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Laura Secord

Laura Secord (13 September 1775 – 17 October 1868) was a Canadian woman involved in the War of 1812. She is known for having walked 20 miles out of American-occupied territory in 1813 to warn British forces of an impending American attack. Her contribution to the war was little known during her lifetime, but since her death she has been frequently honoured in Canada. Though Laura Secord had no relation to it, most Canadians associate her with the Laura Secord Chocolates company, named after her on the centennial of her walk.

Laura Secord's father, Thomas Ingersoll, lived in Massachusetts and fought on the side of the Patriots during the Revolutionary War (1775–1783). In 1795 he moved his family to the Niagara region of Upper Canada after he had applied for and received a land grant. Shortly after, Laura married Loyalist James Secord, who was later seriously wounded at the Battle of Queenston Heights early in the War of 1812. While he was still recovering in 1813, the Americans invaded the Niagara Peninsula, including Queenston. During the occupation, Secord acquired information about a planned American attack, and stole away on the morning of 22 June to inform Lieutenant James FitzGibbon in the territory still controlled by the British. The information helped the British and their Mohawk allies repel the invading Americans at the Battle of Beaver Dams. Her effort was forgotten until 1860, when Edward, Prince of Wales, awarded the impoverished widow £100 (£12,955.64 in 2022) for her service on his visit to Canada.

The story of Laura Secord has taken on mythic overtones in Canada. Her tale has been the subject of books, plays, and poetry, often with many embellishments. Since her death, Canada has bestowed honours on her, including schools named after her, monuments, a museum, a memorial stamp and coin, and a statue at the Valiants Memorial in the Canadian capital.

Family history and early life
Her father, Thomas Ingersoll (1749–1812) married seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Dewey on 28 February 1775. Their first child, Laura, was born in Great Barrington in the colonial Province of Massachusetts Bay on 13 September 1775. Thomas's family had lived in Massachusetts for five generations. His paternal immigrant ancestor was Richard Ingersoll, who had arrived in Salem, Massachusetts, from Bedfordshire, England, in 1629. Thomas was born in 1749 in Westfield, Massachusetts. Elizabeth, daughter of Israel Dewey and his wife, was also born in Westfield, on 28 January 1758. Thomas moved to Great Barrington in 1774, where he settled into a house on a small piece of land by the Housatonic River. Over the next several years, his success as a hatmaker allowed him to marry, increase his landholdings, and expand his house as his family grew. He spent much time away from home, as he rose through the ranks in the military on the side of the American revolutionaries during the American Revolutionary War. Upon his return to Great Barrington, he was made a magistrate.

Elizabeth gave birth to three more girls: Elizabeth Franks on 17 October 1779; Mira (or Myra) in 1781; and Abigail in September 1783. They gave up Abigail for adoption in 1784 to an aunt with the surname Nash. Elizabeth Ingersoll died 20 February 1784. Thomas remarried the following year to Mercy Smith, widow of Josiah Smith, on 26 May 1785. Mercy had no children. She has been credited with teaching her stepdaughters to read and do needlework before her death from tuberculosis in 1789. By adolescence, the eldest daughter Laura was caring for her sisters and looking after the household affairs.

Thomas remarried four months after Mercy's death, on 20 September 1789, to Sarah "Sally" Backus, a widow with a daughter, Harriet. The couple had an additional four girls and three boys. The first boy, Charles Fortescue, was born on 27 September 1791. Charlotte (born 1793) and Appolonia (born 1811) were the last members of this branch of the Ingersoll family to be born in Massachusetts.

Thomas helped suppress Shays' Rebellion in 1786, which earned him the rank of major. In the years following, he witnessed and was offended by the continuing persecution of Loyalists in Massachusetts. He realized that in the depressed economic conditions that followed the Revolutionary War, and with his own deep debts, he was unlikely to see his former prosperity again. In 1793, Thomas met in New York City with Mohawk leader Joseph Brant, who offered to show him the best land for settlement in Upper Canada, where the Crown was encouraging development. He and four associates travelled to Upper Canada to petition Lieutenant Governor John Simcoe for a land grant. They received 66000 acre in the Thames Valley, and founded Oxford-on-the-Thames (later known as Ingersoll, Ontario), on condition that they populate it with forty other families within seven years. After winding up their affairs in Great Barrington, the Ingersoll family moved to Upper Canada in 1795.

Upper Canada, marriage and children
Thomas Ingersoll supported his family in their early years in Upper Canada by running a tavern in Queenston while land was being cleared and roads built in the settlement. The family stayed in Queenston until a log cabin was completed on the settlement in 1796. After Governor Simcoe returned to England in 1796, opposition grew in Upper Canada to the "Late Loyalists", such as Thomas, who had come to Canada for the land grants. The grants were greatly reduced, and Thomas's contract was cancelled for not having all of its conditions fulfilled. Feeling cheated, in 1805 he moved the family to Credit River, close to York (present-day Toronto), where he successfully ran an inn until his 1812 death following a stroke. Sally continued to run it until her own death in 1833.

Laura Ingersoll remained in Queenston when the family moved. She married the wealthy James Secord, likely in June 1797. The Secord family originated in France, where the name was spelled D'Secor or Sicar. Five Secord brothers, who were Protestant Huguenots, fled from persecution in France and founded New Rochelle, New York in 1688. At the time of the American Revolution, Loyalist members of the family anglicized their surname to Secord.

The Secord couple lived in a house built in St. Davids, the first floor of which was a shop. Secord gave birth to her first child, Mary, in St. Davids in 1799. Mary was followed by Charlotte (1801), Harriet (10 February 1803), Charles Badeau (1809 – the only male child) and Appolonia (1810).

War of 1812
James Secord served in the 1st Lincoln Militia under Isaac Brock when the War of 1812 broke out. He was among those who helped carry away Brock's body after Brock was killed in the first attack of the Battle of Queenston Heights in October 1812. James himself was severely wounded in the leg and shoulder during the battle. Laura heard of his predicament and rushed to his side. Some sources suggest that she found three American soldiers preparing to beat him to death with their gunstocks. She begged them to save her husband's life, reportedly offering her own in return, when American Captain John E. Wool happened upon the situation and reprimanded the soldiers. This story may have been a later embellishment and may have originated with her grandson, James B. Secord. When the Secords arrived home, they found that the house had been looted in Laura's absence. Spending the winter in St. Davids, Laura spent the next several months nursing her wounded husband back to health.

On 27 May 1813, the American army launched an attack across the Niagara River, and captured Fort George. Queenston and the Niagara area fell to the Americans. Men of military age were sent as prisoners to the U.S., though the still-recuperating James Secord was not among them. That June, a number of U.S. soldiers were billeted at the Secords' home.

Secord's walk

On the evening of 21 June 1813, Laura Secord heard of plans for a surprise American attack on Lieutenant James FitzGibbon's British troops at Beaver Dams, which would have furthered American control in the Niagara Peninsula. It is unclear how she became aware of these plans. According to tradition she overheard a conversation among the billeted Americans as they ate dinner.

As her husband was still recovering from his October injuries, Secord set out early the next morning to warn the lieutenant. She reportedly walked 20 miles from present-day Queenston through St. Davids, Homer, Shipman's Corners and Short Hills at the Niagara Escarpment before she arrived at the camp of allied Mohawk warriors, who led her the rest of the way to FitzGibbon's headquarters at the DeCew House. Based on her warning, a small British force and a larger contingent of Mohawk warriors were readied for the American attack. They defeated the Americans, most of whom were casualties or taken prisoner in the Battle of Beaver Dams on 24 June. No mention of Secord was made in reports that immediately followed the battle.

Post-war years
After the war, with the Secords' Queenston store in ruins, the family was impoverished. Only James's small war pension and the rent from 200 acres (81 ha) of land they had in Grantham Township supported them.

The Secords' sixth child, Laura Anne, was born in October 1815, and their last child, Hannah, was born in 1817. The Secords' eldest daughter Mary wedded a doctor, William Trumball, on 18 April 1816. On 27 March 1817, Mary gave birth in Ireland to Elizabeth Trumball, the first of Laura and James's grandchildren. Mary had another daughter, also named Mary, in Jamaica. Following her husband's death, Mary returned to Queenston with her children in 1821.

The struggling James petitioned the government in 1827 for some sort of employment. Lieutenant-Governor Peregrine Maitland did not offer him a position, but offered something to Laura. He asked her to be in charge of the yet-to-be-completed Brock's Monument. At first, she turned it down, but then reluctantly accepted it. When Brock's Monument opened in 1831, Secord learned the new Lieutenant-Governor, John Colborne, intended to give the keys to the widow of a member of the monument committee who had died in an accident. On 17 July 1831, Secord petitioned Colborne to honour Maitland's promise, and included another certificate from FitzGibbon attesting her contribution to the war. She wrote that Colonel Thomas Clarke had been told by Maitland, "it was too late to think of [the committee member's widow] Mrs. Nichol as I have pledged my word to Mrs. Secord that as soon as possible she should have the key." Despite her pleas, Secord did not receive the keys to the monument.

In 1828, the Secords' daughter, Appolonia, died at 18 of typhus, and James was appointed registrar of the Niagara Surrogate Court. He was promoted to judge in 1833, and his son Charles Badeau Secord took over the registrar position. Charles Badeau Secord's first son, Charles Forsyth Secord, was born 9 May 1833. His is the only line of Secords that survived into the 21st century.

James became a customs collector in 1835 at the port of Chippawa. The position came with a home in Chippawa, into which the family moved. Charles Badeau Secord took over the Queenston home. Daughter Laura Ann and her son moved into the home in 1837 following her husband's death.

Later life and death

James Secord died of a stroke on 22 February 1841. He was buried, according to his wishes, at Drummond Hill (now in Niagara Falls). James's death left Laura destitute. When his war pension ended, she was unable to maintain her land as profitable and sold off much of it. Governor-General Sydenham denied a 27 February 1841 petition which she sent, seeking to have her son to take over James's customs position. Sydenham also denied a petition she sent that May for a pension for herself, as James had received a pension for decades.

