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FanMail

FanMail is the third studio album by American girl group TLC, released on February 23, 1999, by LaFace and Arista Records. The album title is a tribute to TLC's fans who sent them fan mail during their hiatus. FanMail debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, selling 318,000 copies in its first week of release, and spent five weeks at number one.

The album received eight nominations at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards, including one for Album of the Year, winning three. It has been certified six-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has sold 10 million copies worldwide. FanMail is TLC's second-best-selling album after their 1994 studio album CrazySexyCool. To promote the album, TLC embarked on their first concert tour titled the FanMail Tour. It was the group's final album released in Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes' lifetime before she died on April 25, 2002, as she was killed in a car crash prior to the release of their fourth studio album 3D (2002).

Background
After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 3, 1995, the group went on a recording hiatus. The suit was eventually settled on November 25, 1996. Preliminary work on their third studio album was delayed when friction arose between the group and their main producer Dallas Austin, who was at the time dating member Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, and helped to raise their son Tron. Austin wanted $4.2 million and creative control on the project, resulting in a stand-off between him and the group. TLC eventually entered recording studios in April 1998 to start work on their then-untitled third album with Austin, who returned with a handshake agreement. While he contributed the most to the album and served as the executive producer, they also collaborated with long-term producers Babyface and L.A. Reid, as well as with Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. FanMail was initially scheduled for release on November 10, 1998, but was delayed to the first quarter of 1999.

Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes wrote and composed eight songs for the album, all of which Austin rejected, stating that they were "inferior". Consequently, Lopes told MTV News in July 1998 that she decided to work on a solo album assisted by Erick Sermon. The album was planned to be released before FanMail, further causing tension among the group. During an interview with Vibe in 1999, Lopes publicly derided her involvement in TLC, remarking: "I've graduated from this era. I cannot stand 100 percent behind this TLC project and the music that is supposed to represent me. This will be my last interview until I can speak freely about the truth and present myself on my solo project."

Recording and production
During the recording of FanMail, the group were offered many songs that would eventually be recorded by other artists such as 702's "Where My Girls At?" (1999), Whitney Houston's "Heartbreak Hotel" (1998), and Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time" (1998). Thomas stated that the group considered recording each track but were worried that it did not represent them well. Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins reiterated Thomas' reasoning in an interview with MTV News, stating that "...Baby One More Time" was not good for them despite appreciating and respecting Spears' decision to record it.

Watkins decided to begin writing poetry to deal with her emotions after being in and out of hospital due to sickle cell disease. She took her collection of poems to Austin, who helped her adapt one into the song "Unpretty", while another was adapted by Babyface into "Dear Lie". While writing and recording "I'm Good at Being Bad" in Minneapolis, Watkins had been inspired by grunge band Nirvana's loud and soft dynamic shifts in their discography, and wanted to create a song in a similar style for TLC. Jam encouraged her to hum the melody while he played the beat in the recording booth, which was unlike her usual process of listening to the beat and writing out the lyrics. She stated that the technique influenced her as a songwriter. She sought to have Lopes rap the pre-chorus herself, but Lopes insisted that Watkins' thicker voice should be used for the track. Watkins also contributed to writing two more songs for the album, co-writing "If They Knew" and "Shout" with Austin and Lopes. Two of the album's tracks, "Come on Down" and "I Miss You So Much", were originally written for Watkins to sing lead. However, she decided that Thomas would be more suited as the lead vocalist after attempting to record them. During the recording of the latter, Thomas was suffering from a sinus infection. She asked to re-record the song the next week despite it being near the album's deadline, but Babyface decided that the vocal take she had recorded would be suitable for the final version. "No Scrubs" was one of the final tracks recorded for the album. It was originally written by Kandi Burruss, Tameka Cottle, and Briggs for the former two artists to record together as part of the girl group Xscape. However, Austin persuaded Briggs to give the song to TLC as their first single for FanMail, with Thomas singing the lead vocals. Austin further emphasized that it was a breakthrough for her, as he believed that she was more capable than being relegated to a secondary vocalist.

Composition
FanMail took on a new, futuristic style, due to the rapid advancement in technology heading into the new millennium such as the Y2K bug and Napster. This was effectively portrayed in the album's most popular song "No Scrubs" along with the music video, which embraces a modern emphasis on female strength and independence. The album contains several tracks featuring vocals by the computer modulated voice Vic-E, a talking android which is reminiscent of the "tour guide" on A Tribe Called Quest's 1993 studio album, Midnight Marauders. Initially, the android was created through the Macintosh's greeting voice as a replacement for Lopes, as she refused to work with the group. However, once she reconciled with them, she approved of the android and decided to include it on the album as a character.

