July 31: Contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Krystal Meyers is 23-years-old today.

Krystal Meyers was born in Orange County, California. Her family later moved to Eugene, Oregon, and when she was six, moved to Franklin, Tennessee, near Nashville.

Krystal started singing at home when she was two. She sang her first solo in church at the age of five, started writing songs by age ten and was playing the acoustic guitar by age 13.

While at Barefoot Republic youth camp, when she was 14, she wrote "Anticonformity" with a friend, Hannah Dwinell. When she entered the ninth grade she says she saw her peers falling into drugs and sex and then anticonformity" became "really real" to her.  In 1995 she released her self-titled first album Krystal Meyers when she was 16-years-old.

Krystal has stated that she knew she would be doing music ministry ever since she could talk: “A lady in our church told my mom ‘Your daughter is going to travel the world and be a missionary.’ That’s what this is—a mission field and music is the outlet... My faith means everything to me,” she says....I want God to be speaking through my music. So I stepped back and prayed about it. I surrendered the whole writing process to God.”

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In Japan, where Krystal's first record went gold, she has been on the cover of Nylon Japan, AERA English magazine, twice and Tower Records' Bounce magazine. Krystal has also been on the cover of In Rock which is Japan's version of Rolling Stone magazine.

In the U.S. she has appeared on the cover of Vision magazine and ONCOURSE magazine. She has also modeled for UNIQLO.

Krystal signed with Essential Records for her self-titled album, Krystal Meyers, which produced four top ten singles on the U.S. Christian charts. Working with CCM artist and producer Ian Eskelin and the Wizardz of Oz production team, her song, "Anticonformity" became the number one pop single in Japan.

The album's lead single "The Way to Begin" charted at #1 on the Christian CHR Charts. Other singles "My Savior" and "Anticonformity" peaked at #8 and "Fire" peaked at #9. The album peaked at #48 on Top Heatseekers and went Gold in Japan. The album was released on June 7, 2005 in the US and on May 30, 2006 worldwide.
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Krystal's second album, Dying For A Heart, was released on September 19, 2006 in the U.S. and on October 24, 2006 worldwide. "One cut on the album is "The Situation," a song about temptation and having the strength to make the right choice when a relationship begins to take a more physical turn. She says she crafted with her guitarist Brian Hitt. "With 'The Situation' being about premarital sex, we wanted to make it more challenging and in-your-face..."

The album peaked at #19 on Top Heatseekers. Its first single "Collide" hit #6 on the Christian Rock Charts. The second single "The Beauty Of Grace" hit #4 on the Christian CHR Charts and #2 in Japan. The third single, "Hallelujah," peaked at #28 on the Christian Rock Charts.

Make Some Noise became Meyers' third studio album released September 9, 2008 in the US and July 9, 2008 in Japan; making its world-wide Internet video premier on Yahoo Music on July 10, 2008. The album is more in the pop vein than her first two albums.

Krystal's lead single is called "Shine" and it charted well in the Christian CHR charts, as well as charting at #13 on the iTunes top Christian/Gospel songs chart. Other songs released from the album are "Make Some Noise," the title track, "Love It Away," and "My Freedom."

The Make Some Noise album is also available in an iTunes Worldwide Deluxe Edition with eleven individual and three additional versions of "Make Some Noise" with choruses in Indonesian, Mandarin and Thai.

Krystal Meyers' song "Make Some Noise" was selected to be included in the Official 2008 Olympics Album: Olympics 2008 - One World, One Dream. It was also used by NBC in promoting its fall 2008 line-up. and a sampling of her music was used on ABC's Sunday-Night Lineup.

Krystal has received four Dove Award nominations: two at the 37th GMA Dove Awards (New Artist of the Year and Special Event Album), one for the 38th GMA Dove Awards (Female Vocalist of the Year) and one for the 39th GMA Dove Awards for Female Vocalist of the Year."

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READ MORE » July 31: Contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Krystal Meyers is 23-years-old today.