Possibly with help from better-off members of the family, Secord moved to a red brick cottage on Water Street in November 1841. Daughter Harriet and her own two daughters joined her in May 1842, after Harriet's husband died of alcohol poisoning. The three shared quarters with Secord for the rest of her life. Youngest daughter Hannah also moved in when she was widowed in 1844, and brought two daughters with her. Though she lacked training, for a short time Laura Secord ran a small school out of the home in an effort to support herself. This venture came to an end when the public common school system was introduced in the 1840s.

Over the years, the Secords unsuccessfully petitioned the government for some kind of acknowledgement. In 1860, when Secord was 85, the Prince of Wales heard of her story while travelling in Canada. At Chippawa, near Niagara Falls, he learned of Laura Secord's plight as an aging widow and sent an award of £100. It was the only official recognition that she received during her lifetime.

Laura Secord died in 1868 at the age of 93. She was interred next to her husband in the Drummond Hill Cemetery in Niagara Falls. Her grave is marked by a monument with a bust on top, and is close to a monument marking the Battle of Lundy's Lane.

The inscription on her grave marker reads:

"To perpetuate the name and fame of Laura Secord, who walked alone nearly 20 miles by a circuitous difficult and perilous route, through woods and swamps and over miry roads to warn a British outpost at DeCew's Falls of an intended attack and thereby enabled Lt. FitzGibbon on 24 June 1813, with fewer than 50 men of the H.M. 49th Regt., about 15 militiamen and a small force of Six Nations and other Indians under Capt. William Johnson Kerr and Dominique Ducharme to surprise and attack the enemy at Beechwoods (or Beaver Dams) and after a short engagement, to capture Col. Bosler of the U.S. Army and his entire force of 542 men with two field pieces."

Memory and legend
Her granddaughter described Secord as being 5 ft with brown eyes and a fair complexion. James FitzGibbon wrote she was "of slight frame and delicate appearance". She was skilled at needlework, dressmaking and cooking. According to biographer Peggy Dymond Leavey, her many grandchildren enjoyed hearing their grandmother tell stories of her early life, and her Anglican faith increased with age.

In his report of the battle, FitzGibbon stated only that he "received information" about the threat; it is possible he omitted mention of Secord to protect her family during wartime. He first wrote of Secord in a certificate dated 26 February 1820, in support of a petition by her husband for a licence to operate a stone quarry in Queenston. In 1827 FitzGibbon wrote:

"I do hereby Certify that on the 22d. day of June 1813, Mrs. Secord, Wife of James Secord, Esqr. then of St. David's, came to me at the Beaver Dam after Sun Set, having come from her house at St. David's by a circuitous route a distance of twelve miles, and informed me that her Husband had learnt from an American officer the preceding night that a Detachment from the American Army then in Fort George would be sent out on the following morning (the 23d.) for the purpose of Surprising and capturing a Detachment of the 49th Regt. then at Beaver Dam under my Command. In Consequence of this information, I placed the Indians under Norton together with my own Detachment in a Situation to intercept the American Detachment and we occupied it during the night of the 22d. – but the Enemy did not come until the morning of the 24th when his Detachment was captured. Colonel Boerstler, their commander, in a conversation with me confirmed fully the information communicated to me by Mrs. Secord and accounted for the attempt not having been made on the 23rd. as at first intended."

FitzGibbon wrote in a certificate dated 23 February 1837 that Secord did "acquaint" him with the Americans' intentions, but does not state whether he used the information. A diary entry of Mohawk chief John Norton talks of "a loyal Inhabitant brought information that the Enemy intended to attack", but does not name the "Inhabitant". Dominique Ducharme, leader of the Caughnawaga Mohawk in the Battle of Beaver Dams, made no mention of Secord in his reports, nor of receiving information from either Secord or FitzGibbon about the impending American attack.

Secord wrote two accounts of her walk, the first in 1853, and the second in 1861. Neither account contains details that can be corroborated with military accounts of the battle, such as specific dates or details about troops. Her account changed throughout her life. Historian Pierre Berton noted that she never stated clearly how she learned of the impending attack. She told FitzGibbon that her husband had learned about it from an American officer, but years later told her granddaughter that she had overheard the plans directly from the American soldiers billeted in her home. Berton suggested that Secord's informant could have been an American still residing in the United States, who would have been charged with treason had Secord revealed her source. In the 1860s, as Secord's story gained prominence, historian William Foster Coffin added new details, which included the claim that Laura had brought a cow with her as an excuse to leave her home in case the American patrols questioned her.

A number of historians have questioned Secord's account. W. Stewart Wallace, in his 1932 book, The Story of Laura Secord: A Study in Historical Evidence, concluded her story was mostly myth, and that she played no significant role in the outcome of the Battle of Beaver Dams. Historian George Ingram contended in his 1965 book The Story of Laura Secord Revisited that Secord's debunking had been taken too far. Ruth MacKenzie also burnished Secord's reputation with Laura Secord: The Legend and the Lady in 1971.

The question of Secord's actual contribution to the British success has been contested. In the early 1920s, historians suggested that Native scouts had already informed FitzGibbon of the coming attack well before Secord had arrived on 23 June. Historian Ernest Cruikshank wrote in 1895 that "Scarcely had Mrs Secord concluded her narrative, when [Ducharme's] scouts came in ... they had encountered the advance guard of the enemy." Later, two testimonials were found which FitzGibbon wrote in 1820 and 1827, which supported Secord's claim. FitzGibbon asserted that Laura Secord had arrived on 22 June (not 23 June), and that "in consequence of this information", he had been able to intercept the American troops.

Legacy
According to legend, "it took her approximately 17 hours to travel the distance to warn James FitzGibbon of the impending American attack".

She has often been depicted as "a lone figure bravely travelling through approximately 30 km of wilderness from her home at Queenston to a British military detachment camped in DeCew House in what is today Thorold, Ontario."

Historian Cecilia Morgan argues that the Secord story became famous in the 1880s when upper-class women sought to strengthen the emotional ties between Canadian women and the British Empire. She writes that they needed a female heroine to validate their claims for women's suffrage. The first product of their campaign was Sarah Anne Curzon's verse drama Laura Secord: The Heroine of 1812 in 1887. The play was a catalyst for "a deluge of articles and entries on Secord that filled Canadian histories and school textbooks at the turn of the 20th century". Although critics gave the play negative reviews, it was the first full work devoted to Secord's story and popularized her image.

Secord has been compared to French-Canadian heroine Madeleine de Verchères and to American Revolution hero Paul Revere. Her story has been retold and commemorated by generations of biographers, playwrights, poets, novelists and journalists.

After discovering a newspaper clipping of the events, early feminist Emma Currie began a lifelong interest in Secord's life. She tracked down information from Laura's relatives as far away as Great Barrington, and published a biographical account in 1900 called The Story of Laura Secord. She later successfully petitioned to have a Secord memorial erected in Queenston Heights. The cut stone granite monument stands 7 ft and was dedicated in 1901. In 1905, Secord's portrait was hung in Parliament. Playwright Merrill Denison wrote a radio play of her story in 1931 which mixed serious history with parody.

On the centennial of Secord's walk in 1913, and to capitalize on Canadian patriotic feelings, Frank O'Connor founded Laura Secord Chocolates. The chain's first location opened on Yonge and Elm streets in Toronto. The chocolates were packaged in black boxes adorned with a cameo of Secord. By the 1970s, the company had become the largest candy retailer in Canada. Among most Canadians, the name Laura Secord is more strongly associated with the chocolate company than with the historical figure.

During the War of 1812, the Secords' Queenston homestead was fired upon and looted. It was restored in the late 20th century and given to the Niagara Parks Commission in 1971. It is now operated as a museum and gift shop at Partition and Queen streets in Queenston. The Laura Secord Legacy Trail covers the 32 kilometer route of the journey she undertook from her homestead in Queenston to DeCew House in Thorold where she delivered her message to Lt. Fitzgibbon on 22 June 1813.

Thomas Ingersoll's old home on Main Street in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Laura Secord's birthplace, was used as the town's Free Library from 1896 until 1913. The Mason Library replaced it and was built on the site. The Great Barrington Historic District Commission made 18 October 1997 Laura Secord Day, and dedicated a plaque in her honour at the site of the Mason Library.

Laura Secord is the namesake of a number of schools, including Laura Secord Public School (also known as Laura Secord Memorial School, 1914–2010) in Queenston, École Laura Secord School in Winnipeg, Manitoba (built 1912), Laura Secord Secondary School in St. Catharines, Ontario and Laura Secord Elementary School in Vancouver, British Columbia. Beaver Dams Battlefield Park has a plaque dedicated to Secord. In 1992, Canada Post issued a Laura Secord commemorative stamp. In 2003, the Minister of Canadian Heritage declared Secord a "Person of National Historical Significance", and in 2006 Secord's was one of fourteen statues dedicated at the Valiants Memorial in Ottawa. To commemorate the 200th anniversary of her walk, Secord's image adorned a circulation quarter issued by the Royal Canadian Mint and a postage stamp from Canada Post.

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title: Laura Secord


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Cenotaph

A cenotaph is an empty tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although the vast majority of cenotaphs honour individuals, many noted cenotaphs are instead dedicated to the memories of groups of individuals, such as the lost soldiers of a country or of an empire.

Etymology
"Cenotaph" means "empty tomb" and  is derived from the Greek κενοτάφιον, a compound word that is created from the morphological combination of two root words:
 * 1) κενός meaning "empty"
 * 2) τάφος meaning "tomb", from θαπτω

History
Cenotaphs were common in the ancient world. Many were built in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and across Northern Europe (in the shape of Neolithic barrows).

The cenotaph in Whitehall, London, designed in 1919 by Sir Edwin Lutyens, influenced the design of many other war memorials in Britain and in the British sectors of the Western Front, as well as those in other Commonwealth nations. Lutyens' cenotaph was chosen as a deliberately secular monument.

The Church of Santa Engrácia, in Lisbon, Portugal, turned into a National Pantheon in 1966, holds six cenotaphs, namely to Luís de Camões, Pedro Álvares Cabral, Afonso de Albuquerque, Nuno Álvares Pereira, Vasco da Gama and Henry the Navigator.

The Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy, contains a number of cenotaphs, including one for Dante Alighieri, who is buried in Ravenna.