FanMail is an R&B album, that includes tracks featuring funk, hip hop-inspired dance-pop, and ballads. Several producers were involved in the album's production, including Dallas Austin, Babyface, Jermaine Dupri, Jimmy Jam, and Terry Lewis. Throughout 17 tracks, TLC brought up issues of sexuality, insecurities, self-reliance, and vulnerability with resistant messaging. It fused elements of "new jill swing" and sounds created from a Roland TR-808, to form a "cyber-R&B masterpiece". On the first track "FanMail", Austin used multiple samples from the internet and movies in order to create a "space sound" that "will sound like what the album cover looks like". The background noise consisting of typewriters and printers was incorporated to represent the fan letters and fan mail, while Austin added a sample from an interview with Lopes commenting "all these conflicting fan mail", and created a hook with it. The song consisted of a sneaking bassline, vocal stutters, and glitches similar to that of dial-up Internet. However, in contrast to the album's dominating technological sound, "Unpretty" is an alternative pop song that describes the insecurity caused by body-shaming. The song was inspired by a poem written by Watkins. "Communicate (Interlude)" establishes the connection between the thoughts and feelings of people nearby through technology. The lyrics from the song, "There's over a thousand ways/ To communicate in our world today/ And it's a shame/ That we don't connect" describe the lack of interaction between humans, which in turn has increased the rate of depression among adolescents. It combines the typing of a keyboard in the background with Left Eye's vocals, "will you communicate with me?".

Artwork, packaging, and title
The FanMail cover featured a custom font design, and cover art with decode-able binary code which included images of the TLC members in metallic skin tones. The photographer, Dan Levy, shot the silver-painted group members without any digital alterations. Writing for i-D, Annie Lord described the members on the cover as "three digitised [sic], disembodied cyborgs from another dimension", and compared the binary code across their faces to The Matrix. The CD insert folds out to form a large poster featuring a picture of the three TLC members and the names of thousands of people who sent them fan mail throughout their career. A limited edition of the album was released, which had an insert with a lenticular version of the cover placed in front of the original booklet in the jewel case.

The album title is a tribute to TLC's fans after their five-year hiatus. It came from Lopes, who also coined the group's first two album titles Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip and CrazySexyCool, and initially wanted to name the album Fan2See. She stated to the group, "let's write and sing one big fan letter. Let's put fan names on everything – all the singles, the album cover, T-shirts, mugs. Just show our appreciation".

Singles
"FanMail", "Silly Ho", "I'm Good at Being Bad", and "My Life" served as promotional singles for the album. Those songs charted on the US Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

"No Scrubs" was the official lead single and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for four consecutive weeks, becoming TLC's biggest commercial success in years. It also ranked at number two on Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 of 1999.

Follow-up single "Unpretty" also topped the Billboard Hot 100, spending three weeks at number one and placing at number 20 on the Year-End Hot 100.

Originally, "Shout" was planned to be a single in the United States, while "Dear Lie" would be a single internationally, but only the latter would end up being released as a single with an accompanying music video. It peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Tour
TLC embarked on the FanMail Tour to promote the album. It was their first headlining tour, and their first tour in five years. As part of a sponsorship with MP3.com, the group released "I Need That", with proceeds sent to the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. The song was described by the producer Rico Lumpkins as "more R&B than hip-hop". The stage and costumes were all designed by each TLC member. The FanMail Tour became the highest-grossing tour by a girl group, as it grossed over $72.8 million. It was the final tour with all three members together.

Critical reception
Writing for Muzik, Tony Farsides stated that FanMail was "a real grower" in comparison to other albums released during the time. NME writer Roger Morton compared the album's "cyber concept" to Prince's electronic funk discography and opined that TLC were not diminished by other girl groups such as Honeyz, All Saints, and the Spice Girls.

Ann Powers of Rolling Stone opined that elements of FanMail were "fragmented" despite sounding more "sharper [and] aggressive" than CrazySexyCool, but praised the TLC members for taking "brave" risks. Writing for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that the group were attempting to imitate the production of CrazySexyCool although he noted the album's versatility. Los Angeles Times staff writer Marc Weingarten negatively stated that the vocals were "wispy [and] flat", and that all members were "severely limited singers". However, he commented that the album's production managed to overpower their vocals with "sinewy beats and startling arrangements".

David Browne of Entertainment Weekly criticized TLC's "startlingly faceless and homogeneous" vocals and opined that FanMail was an "endless parade of hooks" without the essence of R&B. He acknowledged that their vocals were typical of some R&B artists in the 1990s who "warble in the same half-asleep murmur" and lamented that the genre is "curiously dispassionate". Writing for Spin, Joshua Clover stated that the album was "a burning, physical message that looks like a spectacle but reads like sexual politics" and criticized the producers for attempting to resemble Timbaland's production.

Commercial performance
In the United States, FanMail debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts with 318,000 copies sold in its first week, becoming TLC's first number-one album on both charts. On June 21, 2000, it was certified six-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album had sold 4.8 million copies in the United States as of July 2017; it had sold an additional 877,000 copies through the BMG Music Club as of February 2003. Internationally, the album reached the top 10 in New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom. As of February 2019, FanMail has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

Digital download track

 * "I Need That" – 3:52
 * Released online by TLC exclusively on MP3.com to promote the FanMail Tour. Produced by Rico Lumpkins for PWPX, LLC. Written by R. Lumpkins, L. Lopes, and S. Chunn. Left Eye's rap was later expanded and re-recorded on the track "Gimme Some" from Toni Braxton's album The Heat, as well as being completely reused and shortened on the track "Whoop De Woo" from the compilation Now and Forever: The Hits, originally intended for the group's fourth album 3D.

