dog the bounty hunter

Dog the Bounty Hunter is a reality television show on A&E which chronicles Duane "Dog" Chapman's adventures as a fugitive recovery agent, or bounty hunter. With a few exceptions, the show takes place in Hawaii or Dog's home state of Colorado.
After 8 seasons, on May 21, 2012, TMZ reported that Dog had been cancelled

Cast

Duane "Dog" Chapman is joined by his business partner and wife, Beth Chapman; his grown sons Duane Lee Chapman, II and Leland Chapman, and his "brother," Tim "Youngblood" Chapman (despite having the same last name, Chapman and Tim are not biologically related). In Season 2, Dog's teenage daughter, "Baby" Lyssa Chapman returns home and becomes a member of the bounty-hunting team. Justin Bihag (son of longtime family friend Moon Bihag) also helps out during Season 1 and occasionally later.
[edit]Production history

The program spun off from Chapman's appearance on the show Take This Job, a program about people with unusual occupations. Both shows are produced for A&E by Hybrid Films, a New York-based production company. Dog the Bounty Hunter captured an audience immediately by drawing viewers into the interaction of Chapman and his family/team, mixing street smarts, romance, arguments, teamwork, adrenaline-laced arrests, and a philosophy of hope and second chances. Viewers responded to the family's ability to overcome their own criminal histories to live law-abiding and Christian faith-based lives.[citation needed]
Viewers are taken along as Chapman and his family/team locate and arrest people who have broken the terms of their bail agreements. Bounty hunts and arrests segue into the rides to jail, during which Chapman and his team show compassion and strongly counsel the fugitives to start over, leaving behind drugs and/or crime to become dependable members of their families and society. Rounding out most episodes are scenes featuring Dog, Beth, and their large family of children, grandchildren and friends.
As the show progressed, viewers were taken further behind the scenes during Baby Lyssa's training as a licensed bail bondsman and bounty hunter, Dog's capture of Andrew Luster and the ensuing arrests of Chapman, Tim and Leland in Mexico, the deaths of Beth's father (Garry Smith) and Dog's oldest daughter (Barbara Katie Chapman), Chapman and Beth's 2006 wedding, Baby Lyssa's wedding and the birth of her second child, and the shock and fear of the family after Dog, Tim and Leland were arrested by federal marshalls in Hawaii to await possible extradition to Mexico. Chapman and Beth freely invited viewers into their lives, sharing personal stories about Chapman's 1976 imprisonment, his ex-wives and custody battles, his baby son who died at one month old, Beth's son whom she had given up for adoption, Chapman's son Tucker's imprisonment for violent crimes, Beth's arrest as a teenager, Chapman's complicated relationship with his own father, and the struggle for the team to be accepted as professional bounty hunters. Conversely, some family situations have been omitted from the program, such as several family divorces, Tim's arrest (and acquittal), and details about some of Chapman's children.[citation needed]
Da kine Bail Bonds' main location, run by Chapman and Beth, is in Honolulu, Oahu. Leland Chapman has established his own Da kine Bail Bonds office in Wailuku on the Maui (island), where he lives. Episodes are also filmed in Colorado Springs, Colorado and in the family's hometown of Denver, Colorado, where they make extended visits to bounty hunt for their own company there as well as several other companies run by long-time friends (and sometimes former rivals).[citation needed]
[edit]Music
Heavy metal artist Ozzy Osbourne sings the show's theme song, "Dog the Bounty Hunter". The song can be heard on Ozzy's Prince of Darkness box set (CD #3). Many episodes feature at least one song from a band that is either unsigned or with an independent label, usually played during an action scene. These songs are plugged at the end of each episode, following the closing credits. Several episodes in season three and four have music from NYC-based dub reggae group Subatomic Sound System's On All Frequencies album. Featured songs include: "Criminal", "Doin' It", and "Ghetto Champion". Soulja Boy's music video for "Yahhh!" includes an impersonation of "Dog".
[edit]International Syndication
In Australia, viewers can watch the show on A&E and Go! The show was previously shown on FOX8, until the launch of A&E in Australia during February 2012. In Germany, it is broadcast on RTL II. In New Zealand, the show is broadcast on Prime TV. Fans in Norway can see it on MAX, and in Sweden, it is available on Kanal 5. In Canada, the show is available via the United States-based A&E. Beginning in July 2011, A&E is running four repeat episodes per day during the week (7:00-9:00am, with the last hour repeating from 2:00-3:00pm). It debuted in the UK on Bravo, and then on Virgin 1. Both channels have since closed, and after a period of time, they started airing again on Sky2. Dog's favorite band the Rock band Styx.
In Italy, starting in 2007, a special adaptation of Dog the Bounty Hunter was aired on the GXT satellite channel.
[edit]Season 4 hiatus
Production and airing of the show was halted by A&E on November 2, 2007, after an audio tape was released, featuring Duane Chapman using the word "nigger" repeatedly in a discussion about the word itself with son Tucker regarding Tucker's black girlfriend's probable sensitivity to the word. Tucker had sold the tape to the National Enquirer, and it quickly was picked up by numerous print and broadcast media outlets. This media exposure led Duane to make an apology on CNN's Larry King Live for his lack of sensitivity on the matter, educate himself and vow to make amends. On February 19, 2008, A&E announced that the show would return.[4] Reruns of Dog the Bounty Hunter, along with never-before-seen episodes from season 4, began airing on June 25, 2008, and the show continued, along with special episodes about the arrest and fallout from the Luster situation.
[edit]Season 7 shooting