South Africa
Durban has a striking and unusual cenotaph made of granite and lavishly decorated with brightly coloured ceramics.

Gqeberha (its former name Port Elizabeth) has a cenotaph. Located on the edge of St George's Park in Rink Street, it was designed by Elizabeth Gardner to commemorate the men who died in the First World War (1914–1918) and was erected by the monumental mason firm of Pennachini Bros. On either side of the central sarcophagus are statues by Technical College Art School principal, James Gardner, who served in the trenches during the war. One depicts St George and the Dragon, the other depicts the sanctity of family life. Surrounding the sarcophagus are a number of bas-relief panels depicting scenes and people during the First World War. It was unveiled by Mrs W F Savage and dedicated by Canon Mayo on 10 November 1929. A surrounding memorial wall commemorates the men and women killed during World War II.

Zambia
In Livingstone there is a cenotaph at the Eastern Cataract of The Victoria Falls with the names of the men of Northern Rhodesia who died during the Great War 1914–18. It was unveiled by Prince Arthur of Connaught on 1 August 1923.

There is also a cenotaph in Lusaka at Embassy Park, opposite the Cabinet Office along Independence Avenue, and commemorates those Zambians who fought and died in World Wars I & II. The cenotaph was commemorated in 1977.

Argentina

A monument which has come to be known to as the "Cenotaph" was erected in Plaza San Martín, in downtown Buenos Aires, to commemorate the Argentinian soldiers who died during the Falklands War, in 1982. The monument consists of a series of plaques of black marble with the names of the fallen, surrounding a flame, and during the day is guarded by two soldiers.

Another cenotaph, which is a replica of the Argentine Military Cemetery in Darwin on the Falkland Islands, exists in Campo de Mayo, a large Army facility and training field just outside Buenos Aires.

Bermuda
A limestone replica of the Cenotaph at Whitehall in London was erected outside the Cabinet Building in Hamilton, Bermuda (with the cornerstone laid in 1920, and the completed monument unveiled in 1925).

Canada
In Canada, major cenotaphs commemorating the nation's war dead in World War I and later conflicts include the National War Memorial (a cenotaph surmounted by a bronze sculpture entitled "The Response") in Ottawa; Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton, Victoria, St. John's, Halifax, and the Victory Square Cenotaph, in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Falkland Islands
In the Falkland Islands, there are several war memorials to commemorate those killed in the Falklands War in 1982. The main memorial for Falkland Islanders is the 1982 Liberation Memorial, a cenotaph erected in Stanley in 1984 which lists all the British Army regiments, RAF squadrons, Royal Navy vessels and the Royal Marine formations and units that took part in the conflict. The names of the 255 British military personnel who died during the war are listed on ten plaques behind the Memorial, divided into the service branches.

Services are held at the Memorial each year on 14 June (Liberation Day) and on Remembrance Sunday, with wreaths being laid at the foot of the Memorial.

United States
In the United States, a cenotaph in Yale University's Hewitt Quad (or Beinecke Plaza) honours men of Yale who died in battle. The John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial in Dallas is often described as a cenotaph.

The Battle Monument in Baltimore, Maryland commemorates the Battle of Baltimore, the Battle of North Point on 12 September 1814, the Bombardment of Fort McHenry on 13–14 September, and the stand-off on Loudenschlager's Hill (now Hampstead Hill in Patterson Park). It has an Egyptian Revival cenotaph base, surmounted by a fasces bound together with ribbons bearing the names of the dead. It was designed by French émigré architect Maximilian Godefroy in 1815, and construction was completed in 1827. It is considered the first war memorial in America, and an early example of a memorial to individual soldiers. The Monument appears on the Seal and the Logo of the City of Baltimore, and serves as a symbol for any agencies of the municipal government.

A cenotaph for the defenders of the Battle of the Alamo (March 1836) stands in front of the Alamo mission chapel in San Antonio, Texas. The cenotaph is empty because the remains of the fallen were cremated.

Atop War Memorial Chapel at Virginia Tech, there is a cenotaph honouring all Virginia Tech cadets who have been killed in battle. Inscribed upon the cenotaph are the names of the seven Virginia Tech alumni who have been awarded the Medal of Honor.

Maya Lin's Memorial Wall in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, inscribed with the names of the approximately 58 thousand service members who died in the Vietnam War, is one of the most visited monuments in Washington D.C.

In New London, Texas, a cenotaph stands dedicated to the more than 300 students and teachers killed in the New London School explosion on March 18, 1937, when a natural gas leak caused an explosion and destroyed the school.

Asia
In Asia, the Cenotaph in Central District of Hong Kong Island, cenotaphs in Kuala Lumpur, George Town, Ipoh, Seremban and Jesselton in Malaysia, the Cenotaph in Singapore, the Cenotaph in Colombo and the stone Cenotaph in the new Allenby Square, Romema, Jerusalem–were erected as memorials to the war dead of World War I.

Various cenotaphs in Asia have also been erected to commemorate the dead from events outside conventional Western coverage. The concrete Memorial Cenotaph at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park was designed by Kenzo Tange to commemorate the victims of the August 1945 atomic bomb attacks. The cenotaph at the 228 Peace Memorial Park in Taipei, Taiwan was erected as a memorial to the February 28 incident. In the Philippines, a cenotaph was erected inside the Manila North Cemetery in honour of the 24 Scouts who died in a plane crash en route to the 11th World Scout Jamboree.

A cenotaph at Khejarli, Rajasthan, India, memorializes the 363 Bishnoi martyrs who were massacred in 1730 while defending their local khejri trees.

In Kocaeli Province of Turkey there is a monumental cenotaph to memorialize the Carthaginian general and statesman Hannibal.

Ottoman-ruled Jerusalem surrendered to the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force under General Edmund Allenby during the Battle of Jerusalem in December 1917 during World War I. A cenotaph was erected in 1920 at the historical site of the surrender, later to be named Allenby Square. The inscription dedicates it to the fallen of the 60th London Division.

Belgium
The Interallied Memorial of Cointe, commissioned by FIDAC (The Interallied Federation of War Veterans Organisations) and built after World War I in Liège, is a complex consisting of a cenotaph with a tower as a secular monument and the Sacré-Cœur church as a religious building. Numerous monuments donated by Allied nations are displayed in the tower and on the adjoining esplanade.

France
In the Museum of Aquitaine, in Bordeaux, is the cenotaph of Michel de Montaigne, a French Renaissance writer and philosopher. The tomb was sculpted in 1593, a year after his death on the request of his wife, Françoise de la Chassaigne, probably by Prieur and Guillerman, two Bordeaux ornamentists.

On the cenotaph, next to the coat of arms, there are two epitaphs, in Greek and in Latin. The one in Latin begins: "To Michel de Montaigne, son of Pierre, grandson of Grimond, great-grand-son of Raymond, knight of Saint-Michel, ex-mayor of the city of Bordeaux, a man born for glory, with gentle manners, a witty mind ...".

London
A cenotaph in the UK that stands in Whitehall, London, was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and replaced Lutyens' identical wood-and-plaster cenotaph erected in 1919 for the Allied Victory Parade, and is a Grade I listed building. It is undecorated save for a carved wreath on each end and the words "The Glorious Dead", chosen by Lloyd George. It was intended to commemorate specifically the victims of the First World War, but is used to commemorate all of the dead in all wars in which British servicemen and women have fought. The dates of the First World War and the Second World War are inscribed on it in Roman numerals. The design was used in the construction of many other war memorials throughout the British Empire. The Cenotaph is used for annual Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday Commemorations held every November where all political leaders and ex-prime ministers attend and lay a wreath in dedication to the fallen.

Belfast
The Cenotaph in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is located in the grounds of Belfast City Hall and is set within a Garden of Remembrance. It is about 9.5 m high and presents several carvings including laurel wreaths, symbolising victory and honour. The Cenotaph is the site of the annual Northern Ireland memorial held on Remembrance Sunday, the closest Sunday to 11 November (Armistice Day).

Australia
In Australia, Anzac Day commemorations are usually held at all of the nation's many war memorials, but not all of them are cenotaphs. Cenotaphs include the Hobart Cenotaph, the Sydney Cenotaph and the obelisk within the State War Memorial in Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia.

New Zealand
Anzac Day commemorations in New Zealand are also usually held at local war memorials. Cenotaphs include the Dunedin Cenotaph, the Wellington Cenotaph and the Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph (a copy of the Whitehall Cenotaph).

Cenotaphs for the missing
Although most notable cenotaphs commemorate notable individuals buried elsewhere, many cenotaphs pay tribute to people whose remains have never been located, particularly those lost at sea. Some such cenotaphs are dedicated to victims of the RMS Titanic whose bodies were not recovered after the sinking. Although Isidor Straus's body was recovered, Ida Straus's body was not, and a cenotaph at the Straus Mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx is dedicated to Isidor and Ida together. Its inscription reads: "Many waters cannot quench love—neither can the floods drown it." The striking cenotaph of Major Archibald Butt, aide to U.S. President William Taft, is located at Arlington National Cemetery.

In Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands of Ireland, drowning was formerly such a common cause of death for island fishermen that each family had a memorial to those lost at sea known as leachtaí cuimhneacháin (memorial cairns). Most were erected in the 19th century, although some date back to the eighteenth. A modern memorial was erected in 1997.

Chhatris
In India, cenotaphs are a basic element of Hindu architecture, later used by Moghuls as seen in most of the mausoleums of Mughal Emperors which have two burial chambers, the upper one with a cenotaph, as in Humayun's Tomb, Delhi, or the Taj Mahal, Agra, while the real tomb often lies exactly below it, or further removed. The term chhatri, used for these canopylike structures, comes from Hindustani word literally meaning umbrella, and are found throughout the northwestern region of Rajasthan as well as in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. In the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan, chhatris are built on the cremation sites of wealthy or distinguished individuals. Chhatris in Shekhawati may consist of a simple structure of one dome raised by four pillars to a building containing many domes and a basement with several rooms. In some places, the interior of the chhatri is painted in the same manner as the Haveli.