Notes
 * $undefined$ signifies a co-producer
 * $undefined$ signifies an additional vocal producer

Sample credits
 * "FanMail" contains an excerpt from an MTV interview that features the instrumental of TLC's song "Diggin' on You" in the background.
 * "I'm Good at Being Bad" contains elements from "Slippin' into Darkness" by War. The song also originally contained interpolated lyrics from "Love to Love You Baby" by Donna Summer, but the interpolated lyrics were later removed on later pressings of the explicit version.
 * On initial pressings of the album, "Whispering Playa – Interlude" contained a sample of "Cold Blooded" by Rick James playing in the background. The sample was removed on subsequent editions, with TLC's song "U in Me" being played in the background instead.
 * "Automatic" contains portions from Neil Armstrong's "Moon Landing" speech.

Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of FanMail.

Musicians

 * Dallas Austin – arrangements (tracks 1, 3, 7, 9, 11, 12, 15–17); gang vocals (tracks 3, 11)
 * T-Boz – background vocals (tracks 1, 11, 13, 16); gang vocals (track 3)
 * Chilli – background vocals (tracks 1, 5, 8, 11, 16)
 * Debra Killings – background vocals (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7–13, 15–17); bass (tracks 9, 12, 17)
 * Rick Sheppard – MIDI, sound design (tracks 1, 3, 9, 11, 15, 17)
 * Vic-E – speech (track 2); rap (track 3)
 * Leslie Brathwaite – gang vocals (tracks 3, 11)
 * Ty Hudson – gang vocals (tracks 3, 11)
 * Joi Gilliam – gang vocals (track 3)
 * Peach – gang vocals (track 3)
 * Sonji – gang vocals (track 3)
 * Carolyn Paige – gang vocals (track 3)
 * Kevin Wales – gang vocals (track 3)
 * "Big" Stan Smith – gang vocals (track 3)
 * Papi – playa (track 4)
 * Kandi Burruss – background vocals (track 5)
 * Tameka "Tiny" Cottle – background vocals (track 5)
 * She'kspere – MIDI, sound design (track 5)
 * Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis – arrangements, all other musical instruments (track 6)
 * Mike Scott – guitar (track 6)
 * Alex Richbourg – drum programming (track 6)
 * Jerry Lumpkins – additional keyboards (track 7)
 * Babyface – drum programming, acoustic guitar (tracks 8, 13); keyboards, electric guitar (track 13)
 * Greg Phillinganes – piano (track 8); Wurlitzer (track 13)
 * Michael Thompson – acoustic guitar (track 8); electric guitar (track 13)
 * C.C. Thomas – bass (track 8)
 * Necia Bray – background vocals (track 8)
 * Tomi Martin – guitar (tracks 9, 17)
 * Tom Knight – drums (track 9)
 * LaMarquis Jefferson – bass (track 10)
 * Marde Johnson – gang vocals (track 11)
 * Koko Watkins – gang vocals (track 11)
 * Solomon Jackson – gang vocals (track 11)
 * James Killings – guitar (track 12)
 * Nathan East – bass (track 13)
 * Paulinho da Costa – percussion (track 13)
 * Colin Wolfe – bass (track 15)
 * Melvin M. Jones – trumpet (track 17)
 * Gregory Hudspeth – saxophone (track 17)
 * Anthony Roberson – trombone (track 17)

Technical

 * Cyptron – production (tracks 1–3)
 * Carlton Lynn – recording (tracks 1–5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17); recording assistance (tracks 1, 7, 11, 12, 15, 16); mixing (tracks 2, 4, 14)
 * Leslie Brathwaite – recording (tracks 1, 3, 9, 11, 15–17); mixing (tracks 5, 11, 17)
 * Jeff Griffin – recording assistance (tracks 1, 11, 15)
 * Sejoon Kahng – recording assistance (tracks 1, 11, 15)
 * Alvin Speights – mixing (tracks 1, 3, 7, 9, 12, 15, 16)
 * Vernon J. Mungo – mixing assistance (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 15–17); recording assistance (track 13); recording (track 17)
 * Ty Hudson – recording assistance (tracks 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 17); mixing assistance (tracks 14, 17)
 * Dallas Austin – production (tracks 4, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14–17); executive production
 * Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs – production (track 5); additional vocal production (track 17)
 * Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis – production (track 6)
 * Steve Hodge – recording, mixing (track 6)
 * Xavier Smith – recording assistance, mixing assistance (track 6)
 * Dave Rideau – vocal recording (track 6)
 * Gordon Fordyce – vocal recording assistance (track 6)
 * Dylan Dresdow – vocal recording assistance (track 6)
 * Ricciano Lumpkins – production (track 7); recording (tracks 7, 12, 16)
 * John Horesco IV – mixing assistance (track 7); digital editing (track 17)
 * Babyface – production (tracks 8, 13); executive production
 * Daryl Simmons – production (track 8)
 * Paul Boutin – recording (tracks 8, 13)
 * Thom "TK" Kidd – lead vocals recording (track 8)
 * Kevin Lively – lead vocals recording assistance (track 8); mixing assistance (track 10)
 * Ralph Cacciurri – lead vocals recording assistance (track 8)
 * Jon Gass – mixing (tracks 8, 13)
 * Ivy Skoff – production coordination (tracks 8, 13)
 * Jermaine Dupri – production, mixing (track 10)
 * Carl So-Lowe – co-production (track 10)
 * Brian Frye – recording (track 10)
 * Phil Tan – mixing (track 10)
 * Diane Makowski – production coordination (track 10)
 * Debra Killings – production (track 12)
 * Aman Junaid – recording (tracks 12, 17)
 * E'lyk – mixing assistance (track 13)
 * Claudine Pontier – recording assistance (track 15)
 * Herb Powers Jr. – mastering
 * Antonio M. Reid – executive production
 * TLC – executive production

Artwork

 * TLC – creative concept
 * D.L. Warfield – art direction, design
 * Cherie O'Brien – creative coordination
 * Nigel Sawyer – layout assistance
 * Seb Janiak – photography

title: FanMail


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Jim Otto

James Edwin Otto (January 5, 1938 – May 19, 2024) was an American professional football player who was a center for 15 seasons with the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes.

