My Journey

Bosan

2006-08-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hidup satu perjudian, menag tau kalah masa yg tentukan. Perlu ker hidup utk diteruskan klu diri sendiri rasa terpinggir dan terbuang, kata org setiap masalah ader jln penyelesaiannyer, tapi macam mana, berat kaki melangkah, berat lagi bahu yg memikul bebannyer. Hidup nie umpama sampan di laut, klu dayung ke kiri, ke ke kiri haluannya, kanan, kananlah haluangan, depan dan belakang semua sama sahaja halanyer,semua mengikut kayuhan kita. Pepatah ader kata" jangan di jolok sarang tebuan", tapi manusia mana dlm dunia nie yg pernah puas dlm semua hal, makin sarang tebuan tu besar, makin fikiran nie jadik geram, makin terasa diri tercabar nak menjolok jugak sarang tebuan.Bila nafsu meraja, hilang daya pemikiran yg sebenar, semua terasa indah, manusia sanggup buat apa sahaja kerana nafsu.

Entahlah, hidup aku penuh dengan kebosanan, bukan tak pernah cuba nak ceriakan diri sendiri, mcm2 cara dah dibuat, tp hanya utk sementara, bila senang kawan semua dtg, mcm semutlah, bila tabur gula, semua berebut, tapi bila dah habis gula, hilang semua, bayang pun tak nampak, betul kata org, kwn masa senang, ramai tapi bila kita susah umpama kita buangkan bangkai, takder org nak lalu dekat, hahahaha, kejam kata2 aku, aku bukan tulis utk menghukum org, tapi aku meluahkan pendapat aku, peduli apa aku ngan kata2 org, org blh tulis dan kata berbagai2, kenapa aku tak boleh, lantaklah apa org nak kata, hak aku, milik aku, blog aku.........

Hahahahahahaha, aku ketawa, aku suka, aku berjenaka, tapi di dalam siapa yg tahu, aku hidup mengharp kasih org, tak der siapa yg tahu, aku menangis di dalam kenangkan nasib ku, siapa yg peduli, org suka lihat aku ketawa, org suka lihat aku buat lawak bodoh, dan aku jugak tahu ader org yg membenci aku, mengata aku, tipu aku katakan manusia sempurna sifat, sedangkan nabi adam dulu pernah membuat kesilapan. Manusia ader macam2 ragam dan karenah, sebab tu manusia semua tak sempurna, klu manusia sempurna dia dah di panggil malaikat.Kawan ader yg depan baik, belakang menikam umpama sebilah pedang. Ader jugak kawan yg baik hati dan yg pemurah ngan rezeki.Ader jugak kawan yg mulut manis di depan, tapi di belakang busok macam longkang atau logi kumbahan najis.So kawan macam mana yg kita nak carik, terpulanglah, tepuk dada bukaklah minda.......Ada yg berkawan memilih rupa dan darjat, ader yg berkawan memilih saiz. Untuk apa kita berkawan sebenarnya, utuk menunjukkan kekayaan dan kemewahan yg kita ada. Atau bila diri merasa "akulah yg paling glamor", "ah, buat apa aku kawan ngan ko, bukannya dapat hasil pun".Begitu angkuh dan somnongnyer manusia yg bernama kawan. Bagi aku, persetan kan kawan yg macam tu, tak rugi takder kawan yg mcm tu, manusia tak selamanyer menongkat langit, klu tuhan kata masa ko dah sampai, patah jugak tongkat nyer nanti.....so terpulang, bak kata pepatah melayu,"rambut sama hitam, hati lain-lain.

Cinta......................................

Ada apa dengan cinta, cinta itu indah ker, cinta itu suci ker.Bercakap pasal cinta, manusia yg mental pun akan bercakap pasal cinta.Cinta satu benda yg sedap didengar, cantik sebutan dan indah bahasanyer. Tapi aku tak faham pengertian cinta sebenarnya. Aku jadik bodoh pasal cinta. Aku jadi biul pasal cinta. Ader org sanggup mati kerana cinta, ader yg berkorban wang ringgit demi cinta, ader yg sanggup membunuh demi cinta. Tapi macam mana pulak definasi cinta bagi golongan aku, golongan PLU, nyeh. Apa maksud cinta bagi mereka?.Bagaimana nak mendapatkan cinta sejati?. Adakah cinta sejati utk golongan seperti aku nie?. Jawapanyer aku sendiri pun tak pasti. Perlukah cinta utk golongan seperti aku nie?. Lelaki bercinta sesama lelaki?, tak pelik ker bunyinyer, entahlah, hanya yg pernah melalui akan merasainyer. Aku pernah melaluinya.Memang sesuatu yg indah, tapi macam mana yer?Apa yg indahnyer?.

Apa pengertian cinta bagi kaum aku, bagi aku ia macam satu hubungan pasangan yg baru berkahwin agaknyer.Boleh aku umpakan jugak macam pasangan suami dan isteri (lelaki + lelaki),sama2 mengharapkan kasih sayang, saling memahami antara satu sama lain, bertolak ansur dlm apa keadaan(ader ker).Tapi persoalannyer, mampukah ia bertahan. Ader yg bersama selama seminggu, dua minggu, bulan n tahun. Aer ker yg kekal sampai ke akhir hayat, enthlah, aku pun tak fahamlah percintaan golongan aku nie.......

bersambung pada blog akan datang...........