Art
Cenotaphs have also been the subject of a number of illustrations including:
 * The Cenotaph to Reynold's Memory (John Constable, c. 1833)
 * Elevation for Newton's Cenotaph, Perspective (Etienne-Louis Boullée, c. 1785)
 * The Cenotaph of Jean Jacques Rousseau (Hubert Robert, 1794)

Digital and astronomical
In the Internet age, virtual cenotaphs are common in the game World of Warcraft, as well as in The Elder Scrolls series games though modding add-ons.

They have also been created in the augmented reality game Ingress in honour of the slain MIT police officer Sean Collier and in memory of the victims of the 1942 Struma disaster.

On 13 January 2016, Belgian amateur astronomers at MIRA Public Observatory dedicated, in conjunction with radio station Studio Brussels, an asterism of seven stars in the vicinity of Mars which had been photographed at the exact time of David Bowie's death; when appropriately connected they form the iconic lightning bolt of Aladdin Sane.

title: Cenotaph


text:
Luther Vandross

Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. Throughout his career, he achieved eleven consecutive RIAA-certified platinum albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide. Known as the "Velvet Voice", Vandross has been recognized as one of the 200 greatest singers of all time (2023) by Rolling Stone, as well as one of the greatest R&B artists by Billboard. In addition, NPR named him one of the 50 Great Voices. He was the recipient of eight Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year in 2004 for a track recorded not long before his death, "Dance with My Father". In 2021, he was posthumously inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.

Vandross worked as a backing vocalist in the 1970s, and appeared on albums by artists such as Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway, Todd Rundgren, Judy Collins, Chaka Khan, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, David Bowie, Ben E. King, Stevie Wonder, and Donna Summer. He later became a lead singer of the group Change, which released the Gold-certified album, The Glow of Love, in 1980 on Warner/RFC Records. After Vandross left the group, he was signed to Epic Records as a solo artist and released his debut solo album, Never Too Much, in 1981.

His hit songs include "Never Too Much", "Here and Now", "Any Love", "Power of Love/Love Power", "I Can Make It Better" and "For You to Love". Many of his songs were covers of original music by other artists such as "If This World Were Mine" (duet with Cheryl Lynn), "Since I Lost My Baby", "Superstar", "I (Who Have Nothing)" and "Always and Forever". He performed duets such as "The Closer I Get to You" with Beyoncé, "Endless Love" with Mariah Carey and "The Best Things in Life Are Free" with Janet Jackson of which the latter two were hit songs in his career. The tribute album So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute to Luther Vandross, was released shortly after his death.

Early life
Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. was born on April 20, 1951, at Bellevue Hospital, in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. His birth occurred concurrently with General Douglas MacArthur's ticker-tape parade throughout the same city. He was the fourth child and second son of Mary Ida Vandross and Luther Vandross Sr. His father was an upholsterer and singer, and his mother was a nurse. Vandross was raised in Manhattan's Lower East Side in the Alfred E. Smith Houses public housing development. At the age of three, having his own phonograph, Vandross taught himself to play the piano by ear.

His father died of diabetes when Luther was eight years old. In 2003, Vandross wrote the song "Dance with My Father" and dedicated it to him; the title was based on his childhood memories and his mother's recollections of the family singing and dancing in the house. His family moved to the Bronx when he was nine. His sisters, Patricia "Pat" and Ann, began taking Vandross to the Apollo Theater and to a theater in Brooklyn to see Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin. Patricia sang with the vocal group The Crests and was featured on the songs "My Juanita" and "Sweetest One".

Vandross graduated from William Howard Taft High School in the Bronx in 1969, and attended Western Michigan University for one and a half semesters before dropping out to continue pursuing a career in music.

Career
While in high school, Vandross founded the first Patti LaBelle fan club, of which he was president. He also performed in a group, Shades of Jade, that once played at the Apollo Theater. During his early years in show business, he appeared several times at the Apollo's famous amateur night. While he was a member of a theater workshop, Listen My Brother, he was involved in the singles "Only Love Can Make a Better World" and "Listen My Brother". The group performed in front of tens of thousands at the Harlem Cultural Festival in late August 1969. Directly afterward, he appeared with the group in the pilot episode and other episodes of the first season of Sesame Street during 1969–1970.

1970s: Back-up vocalist and first groups
Vandross added backing vocals to Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway in 1972, and worked on Delores Hall's Hall-Mark album (1973). He sang with her on the song "Who's Gonna Make It Easier for Me", which he wrote, and he contributed another song, "In This Lonely Hour". After his song "Funky Music (Is a Part of Me)" was re-written as "Fascination" with David Bowie for the latter's Young Americans (1975) album, Vandross went on to tour with him as a back-up vocalist in September 1974. Vandross wrote "Everybody Rejoice/A Brand New Day" for the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz.

Vandross also sang backing vocals for artists, including Roberta Flack, Chaka Khan, Ben E. King, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Carly Simon, Barbra Streisand, David Bowie, Cat Stevens, Gary Glitter, Ringo Starr, Sister Sledge, and Donna Summer, and for the bands Mandrill, Chic and Todd Rundgren's Utopia.

Before his solo breakthrough, Vandross was part of a singing quintet named Luther in the late 1970s. The quintet consisted of former Shades of Jade members Anthony Hinton and Diane Sumler, as well as Theresa V. Reed, and Christine Wiltshire, signed to Cotillion Records. Although the singles "It's Good for the Soul", "Funky Music (Is a Part of Me)", and "The Second Time Around" were relatively successful, their two albums, the self-titled Luther (1976) and This Close to You (1977), which Vandross produced, did not sell enough to make the charts. Vandross bought back the rights to those albums after Cotillion dropped the group, preventing them from being re-released. Both albums were re-released in 2024.

Vandross also wrote and sang commercial jingles from 1977 until the early 1980s, for companies including NBC, Mountain Dew, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, and Juicy Fruit. He continued his successful career as a popular session singer during the late 1970s. His aforementioned song "Everybody Rejoice", sometimes called "A Brand New Day", was used in a Kodak commercial during the mid-1970s.

In 1978, Vandross sang lead vocals for Gregg Diamond's disco band, Bionic Boogie, on the song titled "Hot Butterfly". Also in 1978, he appeared on Quincy Jones's Sounds...and Stuff Like That!!, most notably on the song "I'm Gonna Miss You in the Morning" along with Patti Austin. Vandross also sang with the band Soirée and was the lead vocalist on the track "You Are the Sunshine of My Life"; he also contributed background vocals to the album along with Jocelyn Brown and Sharon Redd, each of whom also saw solo success. Additionally, he sang the lead vocals on the group Mascara's LP title song "See You in L.A." released in 1979. Vandross also appeared on the group Charme's 1979 album Let It In.

1980s: Change and solo breakthrough
Vandross made his career breakthrough as a featured singer with the vaunted pop-dance act Change, a studio concept created by French-Italian businessman Jacques Fred Petrus. Their 1980 hits, "The Glow of Love" (by Romani, Malavasi and Garfield) and "Searching" (by Malavasi), featured Vandross as the lead singer. In a 2001 interview with Vibe, Vandross said "The Glow of Love" was "the most beautiful song I've ever sung in my life." Both songs were from Change's debut album, The Glow of Love.

Vandross was originally intended to perform on their second and highly successful album Miracles in 1981, but declined the offer as Petrus didn't pay enough money. Vandross's decision led to a recording contract with Epic Records that same year, but he also provided background vocals on "Miracles" and on the new Petrus-created act, the B. B. & Q. Band in 1981. During that hectic year Vandross jump-started his second attempt at a solo career with his debut album, Never Too Much. In addition to the hit title track it contained a version of the Bacharach & David song "A House Is Not a Home".

The song "Never Too Much", written by him, reached number-one on the R&B charts. This period also marked the beginning of songwriting collaboration with bassist Marcus Miller, who played on many of the tracks and would also produce or co-produce a number of tracks for Vandross. The Never Too Much album was arranged by Vandross's high school classmate, Nat Adderley Jr., a collaboration that would last through Vandross's career.

Vandross released a series of successful R&B albums during the 1980s and continued his session work with guest vocals on groups like Charme in 1982. Many of his earlier albums made a bigger impact on the R&B charts than on the pop charts. During the 1980s, two of Vandross's singles reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B charts: "Stop to Love", in 1986, and a duet with Gregory Hines—"There's Nothing Better Than Love." Vandross was at the helm as producer for Aretha Franklin's Gold-certified, award-winning comeback album Jump to It. He also produced the follow-up album, 1983's Get It Right.

In 1983, the opportunity to work with his main musical influence, Dionne Warwick, came about with Vandross producing, writing songs, and singing on How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye, her fourth album for Arista Records. The title track duet reached No. 27 on the Hot 100 chart (#7 R&B/#4 Adult Contemporary), while the second single, "Got a Date" was a moderate hit (#45 R&B/#15 Club Play).

Vandross wrote and produced "It's Hard for Me to Say" for Diana Ross from her Red Hot Rhythm & Blues album. Ross performed the song as an a cappella tribute to Oprah Winfrey on her final season of The Oprah Winfrey Show. She then proceeded to add it to her successful 2010–12 "More Today Than Yesterday: The Greatest Hits Tour. Vandross also recorded a version of this song on his Your Secret Love album in 1996.

In 1985, Vandross first spotted the talent of Jimmy Salvemini, who was 15 at the time, on Star Search. He thought Salvemini had the perfect voice for some of his songs and contacted him. He was managed by his brother, Larry Salvemini. A contract was negotiated with Elektra Records for $250,000 and Vandross agreed to produce the album. He contacted his old friends – Cheryl Lynn, Alfa Anderson (of Chic), Phoebe Snow and Irene Cara – to appear on the record. Jimmy Salvemini's album, Roll It, was released in 1986.

Vandross also sang the ad-libs and background vocals, along with Syreeta Wright and Philip Bailey, in Stevie Wonder's 1985 hit "Part-Time Lover". In 1984, he voiced a cartoon character named Zack for ABC's Zack of All Trades, a three Saturday morning animated PSA spots.

The 1989 compilation album The Best of Luther Vandross... The Best of Love included the ballad "Here and Now", his first single to chart in the Billboard pop chart top ten, peaking at number six.

