Avril Starts Making Scents
Now you, too, can smell like a faux punk rocker. If you’re into that sort of thing.
Avril Lavigne has signed on with Procter & Gamble Prestige Products to launch her own fragrance line, with the first top-noted fruit of her labor due out in fall 2009.
The 23-year-old singer said she was happy “to be working with Procter & Gamble on releasing my first fragrance. Creating this fragrance is a fun process and I am looking forward to sharing it with everyone.”
While there’s no word on what smells Lavigne is looking to re-create with her debut scentspit and Deryck Whibley seem the likely front-runnersit will be targeted toward consumers in their early teens. Banking on all going well, the as-yet-unnamed fragrance will be the first of many, with additional debuts also planned.
Nicole Richie and Joel Madden’s Beach Outing
Nicole Richie and Joel Madden’s Beach Outing
Yesterday afternoon, Nicole Richie was spotted out enjoying a little sunbathing and water time with boyfriend Joel Madden in Hawaii. The expecting parents have been relaxing in the Aloha state for the past couple days as a way to celebrate Nicole’s 26th birthday.
Getting ever closer to her due date, Nicole is said to be worried about whether or not she’ll be able to handle the stress of her impending motherhood.
A source informed press: “Her major concern is whether she can cope. Nicole has spent most of her life, since her early teens, partying, making big money in TV and being treated as a celebrity. Now she’s got to open up to the most important person in her life - her baby.”
Meanwhile, her 28-year-old rocker boyfriend seems to be pretty comfortable with the whole scenario of fatherhood.
When speaking to press, Madden humorously told: “We’re waiting to find out if it is a boy or a girl. We don’t even know. So right now it’s an ‘it’, which sounds wrong. We call it ‘the baby’. When we talk to it, it’s ‘you’.”
More seriously, the Good Charlotte lead vocalist said, “I’m excited. It’s the best thing that has ever happened to us. It’s awesome. The baby has started kicking and I’ve already gone out and bought a stroller and a playpen for the nursery.”
Eve Biography
Eve was one of a new breed of tough, talented, commercially viable female MCs to hit the rap scene during the late ’90s. Though she could be sexy when she chose, she wasn’t as over the top as Lil’ Kim or Foxy Brown, and as part of the Ruff Ryders posse, her production was harder than Da Brat’s early work with Jermaine Dupri. In the end, Eve came off as her own person; a strong, no-nonsense street MC who could hold her own with most anyone on the mic; and was finding success on her own terms. She was born Eve Jihan Jeffers in Philadelphia on November 10, 1978, and started out as a singer in her early teens, performing with an all-female vocal quintet. She was also honing her skills as a rapper in impromptu battles with friends, and before she left high school, she formed a female rap duo called EDGP (pronounced “Egypt”), adopting the name Gangsta. EDGP performed at local talent shows and club gigs, often to the detriment of Eve’s dedication to school. When the group broke up, she went solo and changed her name to Eve of Destruction; she also moved to the Bronx in the wake of her mother’s remarriage, and worked for a time as a table dancer at a strip club. Unhappy with this direction, she decided to give rap another shot after being encouraged by Mase.
Through some of her friends, Eve scored a meeting with Dr. Dre in Los Angeles, and surprised him by turning it into an audition. Dre liked what he heard and signed her to a one-year deal with his new label, Aftermath. Eve recorded a few tracks, including one, “Eve of Destruction,” that ended up on the Bulworth soundtrack in 1998. However, Aftermath was searching for a direction at the time, and Eve wound up lost in the shuffle. Her contract expired without an album even in the works, but fortunately, she’d met DMX when the rising new star was in Los Angeles promoting his smash debut, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot. Eve passed a battle-rap audition to join DMX’s Ruff Ryders posse, and in 1999 she contributed to their label’s Ryde or Die, Vol. 1 compilation. Thanks to DMX’s star power, it entered the charts at number one, and Eve’s track, “What Ya Want,” was released as a single. It hit the R&B Top Ten, and Eve built more anticipation for her debut album with high-profile guest spots on the Roots’ “You Got Me” and the Blackstreet/Janet Jackson duet “Girlfriend/Boyfriend.”
Eve’s first full-length was titled Let There Be Eve…Ruff Ryders First Lady and released in September 1999. With Ruff Ryders the biggest name in rap, the album was an instant smash; it entered the charts at number one — the first time a female rapper had ever accomplished that feat — and went on to sell over two million copies. Eve also scored hits with the R&B Top Ten “Gotta Man” and the antidomestic violence track “Love Is Blind,” and guested on Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott’s hit “Hot Boyz.” After touring in support of the record, Eve returned to the studio and delivered her follow-up, Scorpion, in early 2001. The album received strong reviews and topped the R&B charts, while debuting at number four on the pop side. Lead single “Who’s That Girl?” had some chart success, but it was the follow-up, a duet with No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani called “Let Me Blow Ya Mind,” that really broke Eve on the pop charts. The song rocketed to number two and went on to win a Grammy in the newly created category of Best Rap/Sung Collaboration; it also helped Scorpion go platinum.
