text:
Talk:Harry Shearer

30s work?
It says in the article he was born in the 40s, though it later states he had roles in programs in the 30s. Seems like one of these "facts" is a blatant error.

I'm curious to find the comprehensive list of Harry Shearer characters on The Simpsons. All the lists I find contain a few major ones and then 'among others'. Wikipedia should be the keeper of this deeper knowledge. Heck, it should have this info for all the Simpsons voice actors.

I did find these:

Lenny, Bill, Bouncer, Bret Gunsilman, C. Montgomery Burns, Derek Smalls bassist of Spinal Tap, Dr. Hibert, Dr. Marvin Monroe, God, Grim Reaper, Herman, Jack Larson, Jasper, Jim Wallace, Kang, Kent Brockman, McBain, Mr. Dewey Largo, Ned Flanders, Otto Mans, Owner - Frying Dutchman, Rev. Lovejoy, Sanjay Nahasapeemapetilon, Satan, Scratchy, Seymour Skinner, Sportscaster, Tom Brokaw, Trash tabloid TV host, Usher, Waylon Smithers

I just attended a talk by Harry at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco last night where he said he does 17 characters on The Simpsons - but he didn't list them. There are over thirty in the above list. Maybe Harry lost count? --DJay 18:52, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Political commentator?
He appears to have written several articles at the Huffington Post. . Perhaps this should be added.VarunRajendran (talk) 16:06, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

 * That's already noted in the 'external links' section. I don't know where else it would go? Zeno Izen (talk) 05:16, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Starcraft
Can we get a source on him doing voice work on SC? 71.225.7.137 (talk) 21:59, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Recreational Drug user?
In an TV interview, he was asked which character he voiced in The Simpsons he was most like in real life. His reply,

"Wow, I'm not like any of them in real life, Thank God! I mean if I were like anybody I guess I would be like Otto, for reasons I won't explain now."

The character Otto Mann is portrayed as a regular pot user through the series. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Deverell (talk • contribs) 17:06, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

this is not true - Otto is portrayed as a slacker and a rocker, but never as a user of any illegal drugs. in fact, i dont think ive ever seen a simpsons character ever smoking joints, bowls, bongs, blunts - ever!

people smoke tobacco on the series, and drink alcohol, but i have never once seen drugs portrayed on The Simpsons. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.119.125.191 (talk) 15:49, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

Look for the episode titled "medical marijuana."

 * You may be correct about Otto not being shown as a user in the series. However, Otto is shown using a bong (water pipe) in The Simpsons Movie. The reason for this no doubt is related to U.S. broadcast televisions Standards & Practices department policies. Several reviews have mentioned the bong in the movie:  . --Krelnik (talk) 16:13, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm sorry but Otto is a recreational drug user, read his wikipedia page and follow the references. As mentioned above he is smoking marijuana in the Simpsons movie and in a few simpsons episodes e.g. Weekend at Burnsies and Strong Arms of the Ma. It has also been implied he has had harder drugs such as Heroin and LSD. -Deverell —Preceding unsigned comment added by Deverell (talk • contribs) 16:25, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

First Marriage?
When listed in the section on his personal life, his first marriage is said to have begun in 1976, while the summary box at the top of the article has it as 1974. Anyone know which it is?

Nation piece on Algiers - Does it belong here?
He recently wrote a response to A.C. Thompson's piece in The Nation that belittles and avoids the real white supremacist violence that occurred in Algiers, LA after Hurricane Katrina in The Huffington Post.[5]

The sentence above strikes me as problematic on several levels:
 * NPOV ("...belittles and avoids the real white supremacist violence...")
 * What does "recently" mean?
 * "...that belittles and avoids..." - Apart from NPOV, to which piece of writing does this refer? Shearer's or Thompson's?

I am not familiar enough with these articles and related discussion to give an immediate opinion on whether anything at all should be included, but I do not like that sentence as it stands. KConWiki (talk) 05:11, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

I agree that there's a problem there. It also doesn't fit in too well with the rest of the text around it. When I recently rearranged that text, I assumed the intent was to show how he has continuing concern about New Orleans as a part-time resident, and how he draws attention to it in his writing and work. But I'm not sure how that one blog post is particularly significant vis-a-vis his many other posts on the topic or the hundreds of times he's talked about New Orleans on Le Show. Maybe it could be replaced with some more general text on how he often talks/writes about New Orleans and just use the blog post as a referenced citation. --Krelnik (talk) 07:59, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

 * Since I was in the neighborhood answering questions below, I went ahead and changed the troublesome text. Its now basically a citation on a general statement about Shearer being critical of the coverage/reaction to Katrina. (I finally read the Huffington Post piece and its really not about racism much at all, its mostly about how The Nation got lots of details about Katrina totally wrong).  Anyway take a look and yell at me as needed. --Krelnik (talk) 16:47, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

new orleans?
I used to work at Whole Foods Market at the old Esplanade location before they closed it, and he used to come in and shop there. Does anyone know if he still resides in New Orleans or anywhere in Louisiana state? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.119.125.191 (talk) 15:35, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

 * As described in the article, he has homes in both California and New Orleans. He visits New Orleans several times per year.  The easiest way I know to see this is to look at the RSS Feed for Le Show which indicates where each episode originated. (Often, but not always, mentioned on the air by Shearer as well).  As I write this, it shows that he was in New Orleans the week of December 21, 2008.  He's also mentioned on the air recently that he's only missed one Jazz Fest since 1988, so he's always in town for that. --Krelnik (talk) 16:23, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

Disco Beaver From Outer Space
Harry Shearer said on Coast to Coast he has never heard of Disco Beaver and is not one of its writers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.19.133.83 (talk) 07:00, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

 * I think your reversion should be reverted. I do not think that we can take what Harry Shearer said (and I heard him too) on Coast To Coast as definitive.  I definitely don't think we can take ANYTHING said on Coast to coast as definitive of ANYTHING. 72.222.210.123 (talk) 07:17, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Filmmaker
Shouldn't Shearer's page page mention Shearer's work as a filmmaker. Not that they ended up being big blockbusters or anything. But he did create several that may be worth mentioning, such as the documentary of New Orleans.