This section is outdated. Please update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information. Please see the talk page for more information. (January 2012)
On April 21, 2009, during filming of Season 7, Chapman was allegedly shot at with a handgun while his crew, along with bail bondsman Bobby Brown, were attempting to arrest a fugitive named Hoang Nguyen in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The suspect escaped on a motorcycle and was captured by Chapman about six hours later. This is contrary to evidence shown on the A&E airing of this episode, Easy Rider, on December 16, 2009. According to Chapman's website and TMZ, Nguyen was arrested and charged with attempted homicide related to the shooting attempt of Chapman and the Chapman family. On May 15, 2009, the El Paso County Assistant District attorney dropped the attempted murder charge against the alleged shooter due to lack of evidence and conflicting statements by Chapman, his son Leland, and bail bondsman Bobby Brown. The prosecutors also state that they have not received the requested video footage from the incident which was allegedly filmed by the television crew.[citation needed] In March 2011, Nguyen filed a lawsuit against Chapman, Brown, and Chapman's sons Duane Chapman II and Leland Chapman. In the lawsuit, Nguyen claims he lost his job as a result of the incident and had to relocate. He also says he was injured by pepper pellets that were allegedly fired at him. Chapman's attorney, James A. Quadra, told Celebrity Crime Reporter the lawsuit has no basis "in law or fact."[5] The lawsuit went to mediation the first week of March 2011. Should the mediation fail to produce a settlement, the matter would proceed to trial on November 28, 2011.[6]
[edit]Duane Lee and Leland quit
In 2011 Leland and Duane Lee severed all ties with their family.[7] in March 21, 2012 episode showed Duane Lee telling Beth “You want me fired, you gotta fire me," and then Leland weighed in, saying “I quit too.”[8] In January 2012, the two brothers admitted leaving the show‎.[8] In a tweet from Beth she wrote, "It will take 6 weeks to get thru the whole thing tonight's just the beginning‎".[8]
In September 2011 Bobby Brown, who appeared in 30 episodes, sued A&E Television Networks, Hybrid Films, and D&D Television Productions in Colorado federal court, claiming he was promised to be a full cast member, but received only $6,000 for his contributions.[9] The lawsuit is for "the misappropriation of his publicity rights as well as claims of breach of contract and promises.[9]
[edit]Show cancelled
On May 21, 2012 the Hollywood Reporter confirmed with A&E that Dog the Bounty Hunter was cancelled.[10]
[edit]Books