MAN HUNT INTERNATIONAL 2006

2006-08-10T04:10:00.000-07:00

Jaime Augusto Mayol is the new Manhunt International 2006 Winner. He hails from the USA, East Coast. Born in Puerto Rico and went to college at Bingham Young University (BYN) in Utah, United States and holds a degree in International Bunsiness.Jaime Works as a sales and marketing executive in a public relations agency. He is also a professional volleyball player and has been playing volleyball for the last 9 years.He is 26 years old and stands at 1.88m. An Aquarius, he loves to sing, ride motorbikes and horse back riding. He comes from a family of 4 and his father is a lawyer.He goes to the gym 3 times a week. Jaime Augusto is the new face to look out for. Suave, handsome with a debonair and personality that will make you swoon. Jaime Augusto, your Manhunt International 2006 winner

MANHUNT INTERNATIONAL 2005

Tolgahan as he is fondly called hails from Istanbul, Turkey. He is the second Manhunt International from the Mediterranean region.

He is 24 years old and stand at 1.87 m tall. He used to model part time in his university school days and is now a graduate in business management. Now he models professionally in Istanbul, Paris and Milan.

Tolgahan is close to his mother and is a mummy's boy in every way. The first thing after winning was to call his mother to tell her the good news. Tolgahan is a pure blooded Turk with the great looks of David Beckham and Tom Cruise. His Zodiac sign is Sagittarius. He plays tennis, loves to dance and drive fast cars. His favorite sports is football. Tolgahan will be the next face to watch in the coming months.

Vital stats: Height: 1.87m; Weight: 78kgs Chest: 103 cm; Waist: 80 cm; Hips: 98cm Hair: Dark Brown; Eyes: Olive Green; Shoe size 43; Jacket size: 50

Supermodel

2006-08-09T05:15:00.000-07:00

Cindy Crawford, (born on February 20, 1966), is an American supermodel and actress known for having deviated from a strict matrix of perfection and distance from the audience, displaying a sense of humor, and a visible mole on her face. Her exercise-videos were a runaway hit; her acting pursuits were not hugely successful; she continues to be a celebrity endorser of a variety of projects.

Biography
Cindy Crawford was the first modern supermodel to pose for Playboy. She is ranked number 5 on Playboy 's list of the 100 Sexiest Stars of the Century. She has been on the cover of more than 600 magazines worldwide including Vogue, W, People, Harper's Bazaar, ELLE and Allure. A 1997 Shape magazine survey of 4,000 picked her as the second (after Demi Moore) most beautiful woman in the world.
Born in DeKalb, Illinois to John Crawford and Jennifer Moluf, her trademark is a visible mole on her face (although most people refer to it as a "beauty mark"). A series of exercise videos that she made were successful — more so than her acting pursuits. She continues to provide celebrity endorsement for a variety of projects.Cindy Crawford was discovered by chance by a newspaper photographer, who noticed then 16-year old Cindy at work during her summer job of detasselling corn and took a picture of her. The photo and the positive feedback she received were enough to convince her to take up modelling.Thanks to two summers of modelling, she was able to study chemical engineering at Northwestern University on a scholarship.The former high school valedictorian achieved the same exceptional grades in college as in high school, but didn't complete her studies. She left school in order to pursue a full-time modelling career. After working for photographer Victor Skrebneski in Chicago and becoming a success, Cindy moved to New York City in 1986.From 1989 to 1995, Crawford was host of MTV's House of Style. In 1992, roadside posters of her had to be removed in Norway when authorities noticed a 300% increase in the accident rate as motorists were distracted by them. In 1995 Crawford took her first movie role in Fair Game. Her performance was dismissed by critics, and the film was a financial failure, with expenses of $50 million and $11 million takings at the box office.Cindy Crawford is just over 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) tall, has a slim, well-toned figure, with brown hair and eyes. Her measurements are 34"-24"-35". She was the first modern supermodel to pose nude for Playboy magazine. She was ranked number 5 on Playboy's list of the 100 Sexiest Stars of the 20th century. She has been featured on the cover of more than 600 magazines worldwide including Vogue, W, People, Harper's Bazaar, ELLE and Allure. A 1997 Shape magazine survey of 4,000 picked her as the second (after Demi Moore) most beautiful woman in the world. In 2002, Crawford was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People magazine.Cindy Crawford's first marriage to actor Richard Gere lasted from 1991 to 1995. It was heavily rumoured that the marriage was a cover for their mutual homosexuality, but this was denied by both. Crawford is currently married to Rande Gerber (club owner) with two young children, Presely & Kaia. Gere has also since become a father. During their marriage, the rumors had been further fueled (and mocked) by Crawford when she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair in a semi-provocative pose with popular and openly lesbian singer k.d. lang in August 1993.

Cindy Crawford now owns her own production company, Crawdaddy Inc.
Filmography
· The Simian Line (2000) ... as Sandra
· Cindy Crawford: A New Dimension (2000)
· The Secret World of... Supermodels (1998)
· Beautopia (1998)
· Sesame Street: Elmopalooza! (1998)
· 54 (1998) ... as VIP Patron
· Frasier: Halloween (1997)
· Fair Game (1995) ... as Kate McQueen
· Catwalk (1995)
· Unzipped (1995)
· Cindy Crawford: The Next Challenge Workout (1993)
· Cindy Crawford: Shape Your Body Workout (1992)