From the IDBM website, refer to the following:

The Big Uneasy (2010) Teddy Bears' Picnic (2002) Portrait of a White Marriage (1988) The History of White People in America: Volume II (1986) (TV) Viva Shaf Vegas (1986) (TV) The History of White People in America (1985) (TV) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.17.26.4 (talk) 23:18, 19 August 2010 (UTC)

Interview
There is a new interview with Shearer today. --Maitch (talk) 19:15, 13 October 2011 (UTC)

Bilderberg attendee
He is interviewed in the 4th part of the film The Secret Rulers of the World as been a Bilderberg Group attendee. This should be noted in his biography.

Criticism of The Simpsons' declining quality
The third paragraph of the lead currently ends with:
 * Shearer has been vocal about what he perceives as the show's declining quality. In 2004, he said "I rate the last three seasons as among the worst."

That quote is now ten years old. Does he still hold such views? If so, I think the line should be updated (along with the text in the relevant paragraph later on. Otherwise, I do not think it belongs in the lead given the amount of time that has passed and the fact he is still working there. AtHomeIn神戸 (talk) 01:11, 11 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Today's announcement might also be related. I would like to find a transcript of a recent quote I heard him say, to the effect of;  the cast members of such a successful show are obscenely overpaid and at the same time are getting royally screwed. Trackinfo (talk) 09:32, 14 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Yes, I heard about it on the radio this morning too. I'm sure there will be a heap of news stories we can reference to over the coming days. AtHomeIn神戸 (talk) 01:45, 15 May 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Harry Shearer. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090220192700/http://www.lacitybeat.com:80/cms/story/detail/?id=568&IssueNum=32 to http://www.lacitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/?IssueNum=32&id=568

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers. —cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 08:55, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 19 external links on Harry Shearer. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added tag to http://www.cineplex.com/Movies/FamousNews/FamousMagazine/July%202007.aspx?FamousArticles=4395
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-morrisonshearer6-2009jun06%2C0%2C3949621.story
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090206232020/http://media.harryshearer.com/syndicates.html to http://media.harryshearer.com/syndicates.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090428233508/http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=675 to http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=675
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080530063814/http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=568 to http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=568
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080530065155/http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=599 to http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=599
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090129150129/http://harryshearer.com/news/found_objects/ to http://harryshearer.com/news/found_objects/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090831225150/http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=699 to http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=699
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100116130757/http://www.cacno.org/visualarts/exhibition/2010/01/shearer/ to http://www.cacno.org/visualarts/exhibition/2010/01/shearer/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20081013235300/http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/1113733-teddy_bears_picnic/ to http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/1113733-teddy_bears_picnic/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090429083513/http://www.foxflash.com/div.php/main/page?aID=1z2z2z175z13z4&bioid=1675 to http://www.foxflash.com/div.php/main/page?aID=1z2z2z175z13z4&bioid=1675
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130511032953/http://www.thebiguneasy.com/THE%20BIG%20UNEASY%20-%20Production%20Notes%202011.pdf to http://www.thebiguneasy.com/THE%20BIG%20UNEASY%20-%20Production%20Notes%202011.pdf/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150531005154/http://www.thebiguneasy.com/about.html to http://www.thebiguneasy.com/about.html/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090428231859/http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=673 to http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=673
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080530063516/http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=534 to http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=534
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20081006150912/http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=649 to http://media.harryshearer.com/?ProgramID=649
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090215195726/http://www.emmys.org/awards/awardsearch.php to http://www.emmys.org/awards/awardsearch.php
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071223174754/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/musicnightlife/2004083251_shearer21.html to http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/musicnightlife/2004083251_shearer21.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20090718001718/http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/2009ptemmys/61stemmys_noms.php to http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/2009ptemmys/61stemmys_noms.php
 * Added archive http://www.webcitation.org/5ljfiEv05?url=http://www.grammy.com/grammy_awards/52nd_show/list.aspx to http://www.grammy.com/grammy_awards/52nd_show/list.aspx
 * Added tag to http://www.tv.com/harry-shearer/person/878/biography.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 21:42, 25 May 2017 (UTC)

24 FEB 2021 HARRY STEPS DOWN AS VOICE OF DR HIBBERT
https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/tv/ct-ent-simpsons-harry-shearer-not-voicing-dr-hibbert-20210223-7xos5q3pqfa4jih3wvpbh7bbbi-story.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2406:5A00:2400:A600:C437:8D5B:6166:B4CE (talk) 18:52, 23 February 2021 (UTC)

Redundant categories
Category:Jewish American male comedians is a subcategory of Category:American male comedians, Category:Jewish American film directors is a subcategory of Category:American film directors, and Category:Jewish American film producers is a subcategory of Category:American film producers. There is no need to include the parent category when the person is already listed as a member of a subcategory. [] Meters (talk) 04:38, 21 June 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Harry Shearer


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Laura Poots

Laura Poots
Non-notable except for at a college, possibly vanity? Luigi30 18:45, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Delete, vanity. We're not here to note everyone who's elected into a position in a college. Sockatume 18:56, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Delete, delete! How many overachievers have vanity pages around here? Katefan0 20:13, Dec 10, 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete, blatant vanity. EagleFalconn 20:40, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. How much more vain can you get? - Lucky 6.9 21:13, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * delete, vanity. Tempshill 21:37, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete: Oxford Union winners are not notable for that alone. (Her name is vulgar in the southern US, btw.)  Geogre 22:28, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Geogre, as a Southerner transplanted to the DC-NYC corridor, I can happily(?) report that phrase is alive and well around here too. Katefan0 22:58, Dec 10, 2004 (UTC)
 * Note that it's also one of those names that forms a sentence, like "Laura Spitz" or "Laura Bowles." I can only hope she didn't have to endure taunting for it in the UK and therefore feel that she must over-achieve by, say, going to Oxford and running for the presidency of the Oxford Union.  Geogre 04:29, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I wasn't going to say anything, but I refer to my dog's "air biscuits" as "poots." The term is alive and well here in the Southwest as well! - Lucky 6.9 23:10, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Probably not a personal vanity article (wouldn't she have included more details?) - but still not notable enough yet. She will get press coverage in the UK and will be reported beyond her own college - but still not sure that's enough.  There are 45 ex-Presidents of the Oxford Union who merit their own Wikipedia article (which probably makes it more than 'a position in a college').  But the others listed have done something notable beyond that before getting their own article.  Mpntod 23:23, Dec 10, 2004 (UTC)
 * Hear, hear. I was bracing myself for an argument as to whether Poots is notable for being the first person to succeed a British-born Asian woman as a Union president ;-). And I doubt the press coverage will extend beyond the Oxford Student -- really, very few people who's president of the Oxford Union, not even most of its members. Pnot 09:40, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete, vanity. Somebody in the WWW 06:59, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)

