Ayumi Hamasaki Profile Picture

Ayumi Hamasaki (浜崎 あゆみ, Hamasaki Ayumi?, also 濱崎 歩; born October 2, 1978) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, record producer, model, lyricist, and actress. Also called "Ayu" by her fans, Hamasaki has been dubbed the "Empress of Pop" because of her popularity and widespread influence in Japan and throughout Asia. Born and raised in Fukuoka, she moved to Tokyo at fourteen to pursue a career in entertainment. In 1998, under the tutelage of Avex CEO Max Matsuura, she released a string of modestly selling singles that concluded with her 1999 debut album A Song for ××. The album debuted atop the Oricon charts and stayed there for four weeks, establishing her popularity in Japan.

Hamasaki's constantly changing image and tight control over her artistry has helped her popularity extend across Asia; music and fashion trends she has started have spread to countries such as China, Singapore, and Southeast Asia. She has appeared in or lent her songs to many advertisements and television commercials. Though she originally supported the exploitation of her popularity for commercial purposes, she later reconsidered and eventually opposed her status as an Avex "product".

Since her 1998 debut with the single "Poker Face", Hamasaki has sold over 50 million records in Japan, making her the best selling solo singer in Japanese history as well as one of the countries most successful songwriters ranking her among the best-selling singers in the country. As a female singer, Hamasaki holds several domestic records for her singles, such as the most number-one hits overall by a female artist, the most consecutive number-one hits by a solo artist, the highest sales, and the most million-sellers. Since 1999, Hamasaki has had at least one single each year topping the charts (except 2011, which she released a mini-album, Five, without any singles). Hamasaki is the first female singer to have eight studio albums since her debut to top the Oricon and the first artist to have a number-one album for 13 consecutive years since her debut.

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Profiles is a live album by American jazz vibraphonist Gary McFarland featuring performances recorded at the Lincoln Centre Philharmonic Hall in 1966 for the Impulse! label.

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Beautiful American Girls Profile Picture

American Girl is an American line of 18-inch dolls released in 1986 by Pleasant Company. The dolls portray nine– to eleven–year–old girls of a variety of ethnicities. They are sold with accompanying books told from the viewpoint of the girls. Originally the stories focused on various periods of American history, but were expanded in 1995 to include characters and stories from contemporary life. A variety of related clothing and accessories is also available. Pleasant Company was founded in 1986 by Pleasant Rowland, and its products were originally purchasable by mail order only. In 1998, Pleasant Company became a subsidiary of Mattel. The company has been awarded the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Award eight times.

The Historical Characters line of 18-inch dolls were initially the main focus of Pleasant Company. This product line aims to teach aspects of American history through a six–book series from the perspective of a nine– to eleven–year–old girl living in that time period. Although the books are written for an eight- to thirteen-year-old target audience, they endeavor to cover significant topics such as child labor, child abuse, poverty, racism, slavery, alcoholism, animal abuse, and war in manners appropriate for the understanding and sensibilities of their young audience.

In 1995 Pleasant Company released a line of contemporary dolls: "American Girl of Today". In 2006 the product line was renamed "Just Like You"; it was changed again, in 2010, to "My American Girl". This line has included over fifty different dolls over the years. Each doll has a different combination of face mold; skin tone; eye color; and hair color, length and/or style. American Girl states that this variety allows customers to choose dolls that "represent the individuality and diversity of today's American girls". A wide variety of contemporary clothing, accessories and furniture is also available, and there are regular releases and retirements to update this line.

Bitty Baby is a line of baby dolls targeted to children aged three and older. The Bitty Twins line debuted in 2003 to represent slightly older toddlers and/or preschoolers.

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Beautiful Shana Hiatt Host of Poker After

Shana Hiatt (born 17 December 1975) is a model and presenter who has appeared in several magazines.

A former Army brat raised primarily in Tabernacle Township, New Jersey, Shana Hiatt is best known for hosting the first three seasons of World Poker Tour on The Travel Channel.

While Hiatt was a non-player prior to her job with the World Poker Tour, Shana Hiatt is now an avid online poker player who occasionally plays in casinos. Shana Hiatt is formerly the host of Poker After Dark and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship, both on NBC. Shana left the shows in 2008 due to pregnancy. Shana Hiatt was replaced by Marianela Pereyra in Poker After Dark and by Leeann Tweeden in the National Heads-Up Poker Championship.