1990s
In 1990, Vandross wrote, produced and sang background for Whitney Houston in a song titled "Who Do You Love" which appeared on her album I'm Your Baby Tonight. That year, he guest starred on the television sitcom 227.

More albums followed in the 1990s, beginning with 1991's Power of Love which spawned two top ten pop hits. He won his first Grammy award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 1991. He won his second Best Male R&B Vocal in the Grammy Awards of 1992, and his track "Power of Love/Love Power" won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song in the same year. In 1992, "The Best Things in Life Are Free", a duet with Janet Jackson from the movie Mo' Money became a hit. In 1993, he had a brief non-speaking role in the Robert Townsend movie The Meteor Man. He played a hit man who plotted to stop Townsend's title character.

Vandross hit the top ten again in 1994, teaming with Mariah Carey on a cover version of Lionel Richie and Diana Ross's duet "Endless Love". It was included on the album Songs, a collection of songs which had inspired Vandross over the years. He also appears on "The Lady Is a Tramp" released on Frank Sinatra's Duets album. At the Grammy Awards of 1997, he won his third Best Male R&B Vocal for the track "Your Secret Love".

A second greatest hits album, released in 1997, compiled most of his 1990s hits and was his final album released through Epic Records. After releasing I Know on Virgin Records, he signed with J Records. His first album on Clive Davis's new label, titled Luther Vandross, was released in 2001, and it produced the hits "Take You Out" (#7 R&B/#26 Pop), and "I'd Rather" (#17 Adult Contemporary/#40 R&B/#83 Pop). Vandross scored at least one top 10 R&B hit every year from 1981 to 1994.

In 1997, Vandross sang the American national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", during Super Bowl XXXI at the Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana.

2000s
He made two public appearances at Diana Ross's Return to Love Tour: at its opening in Philadelphia at First Union Spectrum and its final stop at Madison Square Garden on July 6, 2000.

In September 2001, Vandross performed a rendition of Michael Jackson's hit song "Man in the Mirror" at Jackson's 30th Anniversary special, alongside Usher and 98 Degrees.

In the spring of 2003, Vandross's last collaboration was Doc Powell's song "What's Going On", a cover of Marvin Gaye's seminal 1971 original, from Powell's album 97th and Columbus.

In 2003, Vandross released the album Dance with My Father. It sold 442,000 copies in the first week and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart. The title track of the same name, which was dedicated to Vandross's childhood memories of dancing with his father, won Vandross and his co-writer, Richard Marx, the 2004 Grammy Award for Song of the Year. The song also won Vandross his fourth and final award in the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance category. The album was his only career No. 1 on the Billboard album chart. The video for the title track features various celebrities alongside their fathers and other family members. The second single released from the album, "Think About You", was the number one Urban Adult Contemporary Song of 2004 according to Radio & Records.

In 2003, after the televised NCAA Men's Basketball championship, CBS Sports gave "One Shining Moment" a new look. Vandross, who had been to only one basketball game in his life, was the new singer, and the video had none of the special effects, like glowing basketballs and star trails, that videos from previous years had. This song version is in use today.

Posthumous releases
J Records released a song in 2006, "Shine"—an upbeat R&B track that samples Chic's disco song "My Forbidden Lover"—which reached No. 31 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song was originally slated to be released on the soundtrack to the movie, The Fighting Temptations, but it was shelved. A later remix of the song peaked at No. 10 on the Club Play chart. "Shine" and a track titled "Got You Home" were previously unreleased songs on The Ultimate Luther Vandross (2006), a greatest hits album on Epic Records/J Records/Legacy Recordings that was released August 22, 2006.

On October 16, 2007, Epic Records/J Records/Legacy Recordings released a 4-disc boxed set titled Love, Luther. It features nearly all of Vandross's R&B and pop hits throughout his career, as well as unreleased live tracks, alternate versions, and outtakes from sessions that Vandross recorded. The set also includes "There's Only You", a version of which had originally appeared on the soundtrack to the 1987 film Made in Heaven.

In October 2015, Sony Music released a re-configured edition of its The Essential Luther Vandross compilation containing three unreleased songs: "Love It, Love It" (which made its premiere a year prior on the UK compilation The Greatest Hits), a live recording of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" with Paul Simon and Jennifer Holliday, and a cover of Astrud Gilberto's "Look to the Rainbow".

Sexual orientation
Vandross never married and had no children. His mother outlived all of her four children, and his three elder siblings along with his father all predeceased him due to diabetes and asthma.

In 2006, Bruce Vilanch, a friend and colleague of Vandross, told Out magazine, "He said to me, 'No one knows I'm in the life.' ... He had very few sexual contacts". According to Vilanch, Vandross experienced his longest romantic relationship with a man while living in Los Angeles during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In December 2017, 12 years after his death, Vandross's friend Patti LaBelle confirmed that he was gay. In addition, Vandross was well aware that officially coming out as gay while he was actively making music would have been detrimental to the trajectory of his career, given the majority of his target audience were women seeking some mode of emotional engagement from his words. LaBelle said "[Vandross] had a lot of lady fans" and "he just didn't want to upset the world".

In December 1985, Vandross filed a libel suit against a British magazine after it attributed his 85-pound weight loss to AIDS. He weighed 325 lb when he started a diet in May of that year.

1986 car crash
After signing Jimmy Salvemini and having completed his debut album, Roll It, Vandross, Salvemini, and Salvemini's brother and manager Larry decided to celebrate. On January 12, 1986, they were riding in Vandross's 1985 Mercedes-Benz convertible on Laurel Canyon Boulevard, in the north section of Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles. Vandross was driving at 50 mph (80 km/h) in a 35 mph (56 km/h) zone when his Mercedes veered across the double yellow center line of the two lane street, turned sideways and collided with the front of a southbound 1972 Mercury Marquis, then swung around and hit a 1979 Cadillac Seville head on. Vandross and Jimmy Salvemini were rushed to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Larry, who was in the passenger seat, was killed during the collision. Vandross suffered three broken ribs, a broken hip, several bruises and facial cuts. Jimmy, who was in the back of the car, had cuts, bruises and contusions. Vandross faced vehicular manslaughter charges as a result of Larry's death, and his driving license was suspended for a year. There was no evidence that Vandross was under the influence of alcohol or other drugs; he pleaded no contest to reckless driving. At first, the Salvemini family was supportive of Vandross, but later filed a wrongful death suit against him. The case was settled out of court with a payment to the Salvemini family of about $630,000. Roll It was released later that year.

Illness and death
Vandross had diabetes and hypertension. On April 16, 2003, he had a severe stroke at his home in New York City and was in a coma for nearly two months. The stroke affected his ability to speak and sing and caused him to require a wheelchair. He later regained the ability to walk.

At the 2004 Grammy Awards, Vandross appeared in a pre-taped video segment to accept his Song of the Year Award for "Dance with My Father", saying, "When I say goodbye it's never for long, because I believe in the power of love (Vandross sang the last six words). His mother, Mary, accepted the award in person on his behalf. His last public appearance was on May 6, 2004, on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Vandross died on July 1, 2005, at the JFK Medical Center in Edison, New Jersey, at the age of 54 due to complications of a stroke.

Vandross's funeral was held at Riverside Church in New York City on July 8, 2005. Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick and Cissy Houston were among the speakers and singers at the service. Vandross was entombed at the George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus, New Jersey.

Legacy
Possessing a tenor vocal range,  Vandross was commonly referred to as "The Velvet Voice", and was sometimes called "The Best Voice of a Generation". He was also regarded as the "Pavarotti of Pop" by many critics.

Vandross has been cited as an inspiration on a number of other artists, including 112, Boyz II Men, D'Angelo, Hootie & the Blowfish, Jaheim, John Legend, Mint Condition, Ne-Yo, Ruben Studdard, and Usher. Stokley Williams, the lead singer of Mint Condition, has said that he has "studied Luther for such a long time because he was the epitome of perfect tone." On his influence, John Legend has said, "All us people making slow jams now, we was inspired by the slow jams Luther Vandross was making."

In 2008, Vandross was ranked No. 54 on Rolling Stone magazine's List of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Mariah Carey stated in several interviews that standing next to Vandross while recording their duet "Endless Love" was intimidating. In 2010, NPR included Vandross in its 50 Greatest Voices in recorded history, saying Vandross represents "the platinum standard for R&B song stylings." The announcement was made on NPR's All Things Considered on November 29, 2010.

Tribute
In 1999, Whitney Houston sang Vandross's "So Amazing" as a tribute to Vandross as he sat in the audience during the Soul Train Awards. Johnny Gill, El DeBarge, and Kenny Lattimore provided background vocals. On July 27, 2004, GRP Records released a smooth jazz various artists tribute album, Forever, for Always, for Luther, including ten popular songs written by Vandross. The album featured vocal arrangements by Luther and was produced by Rex Rideout and Bud Harner. Rideout had co-authored songs, contributed arrangements and played keyboards on Vandross's final three albums. The tribute album was mixed by Ray Bardani, who recorded and mixed most of Luther's music over the years. It featured an ensemble of smooth jazz performers, many of whom had previously worked with Vandross.

On September 20, 2005, the album So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute to Luther Vandross was released. The album is a collection of some of his songs performed by various artists, including Stevie Wonder, [Aretha Franklin]], Mary J. Blige, Usher, Fantasia, Beyoncé, Donna Summer, Alicia Keys, Elton John, Celine Dion, Wyclef Jean, Babyface, Patti LaBelle, John Legend, Angie Stone, Jamie Foxx, and Teddy Pendergrass. Aretha Franklin won a Grammy for her rendition of "A House Is Not a Home", and Stevie Wonder and Beyoncé won a Grammy for their cover of "So Amazing".

On November 21, 2006, saxophonist Dave Koz released a followup to the earlier smooth jazz GRP tribute album, this time on his own Rendezvous Entertainment label, an album called Forever, for Always, for Luther Volume II, also produced by Rex Rideout and Bud Harner. Koz played on all the featured Luther Vandross tracks, which were recorded by various smooth jazz artists.

On April 20, 2021, Google celebrated his 70th birthday with a Google Doodle of an animated clip that plays Vandross's song "Never Too Much".