July 30: English singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 53-years-old today.

Kate Bush's eclectic musical and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the U.K.'s most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.

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Born Catherine Bush in Bexleyheath, Kent, she was raised in a farmhouse in East Wickham, Kent. Her mother was a former Irish folk dancer, her father was an accomplished pianist. Her brothers Paddy was a musical-instrument maker and John was a poet and photographer. Both brothers were involved in the local folk music scene.

Her family's musical influence inspired the young Kate to teach herself to play the piano at age 11. She also played the organ in a barn behind her parents' house and studied the violin. She soon began writing her own tunes and lyrics.

While Bush attended St Joseph's Convent Grammar School in the mid-1970s, her family produced a demo tape with over 50 of her compositions, which was turned down by record labels. David Gilmour of Pink Floyd received the demo from Ricky Hopper, a mutual friend of Gilmour and the Bush family.

Impressed with what he heard, Gilmour helped Bush get a more professional-sounding demo tape recorded. The tape was produced by Gilmour's friend Andrew Powell, who would go on to produce Bush's first two albums. The tape was sent to EMI executive Terry Slater, who was impressed by the tape and signed her.

For the first two years of her contract, Bush spent more time on school work than making an album. EMI forwarded her a sizable advance which she used to enroll in interpretive dance classes taught by Lindsay Kemp, a former teacher of David Bowie, and mime training with Adam Darius.
Bush also wrote and made demos of close to 200 songs, a few of which today can be found on bootleg recordings and are known as the Phoenix Recordings.

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From March to August 1977, she fronted the KT Bush Band at public houses around London – specifically at the Rose of Lee public house (now Dirty South) in Lewisham. She began recording her first album in August 1977, including two tracks recorded during the summer of 1975.

At age 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights," becoming the first woman to have a UK number-one with a self-written song. She was also the most photographed woman in the United Kingdom the following year.

After her 1979 tour—the only concert tour of her career—Bush released the 1980 album Never for Ever, which made her the first British solo female artist to top the UK album charts and the first female artist ever to enter the album chart at No. 1. In 1987, she won a BRIT Award for Best British Female Solo Artist.

Kate Bush has released ten albums, three of which topped the UK Albums Chart, and has had twenty-five UK Top 40 hit singles including "Wuthering Heights," "Running Up that Hill," "King of the Mountain," "Babooshka," "The Man with the Child in His Eyes," and "Don't Give Up" (a duet with Peter Gabriel)—all of which reached the Top 10.

In 2002, Bush's songwriting ability was recognized with an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.

In 2005, she released Aerial, her first album in 12 years. The album earned her a BRIT Award nomination for Best Album and another for Best Solo Female Artist. During the course of her career, she has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards.

In early 2011, EMI Records also announced an upcoming re-issue of four of Bush's albums (The Dreaming, Hounds of Love, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes) under the name of her own label, Fish People, now that Bush has regained full control over these records.

Bush released Director's Cut on May 16, 2011, which contains reworked material from her albums The Sensual World from 1989, and The Red Shoes from 1993.

In May 2011, Bush said she was working on an album of new material.


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READ MORE » July 30: English singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 53-years-old today.

July 29: country music singer and songwriter Martina McBride is 45-years-old today.

Born Martina Mariea Schiff in Sharon, Kansas - a small town with population of about 200 - McBride has been called the "Céline Dion of Country Music."

Her father, who was a farmer and cabinetry shop owner, exposed McBride to country music at a young age. Before she turned 10, she began singing with a band her father fronted, "The Schiffters."

As she grew older her role in the band progressively increased, from simply singing, to also playing keyboard with them. She began performing with a local rock band, The Penetrators, in Wichita. in 1987, Schiff gathered a group of musicians called Lotus and started looking for rehearsal space; she began renting space from a studio engineer named John McBride. In 1988, the two married.

The couple moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1989 with the hope of beginning a career in country music. John McBride joined Garth Brooks' sound crew and later became his concert production manager. Martina occasionally joined her husband on the road and helped sell Garth Brooks souvenirs.