After leaving the World Poker Tour in 2005, Hiatt sued the producers in order to get a restraining order to prevent them from keeping her from working on a rival poker show on NBC, Poker After Dark. The WPT argued a non-compete clause was part of her contract, but Hiatt countered that Shana Hiatt never signed it. The suit additionally revealed Hiatt left the WPT over a "hostile working environment" involving her husband, movie producer Todd Garner whom Shana Hiatt married in October 2005. Hiatt was previously married to James Van Patten, brother of World Poker Tour co-host Vince Van Patten.

Hiatt was Miss Hawaiian Tropic USA in 1995 having represented Beach Haven, New Jersey after winning the local Hawaiian Tropic pageant at Touché nightclub in 1994. After becoming Miss Hawaiian Tropic USA, Hiatt was the cover model and posed nude inside the pages of Playboy in their April 1995 The Girls of Hawaiian Tropic issue. Shana Hiatt also was on the cover for the video of that photo shoot Playboy: The Girls of Hawaiian Tropic, Naked in Paradise .
Hiatt was a guest host of Wild On! featured on the E! network. Shana Hiatt has also appeared in television shows and movies including Must Love Dogs and Grandma's Boy .

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Shakira's Profile Picture with Rock and Roll

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (play /ʃəˈkɪərə/, Spanish: [t͡ʃaˈkiɾa]; born February 2, 1977), known mononymously as Shakira, is a Colombian singer-songwriter who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s. Born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, Shakira began performing in school, demonstrating her vocal ability with rock and roll, Latin and Arabic influences with her own original twist on belly dancing. Shakira is a native Spanish speaker and also speaks fluent English and Portuguese as well as some Italian, French, Catalan and Arabic.

After a poor commercial reception with local producers on her first two albums, and being little-known outside Colombia, Shakira decided to produce her own brand of music. In 1995 she released Pies Descalzos, which brought her great fame in Latin America and Spain, and her 1998 album Dónde Están los Ladrones? was a critical success selling over 7 million copies worldwide. In 2001, aided by the worldwide success of her first English single "Whenever, Wherever" that became the best selling single of 2002, she broke through into the English-speaking world with the release of Laundry Service, which sold over 13 million copies worldwide. Four years later, Shakira released two album projects called Fijación Oral Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation Vol. 2. Both reinforced her success, particularly with the best selling song of the 2000s, "Hips Don't Lie". In 1995, Shakira founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation. It is a Colombian charity with special schools for poor children all around Colombia. During her career, Shakira has performed at a large number of benefit concerts. Among the most famous are the Live 8 benefit concert in July 2005, the Live Earth concert, Hamburg where Shakira headlined the show, as well as the "Clinton Global Initiative" created by former US President Bill Clinton. She was also invited to the Oval Office by President Barack Obama in February 2010 to discuss early childhood development.

She has won two Grammy Awards, eight Latin Grammy Awards, twelve Billboard Latin Music Awards and has been Golden Globe-nominated. Shakira is also the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, and the second most successful female Latin singer behind Gloria Estefan, having sold over 70 million albums worldwide. Her U.S. album sales stand at 9.9 million. In the fall of 2009, Shakira released her sixth studio album She Wolf worldwide gaining a lot of critical praise for her eccentricity and writing skills. The album sold roughly 2 million copies around the world. Shakira's "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)", was chosen as the official song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The song has received generally positive critical reception, and has become a worldwide smash hit and the biggest selling World Cup song of all time. On YouTube, the English version of the music video is the 4th most watched video of all time with over 441 million views. When Shakira released her seventh studio album, the bilingual Sale el Sol in October 2010, Shakira gained back her Latin following, which Shakira described as being the main goal for the album. The album has sold over 2 million copies worldwide. Since 2009, Shakira's musical career suffered from a strained relationship with her label Epic Records, which resulted in lack of promotion and investment from Epic Records towards her two latter studio albums She Wolf (2009) and Sale el Sol (2010). However, Shakira is to enter a bidding war from labels such as Warner and Def Jam Records after the release of her 2011 World Tour DVD, titled Shakira: Live from Paris.

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