Discography

 * Never Too Much (1981)
 * Forever, for Always, for Love (1982)
 * Busy Body (1983)
 * The Night I Fell in Love (1985)
 * Give Me the Reason (1986)
 * Any Love (1988)
 * Power of Love (1991)
 * Never Let Me Go (1993)
 * Songs (1994)
 * This Is Christmas (1995)
 * Your Secret Love (1996)
 * I Know (1998)
 * Luther Vandross (2001)
 * Dance with My Father (2003)

Tours

 * Luther Tour (1981)
 * Forever For Always For Love Tour (1982–1983)
 * Busy Body Tour (1984)
 * The Night I Fell in Love Tour (1985–1986)
 * Give Me the Reason Tour (1987)
 * The Heat (with Anita Baker) (1988)
 * Any Love World Tour (1989)
 * Best of Love Tour (1990)
 * The Power of Love Tour (1991)
 * Never Let Me Go World Tour (1993–1995)
 * Your Secret Love World Tour (1997)
 * Luther & Vanessa Live! (with Vanessa Williams) (1997)
 * Take You Out Tour (2001–2002)
 * BK Got Music Summer Soul Tour (with Gerald Levert, Angie Stone and Michelle Williams) (2002)

Awards

 * Grammy Award

 * rowspan="2" | 1982 || Luther Vandross || Best New Artist ||
 * Never Too Much || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * 1983 || Forever, For Always, For Love || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * 1986 || The Night I Fell in Love || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * rowspan="2" | 1987 || rowspan="2" | "Give Me the Reason" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * Best R&B Song (shared with Nat Adderley Jr.) ||
 * rowspan="2" | 1989 || rowspan="2" | "Any Love" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * Best R&B Song (shared with Marcus Miller) ||
 * 1990 || "She Won't Talk to Me" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * 1991 || "Here and Now" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance || Won
 * rowspan="3" | 1992 || rowspan="2" | "Power of Love/Love Power" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance || Won
 * Best R&B Song (with Marcus Miller and Teddy Vann) || Won
 * "Doctor's Orders" (with Aretha Franklin) || Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ||
 * 1993 || "The Best Things in Life Are Free" (with Janet Jackson) || Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ||
 * rowspan="3" | 1994 || "How Deep Is Your Love" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * "Heaven Knows" || Best R&B Song (shared with Reed Vertelney) ||
 * "Little Miracles (Happen Every Day)" || Best R&B Song (shared with Marcus Miller) ||
 * rowspan="4" | 1995 || "Love the One You're With" || Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ||
 * "Endless Love" (with Mariah Carey) || Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals ||
 * "Always and Forever" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * Songs || Best R&B Album ||
 * rowspan="2" | 1997 || rowspan="2" | "Your Secret Love" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance || Won
 * Best R&B Song (shared with Reed Vertelney) ||
 * 1998 || "When You Call on Me / Baby That's When I Come Runnin'" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * rowspan="2" | 1999 || "I Know" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * I Know || Best Traditional R&B Performance ||
 * 2003 || "Any Day Now" || Best Traditional R&B Performance ||
 * rowspan="5" | 2004 || rowspan="3" | "Dance with My Father" || Song of the Year (shared with Richard Marx) || Won
 * Best Male R&B Vocal Performance || Won
 * Best R&B Song (shared with Richard Marx) ||
 * "The Closer I Get to You" (with Beyoncé) || Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals || Won
 * Dance with My Father || Best R&B Album || Won
 * 2007 || "Got You Home" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * }
 * rowspan="4" | 1995 || "Love the One You're With" || Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ||
 * "Endless Love" (with Mariah Carey) || Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals ||
 * "Always and Forever" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * Songs || Best R&B Album ||
 * rowspan="2" | 1997 || rowspan="2" | "Your Secret Love" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance || Won
 * Best R&B Song (shared with Reed Vertelney) ||
 * 1998 || "When You Call on Me / Baby That's When I Come Runnin'" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * rowspan="2" | 1999 || "I Know" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * I Know || Best Traditional R&B Performance ||
 * 2003 || "Any Day Now" || Best Traditional R&B Performance ||
 * rowspan="5" | 2004 || rowspan="3" | "Dance with My Father" || Song of the Year (shared with Richard Marx) || Won
 * Best Male R&B Vocal Performance || Won
 * Best R&B Song (shared with Richard Marx) ||
 * "The Closer I Get to You" (with Beyoncé) || Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals || Won
 * Dance with My Father || Best R&B Album || Won
 * 2007 || "Got You Home" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * }
 * I Know || Best Traditional R&B Performance ||
 * 2003 || "Any Day Now" || Best Traditional R&B Performance ||
 * rowspan="5" | 2004 || rowspan="3" | "Dance with My Father" || Song of the Year (shared with Richard Marx) || Won
 * Best Male R&B Vocal Performance || Won
 * Best R&B Song (shared with Richard Marx) ||
 * "The Closer I Get to You" (with Beyoncé) || Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals || Won
 * Dance with My Father || Best R&B Album || Won
 * 2007 || "Got You Home" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * }
 * "The Closer I Get to You" (with Beyoncé) || Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals || Won
 * Dance with My Father || Best R&B Album || Won
 * 2007 || "Got You Home" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * }
 * 2007 || "Got You Home" || Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ||
 * }
 * }

 * Soul Train Music Awards

 * rowspan="2" | 1987 || Give Me the Reason || Best R&B/Soul Album – Male || Won
 * "Give Me the Reason" || Best R&B/Soul Single – Male ||
 * 1988 || "So Amazing" || Best R&B/Soul Single – Male ||
 * 1989 || Any Love || Best R&B/Soul Album – Male ||
 * rowspan="3" | 1990 || The Best of Luther Vandross... The Best of Love || Best R&B/Soul Album – Male ||
 * rowspan="2" | "Here and Now" || Best R&B/Soul Single – Male || Won
 * Best Song of the Year ||
 * rowspan="2" | 1992 || Power of Love || Best R&B/Soul Album – Male || Won
 * "Power of Love/Love Power" || Best R&B/Soul Single – Male ||
 * rowspan="2" | 1994 || Never Let Me Go || Best R&B/Soul Album – Male ||
 * "Heaven Knows" || Best R&B/Soul Single – Male ||
 * 1995 || Songs || Best R&B/Soul Album – Male ||
 * 1999 || Luther Vandross || Quincy Jones Award for Career Achievement || Honour
 * rowspan="3" | 2004 || rowspan="2" | Dance with My Father || Best Album of the Year ||
 * Best R&B/Soul Album – Male ||
 * "Dance with My Father" || Best R&B/Soul Single – Male || Won
 * 2005 || "The Closer I Get to You" (with Beyoncé) || Best R&B/Soul Single – Group, Band or Duo ||
 * }
 * rowspan="2" | 1994 || Never Let Me Go || Best R&B/Soul Album – Male ||
 * "Heaven Knows" || Best R&B/Soul Single – Male ||
 * 1995 || Songs || Best R&B/Soul Album – Male ||
 * 1999 || Luther Vandross || Quincy Jones Award for Career Achievement || Honour
 * rowspan="3" | 2004 || rowspan="2" | Dance with My Father || Best Album of the Year ||
 * Best R&B/Soul Album – Male ||
 * "Dance with My Father" || Best R&B/Soul Single – Male || Won
 * 2005 || "The Closer I Get to You" (with Beyoncé) || Best R&B/Soul Single – Group, Band or Duo ||
 * }
 * rowspan="3" | 2004 || rowspan="2" | Dance with My Father || Best Album of the Year ||
 * Best R&B/Soul Album – Male ||
 * "Dance with My Father" || Best R&B/Soul Single – Male || Won
 * 2005 || "The Closer I Get to You" (with Beyoncé) || Best R&B/Soul Single – Group, Band or Duo ||
 * }
 * 2005 || "The Closer I Get to You" (with Beyoncé) || Best R&B/Soul Single – Group, Band or Duo ||
 * }
 * }

 * American Music Award

 * rowspan="2" | 1986 || Luther Vandross || Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist ||
 * The Night I Fell in Love || Favorite Soul/R&B Album ||
 * rowspan="2" | 1988 || Luther Vandross || Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist || Won
 * Give Me the Reason || Favorite Soul/R&B Album ||
 * 1990 || Luther Vandross || Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist || Won
 * rowspan="2" | 1992 || Luther Vandross || Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist || Won
 * Power of Love || Favorite Soul/R&B Album || Won
 * 1994 || Luther Vandross || Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist || Won
 * 1996 || Luther Vandross || Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist || Won
 * 2002 || Luther Vandross || Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist || Won
 * rowspan="2" | 2003 || Luther Vandross || Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist || Won
 * Dance with My Father || Favorite Soul/R&B Album || Won
 * }
 * Power of Love || Favorite Soul/R&B Album || Won
 * 1994 || Luther Vandross || Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist || Won
 * 1996 || Luther Vandross || Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist || Won
 * 2002 || Luther Vandross || Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist || Won
 * rowspan="2" | 2003 || Luther Vandross || Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist || Won
 * Dance with My Father || Favorite Soul/R&B Album || Won
 * }
 * rowspan="2" | 2003 || Luther Vandross || Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist || Won
 * Dance with My Father || Favorite Soul/R&B Album || Won
 * }
 * Dance with My Father || Favorite Soul/R&B Album || Won
 * }

 * Hollywood Walk of Fame
 * Inducted: Star (Posthumous; June 3, 2014)

 * National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame

 * 2021 || Luther Vandross || Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame || Inducted
 * 2021 || Luther Vandross || Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame || Inducted

title: Luther Vandross


text:
Wikipedia:GFDL upgrade

From time to time, new versions of the GFDL may be released. They often include some extra clarifications, tidy up some loose ends, but are still basically the same license.

Most Wikipedia content is licensed under GFDL version 1.2, or later version published by the Free Software Foundation, but Wikipedia formally only used version 1.1. Because GFDL licenses are perpetual and cannot be retracted, you can continue to use old Wikipedia content under the 1.1 version, should you wish to do so, though you can also choose to use it under the 1.2 or 1.3 versions (or any later version published by the FSF). However, text submitted after the switchover date cannot be used under version 1.1: only version 1.2 or later.