The television series led to a 2007 autobiographical book, You Can Run But You Can't Hide, which chronicles Chapman's years before becoming a bounty hunter and some of his more infamous hunts, including the controversial hunt that took him and his team to Mexico to capture serial rapist Andrew Luster. It also delves into his criminal past as well as his family background, imprisonment in Texas, marriages, and children.[11][12] A second book, Where Mercy Is Shown, Mercy Is Given, was published in 2009. Its title reflects Chapman's overriding philosophy of second chances, which he writes about at length as he asks the public for a second chance of his own. The book largely deals with the fallout from two factors: the federal marshals' arrest and the scandal over his use of the word "nigger".
[edit]Family and friends appearances

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.
Tucker Chapman (Duane's son)
Wesley Chapman (Duane's son)
Dominic Davis (Beth's son)
Cecily Barmore-Chapman (Beth's daughter)
Bonnie Joanne Chapman (Duane & Beth's daughter)
Garry Chapman (Duane & Beth's son)
Dylan Chapman (Duane's grandson, Duane Lee's son)
Travis Chapman-Mimms (Duane's grandson/ Barbara Katie & Travis Mimms' son)
Abbie Mae Chapman (Duane's granddaughter/Lyssa's daughter)
Madalynn Grace Chapman-Galanti (Lyssa and Bo's daughter) (birth featured in the episode Bounty Baby).
Cobie Chapman (Duane's grandson, Leland & Maui's son)
Dakota Chapman (Duane's grandson, Leland & Maui's son)
Leiah Brianna Chapman (Duane's granddaughter, Leland & Lynette daughter) (birth featured in the episode And Baby Makes Three).
Lynette Yi (Leland's fiancé)
Harrison Chapman (Duane`s grandson)
Garry Smith (Beth's late father)
Travis Mimms (Duane & Beth's son-in-law/ Travis Chapman-Mimms' father)
Tim Chapman (Tim's son)
Summer Rain Chapman (Tim's daughter)
Autumn Sky Chapman (Tim's daughter)
Storm Chapman (Tim's son)
Teresa Chapman (Duane Lee's ex-wife)
Brent Gardiner ( Tim's Nephew in law)
Jodi Chapman (Duane Lee's ex-stepdaughter)
Maui Chapman (Leland's ex-wife)
Brahman "Bo" Galanti (Lyssa's ex-husband)
Serena Galanti (Bo's daughter)
Davina Chapman (Tim's ex-wife)
Moon Bihag (Justin's mother/family friend)
Bobby Brown (Bondsman)
Jamie Hackett (Bondsmen)
Chris Pollack (Bondsmen)
Fred Pollack (Bondsmen)
Mary Ellen Pollack (Bondswoman)
Sherri Pollack (Bondswoman)
Erik Schneider (Bounty Hunter for Mary Ellen Pollack)
Alysin Frickey-Hauptner (Intern/bail writer & Beth's Personal Assistant)
[edit]Appearances on other shows

Chapman and Beth appeared in the Corner Gas episode "Coming Distractions", in which - during a daydream - they show up to arrest Brent.
Chapman appeared with his wife Beth on the Criss Angel Mindfreak one hour special. Dog tied Criss up to a chair and lowered him into a hot tub. After four minutes, Criss loosened the ties but could not fully free himself.
Chapman has appeared on Detroit's popular radio show, Dave and Chuck "The Freak".[when?]
Chapman appeared as himself in an episode of The George Lopez Show, wherein George goes to his mother's neighborhood to pick up her pet dog and meets "Dog" instead.
Chapman appeared as himself in the season two finale "The Trial" of the NBC show My Name Is Earl, capturing Joy Darville in Mexico.
Chapman and Beth attended Gene Simmons Wedding to Shannon Tweed on Gene Simmons Family Jewels.[episode needed]
At the end of the Hawaii Five-0 episode "Lekio", James Caan can be seen wearing a Da Kine Bail Bonds t-shirt. Hawaii Five-0 is set in Honolulu, the same city as Da Kine's main office.
[edit]Satirical references

