11/1/2006

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The Nobel Peace Prize Committee has announced the all-star lineup for the annual Nobel Peace Prize Concert on Monday, December 11th in Oslo, Norway. The show will be hosted by Sharon Stone and Anjelica Huston and feature performances by world renowned acts including Yusuf Islam (Formerly Cat Stevens), Lionel Richie, John Legend, Rihanna, Paulina Rubio, Wynonna, Simply Red, Hakim, Renee Fleming, and Morten Abel.  
This annual event, presented by the esteemed Norwegian Nobel Committee, honors the recipient of the coveted Nobel Peace Prize Award and is broadcast to more than 100 countries around the world. The award is given annually to an individual whose humanitarian efforts exemplify a spirit of generosity and leadership that will help spread the positive message manifested by the Nobel Peace Prize throughout the world. This year's honoree is Bangladeshi professor Muhammad Yunus, whose Grameen Bank's innovative micro credit program has advanced the cause of economic and social development in Bangladesh and beyond.  
"The Nobel Committee is pleased to bring such a talented and eclectic group of artists together to help celebrate peace through music," said Geir Lundestad, Secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. "It's always a special evening that we hope the world tunes in to watch."  
The Nobel Peace Prize is the most prestigious award in the world, honoring icons such as Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, and other remarkable individuals and organizations. For the past decade, the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony has been followed the next day by the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, which is broadcast to more than 100 countries and more than 300 million households around the world.  
The 2006 Lineup Includes:  
Yusuf Islam \* Yusuf Islam is one of the UK's most celebrated artists. As Cat Stevens he achieved international success in both the Sixties and Seventies. In 1977 Stevens embraced Islam, adopted the name Yusuf Islam and took a break from music. He will release his first album of new songs for almost 30 years this autumn. Yusuf Islam says "There were one hundred reasons for leaving the music industry back in 1979, not least because I had found what I was looking for spiritually. Today there are perhaps one hundred and one good reasons why I feel right making music and singing about life in this fragile world again." The album is a collection of brand new songs including revivification of some truly spellbinding compositions which lay unfinished in Yusuf's musical memory and completed for this album. All were recorded over the past year with renowned producer Rick Nowels. Over the years, Yusuf's work has been recognised with major awards. In 2004 he was awarded the Man for Peace award by a committee of Nobel peace laureates. In 2005 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Gloucestershire for services to education and humanitarian relief.  
Lionel Richie \* One of the most recognizable and iconic figures of the R&B genre, Richie's rise to fame began when he was the frontman of the popular Motown band the Commodores in the 1970s. The Commodores enjoyed tremendous success from hits such as "Easy," "Three Times a Lady" and "Brick House." In 1981, Richie launched his solo career becoming one of the most successful artists of the 80s with five number 1 singles and thirteen consecutive Top 10 hits in the U.S. In 1982, Richie released his self-titled debut which hit #3 on the music charts selling over 4 million copies. His follow up album "Can't Slow Down" sold over twice as many copies and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1984. His third album "Dancing on the Ceiling" was released in 1986 and was once again a smash hit with fan favorites such as "Say You, Say Me," Dancing on the Ceiling," and "Se La." Richie's most recent album "Coming Home" was released in the Fall of 2006 and features yet another top hit "I Call It Love" signifying his immense commercial success.  
John Legend \* John Legend is a Grammy winning American R&B singer, songwriter, and pianist. His debut album, the platinum selling Get Lifted, was released in late 2004 and featured collaborations with rapper and producer Kanye West as well as rapper Snoop Dogg. The singles "Used To Love U" made the US top 100, and the UK top 30 and "Ordinary People" made the US and UK top 30. He also collaborated with Slum Village on the song "Selfish" (US top 100), also featuring Kanye West. Legend also lent his piano skills on Lauryn Hill's "Everything is Everything" and sang background vocals on Jay-Z's "Encore," Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name," and Fort Minor's "High Road." The first single from his sophomore album, "Once Again", is "Save Room". The album is due in stores October 24, 2006 and boasts production from Kanye West, Raphael Saadiq, and will.i.am.  
Rihanna \* A native of the Caribbean island nation of Barbados, Rihanna received her big break at the age of sixteen when she auditioned for Def Jam CEO Jay-Z and was offered a recording contract on the spot. Her debut album "Music of the Sun," which she co-wrote, was released in August 2005, and followed by the smash hit "Pon de Replay" which peaked at number two on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. In 2006, Rihanna signed on for several endorsement deals, including Nike and J.C. Penney. She also released her second album, A Girl Like Me, less than eight months after the release of her debut album. The album dropped at number five in the U.S. and number six in the UK. The lead single, "SOS," was used in her endorsement deal with Nike and became Rihanna's first number one on the Hot 100 chart and became the second biggest first week digital single ever. Nobel Concert 3  
The second single, "Unfaithful", became her third top ten hit in the U.S & the U.K. making "A Girl Like Me" Rihanna's biggest selling album to date and becoming certified platinum by the RIAA.  