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


text:
Michelle Williams (singer)

Tenitra Michelle Williams (born July 23, 1979) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame in the early 2000s as a member of R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the best-selling female groups of all time with over 100 million records, of which more than 60 million copies sold with the trio lineup that included Williams, In addition, Williams has reportedly sold 1.5 million albums and 3 million records as a solo artist worldwide. During her time in the group she earned several accolades including a Grammy Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

During the group's two-year hiatus, 2001–2003, Williams released her debut solo album Heart to Yours (2002) which topped the US gospel album chart and became the best-selling gospel release of the year. That same year, Billboard named Williams the fifth best-charting gospel artist of the year and she received a MOBO Award for "Best Gospel Act". Following this, she released her second solo album Do You Know (2004). After Destiny's Child's disbandment in 2006, Williams released her first pop album, Unexpected (2008), which spawned the singles "We Break the Dawn" and the US Dance number-one "The Greatest". Her fourth studio album, Journey to Freedom (2014), received positive reviews and became her highest-charting album in the US; it includes the singles "If We Had Your Eyes", and "Say Yes" which topped the US Hot Gospel Songs chart for seven weeks, and won the Stellar Award for Music Video of the Year.

Williams also found success as a television, Broadway, and West End theatre actress, gaining a nomination for "Best Lead Female – Equity" in 2008 at the 18th Annual NAACP Theatre Awards. Making her acting debut on Broadway in Aida (2003), she has since starred in the sitcom series Half & Half (2006) and the musical productions The Color Purple (2007), Chicago (2009–10), What My Husband Doesn't Know (2011) and Fela! (2013). She was a featured judge on MTV's Top Pop Group, a contestant on season 8 of Strictly Come Dancing in the United Kingdom, and starred in the Oxygen reality television series Fix My Choir. She has also appeared on the  American, British, and Australian versions of The Masked Singer.

Early life
Tenitra Michelle Williams was born in Rockford, Illinois, on July 23, 1979, to Anita Williams (née Washington) and Dennis Williams III (1952–2020). She has three siblings: elder brother Erron, who is a musician, elder sister Cameron, and younger sister Danielle. Williams made her musical debut at the age of seven, performing a rendition of the hymn "Blessed Assurance" at the St. Paul Church of God in Christ. She later sang in the gospel groups United Harmony and Chosen Expression.

Williams graduated from Rockford Auburn High School in 1997. Shortly after graduating, she pursued a degree in criminal justice at Illinois State University, doubtful of her ability to make a career as a professional singer. After two years of college, she left to pursue a music career, as a backing vocalist for other artists such as Monica.

1999–2003: Breakthrough with Destiny's Child, Heart to Yours and Aida
In late 1999, 20-year-old Williams met Destiny's Child band members Beyoncé Knowles and Kelly Rowland in the lobby of an Atlanta hotel. Several months later, a choreographer acquaintance of Williams who knew the group, connected Williams to the Knowles family and Rowland, as they were vetting potential new group members. After the much-publicized turmoil, Williams, alongside Farrah Franklin, officially joined the group in early 2000, replacing LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson without notice. Buoyed by the group's breakout success, Luckett and Roberson had both attempted to split with the group's manager Mathew Knowles in late 1999, claiming that he kept a disproportionate share of the band's profits and unfairly favored Knowles and Rowland.

The issue was heightened after Williams and Franklin appeared in the video of "Say My Name", implying that the original band members were already replaced. Franklin, however, faded from the group after five months, as evidenced by her absences during promotional appearances and concerts. Franklin attributed her departure to negative vibes in the group resulting from the strife. After settling on this final lineup, the trio released "Independent Women Part I", which appeared on the soundtrack to the 2000 film Charlie's Angels. It became their best-charting single yet, topping the official US singles chart for eleven consecutive weeks. The success cemented the new lineup and skyrocketed them to fame.

In May 2001, Destiny's Child released the group's third studio album Survivor. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with sales of 663,000 copies. Survivor has sold over twelve million copies worldwide, 4.1 million of which were sold in the US alone. The album's other number-one hits are "Bootylicious" and the title track "Survivor", the latter earning the group a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. In October 2001, Destiny's Child released their holiday album, 8 Days of Christmas. Before releasing the 2002 compilation album, This Is the Remix, the group announced their temporary break-up to pursue solo projects.

While Williams was still with Destiny's Child, she intensified work on her debut solo album Heart to Yours. The album material included collaborations with singers Carl Thomas, Shirley Caesar and the Mary Mary duo, taking the singer's work further into urban contemporary gospel and Christian music. "Some people will do gospel when their career fails, but I chose to do it at the height of the popularity of Destiny's Child", Williams explained during the album's release. "And I didn't want to do it because it was a fad. I wanted to do it because it's in me. It's in my heart." Released on April 16, 2002, in North America to much critical acclaim, Williams became the first member of Destiny's Child to release solo material with Heart to Yours. The album sold 20,000 copies in its first week, placing it at number 57 on the Billboard 200 and number two on the Billboard Gospel Albums chart, where it later rose to number one.