Chapman has been parodied in live action productions.
In Season 3, Episode 13 of Boston Legal, "Dumping Bella", Chapman is referred to by Alan as one of the only two people he truly admires, and as such the only candidate besides Shirley herself to be his costume for the party.
In Season 3, Episode 9 of 30 Rock Jenna says "Now Dog The Bounty Hunter is the second grossest guy I've been with."
Chapman has also been parodied in both motion animation and print:
In the American Dad! episode "Joint Custody", Roger dresses up as Chapman, and tries to hunt down Jeff Fischer.
In the Family Guy episode "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side", Stewie calls a bounty hunter meeting and Chapman is briefly seen.
Chapman and the TV show were all parodied on Cartoon Network's television program, Mad, as "Frog the Bounty Hunter".[episode needed]
In the 2006 season South Park episode "Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy", Eric Cartman dressed up as Chapman, and had a TV show filmed of himself, Beth and Chapman's familiar crew after he was made a school hall monitor.
[edit]DVD releases

DVD name Ep # Release date Additional information
The Best of Season 1 7 January 25, 2005 Features Dog's episode of Take This Job, cast biographies, and promos.
The Best of Season 2 7 March 29, 2006 Features cast biographies and a pop-up dog hunting quiz.
The Best of Season 3 8 February 27, 2007 Features a photo gallery.
The Best of Season 4 8 August 26, 2008
The Best of Season 5 8 September 8, 2009
The Wedding Special 1 December 12, 2006 Features 5 featurettes titled:
The Drama of Dog's Wedding Ring,
Dance Lessons,
Shopping with Beth,
The Bow Wow Vow, and
A Tribute to Dog & Beth.
The Arrest 1 September 25, 2007
Features additional scenes.
Also Features The Special Double Episode Year of the Dog.
Crime is on the Run
To Seize and Protect
Special Edition- Previously Unreleased
[edit]References

^ "Dog the Bounty Hunter Episode Guide". 2012-01-01.
^ http://www.tmz.com/2012/05/21/dog-chapman-bounty-hunter-show-canceled/
^ ‘Dog The Bounty Hunter’ Canceled After Eight Seasons By A&E
^ "Bounty Hunter "Dog" to return to the air". Reuters. February 20, 2008.
^ "Dog the Bounty Hunter's Attorney on Lawsuit: "The Chapmans Acted Properly"". Celebrity Crime Reporter. March 04, 2011.
^ Stanley, Deb (March 2, 2011). "Lawsuit Against 'Dog' The Bounty Hunter Goes To Mediation". The Denver Channel.
^ http://entertainment.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981071574.
^ a b c "'Dog The Bounty Hunter': Did Leland And Duane Lee Quit The Business, Or Were They Fired?". Huffington Post . 03/22/2012. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
^ a b "'Dog the Bounty Hunter,' A&E Sued by Bail Bondsman". Hollywood Reporter. 9/19/2011. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
^ "A&E Cancels 'Dog the Bounty Hunter'". Hollywood Reporter. 5/21/2012. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
^ http://www.dogthebountyhunterbook.com/
^ Hank, Melissa (2004-07-10). "Dog: The Bounty Hunter, unleashed". TV Guide. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
[edit]External links

Official website
Dog the Bounty Hunter at A&E
Dog the Bounty Hunter at the Internet Movie Database
http://video.tvguide.com/Shows/dog+the+bounty+hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter at TV.com

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Rielle Hunter

Rielle Hunter ( /riːˈɛl/ ree-el; born Lisa Jo Druck on March 20, 1964, also known as Lisa Hunter,[1] Lisa Jo Hunter,[1] and Rielle Jaya James Druck)[2] is an American actress and film producer. She is known for having had an affair with and conceiving a child with 2004 Democratic Party vice-presidential nominee John Edwards.[3][4] She is said to be the basis of a character in a Jay McInerney novel.[5][6] and she was an early adopter of YouTube as a means of distributing political viral marketing.[7] Her father was implicated in a horse insurance fraud scandal, which involved the intentional killing of her horse when she was a teenager.