Otto was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980, his first year of eligibility. He was also named to the AFL All-Time Team and NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.

Early years
Born and raised in Wausau, Wisconsin, Otto played football at Wausau High School under coach Win Brockmeyer. He played college football in south Florida at the University of Miami, where he joined the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. In addition to playing offensive center at the University of Miami, he also played linebacker on defense.

Otto was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame & Museum in 1972.

Professional career
No National Football League team showed interest in the undersized center. Otto was drafted by the proposed Minneapolis franchise of the new American Football League. When the Minneapolis contingent reneged to accept an NFL franchise, Otto's rights defaulted to the AFL's Oakland Raiders. He then signed with the Raiders and played for the entire ten years of the league's existence and five years beyond. He was issued jersey number 50 for the AFL's inaugural season, 1960, but switched to his familiar 00 the next season. Otto worked diligently to build his body up to his playing weight of 255 lb. Otto wore the jersey number of 50 in his rookie season. However, it was the suggestion of equipment manager Frank Hinek that led to the idea of Otto wearing 00 (0 was being worn in the NFL by Johnny Olszewski) "for recognition", which Otto eventually went with, as did AFL Commissioner Joe Foss.

For the next 15 years, Otto was a fixture at center for the Raiders, never missing a single game due to injury, and played in 210 consecutive games. He won one AFL/AFC championship in 1967 against the Houston Oilers with the Raiders, but lost five: in 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973, and 1974 to the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Colts, Miami Dolphins, and Pittsburgh Steelers, respectively, with all five teams winning the Super Bowl. He played alongside Gene Upshaw, another Hall of Famer, at left guard from 1967 to 1974. In the 1967 regular season, Oakland scored 468 points (33.4 points/game), leading the AFL, but lost Super Bowl II to the Green Bay Packers. In 1968, Oakland scored 453 points (32.4 points/game) in the regular season, again leading the AFL, and beat the Chiefs in the divisional round (unscheduled tiebreaker) before losing to the Jets. In the 1969 regular season, Oakland scored 377 points (26.9 points/game) to lead the AFL for the third consecutive year, and beat the Houston Oilers in the new divisional round of the AFL playoffs before losing to the Chiefs. In the 1970 regular season, the first year of the NFL-AFL merger, Oakland scored 300 points (21.4 points/game), ranking ninth in the 26-team NFL, and beat the Miami Dolphins in the AFC playoffs before losing to the Colts. The Raiders missed the playoffs for the first time in five years in 1971, despite scoring 344 points (24.6 points/game), second highest in the NFL.

The Raiders came back stronger in 1972, scoring 365 points (26.1 points/game), ranking third in the NFL, but lost 13–7 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the divisional round of the AFC playoffs, the famous Immaculate Reception game, in which Otto also made the only pass reception of his professional career. In the 1973 regular season, Oakland scored 292 points (20.9 points/game), tenth in the NFL, and avenged their defeat to the Steelers but lost to the Dolphins. In Otto's final year, 1974, Oakland scored 355 points (25.4 points/game), leading the NFL, and avenged their playoff loss to the Dolphins but lost to the Steelers again. In 1975, he was replaced by Dave Dalby, in his fourth season out of UCLA. Otto was the last member of the Oakland Raiders inaugural team from 1960 to retire.

Otto was one of only twenty players to play for the entire ten-year existence of the American Football League, and one of only three players to play in all of his team's AFL games. Otto was also selected as The Sporting News All-League center from 1960 through 1969. He was an All-Star in the first 13 of his 15 seasons – every year in the AFL from 1960 through 1969 and three of his five seasons in the NFL. He was also named the starting center on the AFL All-Time Team.

He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980, his first year of eligibility. In 1999, he was ranked number 78 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. In 2019, he was revealed as being selected to the National Football League 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.

Injuries and operations
Otto's body was punished greatly during his NFL career, resulting in nearly 74 operations, including 28 on his knee (nine of them during his playing career) and multiple joint replacements. His joints became riddled with arthritis and he developed debilitating back and neck problems. In his book, "The Pain of Glory" Otto described near-death experiences from medical procedures, including fighting off three life-threatening infections due to complications from his artificial joints. During one six-month stretch, he was without a right knee joint because he had to wait for an infection to heal before another artificial knee could be implanted. Otto eventually had to have his right leg amputated on August 1, 2007. Despite his maladies, Otto said he had no regrets and would not have changed a thing even if given the opportunity to do it over again. He discussed his sports injuries as well as the concussions issue in a 2013 Frontline interview for "League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis".

Personal life
Otto was also the subject of The Jim Otto Suite, a series of three multimedia works by American contemporary artist Matthew Barney which served as a precursor to The Cremaster Cycle.