WHITNEY HOUSTON,KYLIE MINOGUE & GEORGE MICHAEL

2006-08-08T06:20:00.000-07:00

Have you ever turned up for a magazine shoot and insisted on playing an imaginary piano? Or turned up four hours late for a dinner with Nelson Mandela with the excuse that you're tired? If the answer is no, then you are probably not Whitney Houston. With a voice that could shatter glass at ten paces and the kind of tantrums that would cause the most demanding of divas to comment, "Bit picky isn't she?" Whitney Houston rose to become the biggest selling soul and pop star of the 80's, at one point, even outselling Madonna in album sales. Recently in the news more for her drug problems (she checked into a drugs rehabilitation centre in March 2004) and her turbulent on-off marriage to R&B singer Bobby Brown, (he has recently served a prison sentence for violating the terms of his parole), Houston has still managed to maintain her eminence as a soul diva. Born on 9 August, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey, Whitney was destined for stardom almost as soon as she could walk. As the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston and a cousin of soul star Dionne Warwick, Whitney grew up surrounded by music. She grew up singing in the church choir but her natural talent and beauty stood out from the start. As a teenager she sang backing vocals for Chaka Khan and Lou Rawls and she dabbled successfully as a model, featuring on the covers of Seventeen and Glamour. She also appeared in TV commercials and sitcoms but these were just diversions and a warm-up for the main event, a singing career. At the age of 18 she signed a management contract with Gene Harvey who spent the next two years grooming her and working on her looks, acting and dance classes. In 1985 a 22-year-old Whitney signed with Arista Records and spent another two years honing her eponymously titled debut album under the guidance of Arista Records boss Clive Davis. The album was finally released in February, 1985 and spawned the massive hit singles Saving All My Love For You, a UK No.1, How Will I Know and The Greatest Love Of All. The album eventually sold more than 13m copies to become the best-selling debut of all time by a female solo artist. 1987's follow up album, Whitney, became the first album by a female artist to enter the US charts at No. 1 and with the singles including So Emotional and Where Do Broken Hearts Go, she became the first artist in history to score seven consecutive US No. 1 hits. Houston's acting and dancing lessons paid off in her dynamic MTV videos and in 1990 she became permanently enshrined in the hearts of the American public when she sang The Star Spangled Banner at the US Super Bowl in Miami. She also performed the song as she welcomed back US troops returning from the Gulf War. Whitney's massive success meant she would spend the following years touring. In her personal life, after being romantically linked with Eddie Murphy and Jermaine Jackson, Whitney surprised her family and friends by marrying the bad-boy of R&B Bobby Brown. Brown already had three out-of-wedlock children by two different women and his womanising and boozy ways were seen as inappropriate for the Prom Queen of soul. But despite Brown's apparent failure as hubby 'material', Houston continued to profess her love for him through numerous fights and disagreements. (Most recently, the police were called to the couple's house in New Jersey in January 2004 after Brown had allegedly hit Houston in a domestic row). Whitney spent the the best part of the 90's concentrating on her movie career. She also gave birth to a daughter, Bobbi Kristina. In 1992 Whitney made her movie debut in The Bodyguard with Kevin Costner. The film was a worldwide hit, earning £300m and spawning the most successful soundtrack album ever released with sales of 33m copies due largely to Houston's soaring interpretation of the Dolly Parton classic I Will Always Love You. The song was a UK No.1, spending 23 weeks on the chart. (Although it seemed longer!) In 1995 Whitney starred in Waiting For Exhale with Angela Bassett, a film about successful black women looking for good men. Again, the film and the soundtrack album was a massive hit. The soundtrack was co-produced by Houston and featured three new tracks from her: Exhale (Shoop Shoop), Count On Me and Why Does It Hurt So Bad. The album was a US No.1 and has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide to date. 1996 flick The Preacher's Wife didn't fare as spectacularly at the box office but the soundtrack gave Whitney a chance to get back in touch with her gospel roots. Performing on the album with her mother Cissy and Dionne Warwick, the album became the biggest selling gospel LP in Billboard's US chart history.

Whitney made a return to the studio for 1998's My Love Is Your Love album. With the songwriting help of Missy Elliott and Wyclef Jean on slick tracks such as It's Not Right (But It's OK) and the title track, the album was a confident attempt by Houston to update her R&B sound and to reclaim ground lost to the new diva superstars Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez. That same year news of a potentially catastrophic duet with Mariah Carey was announced. The strong-lunged, octave-jumping singers recorded When You Believe, the theme song from the animated flick The Prince of Egypt. Despite images of the divas out-doing eachother with outraeous requests - 14 puppies, 16 oiled midgets, etc, the recording process was comparatively smooth-running and the song was a transatlantic hit. Houston returned to the headlines in early 2000 with a series of incidents that indicated her personal life was under strain. She was arrested at Hawaii airport after a large quantity of cannabis was found in her bag and there were more "domestics" with hubby Bobby Brown. There were also rumours, after Whitney's late arrivals and no-shows at various industry awards bashes and concerts that she was perhaps 'refuelling' with something stronger than orange juice and a vitamin tablet. Nevertheless the rumours didn't deter Arista records from re-signing Whitney to a lucrative £70m contract in 2000. But two lukewarm albums, Love, Whitney (2001) and Just Whitney (2002) have done little to repay the label's faith in their superstar. And with the news that Whitney has just admitted herself to a drugs rehabilitation clinic, there may be some wait for the next repayament installment...