Family and early life

Druck was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.[9] Her parents, James Druck (1934–1990) and Gwen Druck, owned Eagle Nest Farm in Ocala, Florida, where they raised show horses. They had four daughters. James Druck was a wealthy lawyer with his own private airplane, who specialized in defending insurance companies.[10]
Druck went to St. John Lutheran School[11] and North Marion High School in Ocala.[12] After high school, Druck attended the University of Tampa, but she transferred after 2 years to the University of Florida. In her junior year she withdrew from UF to move to New York City to pursue an acting career.[13][14]
[edit]Horse murders and Henry the Hawk

Main article: Horse murders
According to ABC News, Lisa Druck was "a prize-winning equestrian when her father was implicated" in the horse murders scandal, "an ugly plot to electrocute horses for insurance money".[15] The convicted criminal and FBI informant Tommy "The Sandman" Burns stated that James Druck was involved in the 1982 insurance fraud death of Lisa's show jumper Henry the Hawk. Gwen and James Druck divorced that same year; Lisa was 17 years old at the time.[16][17] James Druck was never charged, and he died of cancer in New York City in 1990.[11][15][18]
[edit]Literary inspiration

"Brat Pack" novelist Jay McInerney said that his former girlfriend Hunter is the basis for the lead character Alison Poole in the 1988 novel Story of My Life. McInerney described their relationship and Hunter's role as the inspiration for the character in an interview in 2005.[19][20][21] McInerney also said that he chose to write about her and her friends because he was both "intrigued and appalled" by their behavior.[19][20][21][22][23]
There was open speculation that Story of My Life was a roman à clef novel when it first appeared; to New York Magazine's questions "Is it real? Did it happen?" McInerney replied, "I'm anticipating some of that kind of speculation, but I'm utterly confident of not having any lawsuits on my hands. The book is a fully imagined work of fiction. On the other hand, it's not to say that I didn't make use of [pause] … That's why I live in New York. Mine is not an autonomous imagination."[24]
In 2008, McInerney incorporated the John Edwards affair into the Allison Poole followup story "Penelope on the Pond" in his collections The Last Bachelor and How It Ended.[25]
[edit]Marriage and name change

Lisa Druck married attorney Alexander M. "Kip" Hunter III (born April 14, 1959) in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on August 3, 1991,[26] and they moved from New York to establish a new home in Beverly Hills, California. She changed her name to Rielle Hunter in 1994.[26][27]
Rielle Hunter filed for divorce in October 1999,[26] which was finalized September 1, 2000.[14][14][26]
[edit]Acting, film, and video career

During the 1980s and 1990s, as Lisa Hunter and Lisa Jo Hunter, she appeared in several films, including Ricochet (1991) in which she portrayed a reporter.[1]
According to People, during this same period, while she was married to Alexander Hunter, her husband "financed the production of a play for her – a coming-of-age story about a group of tough 30-something New Yorkers [...] titled Savage in Limbo," which co-starred Elizabeth Dennehy.[28]
In 2000, as Rielle Hunter, she wrote, acted in, and produced a comedy short called Billy Bob and Them, which starred Wolfgang Bodison. At that time her production company was called R Hunter Films.[29]
In 2002, Hunter appeared as a contestant on the GSN series Lingo (episode #1061, hosted by Chuck Woolery), on which she and her partner together won $500.[30]
[edit]Midline Groove Productions
In July 2006, Hunter formed the production company Midline Groove Productions LLC with her partner Mimi Godfrey Hockman. This company, which was based in South Orange, NJ, produced campaign promotional videos for John Edwards. The series of ads, "Inspiring Politics: A Webisode Series Following John Edwards," was broadcast on the worldwide web rather than through conventional television. According to the Associated Press, Edwards' One America Committee paid Midline Groove Productions $100,000 on July 6, 2006, five days after Hunter incorporated the firm in Delaware. The committee later made two subsequent payments totaling $14,461, the final one on April 1, 2007.[31] In all, Midline Groove filmed and produced four of these short videos; the shortest was 2½ minutes long.[32]
Hunter's videos were uploaded to YouTube. Recognition of the innovative nature of the series was given by BusinessWeek magazine, which included one of the episodes in a 2006 feature on new developments in web video. Catherine Holoran, writing for the magazine, noted that the Hunter videos had effectively announced the presidential candidacy of Edwards ten days before he released the information to the mainstream media. Holoran stated that Hunter's series marked a "tipping point" in the history of web video which "sent the message that online video [... is ...] a serious medium, ready to contend with traditional media for audiences and ad dollars." [33] In 2008, Maria Russo, the reviewer of websites for the Los Angeles Times, also mentioned that Hunter had been among the earliest adopters of You Tube for viral marketing purposes, and was the first filmmaker who exploited that venue for political campaign marketing.[34]
[edit]Involvement with John Edwards

