London, England, after which Sione left for WCW and Fatu was removed from WWF television."Make a Difference" (1995)

After a brief hiatus, Fatu reappeared as a singles wrestler in July 1995 repackaged as a streetwise positive role model, for which he filmed several vignettes in his old San Francisco neighborhood touching on his real-life upbringing in the ghetto and preaching the messages of staying in school and saying no to drugs, all while he spoke fluent English. Each segment ended with the onscreen phrase "Make a Difference", making it the unofficial name of the gimmick. Fatu made his in-ring return on July 29 by pinning Rad Radford on WWF Superstars, and then enjoyed a run of victories over enhancement talent for the remainder of the year. However, the character did not get over with fans, and in 1996 Fatu was regularly booked to lose to stars such as Steve Austin, Vader, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Two men known as "The Samoan Gangster Party" (Fatu's cousins Samu and Lloyd Anoaʻi) additionally began showing up in the audience during his matches, but no storylines were ever developed. The "Make a Difference" gimmick was dropped in May 1996. The Sultan (1996–1998)
In 1996, Fatu was repackaged as The Sultan, a masked wrestler who never spoke, ostensibly because his tongue was cut out.He was managed by The Iron Sheik and Bob Backlund. He unsuccessfully challenged Rocky Maivia for the WWF Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 13. The Sultan vanished in 1998, and Fatu left to train at Dory Funk's Funking Conservatory wrestling school. Too Cool and Intercontinental Champion (1999–2000)

After training at Funk's, Fatu returned on the November 13, 1999 episode of WWF Metal as <mask> Fatu, beating Julio Fantastico. Rikishi  is the general Japanese term for a sumo wrestler, similar to his cousin's ring name "Yokozuna". "Fatu" soon became "Phatu", until he dropped the last name entirely after he started teaming with Too Cool. No mention was made of his WWF past.He had gained some weight, bleached his hair blonde, and wore a mawashi. Per Vince McMahon's request and Fatu's own willingness to honor sumo tradition, nothing was worn underneath the mawashi and his buttcheeks were exposed; this was unlike Yokozuna, who wore tights underneath the loincloth, which both McMahon and Fatu felt were unnecessary for the Yokozuna character. <mask> briefly feuded with Viscera before forming a wildly popular alliance with the duo Too Cool (Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty). One night, during Too Cool's traditional post-match dance routine, <mask> joined them. As the dance routines became more frequent and longer, this popularity translated to a significant push. In the 2000 Royal Rumble match, he and Too Cool did the dance to their respective songs, much to the delight of the audience. He later eliminated seven opponents, and it took six wrestlers working together to eliminate him.<mask> also became known for his infamous signature maneuver – the Stink Face – as his buttocks were rubbed into the faces of opposing wrestlers. When his opponent was incapacitated in the corner of the ring, <mask> would slap his buttocks to indicate the attack, and then he would turn around, hike his thong up, and smother his buttocks into his victim's face. On an episode of WWE Raw on May 15, 2000, Stephanie McMahon described <mask>'s buttocks as "bulbous", "smelly" and "sweaty" when describing the Stink Face. Kurt Angle, who received a Stink Face from <mask>, said, “It was the worst smell I ever smelt in my life.” The Stink Face also served as a finishing move at times, as wrestlers became physically ill from the maneuver, forcing them to leave the ring and thereby losing via count out. The Stink Face became known as the most repulsive move in the World Wrestling Federation, and this humiliating maneuver became very popular with the fans. In May 2000, fan favorites <mask> and Too Cool feuded with Edge, Christian and Kurt Angle, culminating in a victory at Judgment Day. After winning the Intercontinental Championship from Chris Benoit on the June 22 episode of SmackDown!, <mask> qualified for the 2000 King of the Ring tournament.On June 25, at King of the Ring, he defeated Benoit in the quarterfinals and Val Venis in the semis. Both opponents

masks: Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi


title: Rikishi (wrestler)