Otto was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998. He was the grandfather of dog musher Amanda Otto.

Otto died on May 19, 2024, at the age of 86.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Jim Otto


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Leslie Stuart

Leslie Stuart (15 March 1863 – 27 March 1928) born Thomas Augustine Barrett was an English composer of Edwardian musical comedy, best known for the hit show Florodora (1899) and many popular songs.

He began in Manchester as a church organist, for 14 years, and taught music while beginning to compose church music and secular songs in the late 1870s. In the 1880s, he began to promote and conduct orchestral and vocal concerts of popular and theatre music as "Mr. T. A. Barrett's Concerts". He began to focus his composition on music hall, including songs for blackface performers, such as "Lily of Laguna"; songs for musical theatre, such as pantomimes and London shows touring through Manchester; and ballads such as "Soldiers of the King". Stuart later campaigned against the interpolation of new songs into musical theatre scores and for better enforcement of musical copyrights.

In 1895, Stuart began to write songs for George Edwardes's London shows at the Gaiety Theatre and Daly's Theatre. His first full musical comedy score was Florodora in 1899. The show became an international hit, and its song "Tell me, pretty maiden", became a vaudeville standard. Other musical comedy successes followed, including The School Girl (1903), The Belle of Mayfair (1906) and Havana (1908). Of his later shows, only Peggy made much of an impact. By 1911, Stuart's gambling debts sent him into bankruptcy. Unable to adapt to changing musical tastes, he was no longer in demand as a composer, although he had some success as a piano sketch artist in variety theatre.

Early years
Stuart was born in Southport, on the Lancashire coast. He was the younger son of Thomas Barrett, a cabinet-maker, and his wife, Mary Ann Burke, née Lester, who were both from western Ireland. He grew up in Liverpool, where he attended St Francis Xavier's College. His family moved to Manchester in 1873.

Stuart began his career aged 15 as organist at Salford Cathedral. He held the post for seven years, and then moved to be organist at the Church of the Holy Name, Manchester, where he remained for another seven years. To augment his salary he composed church music and taught.

Stuart also promoted and conducted orchestral and vocal concerts. In the 1880s and 1890s he presented "Mr T. A. Barrett's Concerts" at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, and later at the larger St James's Hall. These concerts featured popular orchestral music and selections from comic operas by such composers as Sullivan and Cellier, and excerpts from English grand operas by Balfe and Wallace. Singers included Zélie de Lussan, Marie Roze, Ben Davies, David Ffrangcon-Davies, Durward Lely and Charles Manners. Instrumental soloists included Ignacy Jan Paderewski and Eugène Ysaÿe.

Thomas Barrett had been property master at the Amphitheatre, Liverpool, and both his sons had quickly gained a taste for the theatre. Stuart's elder brother, Stephen (1855–1924), became a music-hall performer, appearing under the stage name Lester Barrett. Gradually the music Stuart composed for local shows, and his popular ballads and music-hall songs began to supersede the composition of serious and religious music. He composed music hall songs as "T. A. Barrett" and under the pseudonyms "Leslie Thomas", "Lester Barrett" and, most notably, "Leslie Stuart". He wrote many popular songs for the blackface performer Eugene Stratton, including perhaps his best-remembered music hall song, "Lily of Laguna" (1898), and "Little Dolly Daydream." He also wrote the patriotic ballad "Soldiers of the King" (1894, now sung as "Soldiers of the Queen"). In 1886, Stuart married Mary Catherine Fox, a schoolteacher (died 1941).

Stuart's earliest theatrical composing and writing was also for the Manchester theatre. Here he provided songs and incidental music for, in particular, the local pantomimes, which boasted famous names in their casts. Stuart made a name in the 1890s by writing popular individual numbers that were interpolated into several West End and touring musicals by other composers. Later in his career, he would actively oppose this practice. The first of these songs was "Lousiana Lou". [sic] This had already been published and performed in music hall before being picked up by Ellaline Terriss and inserted, along with "The Little Mademoiselle", into the original production of The Shop Girl (1894), at the Gaiety Theatre.

During the run of George Edwardes's An Artist's Model (1895), Stuart wrote several numbers that were interpolated (including "The Soldiers of the Queen", which was later famous as "Soldiers of the King"), and both wrote the lyric and composed "Trilby Will Be True" for Maurice Farkoa to perform at Daly's Theatre. Subsequently he had songs used in Baron Golosh, The Circus Girl (1896), the London production of the American musical A Day in Paris (1897), Carl Kiefert's The Ballet Girl (1897) and The Yashmak (1897).

Stuart composed some 65 songs including, in addition to those mentioned above, "The Bandolero", and "Little Dolly Daydream." His instrumental pieces included at least one Cakewalk. As a songwriter, Stuart suffered so much from the effects of copyright infringement that it can be speculated that his move to the musical theatre was an attempt to avoid the loss of royalty income from the publication of sheet music and performances.

Peak years
Stuart's greatest acclaim came in 1899 with Florodora, his first full musical comedy score, with a book by Owen Hall. With traditional slow love ballads as well as waltzes and more rhythmic and playful concerted numbers, the score and show became a worldwide hit. The double sextet from that show, "Tell me, pretty maiden", became a vaudeville standard. The music critic Neville Cardus wrote about the "beautiful and unexpected phrasing and transitions" in the number, continuing, "it begins with a long phrase, rather like the opening bars of a Brahms symphony. It is extraordinary to find music such as this in a musical comedy". He ended by writing that in its own way it was "just as perfect a composition … as is the quintet in Meistersinger".