Eve next set about establishing a movie career; she made her box-office debut in the Vin Diesel action blockbuster XXX, which was released in the summer of 2002. Not long after, she was also seen in a prominent supporting role in the Ice Cube comedy Barbershop. Amid all this activity, Eve released her third album, Eve-Olution, in August 2002. It debuted in the Top Ten, and found Eve returning to the soul singing of her youth on a surprising number of tracks. The single “Gangsta Lovin’,” which featured guest vocals from Alicia Keys, was a number two smash on both the pop and R&B charts, and the follow-up “Satisfaction” was nominated for a Grammy. In early 2003, Eve signed with the UPN network to produce and star in a multiracial sitcom about a fashion designer.
Aaliyah
Brooklyn-born and Detroit-raised R&B singer Aaliyah hit the big time in her early teens with a spate of hit records before she embarked at the ripe old age of twenty on a film acting career. A losing appearance on “Star Search†at age eleven failed to hold back the young dynamo, who performed later that same year with Gladys Knight (former wife of her uncle/manager Barry Hankerton), singing with the legend for a five night Las Vegas engagement in 1990. Within four years, Aaliyah would have two gold singles to her credit and was a proven multitalented performer, starring in compelling music videos that showcased her dance moves as well as her songs. As her debut album “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number†headed up the charts on the strength of the hits “Back and Forth†and “At Your Best (You Are Love)â€, Aaliyah, whose sultry voice and adult image belied her tender age, found herself the target of some less-than-positive attention when it was reported the then-fifteen-year-old had wed friend and producer R. Kelly (a man over ten years her senior). A marriage license issued in the state of Illinois with the pair’s name on it and Kelly’s refusal to comment only fueled the fires of scandal, and the two were unceremoniously booed at that year’s Soul Train Music Awards.
Following this upheaval, Aaliyah changed record labels, hooked up with producers Jermaine Dupri and Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott and recorded her follow up, the successful and critically lauded “One in a Million†(1996). The album introduced the singer’s new, more mature sound and focused on her undeniable talent and range, fusing hip-hop beats with R&B grooves in a way that harkened back to a younger Mary J Blige. Although Aaliyah was managed by her parents, the teen singer’s videos and appearances were marked by a non-overt sexuality that she carried with easy confidence. Remarkably, her sensual image was altogether natural, where such attempts at more adult fare by contemporaries like Brandy smacked of forced Lolita-like precociousness. In 1997, Aaliyah contributed her vocals to the animated feature “Anastasiaâ€, singing the Oscar-nominated theme “Journey to the Past†over the end credits, and subsequently on the Academy Awards telecast in March 1998. Her performance of that same song on a 1997 episode of “The Rosie O’Donnell Show†so impressed producers of the then-developing Broadway musical “Aida†that she was invited to audition. While Aaliyah didn’t land that stage role, film would continue to offer her hit-making opportunities; she scored with the Grammy-nominated “Are You That Somebody?†from the “Dr. Dolittle†soundtrack in 1998.
Aaliyah’s next film project “Romeo Must Die†(2000) not only featured her hit song “Try Againâ€, but marked the singer’s film acting debut. She starred opposite Jet Li in this modern day multicultural crime world reworking of Shakespeare’s tragic romance. She played Trish O’Day, daughter of an African-American crime lord (Delroy Lindo) at odds with a rival Chinese gang whose allies include the vengeance-bent Jet Li. Soon Aaliyah and Jet Li’s characters fall in love, much to the disapproval of their warring families. Aaliyah brought a crucial toughness and quiet grace to her role, making an auspicious film debut in this music-infused actioner. Her relatively mysterious real-life persona (routinely dodging age questions and nearly always donning sunglasses) made her transition to the screen all the more seamless, allowing the public to readily believe her portrayals, where an artist with a more realized personality would be less credible.
After spending the first half of her career in R. Kelly’s shadow, the second chapter of Aaliyah’s career saw the spotlight focus squarely on her — and a stage she shared with no one. The change may have resulted from help from hit factories like Jermaine Dupri and Missy “Misdemeanor†Elliott, or possibly the obvious maturation of her voice and material. No matter. As a singer and performer, she found a niche in R&B that topped charts, sold big and kept her star shining while one hit wonders faded. Her career was tragically cut short by a fatal plane crash in 2001.