KYLIE MINOGUE BIOGRAPHY
Although she's only managed one hit in the U.S. since her arrival as a singer in 1987, Kylie Minogue is both Australia and Europe's biggest selling female pop singer over that period and a pop culture icon in those areas. Her image on the cover of magazines is guaranteed to produce extra sales. But a singing career was never what Minogue had in mind for herself. b. 28 May 1968, Melbourne, Australia. Coming from a stage family, Minogue passed an audition for the Australian soap opera, Neighbours, which eventually led to her recording debut with Little Eva's hit, "The Loco-Motion". When the television series was successfully screened in Britain, prolific hit producers Stock, Aitken And Waterman intervened to mould Minogue's attractive, wholesome, anodyne image to their distinctive brand of radio-centred pop. The first UK single, "I Should Be So Lucky", reached number 1 in early 1988, presaging an impressive chart run of instantly hummable UK hits, including "Got To Be Certain" (number 2), "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi" (number 2), "Hand On Your Heart" (number 1), "Wouldn't Change A Thing" (number 2), "Never Too Late" (number 4), "Tears On My Pillow" (number 1), "Better The Devil You Know" (number 2), "Step Back In Time" (number 4), "What Do I Have To Do" (number 6) and "Shocked" (number 6). If she was ever just along for the ride, Minogue took her first step towards control over her career with her 1990 single "Better the Devil You Know," not letting Stock Aitken and Waterman see the video she was making for the song until it was completed. SAW insisted on casting her in a girl-next-door mode, while Minogue opted for a saucier Madonna-like image. It ensured her continued success and reputation as a celebrity beyond the pop charts. With her fourth album, Let's Go to It (1991), the singer also insisted on lyrical input. With solo success enhanced by duets with co-star Jason Donovan, including the UK number 1 "Especially For You", Minogue emerged as one of the most successfully marketed acts of the late 80s and early 90s, with books and movies, including The Delinquents. 1991 was also the year that she became romantically involved with INXS lead singer, Michael Hutchence. This romance allowed her to explore her sexuality further and was the beginning of Minogue's new image. Further hit singles included a duet with Keith Washington on "If You Were With Me Now", and "Give Me Just A Little More Time" (number 2).

Surprisingly, she even won some acclaim in the music press and found herself championed as an unlikely "pop goddess", signing to dance music label Deconstruction Records in 1994. She enjoyed another UK hit single the same year with the mature "Confide In Me". In 1996 she recorded a single, "Where The Wild Roses Grow", with Nick Cave and the following year was working in the recording studio with the Manic Street Preachers. The original title for Impossible Princess had to be changed, as it was felt that it clashed with the death of Princess Diana. Not to be confused with her 1994 self-titled release, Kylie Minogue was a much grungier album than expected, but marked a downturn in Minogue's commercial fortunes that resulted in her being dropped by Deconstruction. The following year she was working in the recording studio with the Manic Street Preachers, further enhancing her new found credibility. She signed a new deal with Parlophone Records in 1999, and returned to the top of the UK charts the following July with the infectious dance single, "Spinning Around". Light Years saw Minogue firmly back in the disco pop bracket, an area to which she is clearly best suited. She returned to the top of the UK singles chart in September 2001 with the highly catchy "Can't Get You Out Of My Head". A sparkling new album followed to delight her fans. Minogue's renaissance continued in America, with "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" breaking into the Top 10 and Fever rapidly ascending the charts.2003's Brit Awards saw the much discussed Kylie posterior hit the headlines again, as it was pawed by Justin Timberlake in a steamy duet. 'Body Language', Ms Minogues 2003 album effort, spawned the recent number 1 'Slow'. Now she is set to release the second single from that album, entitled 'Red Blooded Woman'.

GEORGE MICHAEL BIOGRAPHY

"Excuse me Mr. Michael. Is that a microphone in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?" Sadly, for such a talented and successful artist, George Michael's arrest for lewd behaviour in a Beverly Hills toilet in 1998 still overshadows his career. It's a heavy burden for a man who spent most of the 80's carrying the even heavier burden of his Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley, always first to deflect journalists' favourite question. "So what exactly does Andrew do?" With the exception of Justin Timberlake and to a lesser extent Robbie Williams, George Michael is the only artist to successfully negotiate the transition from teen pop idol to international solo superstar. He's sold 75m albums worldwide and has come to be regarded as an excellent songwriter and performer. His most recent album Patience, released in March 2004, sold over 200,000 copies in its first week of release signalling a rebirth in the singer's fortunes after a stormy decade in the 90's. "Now if you'll just zip up Mr. Michael and accompany me to the station...." George Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou (nicknamed Yog by his family) on June 25, 1963 in Edgware North London. He grew up in the 'burbs, the son of a Greek father and an English mother. After studying various instruments in school, George experimented with various bands and after a few false starts (including funk outfit Executive), George teamed up with fellow Bushey Meads Secondary School pupil Andrew Ridgeley to form Wham! in 1982. As a party going, Formula 3 race car crashin' hedonist, Ridgeley represented the whole ethos of the band, while George provided all the essential bits, great songs, good voice and an ability to play a musical instrument. Whether they were signing on the dole (Wham Rap) or dodging the responsiblities of wives, kids and mortgages (Young Guns), or just shoving shuttlecocks down their shorts, Wham were two fun lovin', devil-may-care, suburban geezers out for a good time and until their split in 1986 with sign-off single Edge Of Heaven, they had become the most successful UK pop act of the 80's.

As a solo star George had the difficulty of trying to change his image from hedonistic playboy to serious artist. He had already dipped his toe in the water with 1984's solo hit Careless Whisper (guilty feet have got no rhythm) and 1986's ballad A Different Corner, a UK No.1, which showed the more introspective, thoughtful side of pop's hairiest Greek crooner. In a further bid to change his image from Club Tropicana regular to serious artist George teamed up with soul legend Aretha Franklin in 1987 for the duet I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me). The song topped the charts in the US and the UK. But George's real emergence as a solo star came later that year with his debut solo album Faith. Out went the tennis shorts and shuttlecocks and in came leather, shades and his now trademark designer stubble. His solo proper debut single, 1987's skeletal, Prince-like funker, I Want Your Sex, courted controversy with a saucy video involving honey, high heels, stockings and other essentials for a really filthy weekend in Hastings. The song earned itself a BBC ban and the righteous indignation of the lesser guitar strummin' idol, DJ Mike Read. The boot tappin' strum 'n' roll of his next single Faith was more wholeheartedly received and the resulting album, Faith, topped the charts in the UK and US spawning four US No 1 singles (Faith, Father Figure, One More Try, Monkey) and earned Michael a 1987 Grammy for Best Album. Faith established Michael as a global superstar and demonstrated his consummate songwriting ability, equally adept at ballads and blue eyed funk workouts. But Michael recoiled from his massive success and tired of the spotlight, took three years to return with the 1990 album, Listen Without Prejudice, a more introspective, soul-baring affair compared to the fake-funk perviness and raunch rock of Faith. Michael refused to feature a picture of himself on the album's cover and refused to publicise the record with interviews, feeling the music should speak for itself. The album, a UK No.1, spawned just two major hits, the ballad Praying For Time and the more upbeat Freedom 90, subsequently covered by Robbie Williams as his debut single. A duet with Elton John on Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me revived his UK chart fortunes, reaching No. 1 in December 1991 and also topping the US charts. In 1992, the Sunday Times announced his arrival as one of the richest men in the UK. Although Michael, with some help from Queen and Lisa Stansfield, topped the UK charts with the Five Live EP in summer 1993, a court clash with his record label Sony dominated his activities in the following two years