Florodora was followed by The Silver Slipper (1901), The School Girl (1903), The Belle of Mayfair (1906), and Havana (1908). All these shows were successful and were produced internationally.

Stuart was an active campaigner for intellectual property rights and called for tighter laws on both national and international copyright. Publishers and wealthy second-rate songwriters would pay producers, for the exposure, to insert their songs into a hit musical. With the strength of the fame of Florodora behind him, Stuart succeeded in stopping this practice in his next few pieces. Similarly, he had succeeded from time to time in parts of his fight in Britain and in America against unauthorized music distribution and on behalf of firmer national and international copyright laws.

The success of Stuart's shows led George Edwardes to hope that he would be able to replace the Caryll and Monckton writing partnership on their departure from the Gaiety Theatre. Stuart's next show, Captain Kidd (1909), however, was not for the Gaiety, and it was a flop. The Observer praised the performances of Terriss, Seymour Hicks and Ivy St Helier, but said that Stuart's music "had one striking and ingenious melody ... and two or three pretty tunes, and was adequate throughout without being remarkable." His next production, The Slim Princess (1910), made only a modest impact, though it was produced in New York as well as in London. Peggy was produced at the Gaiety in 1911 and had a reasonable but not outstanding run, from March to November in London, as well as a Broadway run. In the words of Stuart's biographer Andrew Lamb, these pieces "failed to add to his reputation".

Later years
By 1911, the lack of any new stage successes, coupled with gambling debts and the interest due on them, resulted in Stuart's appearance before the bankruptcy courts. He was declared bankrupt in 1913 and not discharged until 1920. At the age of 48 he found that changing tastes in musical styles and the influence of modern dance rhythms meant his career as a composer was effectively over, although he did write a number of songs that were inserted, against his principles, in the shows of other composers and a musical, Bubbles (1914), that was produced only in the provinces on a small scale.

Stuart retained an income, provided by continued revivals and performances of the popular Florodora, and supplemented this by appearing with success in variety theatre, where he performed his most famous songs accompanying himself on the piano. However, after the bankruptcy, he began to drink and have marital problems. Stuart's last years were spent partly in trying to achieve production of his musical play Nina, also known as The Girl from Nyusa. The Shubert brothers took out an option to produce the work, but nothing materialised. In 1927, shortly before his death, Stuart wrote a series of fourteen short pieces for the Empire News, consisting of recollections and reminiscences. They were collected and republished in 2003 under the title My Bohemian Life. Stuart and his wife, Kitty, had five children who survived to adulthood, Mary "May" (1886–1956), Thomas "Leslie" (1888–1970), Marie "Dollie" (1891–1949), Stephen "Chap" (b. 1894) and Constance "Lola" (b. 1896).

Stuart died at his daughter May's home in Richmond, Surrey, in 1928, at the age of 65, and was buried in Richmond Cemetery.

Reputation and legacy
The mid-20th century critic James Agate said that he had proved the quality of Stuart's music: he took a Stuart song, halved the tempo, supplied German words – and serious musicians accepted without demur his assertion that it was a recently discovered cradle song by Brahms. In 2003 the critic Rodney Milnes called Stuart "the most gifted composer of musical comedy in Britain between Sullivan and Vivian Ellis".

A 1941 biographical film entitled You Will Remember about Stuart starred Robert Morley as Stuart. It features several of Stuart's songs. Stuart's songs have been used in over a dozen other films. A bronzed plaster plaque of Stuart, made by John Cassidy, was placed in the Manchester Central Library in April 1939, inscribed "A son of Manchester who moved the nation to song".

title: Leslie Stuart


text:
Institute of Actuaries

The Institute of Actuaries was one of the two professional bodies which represented actuaries in the United Kingdom. The institute was based in England, while the other body, the Faculty of Actuaries, was based in Scotland. While the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries were separate institutions, they worked very closely together, and their professional qualifications and actuarial standards were identical. On 25 May 2010, voting members of the institute who took part in a ballot voted to merge the institute with the faculty, thus creating the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, which came into being on 1 August 2010. The Institute of Actuaries ceased to exist on that date.

Establishment of the Institute of Actuaries
The actuaries of a number of life assurance companies established the Institute of Actuaries in London on the 8th of July 1848. The Institute of Actuaries was the oldest actuarial professional body in the world.

In July 1884, the Institute of Actuaries was granted a royal charter. The royal charter confirmed the institute's role and the right to confer qualifications, i.e. the Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (FIA). Since then there has been an underpinning concept of professional behaviour and the implicit right, or even duty, to discipline members who did not conduct themselves appropriately.

Examinations
An actuarial qualification from the Institute of Actuaries consisted of a combination of the completion of various examinations and courses. The examinations were split into four sections: Core Technical (CT), Core Applications (CA), Specialist Technical (ST), and Specialist Applications (SA). Study material for the examinations is usually obtained through the official bookshop of the Institute of Actuaries or through The Actuarial Education Company (ActEd), a subsidiary of BPP Actuarial Education Ltd.