Main article: John Edwards extramarital affair
In 2006, Hunter had pitched the idea of a series of short informal campaign videos to Democrat John Edwards when she met him at a bar in New York, where he was attending a business meeting.[35] The Edwards campaign soon hired her to produce a series of promotional videos portraying behind-the-scenes life on the campaign trail and Hunter filmed and produced four of these short videos for the 2008 presidential campaign of John Edwards.[35][36][37][38][39]
In October 2007, The National Enquirer, a US tabloid, cited claims by an anonymous source that Edwards had engaged in an extramarital affair with Hunter during Edwards's 2008 presidential campaign and that Hunter was pregnant. After a report by the National Enquirer on December 19, 2007, Hunter announced she was pregnant with the child of Andrew Young, a married man who is a former staffer for John Edwards' presidential campaign. Young, his wife Cheri, and their young children were living outside of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, at the time in the same "Governor's Club" complex where Hunter was renting.[26] Soon afterward, the Youngs and Hunter moved to California.[40]
On February 27, 2008, Hunter, at age 43,[41] gave birth to a daughter in Santa Barbara, California, but did not list the child's father's name on the birth certificate.[26] She gave her own name as "Rielle Jaya James Druck" on her daughter's birth certificate, but gave the child the surname "Hunter".[2]
In July 2008, The National Enquirer claimed that Edwards was the father of Hunter's child.[42] On August 8, Edwards admitted the affair, but denied that he was the father of Hunter's child and stated that he was willing to take a paternity test.[43][44] The Washington Post reported that Robert Gordon (Hunter's attorney) stated that she had refused to allow a DNA test to establish paternity "now or in the future."[45] However, Hunter's sister had publicly asked Edwards to take a paternity test to verify whether the child is his or not.[46]
On August 12, 2008, a friend of Hunter's, Pigeon O'Brien, told CBS News that Edwards had lied about the time line of the affair. She claimed that the affair began in February 2006, six months before Edwards hired Hunter, and said that the affair was not a brief liaison, but a mutual, committed relationship based on love, or so Edwards led Hunter to believe.[47] On August 13, 2008, Hunter's sister, Roxanne Druck Marshall, personally apologized to John Edwards's wife Elizabeth for her sister's behavior. She also claimed that Edwards had lied in his confession because, she claimed, the affair had been ongoing.[48]
On January 21, 2010, Edwards admitted publicly that he is the father of Hunter's daughter Quinn.

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Cissy Houston

Emily "Cissy" Houston (born September 30, 1933) is a Grammy Award–winning American soul and gospel singer. She led a successful career as a backup singer for such artists as Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, Wishbone Ash and Aretha Franklin, and is now primarily a solo artist. She is mother to the late singer and actress Whitney Houston and aunt of Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick.