Listen Without Prejudice had sold less well than the all-conquering Faith leading Michael to complain that his label, Sony, had done little to promote his new direction, still wanting to present him as a leather lovin', shades wearin' sex symbol against his wishes. Michael slapped a restraint of trade action against Sony but the case was eventually thrown out of court in 1994 when the judge sided with Sony. Michael vowed never to record for Sony again, effectively gagging himself as an artist. The debacle was resolved in 1995 when Sony released Michael from his contract in a buyout from David Geffen's newly formed Dreamworks label and Virgin Records. The buyout was rumoured to cost the two companies over £20m with George bagging a £30m advance for two albums. The first, 1996's Older was another broody, angst laden affair, informed by the death of his Brazilian lover from Aids. The album's first single, the tender ballad Jesus To A Child topped the UK charts, as did follow up single, Fastlove. In 1997 Michael announced the formation of his own label, Aegean Records but the label would close a few years later with no major successes. On April 7 1998, Michael was arrested for "lewd behaviour" in a toilet cubicle at the Will Rogers Memorial Park in Beverly Hills, California. Michael later confirmed his long-rumoured homosexuality and was sentenced to perform community service. It was an extraordinary way for such a private individual to announce his homosexuality to the world. Ridiculed in subsequent tabloid headlines ("Zip me up before you go-go,") Michael bounced back with an excellent single, Outside, with an accompanying video depicting mock scenes from the arrest with George dressed as an LA cop. The police officer who arrested George, Marcello Rodriguez, wasn't happy and sued Michael for distress, unsuccessfully. Meanwhile a greatest hits package, 1998's Ladies And Gentlemen was a worldwide success although fans were baffled by 1999's millennial covers album, Songs From The Last Century featuring a jazzy, wine bar interpretation of The Police's Roxanne, among others. Michael returned to the charts in March 2002 with the one-off single "Freeek!", which was accompanied by a risqué, trussed up, latex 'n' rubber lovin' £1m video. He courted controversy again a few months later, baiting US President George W. Bush and PM Tony Blair with Shoot The Dog. The single's poor chart showing (only reaching number 12) and the reaction to the single in the US where critics branded him a "past-his-prime pop pervert", indicated Michael's commercial star was on the wane. But 2004 album Patience signalled a reversal in his fortunes. Full of the attention to songwriting and tender ballads that had marked his greatest solo successes, the album spawned hit single Amazing and went on to sell over 200,000 copies in its first week. But Michael also announced that from now on, he won't be needing the money thanks very much and that he will cease to release commercial material. "My music will be available to download from a website and I'd like fans to contribute money to charity instead via the site," said Michael. "I'm a rich man and as a pop star I'm paid too much money for what I do."

QUEEN DIVA

2006-08-06T21:27:00.000-07:00

The Story Behind the successfully diva

1960- I was born November 17th, 7:58 p.m. at Mercy Hospital in San Diego, California. When asked what she named her baby boy, my Mother replied, "His name is RuPaul Andre Charles and he's gonna be a star! Cause ain't another mother f**ker alive with a name like that!"

1961
My sister Renetta decided to give me a bath at six months old. She felt that I was her baby, because she had prayed and prayed for God to send her a little baby brother. During the bath she couldn't figure out why the baby wouldn't stop crying, she didn't know that she had broken my left arm. Renetta was only seven years old. Many years later my Dad told me they knew something was wrong, cause I was such a good baby who never cried. He said, "We could sit Ru down in the corner and he wouldn't make a sound," a trait that would prove to be not so good for me as I grew older.

1962

My first memory is that of my mother giving my sister "Rozy" a bath in the kitchen sink. She didn't break her arm. Rosalind Annette Charles was born January 28,1962. I was the only boy born to Ernestine "Toni" Fontenette and Irving Andrew Charles. My older sisters are twins born twenty-six minutes apart. Renae Ann Charles and Renetta Ann Charles were born October 18, 1953.

1964
I saw "The Supremes" on the Ed Sullivan TV show. I fell in love with them, particularly, the skinny one in the middle.

1965
Renetta says I would prance around the front yard in her pink dress. I don't remember that, but I do remember lip-sinking "The Supremes" hit song "Baby Love" by the side of the garage. Neighborhood kids inform me that I am a sissy.

1966
My parents were fighting a lot by this time. Every time they would start, we kids would run into the bedroom and hold each other crouching down as though it were an air raid.

1967
The divorce was as ugly and nasty as it could have gotten. I thought it was all my fault. I wouldn't understand how traumatized I was by it until I was well into my twenties. My mother basically shut down for a couple of years. Isolating in her room with Valium and Lithium. We went on welfare and we kids became little adults, taking care of mom and keeping secrets from social workers, daddy and anyone else who could threaten our family.