texts:
 hit him with a steel chair after losing, weakening his shoulder and helping Kurt Angle defeat him in the final. Stemming from Venis' attack, <mask> faced him on July 6 and lost the title after Tazz hit him with a television camera. They rematched in a steel cage at Fully Loaded. In this match, <mask> climbed the cage and, in an allusion to Jimmy Snuka, splashed Venis from the top. <mask> soon lost the match after Tazz again hit him with a camera. Heel turn and main event status (2000–2001)
On the October 9 episode of Raw, Commissioner Mick Foley used a slip of the tongue from Scotty 2 Hotty to implicate <mask> as the person who had run over Stone Cold Steve Austin almost a year earlier at Survivor Series, the night after <mask> debuted in the WWF.<mask> admitted it, claiming it was to allow his cousin The Rock an opportunity for stardom, insisting that Buddy Rogers, Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan and Austin – "The Great White Hope" – had always been pushed, at the expense of Samoan wrestlers like Peter Maivia, Jimmy Snuka, Samu, Yokozuna and The Rock. <mask> then turned heel. Austin immediately set out for revenge, facing <mask> in a No Holds Barred match at No Mercy. The match went to a no contest when Austin dragged <mask> to the parking lot and tried to run him over; a police car drove in front of Austin's, saving <mask>. Though arrested, Austin had brutally attacked <mask>, cutting and bruising his face. Later that night, <mask> interfered in The Rock's WWF Championship defense against Kurt Angle, but "accidentally" kicked the champ, allowing Angle to Angle Slam them both and win the title. After several attacks on Austin by an unseen assailant, it became clear that <mask> had an accomplice.During a handicap match pitting <mask> and Angle against Austin, Triple H came to the ring, seemingly to aid Austin, but swerved the audience by attacking him with a sledgehammer. Triple H then revealed he had masterminded the Survivor Series assault, and hired <mask> to drive the car. While Austin began feuding with Triple H, <mask>'s tension with The Rock boiled over. Despite delivering a Stink Face to the Rock, <mask> would lose to him in a match at Survivor Series. He then participated in a six-man Hell in a Cell WWF Championship match at Armageddon. Vince McMahon drove a flatbed truck ringside in an effort to dismantle the cage and stop the match. Before he could, The Undertaker chokeslammed <mask> from the top of the cell onto the wood chip-covered bed.Kurt Angle later retained the title. In January 2001, <mask> won a Fatal Four Way match on SmackDown! for the #30 spot in the 2001 Royal Rumble match involving Rock, Undertaker and Kane, after he pinned the latter. There, he eliminated The Undertaker, and was soon eliminated by The Rock. Haku returned to the WWF in the Rumble, and he and <mask> formed a tag team and feuded with The Brothers of Destruction, The Dudley Boyz then The Hardy Boyz. The team split while <mask> was sidelined with an eardrum injury in March. He returned on the May 3 SmackDown!and fought The Undertaker to no-contest. On the next Raw, he turned face once again and gave the Stink Face to Stephanie McMahon after she distracted him, and cost him a non-title match with Austin. On May 20, at Judgment Day, he injured his shoulder in the opening bout with William Regal, which caused him to miss much of the year and the entire Invasion angle. Various storylines, reunion with Scotty 2 Hotty and departure (2001–2004)

<mask> returned on December 6, 2001, delivering a Stink Face to Vince McMahon and solidifying his face status. Upon the WWF Brand Extension, <mask> was drafted to the SmackDown! brand. At Judgment Day, he faced Billy and Chuck in a "secret partner" match.His partner turned out to be Rico, Billy and Chuck's stylist. Despite Rico's best efforts to unfairly help Billy and Chuck, <mask> and Rico won the match and became the WWE Tag Team Champions. Rico would later cause <mask> to lose the titles back to Billy and Chuck in a rematch on the June 6 episode of SmackDown!. In early 2002, Hulk Hogan was booked to face <mask> in Hogan's first match back since leaving the WWF to go to rival WCW in the 1990s. Hogan won the match, but <mask> was able to deliver a Stink Face to Hogan after the conclusion of the match. <mask> was not featured much in late 2002 and early 2003. He feuded with John Cena, Bill DeMott, and The Full Blooded Italians on SmackDown!.The return of Roddy Piper led <mask> to challenge him as Piper had hit Jimmy Snuka with a coconut years ago on Piper's Pit. At Backlash, Piper's protege Sean O'Haire defeated <mask> after Piper got hit with a coconut by <mask> giving O'Haire time to hit the Widowmaker on <mask>. <mask> eventually formed a tag team with Scotty 2 Hotty, and the duo defeated the Basham Brothers for the WWE Tag Team Championship on the February 5, 2004 episode of SmackDown!, holding them for two and a half months before losing them to Charlie Haas and Rico on the April 22 episode of SmackDown!. Fatu, however, was released by WWE on July 16, 2004, following repeated requests from WWE to lose weight. Independent circuit (2005–2019)