Family and childhood

[edit]Early life
Houston was born in Newark, New Jersey to Nitcholas and Delia Mae Drinkard (née McCaskill) who had seven older children: sons William, Hansom, Nicky, and Larry, and daughters Lee, Marie and Anne. [1]
Houston's father Nitcholas Drinkard was born to a part Dutch, part African-American, mother Susan Bell Drinkard (née Fuller)[2] and a Native American father John Drinkard, Jr.[1] The Drinkards owned a substantial amount of farmland in Blakely, Georgia during a time when it was unusual for blacks to own large portions of land. The asset was gradually depleted as small portions of the land was sold, over time, to resolve the continued legal troubles of a close relative. [2]
After Houston's three oldest siblings were born, the family relocated to New Jersey during the Second Great Migration. [2] Emphasis was placed on education and church while her father encouraged Houston and her sibling to sing.[2] In 1938 when Houston was 5 years old her mother, Delia, suffered a stroke and died of cerebral hemorrhage three years later. Cissy and her siblings went to live with her older sister Lee and her family. Her father later died of stomach cancer in 1951 when Houston was 18.[3][4][2]
[edit]Marriage and children
In 1955, Houston married Freddie Garland and had a son, Gary Garland.[5] The Garlands divorced soon after. In 1959, she married Army serviceman and entertainment executive John Russell Houston, Jr.[6][7] The couple had a son Michael Houston and a daughter Whitney Houston (1963–2012).[8][9]
Houston has six grandchildren.[10]
[edit]Career

[edit]The Drinkard Singers
Houston's singing career began in 1938 when she joined her sister Anne and brothers Larry and Nicky in the gospel singing group the Drinkard Four. Houston's sister, Lee (who would later become the mother of singers Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick), later joined the group along with Ann Moss and Marie Epps, and the group was renamed The Drinkard Singers. Houston and the Drinkard Singers regularly performed at New Hope Baptist Church and later recorded a live album for RCA called A Joyful Noise.[11]
[edit]Sweet Inspirations
In 1963, then about to give birth to daughter Whitney Houston, she formed the Sweet Inspirations with Doris Troy and niece Dee Dee Warwick. Later, under contract to Atlantic Records, Sylvia Shemwell, Estelle Brown and Myrna Smith form the line-up.
During the mid-1960s, the Sweet Inspirations provided backup vocals for a variety of artists, including Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Lou Rawls, The Drifters, Dusty Springfield and Houston's niece Dionne Warwick. They appeared on Van Morrison's single Brown Eyed Girl. Houston performed the operatic soprano melody on the Aretha Franklin hit, Ain't No Way.[12]
In 1967, The Sweet Inspirations sang background vocals for The Jimi Hendrix Experience on the track The Burning of the Midnight Lamp.[13]
In 1969 they were hired to sing backing vocals for Elvis Presley in Las Vegas on his return to live performances during July and August 1969. Presley often introduced them at shows by saying, "They really live up to their name ladies & gentleman, The Sweet Inspirations!" [14] Many of these performances can be heard on the All Shook Up and Live In Las Vegas live records.[15]
Performing with Elvis Presley was Houston's final gig with The Sweet Inspirations. As her children were growing bigger, she decided to stop touring and focus on her career as a recording artist.[16]
[edit]Solo career
In 1969, Houston signed a recording contract with Commonwealth United Records and recorded her solo debut Presenting Cissy Houston which was released in 1970.[17] It contained several well received singles, including covers of "I'll Be There" and "Be My Baby".
After her contract was sold to Janus Records, Houston recorded several more singles in the early 1970s and another album, which included the original recording of Jim Weatherly's "Midnight Train to Georgia", later a number one hit for Gladys Knight & The Pips. Houston later blamed poor promotion for the failure of her earlier version.
In 1977, Houston was signed by Private Stock, working with arranger/producer Michael Zager on three albums. The second included her big disco hit "Think It Over", which climbed to #32 on the Billboard R&B chart and just missed the Hot 100 in 1979. She represented USA at the World Popular Song Festival in 1979 with a track called "You're the Fire", landing second place and winning the "Most Outstanding Performance Award". This also appeared on her 1980 disco-flavored album, "Step Aside for a Lady", again produced by Michael Zager, but released on Columbia (on EMI in the UK).
[edit]Session musician
Houston's cross genre singing style has kept her highly in demand as a session musician with some of the world's most successful recording artists.
She sang back-up on Bette Midler's 1972 debut album, The Divine Miss M. In 1974 she sang back-up on Linda Ronstadt's Heart Like A Wheel, an album that topped Billboards Pop and Country Album Charts in early 1975.
In 1971, Houston was featured on three tracks on Burt Bacharach's solo record: Mexican Divorce, All Kinds of People and One Less bell to Answer.
During 1975 and 1976, she worked with jazz flute-player Herbie Mann on two Atlantic albums Waterbed and Surprises featuring on three tracks "Violet Don't Be Blue", JJ Cale's "Cajun Moon" and "Easter Rising".
In addition to her work as choirmaster at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, NJ, Cissy performed frequently at clubs in NYC including Mikell's, Sweetwaters, Seventh Avenue South, and Fat Tuesday from the late 1970s through the 1980s.
Whitney Houston, her daughter and backup singer, increasingly sang solos with Cissy's band, including the Streisand hit Evergreen. They would collaborate on Ain't No Way (originally a Cissy Houston and Aretha Franklin vehicle), on which Cissy sang "Cissy" and Whitney "Aretha".
Whitney's "coming-out" performance took place at Sweetwaters,[18] whereupon she was signed by Clive Davis for Arista Records.
In 1985, the small UK independent label Glitter released a single, With You I Could Have It All and Whatcha Gonna Do About Our Love. The 12-inch single featured both a ballad and a dance version of the song.
[edit]Gospel soloist and duets
In 1996 Houston received the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album for Face to Face, an album that contained a Gospel version of "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)".
In 1996 she also contributed one song to the gospel soundtrack album for the film The Preacher's Wife, which starred her daughter Whitney Houston.
In 1998 she won her second Grammy for her album He Leadeth Me.
She has also continued to record infrequent secular material and in 1987, Houston and her daughter Whitney recorded a duet titled "I Know Him So Well", a cover of the original by Barbara Dickson and Elaine Paige from the Broadway show, Chess. This song also became a single in early 1989 as the 6th and last single release (in selected European countries) from Whitney's album Whitney. In 1992 she teamed up with Chuck Jackson for an album of solo and duet recordings entitled I'll Take Care of You.
In 2006, she recorded the song "Family First" with niece Dionne Warwick and daughter Whitney Houston for the soundtrack to the movie Daddy's Little Girls.
In 2010 Cissy attended the third annual BET Honors on behalf of her daughter Whitney, who received the entertainment award.
[edit]New Hope Baptist Church Youth Inspirational Choir
For more than fifty years, Houston has led the 200 member Youth Inspirational Choir at the New Hope Baptist Church.[19]
[edit]Discography