It became the year's best-selling gospel album, selling more than 220,000 units in the US, as of 2008. A music video for the album's single, "Heard a Word", was produced by film director Sylvain White. Heart to Yours won Williams a MOBO Award for "Best Gospel Act"  along with a raft of nominations including a Stellar Award nomination for "New Artist of the Year", a GMWA Excellence Award nomination for "Female Vocalist of the Year Urban Contemporary"  and a GMA Dove Award nomination for "Traditional Gospel Recorded Song of the Year" for her collaboration with Shirley Caesar on "Steal Away To Jesus" which was first featured on Caesar's Hymns album. Billboard listed Williams as the fifth Top Gospel Artist of 2002.

In August 2002, Williams embarked on her first tour as a solo artist in promotion of her debut album. Sponsored by Burger King, the 19-date BK Got Music Summer Soul Tour also featured Luther Vandross, Angie Stone and Gerald Levert. Following the release and promotion of Heart to Yours, Williams made her on-stage acting debut in 2003, replacing fellow singer Toni Braxton in the title role of Aida, the hit Broadway musical with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice. She was the first and remains the only Destiny's Child member to have acted on Broadway.

2004–2007: Destiny's Child's final projects, Do You Know and acting debut
During the release of her fellow Destiny's Child members' debut albums, Williams spent time in the studio, recording her second album. The album saw her generally re-teaming with the majority of the producers and songwriters from her previous effort, including Solange Knowles, Dawkins & Dawkins, and brother Erron Williams. Released in January 2004 in the United States, Do You Know reached number 120 on the Billboard 200 chart, despite a warm reception from critics who lent praise to Williams' songwriting ability. Once again, Williams scored more success on the component charts, where the album debuted at number two on the Top Gospel Albums chart and number three on the top Christian Albums tally. The album was later re-released, including previously unreleased songs and has sold 78,000 copies in the US, as of March 2008.

After a three-year hiatus, Destiny's Child reunited for Destiny Fulfilled, released in November 2004. The album hit number two on the Billboard 200, and spawned the singles "Lose My Breath", "Soldier", "Girl" and "Cater 2 U". In support of the album, Destiny's Child embarked on a 2005 Destiny Fulfilled ... And Lovin' It world tour, which started in April to September of the same year. On the Barcelona, Spain visit, the group announced their disbandment after their final North American leg would end. In October 2005, the group released a greatest hits compilation album, titled #1's, including their most successful singles alongside three new tracks, including the band's final single "Stand Up for Love", penned by David Foster. Destiny's Child was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 2006. They were recognized as the world's best-selling female group of all time.

Following Destiny's Child's disbandment in early 2006, Williams made her television debut in the UPN comedy Half & Half, where she played the role of Naomi, a record company executive who is HIV positive. Later that year, she appeared as one of the celebrity singers on the FOX reality television show Celebrity Duets, duetting with actors Alfonso Ribeiro and Jai Rodriguez. In April 2006, Williams performed "America the Beautiful" at World Wrestling Entertainment's event WrestleMania 22, which was in her hometown of Chicago. Beginning in April 2007, Williams joined Oprah Winfrey's Chicago-based cast of the hit Broadway musical The Color Purple for its national tour, starting with an extended run at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. Williams described the opportunity as "a dream come true", playing the part of blues singer Shug Avery, which earned her positive reception.

2008–2010: Unexpected, Chicago and label troubles
In March 2008, Williams announced the release of her third studio album Unexpected in October 2008. A breakaway from the gospel music on her first two solo albums to secular pop/R&B, the album, her first release since the disbanding of Destiny's Child, involves production by Stargate, Rico Love, Wayne Wilkins, and Soulshock and Karlin, among others. In June 2008, Williams released lead single "We Break the Dawn" to universal acclaim from critics who hailed it as "a terrific fusion of European disco and American R&B". The song became her most successful single yet, peaking at number four on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart, topping the US Hot Dance Airplay chart and reaching the top 50 in the UK and top 40 in Hungary — where it also placed on the 2009 year-end chart.

In September 2008, "The Greatest" was issued as the second single release to mainstream radio, while "Hello Heartbreak" was catered to dance clubs. "The Greatest" became Williams' second hit on the Billboard dance charts when it peaked at number-one the US Hot Dance Club Songs. Gaining favorable reviews from critics, in October 2008 Unexpected debuted on the US Billboard 200 albums chart at number 42 and number 11 on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, with first week sales of 14,618 units. The album charted internationally, in the UK and Japan.

In July 2009, Williams began a limited six-week engagement at the Cambridge Theatre in Chicago, making her the first African-American to be cast in the West End production of the musical. Her run was extended and Williams continued appearing for three additional weeks for an extended engagement starting August 23 through September 12. In January 2010, Michelle parted ways with her manager Mathew Knowles and Music World Entertainment. In February 2010, Williams made a return to Broadway by commencing a seven-week limited engagement in Chicago at the Ambassador Theatre, replacing Ashlee Simpson. In April, it was announced that Williams would extend her limited engagement in Chicago.

In August 2010, it was reported that Williams would be participating on season 8 of the British television dance competition show Strictly Come Dancing, the originator of the global Dancing with the Stars franchise. On the launch show, it was revealed that Williams had been paired with Brendan Cole. They remained in the competition for seven weeks with variable results; on October 23, Ian Waite stood in as her professional partner when Brendan was unable to do so. Williams was eliminated on November 14. In December 2010, Williams joined DJ Martin Jay to become a co-host on Choice FM's Breakfast Show in London for the month, replacing Lucy Ambache who was on maternity leave. On December 15, Williams released the song "Stay for a Minute", a leftover from Unexpected for free digital download via Twitter to celebrate gaining over 100,000 followers.