Remember that we cannot give legal advice in relation to your situation and your use of Wikipedia content.

title: Wikipedia:GFDL upgrade


text:
Department store

A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appearance in the middle of the 19th century, and permanently reshaped shopping habits, and the definition of service and luxury. Similar developments were under way in London (with Whiteleys), in Paris (Le Bon Marché) and in New York City (Stewart's).

Today, departments often include the following: clothing, cosmetics, do it yourself, furniture, gardening, hardware, home appliances, houseware, paint, sporting goods, toiletries, and toys. Additionally, other lines of products such as food, books, jewellery, electronics, stationery, photographic equipment, baby products, and products for pets are sometimes included. Customers generally check out near the front of the store in discount department stores, while high-end traditional department stores include sales counters within each department. Some stores are one of many within a larger retail chain, while others are an independent retailer.

Since the 1980s, they have come under heavy pressure from discounters, and have come under even heavier pressure from e-commerce sites since the 2000s.

Types
Department stores can be classified in several ways:
 * Mainline department store or simply, the traditional department store, offering mid- to high-end goods, most or at least some of the time at the full retail price. Examples are Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, J.C. Penney, Montgomery Ward, Sears and Belk.
 * Junior department store, a term used principally in the second part of the 20th century for a smaller version of a mainline department store. These were usually either independent stores, or chains such as Boston Store and Harris & Frank, which specialized in cosmetics and wearing apparel and accessories, with few home goods.
 * Discount department store, a large discount store selling apparel and home furnishings at a discount, either selling overstock from mainline department stores, or merchandise especially made for the discount department store market. Examples are Nordstrom Rack, Saks Off 5th, Marshalls, Ross Dress for Less, TJ Maxx, and Kohl's.

Some sources may refer to the following types of stores as department stores, even though they are not generally considered as such:
 * Hypermarkets (discount superstores with full grocery offerings, such as Target, Walmart and Carrefour)
 * Variety stores, also known in the U.S. as five and dimes, or dollar stores

Origins in England, 1700s
One of the first department stores may have been Bennett's in Derby, first established as an ironmonger (hardware shop) in 1734. It still stands to this day, trading in the same building. However, the first reliably dated department store to be established, was Harding, Howell & Co., which opened in 1796 on Pall Mall, London. The oldest department store chain may be Debenhams, which was established in 1778 and closed in 2021. It is the longest trading defunct British retailer. An observer writing in Ackermann's Repository, a British periodical on contemporary taste and fashion, described the enterprise in 1809 as follows:

"The house is one hundred and fifty feet in length from front to back, and of proportionate width. It is fitted up with great taste, and is divided by glazed partitions into four departments, for the various branches of the extensive business, which is there carried on. Immediately at the entrance is the first department, which is exclusively appropriated to the sale of furs and fans. The second contains articles of haberdashery of every description, silks, muslins, lace, gloves, &etc. In the third shop, on the right, you meet with a rich assortment of jewelry, ornamental articles in ormolu, French clocks, &etc.; and on the left, with all the different kinds of perfumery necessary for the toilette. The fourth is set apart for millinery and dresses; so that there is no article of female attire or decoration, but what may be here procured in the first style of elegance and fashion. This concern has been conducted for the last twelve years by the present proprietors who have spared neither trouble nor expense to ensure the establishment of a superiority over every other in Europe, and to render it perfectly unique in its kind."

This venture is described as having all of the basic characteristics of the department store; it was a public retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different departments. Jonathan Glancey for the BBC writes:

"Harding, Howell & Co was focused on the needs and desires of fashionable women. Here, at last women were free to browse and shop, safely and decorously, away from home and from the company of men. These, for the main part, were newly affluent middle-class women, their good fortune – and the department store itself – nurtured and shaped by the Industrial Revolution. This was transforming life in London and the length and breadth of Britain at a dizzying pace on the back of energetic free trade, fecund invention, steam and sail, and a seemingly inexhaustible supply of expendable cheap labour."

This pioneering shop was closed down in 1820 when the business partnership was dissolved. All the major High Streets in British cities had flourishing department stores by the mid-or late nineteenth century. Increasingly, women became the main customers. Kendals (formerly Kendal Milne & Faulkner) in Manchester lays claim to being one of the first department stores and is still known to many of its customers as Kendal's, despite its 2005 name change to House of Fraser. The Manchester institution dates back to 1836 but had been trading as Watts Bazaar since 1796. At its zenith the store had buildings on both sides of Deansgate linked by a subterranean passage "Kendals Arcade" and an art nouveau tiled food hall. The store was especially known for its emphasis on quality and style over low prices giving it the nickname "the Harrods of the North", although this was due in part to Harrods acquiring the store in 1919. Harrods of London can be traced back to 1834, though the current store was built between 1894 and 1905. Opened in 1830, Austins in Derry remained in operation as the world's oldest independent department store until its closure in 2016. Lewis's of Liverpool operated from 1856 to 2010. The world's first Christmas grotto opened in Lewis's in 1879, entitled 'Christmas Fairyland'. Liberty & Co. in London's West End gained popularity in the 1870s for selling Oriental goods. In 1889, Oscar Wilde wrote "Liberty's is the chosen resort of the artistic shopper".

Origins in Parisian magasins de nouveautés
The Paris department stores have roots in the magasin de nouveautés, or novelty store; the first, the Tapis Rouge, was created in 1784. They flourished in the early 19th century. Balzac described their functioning in his novel César Birotteau. In the 1840s, with the arrival of the railroads in Paris and the increased number of shoppers they brought, they grew in size, and began to have large plate glass display windows, fixed prices and price tags, and advertising in newspapers.

A novelty shop called Au Bon Marché had been founded in Paris in 1838 to sell items like lace, ribbons, sheets, mattresses, buttons, and umbrellas. It grew from 300 m2 and 12 employees in 1838 to 50000 m2 and 1,788 employees in 1879. Boucicaut was famous for his marketing innovations; a reading room for husbands while their wives shopped; extensive newspaper advertising; entertainment for children; and six million catalogs sent out to customers. By 1880 half the employees were women; unmarried women employees lived in dormitories on the upper floors.

Au Bon Marché soon had half a dozen or more competitors including Printemps, founded in 1865; La Samaritaine (1869), Bazaar de Hotel de Ville (BHV); and Galeries Lafayette (1895). The French gloried in the national prestige brought by the great Parisian stores. The great writer Émile Zola (1840–1902) set his novel Au Bonheur des Dames (1882–83) in the typical department store, making it a symbol of the new technology that was both improving society and devouring it.

First Australian department stores
Australia is notable for having the longest continuously operating department store, David Jones. The first David Jones department store was opened on 24 May 1838, by Welsh born immigrant David Jones in a "large and commodious premises" on the corner of George and Barrack Streets in Sydney, only 50 years after the foundation of the colony. Expanding to a number of stores in the various states of Australia, David Jones is the oldest continuously operating department franchise in the world. Other department stores in Australia include Grace Bros founded in 1885, now merged with Myer which was founded in 1900.

First American department stores (1825–1858)
Arnold Constable was the first American department store. It was founded in 1825 as a small dry goods store on Pine Street in New York City. In 1857 the store moved into a five-story white marble dry goods palace known as the Marble House. During the Civil War, Arnold Constable was one of the first stores to issue charge bills of credit to its customers each month instead of on a bi-annual basis. The store soon outgrew the Marble House and erected a cast-iron building on Broadway and Nineteenth Street in 1869; this "Palace of Trade" expanded over the years until it was necessary to move into a larger space in 1914. Financial problems led to bankruptcy in 1975.

In New York City in 1846, Alexander Turney Stewart established the "Marble Palace" on Broadway, between Chambers and Reade streets. He offered European retail merchandise at fixed prices on a variety of dry goods, and advertised a policy of providing "free entrance" to all potential customers. Though it was clad in white marble to look like a Renaissance palazzo, the building's cast iron construction permitted large plate glass windows that permitted major seasonal displays, especially in the Christmas shopping season. In 1862, Stewart built a new store on a full city block uptown between 9th and 10th streets, with eight floors. His innovations included buying from manufacturers for cash and in large quantities, keeping his markup small and prices low, truthful presentation of merchandise, the one-price policy (so there was no haggling), simple merchandise returns and cash refund policy, selling for cash and not credit, buyers who searched worldwide for quality merchandise, departmentalization, vertical and horizontal integration, volume sales, and free services for customers such as waiting rooms and free delivery of purchases. In 1858, Rowland Hussey Macy founded Macy's as a dry goods store.

Innovations 1850–1917
Marshall Field & Company originated in 1852. It was the premier department store on the busiest shopping street in the Midwest at the time, State Street in Chicago. Marshall Field's served as a model for other department stores in that it had exceptional customer service. Marshall Field's also had the firsts; among many innovations by Marshall Field's were the first European buying office, which was located in Manchester, England, and the first bridal registry. The company was the first to introduce the concept of the personal shopper, and that service was provided without charge in every Field's store, until the chain's last days under the Marshall Field's name. It was the first store to offer revolving credit and the first department store to use escalators. Marshall Field's book department in the State Street store was legendary; it pioneered the concept of the "book signing". Moreover, every year at Christmas, Marshall Field's downtown store windows were filled with animated displays as part of the downtown shopping district display; the "theme" window displays became famous for their ingenuity and beauty, and visiting the Marshall Field's windows at Christmas became a tradition for Chicagoans and visitors alike, as popular a local practice as visiting the Walnut Room with its equally famous Christmas tree or meeting "under the clock" on State Street.

In 1877, John Wanamaker opened what some claim was the United States' first "modern" department store in Philadelphia: the first to offer fixed prices marked on every article and also introduced electrical illumination (1878), the telephone (1879), and the use of pneumatic tubes to transport cash and documents (1880) to the department store business.