Fatu continued to wrestle on the independent circuit. In October 2005, he shortened his ring name to Kishi after being notified by WWE legal representatives that WWE owned a trademark on the name "Rikishi". Fatu, as Kishi, would go on to work for Nu-Wrestling Evolution, a professional wrestling promotion based in Italy.On February 17, 2007, Fatu competed as SUMO RIKISHI in a tag team contest at an All Japan Pro Wrestling event, as he was brought in by Keiji Mutoh to feud with Akebono. On August 12, 2007, Fatu competed in an 8-man tag, as <mask>, at AAA's TripleMania event. On August 23, Fatu competed in a Triple Threat match against Samoa Joe and Sterling James Keenan at Ballpark Brawl VIII in Buffalo, New York. On November 17, wrestling as <mask> once again, Fatu defeated Mike Rollins at a Heavy on Wrestling event in Duluth, Minnesota. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2007)
On the September 13, 2007 episode of Impact!, Fatu debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name Junior Fatu. On the September 20 episode of Impact!, Fatu lost to Christian Cage in his first match due to a distraction by Christian's partner A.J. Styles.On the October 4 episode of Impact!, Fatu, Samoa Joe and The Latin American Xchange defeated Christian, Styles, Senshi and Christopher Daniels. On the October 11 episode of Impact!, Fatu and LAX lost a six-man tag team match to Kurt Angle and Team 3D. At Bound for Glory, Fatu competed in the Fight for the Right Reverse Battle Royal which was won by Eric Young. On the October 25 episode of Impact!, Fatu defeated Robert Roode in a Fight for the Right Tournament match after interference by Samoa Joe. On October 30, however, it was reported that Fatu had been released from TNA, due to he and TNA management failing to reach an agreement about a pay raise. Chris Harris took Fatu's spot in the Fight for the Right semi-final match. Sporadic WWE appearances and Hall of Famer (2012-2020)

<mask> appeared with his family at the 2012 WWE Hall of Fame ceremony to induct his cousin Yokozuna.He then made an in-ring appearance on Raw on July 16, 2012, defeating Heath Slater. During the match, he used the Samoan Spike and the Banzai Drop (the latter having been used as a finishing move since his 1999 repackaging as <mask>) as a tribute to his deceased brother Umaga and cousin Yokozuna, respectively. After the match, he danced with his sons Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso. He then reappeared on the 1,000th episode on July 23 with other Legends to help Lita take down Slater. <mask> next appeared on the January 6, 2014 episode of Raw, where he reunited with Too Cool to defeat 3MB in a six-man tag team match. On the February 9, 2015 episode of Raw, <mask> was announced as the newest member to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2015. His sons, who wrestle as Jimmy and Jey Uso, inducted him into the Hall of Fame on March 28, 2015.<mask> appeared on WWE for the Raw Reunion show on July 22, 2019. On November 22, 2020, he made an appearance at Survivor Series during The Undertaker's retirement ceremony. Other media
<mask> is a playable DLC character in the Attitude Era-themed video game WWE '13. He also appeared in WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, WWE SmackDown!Here Comes the Pain, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, and WWE 2K19. Outside of the main series, he is featured in WWF No Mercy, WWF Raw, WWE Raw 2, WWE WrestleMania X8 and WWE WrestleMania XIX. Fatu appeared in the Italian comedy film Natale a Miami. He also guest starred on the Nickelodeon show Victorious, as a sumo wrestler in the episode "Brain Squeezers." Fatu appeared in the Netflix original film Sandy Wexler. Fatu appeared in "The Big Party" episode of The Big Show Show. Fatu under his "<mask>" ring name is the Samoan judge in the "Wall Of The World" on the CBS show The World's Best.Personal life
Fatu is a member of the Anoa'i family, which has had a presence in professional wrestling since the mid-twentieth century. He is the twin brother of Sam "Tonga Kid" Fatu and the older brother of the late Eddie "Umaga" Fatu. Fatu's uncles Sika Anoa'i and Afa Anoa'i wrestled as The Wild Samoans, while many of his cousins wrestled including Rodney "Yokozuna" Anoa'i, Samula "Samu" Anoa'i, Matt "Rosey" Anoa'i, Joe "Roman Reigns" Anoa'i, Afa "Manu" Anoa'i Jr., and Lloyd "L.A. Smooth" Anoa'i. His father Solofa Fatu Sr. died of COVID-19 on October 4, 2020. Fatu and his wife Talisua Fuavai-Fatu have five children: Joshua Samuel, Jonathan Solofa, Jeremiah Peniata, Thavana Monalisa, and Joseph. Joshua Samuel and Jonathan Solofa currently wrestle for WWE as Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso, while Joseph currently wrestles for NXT 2.0 as Solo Sikoa.Championships and accomplishments
Northern States Wrestling Alliance
NSWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Samu
Portland Wrestling
Portland Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Power Pro Wrestling (Memphis)
Power Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Comeback of the Year (2000)
Ranked No. 27 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2000
Ranked No. 347 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003
Revolución Lucha Libre
Campeonato Internacional Absoluto (1 time)
Universal Wrestling Association
UWA World Trios Championship (1 time) – with Kokina Maximus and The Samoan Savage
World Class Wrestling Association
WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Samu
WCWA World Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Samu
World Wrestling Council
WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Samu
World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE
WWF Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Samu (1) and Rico (1)
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Scotty 2 Hotty
WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2015)
 Slammy Award for Best Etiquette (1994) –
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Worst Worked Match of the Year (1993)