2011–2014: Acting, label change and Journey to Freedom
In January 2011, Williams appeared on BBC's popular comedy panel game show Never Mind the Buzzcocks. In February 2011, Williams began a 28-city tour starring in the David E. Talbert stage-play What My Husband Doesn't Know along with Brian J. White, Ann Nesby and Clifton Davis, playing the lead role of Lena Summer. In July 2011, Williams released a buzz single titled "Love Gun", to precede the release of her upcoming fourth solo album,     on which she had begun work in 2010. In August, Electronic Giant Beatz released a press release, cover art and a music video teaser for a song featuring Williams titled "On the Run". The song was released in the United Kingdom in November 2011. In December, Ultra Naté released a joint collaboration with Williams titled "Waiting on You" which rose to number eleven on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

On June 7, 2012, it was announced that Williams had been signed to Light Records and was due to release her fourth studio album in 2013. On January 3, 2013, it was announced that Williams would play Sandra in the national tour of the Tony-nominated musical Fela!, beginning January 29 in Washington, D.C., and playing in a total of 16 cities. Destiny's Child released a compilation album titled Love Songs on January 29, which featured the newly recorded song "Nuclear", co-written by Williams.

On February 3, 2013, during Beyoncé's performance at the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show, held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Rowland and Williams joined Knowles on the stage, where the trio performed excerpts from "Bootylicious", "Independent Women", and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". Rowland and Williams then exited the stage and Knowles ended her performance. On February 21, it was announced that Williams would be starring in her own reality television show, titled My Sister's Keeper produced by E1 Television, to coincide with the release of her fourth studio album.

In December 2013, Beyoncé released her self-titled fifth studio album in which Williams appeared alongside Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland on the song and music video "Superpower". In 2014, Williams became the spokesperson for a Playtex campaign titled Play On Playbook. In April, it was announced that Williams would join the 50-city North American arena tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar as Mary Magdalene alongside Superstar winner Ben Forster and other recording artists such as Brandon Boyd and JC Chasez. In May 2014, the tour was cancelled before its launch in New Orleans due to poor ticket sales. It was announced that Williams would star as a mentor in an Oxygen reality television competition titled Fix My Choir, alongside fellow contemporary gospel recording artists Deitrick Haddon and Tye Tribbett.

In June 2013, Williams released the lead single from her inspirational fourth album Journey to Freedom, titled "If We Had Your Eyes". The single became her first release to appear on the US Billboard Adult R&B Songs and Hot Gospel Songs charts, peaking at nineteen and twenty-two respectively. Williams reunited with her former Destiny's Child bandmates for the single "Say Yes", which was released a year later and became Williams' first number-one on the US Hot Gospel Songs; additionally charting internationally in the UK, France and Belgium. "Say Yes" spent seven weeks at number one on the Hot Gospel Songs chart and received a nomination for Best Gospel/Inspirational Song at the 2014 Soul Train Music Awards.

In September 2014, Journey to Freedom debuted at number twenty-nine on the US Billboard 200, reaching number seven on the Independent Albums. It became aa top 10 success on the UK Christian & Gospel Albums chart where it debuted at number 6. Journey to Freedom was nominated for Outstanding Gospel Album (Traditional or Contemporary) at the 46th NAACP Image Awards, while "Say Yes" won Music Video of the Year at the 30th Stellar Awards, where Williams received a total of four nominations and reunited with Knowles and Rowland for a live performance of the song.

2015–2020: Continued acting, Coachella, and The Masked Singer
On April 14, 2015, Williams sang for president Barack Obama at the White House. The program titled, The Gospel Tradition: In Performance at the White House was broadcast on June 26, 2015, on PBS stations and simulcast on TV One. In August 2015, Williams reprised the title role in Aida, presented at the St. Louis venue. The following month, she premiered her Believe at Home bedding collection on the EVINE network. In 2016, Williams sang again for Obama at the White House; alongside Yolanda Adams and Kierra Sheard in the program titled BET Presents: Love and Happiness: An Obama Celebration.

In April 2018, Williams reunited with Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland during Beyoncé's headlining set at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In late 2018, Williams starred alongside her then-fiancé, Chad Johnson in the OWN reality show, Chad Loves Michelle. Williams also returned to Broadway as Erzulie in the Tony Award-winning revival of Once On This Island on November 30, 2018, leaving in December on doctor's orders. On December 7, Williams released the pop single "Fearless" on Radiance Music Group.

On December 21, it was announced by Deadline Hollywood that Williams would guest star as Diana Ross in an episode of the BET period drama series American Soul, which aired in February 2019. In April 2019, the singer was involved in Beyoncé's documentary Homecoming and homonymous album. Later that year, Williams competed as "Butterfly" in the second season of The Masked Singer. In December 2019, she came back to the stage starring as the Evil Queen for the 10th anniversary of A Snow White Christmas at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, alongside Neil Patrick Harris and Jared Gertner.

2020-Present: Checking In Memoir, The Masked Singer, and upcoming projects
In November 2020, Williams announced her memoir, Checking In: How Getting Real About Depression Saved My Life–and Can Save Yours, which was released in May 2021. The accompanying podcast, Checking In with Michelle Williams, premiered on streaming services in December 2020, and was nomintated at the 53rd NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Lifestyle/Self-Help Podcast. On October 29, 2021, Williams costarred in Hallmark's holiday themed TV movie, Christmas in Harmony. In 2022, Williams competed as "Rockhopper" in the third series of the British version of The Masked Singer. She later competed as "Microphone" in the fourth season of The Masked Singer Australia, making her the first celebrity to compete in three versions of the show. She also starred in the Lifetime movie Wrath: A Seven Deadly Sins Story, which aired on April 16, 2022.

In January 2024, Williams appeared alongside her cousin on Fox's We Are Family. In March 2024, Williams was cast in the musical adaptation of Death Becomes Her, playing Viola Van Horn (Lisle von Rhuman in the film version), at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago from April 30 to June 2.

Voice
Williams can be identified as a soprano. William Ruhlmann of AllMusic commented that she has a "warm, kittenish voice" with the ability to "transform" from "kitten to tiger", belting "with absolute conviction". GospelMusicCity.com praised her "delicate vocals" and described her "sopralto stylings" as "inimitable", writing that on "Heard a Word" she "demonstrates further versatility in Ella-like fashion".

Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine compared her to other singers, writing "Williams's warm vocal recalls both the playful wisps of her R&B contemporaries (Jill Scott, Erykah Badu) and the breathy timbre of Diana Ross". Emily Sogn of PopMatters wrote "Williams singing style is pleasingly slow paced...that owes a lot to her pop contemporaries like Ashanti and Janet Jackson." Mike Rimmer of Cross Rhythms described her voice as "soulful". Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian wrote that "Williams's strength is a shimmery jazz lilt".

Honors and awards
Williams has earned an array of awards and honors as a solo artist and a member of Destiny's Child. These include: one Grammy Award and one MOBO Award. Billboard ranked Williams as the fifth Top Gospel Artist of 2002 due to the success of her debut release Heart to Yours which was one of the best-selling gospel releases of the year. In addition, Williams has reportedly sold 1.5 million albums and 3 million records as a solo artist worldwide. In 2013, Williams was honored in her hometown of Rockford, Illinois at the 2013 I Love Gospel Music honors luncheon, which featured musical tributes, including one by Sunday Best winner Amber Bullock.

Personal life
Williams reportedly began dating pastor and professional sports chaplain Chad Johnson in July 2017. Williams and Johnson announced their engagement via People on April 19, 2018. In September 2018, the couple revealed plans to film a television series, showcasing their relationship as they navigate the road from engagement to marriage. On November 3, 2018, the reality show Chad Loves Michelle began airing on the Oprah Winfrey Network. In December 2018, Williams announced that she and Johnson had both called off their engagement.

Mental health
Williams has a history of depression, saying that she has "been suffering since the ages of 13 and 15". During her time with Destiny's Child, she says that she told their then manager Mathew Knowles about her feelings, but that he did not really understand. He replied to her concerns by trying to point out the good side of their new-found fame, "You all just signed a multi-millionaire dollar deal, you're about to go on tour, what have you got to be depressed about?"

She said that she had difficulty understanding her own feelings until later in life, around her thirties, stating that "I didn't know until I was in my 30s what was going on, I just thought it was growing pains, I just thought I'm turning into a woman." She also felt that Knowles intended no malice, and only had her best interests at heart, "Bless his heart... I think he wanted me to be grateful, which I was, but I was still sad."

Williams again felt helpless after she and her fiancé, Chad Johnson, split up in late 2018. She said the breakup left her "shattered and ... fighting suicidal thoughts." She said that she felt "so angry. The rage built up in me. I did not attempt suicide, but I was questioning [life]". Williams suffered a nervous breakdown just after opening day for a Broadway production of Once on This Island and was advised to leave the show by her doctor. By April 2020 she had returned to better health, saying that "I am in a better place now. I am not perfect. I'm not preaching ... When people say it gets better, it does. It just takes time. The days do get brighter".

Memoir
In November 2020, Williams announced plans to release a memoir "revealing her entire truth including a deeper dive into where her anxiety and depression came from." She stated, "I'm ready to share, I've been a very transparent person and now I'm ready to share the good, bad, and ugly parts of my journey—the concerning part of my journey. ... I really go into the specifics, I really go into the first time I was diagnosed, I go into assessing the first time I had anxiety in a romantic relationship and what it did to that relationship and then subsequently what it did to the next one." Williams said she hoped to "really help heal through my story" and "let people know what I do on a daily, what I do on a monthly–whatever it takes to get people whole and get people where they can maybe start seeing some better results in their own life."

The book titled Checking In: How Getting Real about Depression Saved My Life—and Can Save Yours was published on May 25, 2021.

Philanthropy
In 2001, Williams made a "bountiful" donation of $148,900 to her church, St. Paul Church of God in Christ in Rockford, Illinois – of which she has been a member since birth – to finish construction of the church's school, St. Paul Academy. The church is pastored by her uncle, Bishop James E. Washington.

In 2005, music producer David Foster, his daughter Amy Foster-Gillies, and Knowles wrote "Stand Up for Love", which would serve as the anthem of World Children's Day, an event which takes place annually around the world on November 20 to raise awareness and funds for children's causes worldwide. Destiny's Child lent their voices and support as global ambassadors for the 2005 World Children's Day program. In this role, Knowles, Rowland and Williams visited Ronald McDonald Houses around the world during their Destiny Fulfilled... and Lovin' It World Tour and donated a portion of their North American ticket sales to Ronald McDonald House Charities.

In September 2006, Williams jump-started the Chicago PepsiCo S.M.A.R.T. – which stands for five simple steps that encourage active living and better food choices – program to promote active, healthy lifestyles by building a new "Smart Spot" playground in Chicago. Williams, along with friend Lance Bass, was on hand to sing to and greet kids at the opening of Camp Heartland, a camp dedicated to helping kids suffering from HIV/AIDS enjoy life and take their mind off their illness. In 2006, the Chicago Sky, a team in the Women's National Basketball Association, announced that Williams, along with Mathew Knowles, is part of a group of minority shareholder owners in the team.

In 2012, she became an ambassador for the American Heart Association's Power to End Stroke campaign. In speaking of her role she said "I am honored to partner with the campaign ... my father had a stroke in 2005 due to smoking, diabetes and an unhealthy diet, and my grandmother was diagnosed with having a stroke in 2006 when she went to her doctor for a simple outpatient procedure. I am bringing awareness to people so that strokes can be prevented. Let's take care of ourselves...the first step is knowledge about your health."

In 2014, Williams partnered with Hyundai's non-profit organization, Hope on Wheels, "committed to finding a cure for childhood cancer"; which has raised over $74,000,000 for the cause since its inception in 1998.