Paulina Rubio \* Paulina Rubio is a Mexican singer and actress who has become a household name across Latin America and Spain. Her 2002 hit single in English "Don't Say Goodbye" helped catapult her recognition in the United States. Rubio has sold over 16 million albums worldwide and is the number one female pop vocalist in Mexico. Her latest album titled Ananda was released this September and reached the #1 spot in most of the Latin American charts and in Spain. The album hit #25 in the U.S. Billboard Top 200.  
Wynonna \* Wynonna first came into the music scene as part of the mother-daughter duo, The Judds, in 1984 and has been one of the finest vocalists of our time since. Since her career began some of her achievements include no fewer than 20 #1 singles, a Grammy award and a performance at Super Bowl XXVIII in 1994. In 2005 she released the musical journey of her life (on double-live CD and recently certified gold DVD) entitled Her Story: Scenes from a Lifetime. Wynonna recently released her first-ever solo Christmas CD entitled, A Classic Christmas, on which she delivers soulful, contemporary renditions of her favorite holiday songs.  
Simply Red \* The British soul-pop band Simply Red was formed in 1984 by singer Mick "Red" Hucknall. The group signed to Elektra Records and released Picture Book (October 1985), which featured "Money's Too Tight (To Mention)," a Top 40 cover of a 1982 R&B chart single by the Valentine Brothers, and "Holding Back the Years," a Hucknall original that topped the U.S. charts. The single caused the album to go platinum, and made the group one of the major successes of 1986. Men and Women (March 1987), which featured two collaborations between Hucknall and soul songwriter Lamont Dozier, generated the Top 40 hit "The Right Thing." The third album, A New Flame (February 1989), went gold due to the cover of the 1972 Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes hit "If You Don't Know Me By Now" that hit number one and became a gold single. The fourth album, Stars (September 1991), spawned Top 40 hits in "Something Got Me Started" and "Stars" and eventually went gold and became a major success in the U.K., where it was the best-selling album of 1991, topped the charts for 19 weeks. Worldwide, it had sold eight-and-a-half million copies by the second quarter of 1993. Simply Red's fifth album, Life (October 1995) proved more of a success at home than in America, topping charts all over Europe, as did its leadoff single, "Fairground." Blue followed in 1998, and a year later Simply Red issued Love and the Russian Winter. After establishing their simplyred.com label, Home was released in 2003. Two years later, the band released Simplified, a collection of old tracks and new songs. Hakim \* Hakim was born in Maghagha, a small town in Al Minya, Egypt and became influenced by the great Sha'bi singer Ahmed Adaweyah. When he was a teenager he formed a new modern band that blended Western, Middle Eastern, and oriental instruments for a fresh sound, and they quickly became Minya's most popular group. His break came when he met producer Hamid El-Shaeri and made his first album, "Nazra" (1991). After the release of his second album "Nar" (1994), Hakim was picked to represent Egypt at the Festival des Allumees in Nantes, France. Two years later a nomination for the Kora Award in the category of Best North African Singer confirmed his regal status (he won the award in 2000). In 200 he released the single "Yaho," which went over the million mark in his homeland and became a smash hit in the United States. In 2004 he released his album "El Youmein Dool" including a duet track with the famous American Soul/Funk singer James Brown.  
Renee Fleming \* The world-renowned opera singer's first major break came in 1988 when she sang the part of the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro at the Houston Grand Opera. Following her critically acclaimed performance, Fleming went on to debut with the New York City Opera and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1989. In 1991 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1997, Fleming sang her first Manon at the Opera Bastille to glowing reviews. In addition to the standard operatic repertoire, Fleming performs new music, Broadway show tunes and other popular genres. Fleming sang in the world premiere of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles with the Metropolitan Opera, in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's first performances of Floyd's Susannah, and as Blanche in the world premiere of Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, with the San Francisco Opera.  
Morten Abel \* Norwegian pop star, Morten Abel has sold over half a million albums as a solo artist, and was the first pop artist in Norway to sell out Oslo Spektrum \* the biggest indoor concert arena in Norway with a capacity of 9000. On November 27th in Norway, he will release his fifth solo album "Some Of Us Will Make It."  
The Nobel Peace Prize Concert is organized by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in cooperation with Dinamo Story and IMG.