1968
I followed "Nae" and "Netta" everywhere. They would try to get rid of me, but they just couldn't shake me. They would spend most of their time down the street at Debra and Aletha's house, playing records and talking about boys. I learned how to dance at their house. That year I had a Hernia operation. The doctor said it was probably caused by being tickled so much by my older sisters.

1969
The twins ran away from home. Momma says she threw them out. They were 15 years old.

1970
Momma got a job at Planned Parenthood. Renetta married a boy from school, two months after her 17th birthday. People mistake me for a girl.

1971
I got shit-faced drunk for the first time and smoked my first joint.

1972
I fell in love with a boy at school. By then, I was already a pro at hiding my feelings so that's what I did. That summer I enrolled in the San Diego Children's Theater.

1974
I started smoking Kool filter kings.

1975
Ninth grade I won "Best Afro" and "Best Dancer" at Gompers Jr. High School. In September, I enrolled at Patrick Henry High School. By December I was kicked out of that school for "never once attending a class".

1976
My sister Renetta suggested I move in with her and my brother-in-law. She felt the change of environment would be good for me. Six months later, we all relocated to Atlanta, GA. We fell on "hard times" when we first moved to Atlanta and it was very tough. But still I felt so happy to leave San Diego, I never felt like I belonged there. In the fall I enrolled at the Northside School of the Performing Arts where I repeated the tenth grade because my grades were so bad the year before. I got my drivers license on my b-day and was off and running. I was having the time of my life! Till this day, when people ask me where I'm from, I say "Hotlanta!" I was really able to blossom there, just like the beautiful Dogwood trees do in the springtime.

1977
The new year started with me changing my curriculum from music theater to drama. I loved my two-hour acting class and I loved my acting teacher; we all did. William A. Pannell was a twenty-six year old, first time teacher who had studied with the great Lee Strasburg, in Hollywood! Mr. Pannell had also graduated from "Northside," ten years prior, under the tutelage of Billy G. Densmore, the head of the performing arts school and my instructor in music theater. We all agreed that "Billy G." was "the enemy" because he represented the establishment and we were "the cutting edge." Everyday I would catch a ride, 18 miles into town, from Barney Smith, our neighbor from across the street. Then I'd take the #23 bus up Peachtree Road to West Wesley, where I'd hitchhike the last mile to get to school. It's too bad I didn't apply that same determination when it came to doing my schoolwork! The only class I didn't "skip" was Drama, and that was the last class of the day! By March, my grades were so bad, my brother-in-law threatened to transfer me to a closer school. I was devastated. Mr. Pannell knew how upset I was, so he took me to the side and gave me the best advice I had ever gotten. He said "RuPaul, don't take life so seriously". I ended up staying at Northside that whole year! And it was the best school year of my life!Years later when I saw the movie "Fame," it was like a 'deja vu' of my year at Northside. But, of course, we were much more scandalous than the kids in the movie.

1978
I dropped out of high school and later took the G.E.D test (General Education Diploma). By this time I had already worked part-time for my brother-in-law's used luxury car business for two years. Now I could work for him full-time, and I did until 1982. I never had what it took to sell a car, but I did have what it took to buy a car. I've always loved cars, and Laurence would send me all over the U.S.A to buy them or deliver them to his clients. Our motto was "buy low, sell high." I must have traveled cross-country over 50 times in the five years I spent in the car biz. I used to love breezing down some country highway in the middle of the night. I'd switch on the cruise control, light up a joint and blast Donna Summer's "Live and More" album.1978 was absolutely the best year for music ever! Laurence did a lot of business with another broker in San Diego, so I got to visit my mother quite frequently. On one such visit, one week after my 18th b-day, I lost my virginity to a 36 year-old man named Richard. I had never even kissed a man before. I remember when he kissed me that first time I was so swept away, my knees buckled.

1979
I moved back to San Diego to attend the Community College there, but that didn't last long. My old feelings of being stuck and stifled in that sleepy little town returned and soon I was back on the road again, driving cars for Laurence.

1980
In all the years I worked for Laurence, I never really made any money to speak of, a couple of hundred bucks here and there, and all the weed I could smoke. But I wasn't there for the money or the weed; I was there for the experience. He taught me how to go out into the world and get what I wanted. He taught me how to listen and how to articulate my thoughts. I learned how to negotiate with people in business and above all, I learned that I had as much right to fulfill my dreams as any white person had. Laurence was a go-getter. He was exciting, charming and up until then he was the most adventurous person I had ever met.

1981
By this time, it had become very apparent to me that I had already learned everything my brother-in-law had to teach me. It was time for me to do what I had always wanted to do with my life, get into show business. While channel surfing one night, I came across a local "public access" TV show called "The American Music Show." Obviously videotaped in someone's living room once a week, it had a talk show/sketch comedy type format that had no format at all. Hosted by Dick Richards and James Bond and featuring a weird cast of social misfits. It was very politically irreverent, funny, sick, wrong and I loved it. In my gut I knew, I had found my tribe. I immediately wrote a letter to the show explaining how much I loved what they did and that I would love to be a part of it. Two weeks later, I got a call from Paul Burke, saying they got my letter and would love for me to be on the show after the holidays.

1982
January marked my official start in show business, with the appearance of "RuPaul and the U-hauls" on "The American Music Show." "The U-hauls" consisted of my two girlfriends, Robin Prows and Josette Glasper-el. I made some costumes for us to wear and then we worked out a dance routine to "Shotgun" by "Junior Walker and the All Stars." We were a smash hit!!! Everyone loved us, but none more than "Now Explosion." They were a popular local band in the vein of the "B52's" and part of "T.A.M.S." ensemble. We became their opening act, but by the time we opened for them at NYC's famed "Pyramid Club," the original" "U-Hauls" were replaced by Gina Smith and Chrissie Thorpe, two full figure colored gals with lots of attitude and an appetite for fun. They both worked at a department store restaurant, where they got me a job as the short order cook. I worked there for almost three months before I was fired. I had also moved to midtown that summer and lived with my first boyfriend, Todd. We had a rocky relationship which proved to me that I had learned more from my parents than I thought or cared to. It's no wonder why it had taken me so long to hook up.