In addition to examinations and courses, it was required that the candidate both complete at least three years work as an actuary and be at least 23 years of age, for one to qualify as a “Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries” (FIA)

Core Examinations
The Core Technical section consisted of the 8 exams and a “Business Awareness Module,” CT9. These were usually first sat by a candidate and included the underlying mathematics involved in actuarial work as well as an introduction to financial and economic issues. These were also the most common exams for which candidates may get exemptions. While these were the first exams, candidates coming from a less mathematical background often find these more difficult than the later ones due to the mathematical theory content. Topics covered include annuities, stochastic modelling, time series, and economics.

The Core Applications section consisted of two exams and a modeling course, CA2, that focus on the application of concepts learned, especially to insurance companies. This included the communications model, CA3, which tested the candidate on their ability to communicate complex actuarial concepts to others.

Specialist Examinations
The Specialist Technical section represented the first time the candidate had a choice of which exams to take. The candidate chose two from the various actuarial specialist subjects i.e. Health and Care, Life Insurance, General Insurance, Pensions, Finance or Investments and further technical knowledge on said subjects is attained.

The Specialist Applications section allowed the candidate to choose one area for which they take the SA paper and attain full Fellowship; leading to many referring to this as the “Fellowship paper.” However, as the rules on the ordering of examinations were relaxed, this examination may be taken before taking some earlier examinations resulting in candidates qualifying on other papers.

List of Examinations
The following list will be replaced by a new curriculum structure from 31 December 2018.

Core Technical Stage

 * CT1 – Financial Mathematics
 * CT2 – Finance and Financial Reporting
 * CT3 – Probability and Mathematical Statistics
 * CT4 – Models
 * CT5 – Life Contingencies
 * CT6 – Statistical Models
 * CT7 – Business Economics
 * CT8 – Financial Economics
 * CT9 – Business Awareness

Core Applications Stage

 * CA1 – Actuarial Risk Management
 * CA2 – Model Documentation, Analysis and Reporting
 * CP3 – Communication Practice

Specialist Technical Stage

 * ST1 – Health and Care Specialist Technical
 * ST2 – Life Insurance Specialist Technical
 * ST3 – General Insurance Specialist Technical
 * ST4 – Pensions and other Benefits Specialist Technical
 * ST5 – Finance and Investment Specialist Technical A
 * ST6 – Finance and Investment Specialist Technical B
 * ST7 – General Insurance – Reserving and Capital Modelling Specialist Technical
 * ST8 – General Insurance – Pricing Specialist Technical
 * ST9 – Enterprise Risk Management Specialist Technical

Specialist Applications Stage

 * SA0 –	Research Dissertation Specialist Applications
 * SA1 – Health and Care Specialist Applications
 * SA2 – Life Insurance Specialist Applications
 * SA3 – General Insurance Specialist Applications
 * SA4 – Pensions and other Benefits Specialist Applications
 * SA5 – Finance Specialist Applications
 * SA6 – Investment Specialist Applications

UK Practice Modules
For students working in the UK only
 * P0 – Generic UK Practice Half Module
 * P1 – Health and Care
 * P2 – Life Insurance
 * P3 – General Insurance
 * P4 – Pensions
 * P5 – Finance
 * P6 – Investment

University-based examinations
A student may choose to complete an accredited actuarial science degree at an undergraduate or at a postgraduate level through a number of recognised universities. Successful students may offer proof of having covered the topics whilst at university and students may be granted exemptions from certain professional examinations from the Institute of Actuaries.

Depending on the university, a different number of courses may be recognised for exemption. The examinations and the exemption pass level for the examinations is usually externalised by members of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

Naturally, the quality of the courses and lecturing at these universities are a determinant as to whether the course is recognised by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

Most universities offering actuarial science courses also require the student in addition to complete various other related topics, including statistics, mathematics, applied mathematics, economics and accounting for recognition of an actuarial degree.

Upon completion of the university degree, students would then complete all remaining examinations through the Institute of Actuaries to qualify as an actuary and become a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (FIA).

Membership Categories
In total there were approximately 15700 members of the Institute of Actuaries falling into the following categories.
 * Affiliates were non-actuary members of the Institute of Actuaries who are kept up-to-date with the developments within the Actuarial Profession through publications and affiliates are able to participate in meetings, research and conferences;
 * Student actuaries were members of the institute who are taking exams but have not attained the rank of Associate;
 * Associates were members who had completed the CT and CA stages of exams and have completed one year's worth of relevant work-based skills experience. There were about 500 Associates in the institute. They bear the letters AIA after their names;
 * Fellows were "fully qualified" members of the institute who had met the training demands by both completing all the examinations and meeting the work experience requirements. Fellows and Associates have the right to describe themselves as an actuary. There were about 9500 Fellows in the institute. They bear the letters FIA after their names;
 * Honorary Fellows were voted on by the Council if it feels are appears to be able to render assistance in promoting the objects of the institute and who is not professionally engaged in practice as an actuary.

Criticism
Following the near collapse of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, the government commissioned Derek Morris, the former head of the Competition Commission, to look into the failings of the actuarial profession and make recommendations for reform (2005). His report highlighted concerns about the process by which the profession had sought to keep its syllabus and teaching materials up to date, about the way that ‘entrenched commercial interests’ had hindered the development of the institute's education policy, referring to 'an insularity that constrained the extent and effectiveness of input from academics, other professions and those in wider fields of practice'.