Discography
Studio albums
 * Heart to Yours (2002)
 * Do You Know (2004)
 * Unexpected (2008)
 * Journey to Freedom (2014)

with Destiny's Child

 * Survivor (2001)
 * 8 Days of Christmas (2001)
 * Destiny Fulfilled (2004)

title: Michelle Williams (singer)


text:
User talk:TobyRush

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! BTW, you can sign your name using three tildes, like this:. Four tildes ( ~ ) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page. Here are some things you can do to get started:
 * How to edit a page
 * Picture tutorial
 * How to write a great article
 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style

If you'd like to get even more involved in Wikipedia, such as voting on featured articles or collaboration of the week and much more, you can always visit the community portal. Again, welcome! Johnleemk | Talk 18:47, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

More
You may also be interested in WikiProject Music. Hyacinth 21:09, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Naming
Please do not rename articles without a consensus especially when it is controversial, ive reverted you again. thanks/Fenton, Matthew Lexic Dark 52278 Alpha 771 19:27, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Alot of shows do it: (xyz episode), I my self dispute the renaming and so a consensus is needed before renaming.. thanks/Fenton, Matthew Lexic Dark 52278 Alpha 771 19:43, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Thats liekly because I objected pretty fast, and I also do not see anything on the talk page its sel (not the to do) discussing a rename, the project you cite is there guideline that some shows follow, scroll down and it lists (just some) that do not follow there naming pattern. thanks/Fenton, Matthew Lexic Dark 52278 Alpha 771 20:00, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
 * The project you cite is something small with a few paticpants, a discussion among them does not equate to a project consensus - before changing articles which use a different style you need to get a consensus especially when so many shows do it a different way. thanks/Fenton, Matthew Lexic Dark 52278 Alpha 771 20:19, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

revert
Don't revert a page just out of "fear" that there is a "heated discussion" on talk. My change was not related to the main argument (use (Futurama) or (Futurama episode) ). It was an extension of a long-time practice and one that was mentioned on talk. Also, please do not use edit summaries to try and communicate with editors. Use them just to describe your change, and make use of talk pages for everything else. -- Netoholic @ 17:27, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Naming
Hi, I very much appreciate your comment, and yes, I think we agree on many things. I also agree that a quieter discussion venue could be good, or even a more rapid "back and forth" communication venue (do you use AIM or Google Talk?). My off-wiki life has been busier than usual lately, which has made it frustrating for me to participate in a discussion where I can only pop in once a day, but others are posting multiple times per day. There are also other, unfortunately bad faith, reasons for why I find it very difficult to listen closely to some of the other opinions being offered (see my talk page under "Stalking", and then repeated other messages from those individuals on other matters). In one case, one of them actually deleted one of my messages off of someone else's talkpage.

Anyway, let me know which style of communication you would prefer, and then we can go from there? :) --Elonka 00:35, 11 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Okay, we can keep things on-wiki, that's fine. I have posted my latest suggestion at new poll wording, and I would appreciate your thoughts as to whether it needs any further tweaking.  Also, as for Josiah's summary, I'm not entirely certain which of his posts that you want me to reply to...  There's so much noise in there, that I may have lost track of a civil question in the mix. It's another reason that I'd like a new poll, is that if I can't keep up with the chatter in there, what hope does an occasional editor have?  I think a well-worded poll would allow a clear way to let others weigh in with their opinion, so we wouldn't just be listening to the same people posting over and over. --Elonka 23:57, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

 * I actually just posted an extensive reply to Josiah's comment, so please feel free to review it at your leisure. There's also some controversy about the wisdom of another poll, so I would appreciate if you would weigh in with your own opinion there as well. :) --Elonka 22:45, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

Mediation request
A request for mediation has been filed with the Mediation Committee that lists you as a party. The Mediation Committee requires that all parties listed in a mediation must be notified of the mediation. Please review the request at Wikipedia:Requests for mediation/Wikipedia:Naming conventions (television), and indicate whether you agree or refuse to mediate. If you are unfamiliar with mediation, please refer to Mediation. There are only seven days for everyone to agree, so please check as soon as possible. —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 04:46, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Wording
(reply) Pretty much. On #1, I could actually go with either position, meaning "disambiguate only when necessary", or "always disambiguate", but I generally stated the former, because I was trying for a compromise position. On #2, I'm a bit uncomfortable with the phrasing "exceptional case", because I think that makes it sound like a series needs to have a clear and pressing reason to be an "exception", whereas my opinion is more that the decision should be left to the interested editors of that series. In other words, if there are two series, call them "Apple-men" and "Pear-men", that are effectively identical in all ways except for the fruit, and the "Apple" editors want suffixes and the "Pear" editors don't, then I'd support that, as long as they clearly documented at their respective Apple/pear guideline pages, which standard they wanted for their episodes, and they stuck to their stated guidelines.

Hope that helps! If you have any questions, let me know. :) --Elonka 00:03, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Sure, I could go with that. :) --Elonka 00:25, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

 * Dude, you just earned my neverending respect/support with your thoughtful and excellent post/proposal. Riverbend 16:29, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Page moves
Toby, I am confused as to why you are moving pages... Can you please explain? --Elonka 23:05, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Request for Mediation
This message delivered: 04:18, 7 December 2006 (UTC).

ArbCom
Toby, hiya, hope your holidays are going well. :) When you have a moment, could you please pop in to the  ArbCom case to offer a statement with your view of the dispute?  If you would like, you can add yourself as a party to the case, or you can simply post a statement at the talkpage.  You may also wish to glance through the evidence and workshop pages, where you are welcome to offer your own evidence or opinions.  Thanks, --Elonka 23:10, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

Re: When the River Meets the Sea
It's the true that the lyrics aren't holiday related, but like any original song, it is open to a wide variety of interpretations. Maybe Paul Williams (the original writer) had some other meaning he intended to give the song. I could have removed the statement altogether, however, in keeping with Wikipedia's Assume Good Faith policy, I asked for a citation that backs up the claim of this one interpretation (no lyrics site is going to cut it). However, I'll tell you what. I'll remove the citation tag since the line "our souls leave this land" could have some credence to what the article says, but I can't guarantee that other Wikipedians will let it go by. Brittany Ka 18:40, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject Colorado
The year 2011 has brought many changes to the State of Colorado. We have a new Governor and other state officers, two new U.S. Representatives, many new state legislators, and a new Mayor of Denver. WikiProject Colorado is updating many Colorado articles. Many Colorado places, people, and organizations need new articles. Portal:Colorado needs new featured articles.