1983
After visiting NYC, I got the idea to "snipe" midtown Atlanta with Xerox copies of posters I made, usually with a photo of me that I had "doctored" to flawless perfection, announcing my appearances or just that "RuPaul is red hot." I would use wallpaper wheat paste, which made them virtually impossible to tear down. Needless to say, I got a lot of attention and it made me famous in the area. Soon all the local bands were doing it. In January '83, Robert Warren and Todd Butler, two guys who were currently attending my old high school, Northside, asked me to join the band they were forming, "Wee Wee Pole." "Wee Wee Pole featuring RuPaul and the U-Hauls..." played the local new wave/punk club circuit and became very popular. I had also been evicted from my apartment and was homeless all of that year.

1984
After the band broke up I asked myself, what do rock stars do after a breakup? My answer was to write a "book" and do "movies." "If you love me, give it to me" was a photocopied, stapled together autobiography that I sold for $2 that, along with picture postcards I sold for 50 cents, kept me in Coca-Colas and Viceroy 100's. "Trilogy of Terror" was shot on my brother-in-law's home video camera. The movie featured my first drag role and full backal nudity by me. The John Waters inspired epic was directed by LaHoma Van Zant and was a hit in the underground. Two sequels followed by spring of that year. In July, I booked the "RuPaul is red-hot revue" at NYC's "Pyramid Club" and "Danceteria." I stayed in New York until Christmas, crashing at peoples' apartments, sleeping on the piers or in Central Park.

1985
By January, I was back in Atlanta, where I cut two tracks for an EP that "Funtone Records U.S.A." released called "RuPaul: Sex Freak." The mini album included three old songs I recorded with "Wee Wee Pole," plus the two new songs, the title track and "Mr. Totally." Soon after, I was asked by Atlanta's "theatrical outfit" to play the role of "Riffraff" in the company's production of "The Rocky Horror Show". "Rocky" was a huge hit and ran 4 months! The show legitimized me in the eyes of the city's mainstream audiences. The theatre was next door to my old hangout, a disco called "Weekends." The owner asked me to "go-go" dance there 4 nights a week, for 50 bucks a night plus tips. I was the only "go-go" dancer at "Weekends" the whole two and a half years I worked there. I loved it; it was like a work-study college scholarship. I'd party all night and sleep all day.

1986
Re-teaming with LaHoma (Jon Witherspoon) brought the now classic movie "Starbooty" (later spelled with two "r"'s). In the home video camera lensed saga, I play the title character, an ex-model turned government agent, kicking ass for Uncle Sam. "Starbooty" was an instant cult hit. The soundtrack album soon followed, released by "Funtone U.S.A." and produced by two guys I met the year before, at the "New Music Seminar" in New York, who went by the name "The Pop Tarts". The success of "Starbooty" got the attention of a young filmmaker named Wayne Hollowell. Over the next couple of years I starred in a countless string of movies that Wayne wrote and directed with one common theme, sex, nudity, trashy dialogue and fake blood. Titles like "American Porn Star," "Mahogany 2" and the sex-drenched gore-fest "Voyeur."

1987
In November, just days before my 27th b-day, Larry Tee, LaHoma and I packed up the "Now Explosion van" and moved to New York City. I had been feeling like a "big fish in a little pond" in Atlanta, but that was not the case in Manhattan. I started from the bottom up, all over again, once I hit the city limits. This was the beginning of my "Saturn Returns" period and it was f**king hard as HELL!!!!!!! I did a show at a bar called "Chameleon" one night and my pay was $18!!!

1988
Absolutely, by far, the darkest year of my life. It's still very difficult for me to even write about it. I can barely punch the keyboard on my computer, because just thinking about it makes me feel paralyzed. Read my autobiography Letting it all Hang Out for the full story.

1989
In January, Larry Tee offered me a place to stay and loaned me the airfare to come back to NYC and "comeback" is what I did!! I changed my image from "punk drag" to "black hooker drag," which was much more sexy. My new look got the attention of different promoters and I became a hot "new" act. I worked non-stop as a lip-sinc/go-go/emcee. at Larry Tee's "Love Machine" and Suzanne Bartsch's "Copacabana." I even had a featured cameo in the B-52's "Love Shack" video. By October, I was voted "Queen of Manhattan 1990" by club owners, promoters and dj's at the annual event. I had reached the pinnacle of success in downtown nightlife.

1990
As "Queen of Manhattan," my job was to keep the party going and that's exactly what I did. Booze, pills, acid, coke, pot, poppers, shrooms, special k and sometimes a little ethel inhalation to keep me from getting bored. Eight years of going out clubbing every night got real tiring by the time I reached my 30th b-day. The patrons kept getting younger and younger and I knew it was time for me to make a move, plus on top of that, some friends of mine (Deee-lite) had just hit it big on the billboard charts and I was more than a little bit envious. By year's end I quit drinking and doing chemicals and doing nightclubs to focus on making music again and shining above ground.

1991
The Pop Tarts agreed to manage me and Jimmy Harry and I set out to write material for my demo. I used to generate gigs by going out every night, but since I wasn't hanging in clubs, bookings were few and far between. All my drinking buddies acted as if my abstaining from the sauce was a judgment against them. The only friends who supported my awakening were PJ and Flloyd, so I stuck to them like white on rice. Flloyd was working at the Film Forum so I would hang out there constantly, watching movies like "Paris is Burning" and "Funny Face," while sustaining myself on free popcorn and seltzer water.