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Linda Bollea

Linda Marie Hogan now Linda Bollea (born 1959), reality tv star and ex wife of professional
wrestler Hulk Hogan

Wrestling-Online.com - Linda Bollea speaks for the first time on GMA following the divorce

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Matt Lauer

Matthew Todd "Matt" Lauer (born December 30, 1957)[1] is an American television journalist best known as the host of NBC's The Today Show since 1997.[1] He was previously a news anchor in New York[2] and a local talk-show host in Boston, Philadelphia, Providence and Richmond.[2] He was also host of PM Magazine (or "Evening Magazine" 1980-1986)[2] and worked for ESPN in the 1980s as a sideline reporter.[2] In the early 1990s, Lauer hosted segments of HBO Entertainment News.

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Carey Mulligan

Carey Hannah Mulligan[1] (born 28 May 1985)[2] is an English actress. She made her film debut as Kitty Bennet in Pride & Prejudice (2005). She had roles in numerous British programmes and, in 2007, made her Broadway debut in The Seagull to critical acclaim.
In 2009, she gained widespread recognition for playing the lead role of Jenny in An Education, winning a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and also being nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for her performance. She went on to star in such dramatic films as The Greatest, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Never Let Me Go, Drive and Shame.

2. Carey Mulligan 2011.10.18 - Craig Ferguson [HD]

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Jessica Chastain

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