The Review proposed a regime of independent oversight of the institute's regulation of the profession by the Financial Reporting Council.

Presidents of the Institute of Actuaries

 * 1848–1860 John Finlaison (1783–1860)
 * 1860–1867 Charles Jellicoe (1804–1882)
 * 1867–1870 Samuel Brown (1812–1875)
 * 1870–1872 William Barwick Hodge (1802–1885)
 * 1872–1875 Robert Tucker (1815–1875)
 * 1875–1878 John Hill Williams (1814–1887)
 * 1878–1882 Arthur Hutcheson Bailey (1823–1912)
 * 1882–1886 Thomas Bond Sprague MA LLD (1830–1920)
 * 1886–1888 Archibald Day (1830–1904)
 * 1888–1890 William Sutton MA (1842–1898)
 * 1890–1892 Benjamin Newbatt (1834–1896)
 * 1892–1894 Augustus Hendrik (1834–1905)
 * 1894–1896 Alexander John Finlaison CB (1840–1900)
 * 1896–1898 Thomas Emley Young BA FRAS (1843–1933)
 * 1898–1900 Henry William Manly (1844–1914)
 * 1900–1902 Charles Daniel Higham(1849–1935)
 * 1902–1904 William Hughes (1839–1912)
 * 1904–1906 Henry Cocburn (1848–1936)
 * 1906–1908 Frank Bertrand Wyatt (1853–1929)
 * 1908–1910 Sir George Francis Hardy KCB (1855–1914)
 * 1910–1912 Sir Gerald Hemmington Ryan, 1st Baronet (1861–1937)
 * 1912–1914 Frederick Schooling (1851–1937)
 * 1914–1916 Ernest Woods (1855–1932)
 * 1916–1918 Samuel George Warner (1858–1928)
 * 1918–1920 Geoffrey Marks CBE (1865–1938)
 * 1920–1922 Sir Alfred William Watson KCB (1870–1936)
 * 1922–1924 William Peyton Phelps MA (1865–1942)
 * 1924–1926 Arthur Digby Besant BA (1869–1960)
 * 1926–1928 Sir Joseph Burn KBE (1871–1950)
 * 1928–1930 Abraham Levine MA (1870–1949)
 * 1930–1932 Harold Moltke Trouncer MA (1871–1948)
 * 1932–1934 Sir William Palin Elderton KBE PhD (Oslo) (1877–1962)
 * 1934–1936 Charles Ronald Vawdrey Coutts (1876–1938)
 * 1936–1938 Henry Brown MA (1876–1943)
 * 1938–1940 Henry John Percy Oakley MC (1878–1942)
 * 1940–1942 William Penman MBE (1880–1970)
 * 1942–1944 Henry Edward Melville (1883–1976)
 * 1944–1946 Reginald Claud Simmonds (1888–1969)
 * 1946–1948 Sir Andrew Herrick Rowell MA (1890–1973)
 * 1948–1950 Sir George Henry Maddex KBE (1895–1982)
 * 1950–1952 Frederick August Andrew Menzler CBE BSc (1888–1968)
 * 1952–1954 Walter Frank Gardner CBE (1900–1983)
 * 1954–1956 John Farrant Bunford MA (1901–1992)
 * 1956–1958 Charles Florestan Wood (1905–1979)
 * 1958–1960 Frank Mitchell Redington MA (1906–1984)
 * 1960–1962 John Henry Gunlake CBE (1905–1990)
 * 1962–1964 Kenneth Ascough Usherwood CBE MA (1904–1988)
 * 1964–1966 Sir Herbert Tetley KBE CB MA (1908–1999)
 * 1966–1968 Bernard Benjamin PhD (1910–2002)
 * 1968–1970 James Basil Holmes Pegler TD BA (1912–1992)
 * 1970–1972 Ronald Sidney Skerman CBE BA (1914–2002)
 * 1972–1974 Geoffrey Heywood MBE BA
 * 1974–1976 Gordon Vernon Bayley CBE (1920–2004)
 * 1976–1978 Charles Michael O'Brien MA
 * 1978–1980 Peter Edward Moody CBE (1918–2004)
 * 1980–1982 Antony Robin Napier Ratcliff
 * 1982–1984 Colin Stewart Sinclair Lyon MA
 * 1984–1986 Peter Gerald Moore PhD DSc
 * 1986–1988 Marshall Hayward Field CBE
 * 1988–1990 Roger David Corley CBE BSc
 * 1990–1992 Hugh Hedley Scurfield MA
 * 1992–1994 Leonard John Martin CBE
 * 1994–1996 Christopher David Daykin CB MA
 * 1996–1998 Duncan George Robin Ferguson MA
 * 1998–2000 Paul Noel Thornton MA
 * 2000–2002 Peter Nigel Stuckey Clark MA (1947–2006)
 * 2002–2004 Jeremy Goford MA
 * 2004–2006 Michael Pomery
 * 2006–2008 Nicholas John Dumbreck
 * 2008–2010 Nigel Masters
 * 2010–2011 Ronald Bowie
 * 2011–2012 Jane Curtis
 * 2012–2013 Philip Scott

title: Institute of Actuaries


text:
Wikipedia:Recent additions 11

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title: Wikipedia:Recent additions 11