Impressed by Martina's enthusiasm, in 1990 Brooks offered her the position of his opening act provided she could obtain a recording contract. During this time, while her husband was working with country artists Charlie Daniels and Ricky Van Shelton, he also helped produce her demo tape, which helped her gain a recording contract with RCA Nashville Records in 1991.

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After signing, McBride released her debut studio album in 1992 titled The Time Has Come. The album's title track made number 23 on the country music charts, but the next two singles both failed to make top 40. Unlike her later country pop-influenced albums, The Time Has Come featured honky tonk and country folk influences.

The Way That I Am was McBride's second album. Its first two singles both brought her into the country top ten: "My Baby Loves Me" peaked at number two, and "Life #9" at number six. The third single, "Independence Day," This song did not reach top 10 because many radio programmers objected to the song's subject of a mother fighting back against abuse by burning the family home to the ground. "Independence Day" won Video of the Year and Song of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards.

In 1997, when she released her fourth album, Evolution, she broke through into the country music industry with a new pop-styled crossover sound, similar to that of Faith Hill and Shania Twain. From that point on, McBride has had a string of major hit singles on the Billboard country chart and occasionally on the adult contemporary chart. Five of these singles went to No. 1 on the country chart between 1995 and 2001, and one peaked at No. 1 on the adult contemporary chart in 2003.

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McBride has recorded a total of nine studio albums, one "greatest hits" compilation, one "live" album, a "Christmas" compilation, as well as two additional compilation albums. Seven of her studio albums and two of her compilations have received an RIAA certification of "Gold," or higher.

Worldwide, she has sold over 18 million albums. In addition, Martina has won the Country Music Association's "Female Vocalist of the Year" award four times (tied with Reba McEntire for the most wins) and the Academy of Country Music's "Top Female Vocalist" award three times.

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McBride left RCA in November 2010, signed with Republic Nashville, and began working on a new studio album with producer Byron Gallimore. Her first single for Republic Nashville is "Teenage Daughters," which she also co-wrote with the Warren Brothers. McBride co-wrote eight of the eleven songs on the album.

The second single released from the album is titled "I'm Gonna Love You Through It" which became available July 25, 2011. An album track, "One Time" was released as a promotion for Nascar with a music video in June 2011. The album is projected to be released on October 18, 2011.

On February 13, 2011, McBride paid tribute to Aretha Franklin during the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. She was joined onstage by Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Florence Welch and Yolanda Adams.

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READ MORE » July 29: country music singer and songwriter Martina McBride is 45-years-old today.

July 28: Richard Wright, founding member of Pink Floyd, was born on this date in 1943...

... he was 65 when he died from cancer on September 15, 2008.  

Richard William "Rick" was the original pianist, keyboardist, vocalist and songwriter for Pink Floyd.  Wright's unique keyboard layers were a distinctive characteristic of Pink Floyd's sound.

Wright frequently sang background and occasionally lead vocals on stage and in the studio with Pink Floyd (most notably on the songs "Time," "Echoes" and the Syd Barrett compositions "Astronomy Domine" and "Matilda Mother.")

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Wright taught himself to play guitar at age 12, as well as play trumpet and piano, and took private lessons in musical theory and composition at the Eric Gilder School of Music. Afterwards, in 1962, he met Roger Waters and Nick Mason - other founding member of The Pink Floyd Sound as they were then called. Wright found architecture of little interest and after only a year of study moved to the London College of Music.

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Though not as prolific a songwriter as band members Roger Waters and David Gilmour, he wrote significant parts of the music for classic albums such as Meddle, The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, as well as for Pink Floyd's final studio album The Division Bell.

Wright died one week before the release of David Gilmour's Live in Gdansk CD, on which he appeared. The album is the final Pink Floyd-related project to include Wright.

Richard Wright is ranked #5 on Digital Dreamdoor's list of "100 Greatest Rock Keyboardists of All Time."

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