References

External links

 Rikishi Interview

1965 births
American male professional wrestlers
American people of Samoan descent
American professional wrestlers of Samoan descent
Anoa'i family
American shooting survivors
Living people
People from Poinciana, Florida
Professional wrestlers from California
Sportspeople from San Francisco
Twin people from the United States
WWE Hall of Fame inductees
WWF/WWE Intercontinental

masks: Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi Rikishi


title: Allison Crowe

texts:
<mask> (born November 16, 1981) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, and pianist born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, whose home is Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador. History
Crowe began performing professionally in 1996 at the age of fifteen, doing regular sets in coffee-houses and bars of Vancouver Island. Her recording debut came in 2001 with the EP Lisa's Song + 6 Songs, the title track composed in memory of Crow's friend, Lisa Marie Young, the victim in a notorious missing persons case. Crowe's first full-length albums, Secrets and Tidings, were released in 2004. and (Tidings was originally released in EP form in 2003.) <mask>: Live at Wood Hall, a double concert album, was released in July 2005. Of Scottish, Irish, and Manx descent, Crowe grew up surrounded by jazz, classical music, and rock. She discovered additional influences, such as Ani DiFranco, Pearl Jam, Tori Amos, and Counting Crows.On Amazon.com's downloads, she has simultaneously been in the top three on the Rock Singer-Songwriters, Hymns, Blues, Jazz, Broadway, and British & Celtic Folk charts. She accompanies herself on guitar and the piano, on which she has been classically trained. She is largely a solo performer, though she has been part of bands as well, notably in a trio format as the Allison Crowe Band (2000 to 2003) and Allison Crowe + Band (2015 to date). Crowe mostly performs her own songs, which she has been quoted as saying vary among rock, jazz, and folk. Crowe is also acclaimed for her interpretations of songs by a wide variety of composers, from Jerome Kern to Pearl Jam, including Lennon–McCartney and fellow Canadians Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. Her version of Cohen's "Hallelujah" was named Record of the Week by Record of the Day (UK) in August 2004 and November 2005. In 2021, Hollywood film director Zack Snyder, a friend of Crowe, revealed that version would play during the end credits of Zack Snyder's Justice League, as an elegy to his late daughter Autumn Snyder.Recording