1992
I had become very close with Mathu and Zaldy during a Suszanne Bartsch club tour of Japan Christmas '91. So, when Tommy Boy Records called and offered me a deal, all the pieces were in place to build a "Glamazon." Mathu and Zaldy actualized the image that would deliver me to every home that had a television in the world. On my birthday in 1992 the single "Supermodel" was released.

1993
By February, the cancer in Mama's body was eating her alive. She could no longer walk or hear in one ear. As the two of us sat watching TV, Kurt Loder popped up on the tube, teasing an MTV News story with footage me frolicking around a shopping mall in Jersey City. He said "Coming up next, she's er ah he's 6'4" and supermodel of the world." Me and Mama both looked at each other, and in that moment we simultaneously realized that her prediction, made 32 years prior, had finally come true. I was a star. That was the last time I saw Mama.

1994
I was having breakfast in the Presidential Suite of the Century Plaza Hotel courtesy of the "John & Leeza Show" when the phone rang and it was my manager. He told me that Elton John wanted to include me on his upcoming "Duets" album and was I interested? I said, "Hold on one minute." The size of the suite gave me the opportunity to flail my arms around while running back and forth screaming "Oh my God Elton John! Oh my God, Elton John!" I must have screamed for a good five minutes before I got back on the line and answered nonchalantly, "Sure."
It was the same scenario when Arsenio, Spike Lee and a Canadian named "Mac" called.

1995
I had been using M.A.C cosmetics since 1992 and I knew it was a great product. So when Frank Toskin and Frank Angelo asked me to join the company and become the "First Face of M.A.C," we all knew we were going to make history together but no one could have known how much of a dream come true this was for me.
Over the course of six years, I launched store openings in ten countries and helped raise over $22 million dollars for the M.A.C AIDS fund.

1996
When I found out that there was a radio station featuring dance music in New York City, I was very excited and I wanted to support it by doing whatever I could. They asked if I could drop in and be a guest on their morning show. Little did I know that my old friend Michelle Visage was part of the morning show team. But it didn't surprise me because as long as I had known Michelle, she had always reinvented herself; first as one of the popping, dipping and spinning legendary children of the vogue balls, then as a member of the chart topping girl group Seduction, then as a white female rapper with writing credits on "The Bodyguard" soundtrack. The chemistry that Michelle and I shared that morning made it evident to the station's Program Director that he was listening to his new morning show team. Long story short; Michelle and I ended up hosting the WKTU morning show together for almost two years.

1997
When the Arbitron ratings revealed that Michelle and I were #3 in the tri-state area, following Howard and News Radio, it was clear who should be my co-host on the re-vamped RuPaul TV show on VH1. In all of my career so far, doing "The RuPaul Show" was the most creatively satisfying, fun-filled working experience I've ever had.

1998
I wasn't sure why I moved back to California. On the surface it seemed like the right thing to do being closer to sitcoms and the movie business but on a deeper, more subconscious level, I knew I needed to go back to Southern California to reclaim what I had left behind there over twenty years before. And boy was I in for the ride of my life.

1999
In acting class, I realized that I wasn't able to pull up certain emotions that the script called for so I had to examine why. That lead me to therapy which forced me to examine my addictive personality, my relationship and the little boy who lives inside of me.

2000
The week of my 40th birthday I was in Times Square, New York City for the unveiling of Madame Tussaud's wax replica in my likeness. Over a period of two years, I posed six times for the team at Madame Tussaud but it didn't occur to me until the unveiling how weird it is too see yourself three-dimensionally and on top of that realize this portrait will be around long after I turned to dust.

2001
Having achieved most of my professional goals, it was time for me to put the emphasis on my spiritual evolution. More than ever, I wanted to be present for myself, my family and my friends. Over the next several years, I created a nurturing home life. I threw dinner parties, backyard barbecues, game nights, pool parties, you name it. I had a lot of fun just being me... laughing, dancing, hiking, biking, and dating.
I worked from time to time, but I turned down more offers than I accepted (including the role of Frank-N-Furter on Broadway in "The Rocky Horror Show"). Plus, I wasn't too keen on doing any of the mean-spirited "reality shows" or talking head "clip shows" that constantly made inquiries to my office. To make up for my absence from the pop-culture scene, I began writing an online journal. My weblog gave fans an opportunity to experience me on a personal level.

2004
Inspired by the upcoming presidential election and the religious right-wing, I decided to return to public life. I had come very close to hanging up my high heels forever and just letting my legacy speak for itself, but ultimately, I felt my presence was needed as a true example of freedom. While promoting "RuPaul Red Hot," my first studio album in 7 years, I was offered a job doing morning radio with Michelle Visage in New York City. Michelle and I jumped at the opportunity to work together again, which also meant we'd have to leave Los Angeles, where we had both been living for several years.

2005
Manhattan had changed dramatically since I'd left in '98, and so had I. Adjusting to the lack of edginess and the abundance of baby strollers in Greenwich Village wasn't easy, but change is a given that I've learned to welcome. I spent pretty much every weekend of 2005 in a different city around the world performing my nightclub act. I was welcomed with a new enthusiasm from kids who had grown up watching me on television. In July, "The RuPaul Doll" was unveiled, and has sold beyond my wildest expectations. We started shooting principle photography for "Starrbooty: Reloaded" in November. The movie's greatest coup was luring LaHoma Van Zant out of a 9 year retirement to costar in the film.

2006
On June 13th, the second album on RuCo Records, was released. "RuPaul. ReWorked" is a collection of dance remixes from my music repertoire. It includes re-recordings of "SuperModel" & "Free To Be," which are better than the originals. The soundtrack album for "Starrbooty: Reloaded" will be released with the movie.