Another store to revolutionize the concept of the department store was Selfridges in London, established in 1909 by American-born Harry Gordon Selfridge on Oxford Street. The company's innovative marketing promoted the radical notion of shopping for pleasure rather than necessity and its techniques were adopted by modern department stores the world over. The store was extensively promoted through paid advertising. The shop floors were structured so that goods could be made more accessible to customers. There were elegant restaurants with modest prices, a library, reading and writing rooms, special reception rooms for French, German, American and "Colonial" customers, a First Aid Room, and a Silence Room, with soft lights, deep chairs, and double-glazing, all intended to keep customers in the store as long as possible. Staff members were taught to be on hand to assist customers, but not too aggressively, and to sell the merchandise. Selfridge attracted shoppers with educational and scientific exhibits; in 1909, Louis Blériot's monoplane was exhibited at Selfridges (Blériot was the first to fly over the English Channel), and the first public demonstration of television by John Logie Baird took place in the department store in 1925.

In Japan, the first "modern-style" department store was Mitsukoshi, founded in 1904, which has its root as a kimono store called Echigoya from 1673. When the roots are considered, however, Matsuzakaya has an even longer history, dated from 1611. The kimono store changed to a department store in 1910. In 1924, Matsuzakaya store in Ginza allowed street shoes to be worn indoors, something innovative at the time. These former kimono shop department stores dominated the market in its earlier history. They sold, or instead displayed, luxurious products, which contributed to their sophisticated atmospheres. Another origin of the Japanese department store is from railway companies. There have been many private railway operators in the nation and, from the 1920s, they started to build department stores directly linked to their lines' termini. Seibu and Hankyu are typical examples of this type.

Innovation (1917–1945)
In the middle of the 1920s, American management theories such as the scientific management of F.W. Taylor started spreading in Europe. The International Management Institute (I.M.I.) was established in Geneva in 1927 to facilitate the diffusion of such ideas. A number of department stores teamed up together to create the International Association of Department Stores in Paris in 1928 to have a discussion space dedicated to this retail format.

Expansion to malls
The U.S. Baby Boom led to the development of suburban neighborhoods and suburban commercial developments, including shopping malls. Department stores joined these ventures following the growing market of baby boomer spending.

A handful of U.S. retailers had opened seasonal stores in resorts, as well as smaller branch stores in suburbs, in the 1920s and 1930s. Examples include, in suburban Los Angeles, The Broadway-Hollywood, Bullocks Wilshire, The May Company-Wilshire, Saks-Beverly Hills, as well as two Strawbridge and Clothier stores: Suburban Square (1930) and Jenkintown (1931) outside Philadelphia. Suburban Square was the first shopping center anchored by a department store. In the 1950s, suburban growth took off – for example, in 1952, May Company California opened a four-level, 346700 sqft store in Lakewood Center near Los Angeles, at the time, the largest suburban department store in the world. However, only three years later it would build an even bigger, 452000 sqft store in the San Fernando Valley at Laurel Plaza.

2010–today
Starting in 2010 many analyists referred to a retail apocalypse in the United States and some other markets, referring to the closing of brick-and-mortar retail stores, especially those of large chains. In 2017, over 12,000 U.S. stores closed due to over-expansion of malls, rising rents, bankruptcies, leveraged buyouts, low quarterly profits other than during holiday peak periods, delayed effects of the Great Recession of 2008-9, shifts in spending to experiences rather than material goods, relaxed dress codes in workplaces, and the shift to e-commerce in which Amazon.com and Walmart dominated versus the online offerings of traditional retailers.

COVID-19 increased the number of permanent store closings in two ways: first through mandatory temporary closing of stores, especially in March and April 2020, with customers largely staying away from stores for non-essential purchases for many more months after that; and secondly, by causing a shift to working from home, which stimulated e-commerce further and reduced demand for business apparel.

Click-and-collect, curbside pickup
Click-and-collect services at department stores had been increasing during the 2010s, with many creating larger, distinctly signed, designated areas. Some of the more elaborate ones included features such as reception and seating areas with coffee served, computers with large screens for online shopping, and dressing rooms.

With the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, most U.S. retailers offered a curbside pickup service as an option on their websites, and a dedicated area at one of the store entrances accessible by car.

Store-within-a-store
Along with discount stores, mainline department stores implemented more and more "stores-within-a-store". For luxury brands this was often in boutiques similar to the brands' own shops on streets and in malls; they hired their own employees who merchandised the selling space, and rang up the transactions at the brand's own cash registers. The main difference was that the boutique was physically inside the department store building, although in many cases there are walls or windows between the main store space and the boutique, with designated entrances.

Table of largest department store flagship or branch stores by sales area
Incomplete list, notable stores of 50000 sqm or more. Individual department store buildings or complexes of buildings. Does not include shopping centers (e.g. GUM in Moscow, Intime "Department Stores" in China) where most space is leased out to other retailers, big-box catetgory killer stores (e.g. Best Buy, Decathlon), hypermarkets, discount stores (e.g. Walmart, Carrefour), markets, or souqs.

*store has no branches **opened at this location (may have expanded significantly in the years after initial opening)

title: Department store


text:
Lists of dragons

This is a list of lists of dragons.

 * List of dragons in mythology and folklore
 * Dragons in Greek mythology
 * Germanic dragon
 * Slavic dragon
 * European dragon
 * Chinese dragon
 * Japanese dragon
 * Korean dragon
 * List of dragons in popular culture
 * List of dragons in film and television
 * List of dragons in games
 * List of dragons in literature

title: Lists of dragons


text:
Microsoft Agent

Microsoft Agent is a technology developed by Microsoft which employs animated characters, text-to-speech engines, and speech recognition software to enhance interaction with computer users. It came pre-installed as part of Windows 2000 and later versions of Microsoft Windows up to Windows Vista. It was not included with Windows 7, and was completely discontinued in Windows 8. Microsoft Agent functionality was exposed as an ActiveX control that can be used by web pages.

The theory behind the software came from work on social interfaces by Clifford Nass and Byron Reeves at Stanford's Center for the Study of Language and Information.

Version history
Interactive character technology was first introduced in Microsoft Bob, which used an early version of Microsoft Agent technology internally referred to as "Microsoft Actor". It was the code used in the initial version of the Office Assistant in Microsoft Office 97. Microsoft Agent was subsequently created by Tandy Trower in an attempt to offer technology that was more flexible and available to third-party developers to include in their applications and web pages. The software release also included four interactive characters as well as a utility that enables developers to assemble their own characters and interactions.

Microsoft Agent replaced the original Microsoft Actor code in Office 2000, although this use did not include Agent's much-touted speech synthesis or recognition capabilities or any of the four Microsoft Agent sample characters. Instead, the Office team created their own characters, including one named "Clippit" (commonly dubbed "Clippy"). However, Microsoft Bob Actors and Office 97 assistants are incompatible with Office 2000 and later versions, and vice versa.

The current version of Microsoft Agent was quietly released on MSDN in 1997.

Technology
Microsoft Agent characters are stored in files of the .ACS extension, and can be stored in a number of compressed .ACF files for better World Wide Web distribution. Microsoft Office 97 and Microsoft Bob Actor characters are stored in files of the .ACT extension. Microsoft Agent character definition files are stored in files of the .ACD file extension, and are generated by the Microsoft Agent Character Editor.

The speech engine itself is driven by the Microsoft Speech API (SAPI), version 4 and above. Microsoft SAPI provides a control panel for easily installing and switching between various available Text to Speech and Speech to Text engines, as well as voice training and scoring systems to improve the quality and accuracy of both engines.

Microsoft provided four agent characters for free, from downloaded from the Microsoft Agent website. These were called Peedy, Merlin, Genie, and Robby. Some characters also shipped with Microsoft Office up to version 2003 as the Office Assistants and with Windows XP as search assistants. New Microsoft Agent characters could also be created using Microsoft's development tools, including the Agent Character Editor. Agents can be embedded in software with Visual Basic for Applications and in web pages with VBScript, and automated tools for the purpose of simplifying this exist. However, web page agents were only compatible with Internet Explorer, since alternative browsers like Opera or Mozilla Firefox do not support ActiveX.

Support after Windows XP
In Windows Vista, Microsoft Agent uses Speech API (SAPI) version 5.3 as its primary text-to-speech provider. (In previous versions of Windows, Agent uses SAPI version 4, which is not supported in Windows Vista and later.) Beginning with Vista, multilingual features of Microsoft Agent under a particular language version of the OS are not supported; that is, Agent will function in other languages only under a localized Windows version of the same language.

Microsoft announced in April 2009 that all Microsoft Agent development and support will be discontinued with the release of Windows 7. Microsoft is no longer offering licenses or distributing the SDK.

However, due to customer feedback, Microsoft provided an installation package of the Microsoft Agent core components for use on Windows 7. The download supported SAPI 5.3 compatible speech engines, and also contained the character “Merlin”, which shipped with Windows Vista.

title: Microsoft Agent


text:
Talk:Lists of dragons

Requested move 24 April 2022

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: not moved to the proposed title at this time, per the discussion below. Dekimasu よ! 14:24, 1 May 2022 (UTC)

Lists of dragons → List of dragons (disambiguation) – This page seems like a bit all over the place and has been proposed to be deleted a few times it seems. It's acting mostly as a disambiguation page and seems like it would benefit from properly being one Ingwina (talk) 09:50, 24 April 2022 (UTC) The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
 * Oppose Per WP:PTM. Disambiguation pages are not a search index, and lists of lists are rather common on Wikipedia. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 20:42, 24 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose per above. Perhaps List of lists of dragons would be a better target? J I P  | Talk 21:43, 24 April 2022 (UTC)
 * That would contradict the naming of everything else in Category:Lists of species lists. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 11:47, 25 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Oppose this is formatted as a WP:LISTOFLISTS and is named properly in that manner. You can see other such lists lised at List of lists of lists, where they are all called "lists of X" -- 65.92.246.142 (talk) 03:45, 27 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Comment List of lists of dragons should exist as a redirect, since that was the old format for such lists ("List of lists of x"), beforem they where shortened to "Lists of x" -- 65.92.246.142 (talk) 03:47, 27 April 2022 (UTC)

please add puff the Magic dragon to the list
If you listen to the story in the song puff the magic dragon it's a sad story but it sounds like A Fairytale you can't make up. unless you claimed it was fake, And then took credit for the dragon by calling it puff the magic dragon and said it's a song about getting high. Then had the song published. 24.140.188.82 (talk) 02:19, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Lists of dragons