In October 2006, Crowe released This Little Bird, which she began recording in February 2006 in her new home of Corner Brook. The album was completed some 4600 kilometers west, on Vancouver Island, and Salt Spring Island, British Columbia. Following a string of successful concert performances in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Austria, she returned home to Canada and during the Summer of 2009 selected songs for a new album to be titled Spiral. Some of this collection comprises never-heard songs from Aquarius Rising (those for which orchestration was not found in 2007), along with new originals and cover songs. The resulting album Spiral was released March 17, 2010. In July 2011 Crowe released a double-A-side single, featuring two songs: "Arthur", a piano original, "Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)", a guitar version of the Patty Griffin song. In December 2011, a holiday season concert in Vancouver was recorded before an audience that included cast and crew of the movie, Man of Steel.Following a concert tour with dates in Belgium, Germany, and Italy, on November 25, 2012 she released a live album, Tidings Concert, documenting an entire Tidings show in Vancouver. Newfoundland Vinyl, a collection of songs from, or made popular in, Newfoundland and Labrador (and performed, engineered, and produced by Crowe) was released as a vinyl LP and in digital formats by Rubenesque Records on June 25, 2013. The album's songs were selected by Crowe from the stage show of the same name presented by Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador at the Gros Morne Theatre Festival. Crowe released an album of new songs titled Heavy Graces on October 15, 2013. Songbook, a 22-track, career-spanning collection, (which received special-edition, limited release on June 14, 2013), was released globally on March 17, 2014. During September 2014 she released a series of music-movie mashups collectively titled 16 Songs. Souling, an album of traditional carols performed a cappella was released on November 2, 2014.On December 2, 2014, Crowe's Newfoundland Vinyl II album was released. As with the first volume of this title, curated from a theatre production for which the artist serves as Musical Director, this collection features songs created in Newfoundland and Labrador along with several folk songs that have traveled to Atlantic Canada from overseas. Sylvan Hour was released on May 5, 2015. This album comprises songs recorded, solo, by <mask>e in a log-home located on Salt Spring Island, Canada. The thirteen tracks mix piano and guitar with vocals. In late 2015 she released a pair of albums: Newfoundland Vinyl 3 and Souling (Bonus Tracks Edition) - the latter being an expanded version of her 2014 album Souling. A band recording project completed in Winter 2015 was slated for release in 2016 as a double-CD set Introducing / Heirs & Grievances.This double-album was released digitally worldwide on March 22 and in physical, CD, format on May 22, 2016. A live concert of <mask>'s quintet recorded at the LSPU (Longshoremen's Protective Union) Hall in St. John's, NL has been released (on April 3, 2018) as a pair of albums, Welcome to Us Acts 1 (guitar and fiddle songs) and 2 (piano songs). (This double, live, release evolved from plans for the song-track Rare Birds to be released on a single, studio, album.) Also in 2018 Crowe released a solo album, Newfoundland Vinyl IV. Full band releases in 2020 are titled Pillars and Six More Songs. Touring

Crowe has toured across Canada and in the northeastern United States as a headliner. Crowe's touring band, her first since 2003, comprised Billie Woods on guitar, Dave Baird on bass, and Laurent Boucher on percussion.This quartet toured Canada's Pacific and Atlantic coasts, as well as continental Europe. In late 2005 she performed for the first time in western Europe, with concerts in Dublin, London, Munich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, and Paris. In the spring of 2006, she toured coast-to-coast in her homeland, covering most of the distance by train on the Rock 'n' Rail Revue. Following the release of This Little Bird, she visited England, Ireland, and Scotland on a concert tour. In 2007 her touring included a series of concerts across North America and a return to Europe where she performed at the John Lennon Northern Lights Festival in Durness, Scotland, on a bill with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, the Queen's Master of Music, and Carol Ann Duffy, Britain's Poet Laureate. The event was crowned the "UK's Best New Festival". In May 2009 she was prevented from performing in Edinburgh, Scotland, and London, England after being turned away by UK Border Agency officials at Gatwick Airport for lacking a Certificate of Sponsorship.Days later she resumed her tour in Germany. In summer 2015 <mask> formed a national and international touring band which now features: Céline Sawchuk (née Greb) on cello and vocals; Sarah White on mandolin, guitar, bouzouki, vocals; Dave Baird, bass, vocals; and Keelan Purchase on accordion, 12-string guitar, harmonica and vocals. Following concerts in western Canada, Crowe's quartet announced dates for a European tour in 2016 and these concerts in Germany, Slovenia, Italy, England and Belgium took place during April and May 2016. This band has continued touring North America through 2016 and 2017. N.A. concert dates for 2018 are anticipated to be followed by a return to European touring in 2019. Other work

Two one-hour television specials have been broadcast across Canada, with her <mask>e: Tidings special telecast each December since 2003.In 2013, Crowe appeared in a cameo role as the "Singer at Cassidy's" in the major motion picture Man of Steel, a reboot of the Superman film series and the first installment in the DC Extended Universe, directed by Zack Snyder. In May 2012 Crowe performed "Hallelujah" live with Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet (RWB) for the world premiere of The Doorway – Scenes from Leonard Cohen, created and choreographed by Jorden Morris with artistic direction by Andre Lewis. On the RWB's November 2012 tour of The Doorway, Crowe again performed on stage with the ballet company for "Hallelujah", "Sisters of Mercy, and "Bird on the Wire". Her interpretations of Leonard Cohen's songs have received recognition in features by BBC Radio and MOJO magazine. Crowe's recording of "Hallelujah" was slated to be the soundtrack to a scene in the 2009 Hollywood movie Watchmen before being replaced by a Cohen recording. Crowe would later appear in Snyder's 2013 film Man of Steel where she can be seen performing Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" and a recording of her singing Hallelujah was featured during the end credits of Zack Snyder's Justice League. "Whether I'm Wrong", an original song of social conscience written in early 2003, has been featured by the UNESCO-endorsed New Songs for Peace initiative.After learning how the mainstream recording industry operates, inspired by the examples of Ani DiFranco and Loreena McKennitt, and Creative Commons licensing opening new avenues for musicians, she started her own record label, Rubenesque Records Ltd. The label was incorporated in 2001 and began operations with the release of an EP in 2003. "Fluttering", an original book of poetry and prose is being written by <mask> with publication announced for late 2018. The book's publication has since been rescheduled. <mask>'s duet with Richard Cheese of the song Viva Las Vegas plays throughout the title sequence of Army of the Dead, a zombie heist movie from director Zack Snyder released to theaters on May 14, 2021. Discography

Albums
 Lisa's Song + 6 Songs (2003)
 Tidings: 6 Songs for the Season (2003)
 Secrets (2004)
 Tidings (2004)
 Live at Wood Hall (2005)
 This Little Bird (2006)
 Little Light (2008)
 Spiral (2010)
 Tidings Concert (2012)
 Newfoundland Vinyl (2013)
 Heavy Graces (2013)
 Songbook (2013/14)
 Souling (2014)
 Newfoundland Vinyl II (2014)
 Sylvan Hour (2015)
 Newfoundland Vinyl 3 (2015)
 Introducing / Heirs + Grievances (2016)
 Great Island Wonder (2017)
 Welcome to Us Acts 1 and 2 (2018)
 A Time for Tidings (2018)
 Newfoundland Vinyl IV (2018)
 Six More Songs (2020)
 Pillars (2020)

Singles
 Arthur /Up to the Mountain (2011)
 Snow (2013)
 Tarry Trousers (2014)
 (What's so Funny 'bout) Peace, Love and Understanding (2017)
 Tochter Zion / Stille Nacht (Silent Night) feat. Céline Sawchuk (2018)
 Pillars - Single (2020)
 All Your Favorite Bands feat.Sarah Melanie White (2020)

Compilations
 Open Minds Open Windows: Songwriter's Stories (2003)
 It Was 40 Years Ago Today (2004)
 Christmas in Rock Vol. 4 (2005)
 Cohen Covered (2008)
 Songs of Hope for Haiti (2010)

Videos
 Inside Pandora's Box: <mask> (2002)
 <mask>e: Tidings (2003)
 A Corner Brook Tidings (2012)

References

External links
 <mask> and Band Official site
 <mask> Official site
 The Ruckus – Audio Interview with <mask> from October 2008

1981 births
Living people
Canadian folk singer-songwriters
Canadian pop pianists
Canadian women rock singers
Canadian people of Irish descent
Canadian people of Manx descent
Canadian people of Scottish descent
Musicians from British Columbia
People from Corner Brook
People from Nanaimo
Canadian indie rock musicians
Canadian women pianists
Canadian women pop singers
Canadian women singer-songwriters
21st-century Canadian women singers
21st-century Canadian pianists

masks:
Allison Louise Crowe
Allison Crowe
Allison Crow
Allison Crowe
Allison Crowe
Allison Crow
Allison Crowe
Allison Crowe
Allison Crowe
Allison Crow
Allison Crowe
Allison Crowe
Allison Crowe