Can you help us? Please see our list of some requested articles. If you wish, you may join WikiProject Colorado at WikiProject Colorado/Members. If you have any questions, please leave me a message at User talk:Buaidh or e-mail me at Special:EmailUser/Buaidh. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Don't forget the Wikipedia 10th Anniversary event in Boulder tomorrow. Yours aye, Buaidh  23:11, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

Notification: changes to "Mark my edits as minor by default" preference
Hello there. This is an automated message to tell you about the gradual phasing out of the preference entitled "Mark all edits minor by default", which you currently have (or very recently had) enabled.

On 13 March 2011, this preference was hidden from the user preferences screen as part of efforts to prevent its accidental misuse (consensus discussion). This had the effect of locking users in to their existing preference, which, in your case, was. To complete the process, your preference will automatically be changed to  in the next few days. This does not require any intervention on your part and you will still be able to manually mark your edits as being 'minor'. The only thing that's changed is that you will no longer have them marked as minor by default.

For established users such as yourself there is a workaround available involving custom JavaScript. If you are familiar with the contents of WP:MINOR, and believe that it is still beneficial to the encyclopedia to have all your edits marked as such by default, then this discussion will give you the details you need to continue with this functionality indefinitely. If you have any problems, feel free to drop me a note.

Thank you for your understanding and happy editing :) Editing on behalf of User:Jarry1250, LivingBot (talk) 19:01, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:50, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

You're invited! Great Buckeye Wiknic 2016

Hello there! You are invited to attend the Great Buckeye Wiknic in Columbus, Ohio on Sunday, July 10th from 1:00 to 5:00 PM! Join us for a day in the park for food and socializing with others from the Wikimedia movement. We'll be meeting up at Fred Beekman Park, a park on Ohio State University's campus.

If you're interested, please take a look at our events page for more information, including parking info, food options, and available activities. If you plan on attending, please add your name to the attendees list. We look forward to seeing you!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave one on my talk page. Thanks! ~ Super  Hamster  Talk Contribs 05:39, 29 June 2016 (UTC)

(Note: If you would like to stop receiving notifications regarding Wikimedia events around Ohio, you may remove your username from this list.)

ArbCom 2022 Elections voter message
 Hello! Voting in the 2022 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on. All eligible users are allowed to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2022 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:26, 29 November 2022 (UTC)

title: User talk:TobyRush


text:
Pluricentric language

A pluricentric language or polycentric language is a language with several codified standard forms, often corresponding to different countries. Many examples of such languages can be found worldwide among the most-spoken languages, including but not limited to Chinese in mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore; English in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, India, and elsewhere; and French in France, Canada, and elsewhere. The converse case is a monocentric language, which has only one formally standardized version. Examples include Japanese and Russian. In some cases, the different standards of a pluricentric language may be elaborated to appear as separate languages, e.g. Malaysian and Indonesian, Hindi and Urdu, while Serbo-Croatian is in an earlier stage of that process.

Arabic
Pre-Islamic Arabic can be considered a polycentric language. In Arabic-speaking countries different levels of polycentricity can be detected. Modern Arabic is a pluricentric language with varying branches correlating with different regions where Arabic is spoken and the type of communities speaking it. The vernacular varieties of Arabic include:
 * Peninsular Arabic
 * Hejazi Arabic (urban cities of western Saudi Arabia)
 * Najdi Arabic (much of central Saudi Arabia)
 * Omani Arabic
 * Gulf Arabic (spoken around the coasts of the Persian Gulf in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, as well as parts of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and Oman)
 * Yemeni Arabic
 * Levantine Arabic (spoken in the Levant region)
 * Syrian Arabic
 * Jordanian Arabic
 * Lebanese Arabic
 * Palestinian Arabic
 * Maghrebi Arabic (spoken in the Maghreb region)
 * Algerian Arabic
 * Libyan Arabic
 * Moroccan Arabic
 * Tunisian Arabic,
 * Mesopotamian Arabic
 * Baghdad Arabic
 * Egyptian Arabic
 * Sudanese Arabic, and many others.

In addition, many speakers use Modern Standard Arabic in education and formal settings. Therefore, in Arabic-speaking communities, diglossia is frequent.

Armenian
The Armenian language is a pluricentric language with two standard varieties, Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian, which have developed as separate literary languages since the eighteenth century. Prior to this, almost all Armenian literature was written in Classical Armenian, which is now solely used as a liturgical language. Eastern and Western Armenian can also refer to the two major dialectal blocks into which the various non-standard dialects of Armenian are categorized. Eastern Armenian is the official language of the Republic of Armenia. It is also spoken, with dialectal variations, by Iranian Armenians, Armenians in Karabakh (see Karabakh dialect), and in the Armenian diaspora, especially in the former Soviet Union (Russia, Georgia, Ukraine). Western Armenian is spoken mainly in the Armenian diaspora, especially in the Middle East, France, the US, and Canada.

Additionally, Armenian is written in two standard orthographies: classical and reformed Armenian orthography. The former is used by practically all speakers of Western Armenian and by Armenians in Iran, while the latter, which was developed in Soviet Armenia in the 20th century, is used in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

Catalan
In the modern era, Catalan is a pluricentric language with differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. This language is internationally known as Catalan, as in Ethnologue. This is also the most commonly used name in Catalonia, but also in Andorra and the Balearic Islands, probably due to the prestige of the Central Catalan dialect spoken in and around Barcelona. However, in the Valencian Community, the official name of this language is Valencian. One reason for this is political (see Serbo-Croatian for a similar situation), but this variant does have its own literary tradition that dates back to the Reconquista.

Although mutually intelligible with other varieties of Catalan, Valencian has lexical peculiarities and its own spelling rules, which are set out by the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua, created in 1998. However, this institution recognizes that Catalan and Valencian are varieties of the same language. For their part, there are specific varieties in the two major Balearic islands, Mallorcan (mallorquí) in Mallorca, Menorcan (menorquí) in Menorca, Eivissenc in Eivissa. The University of the Balearic Islands is the language regulator for these varieties.

Chinese
Until the mid-20th century, most Chinese people spoke only their local varieties of Chinese. These varieties had diverged widely from the written form used by scholars, Literary Chinese, which was modelled on the language of the Chinese classics. As a practical measure, officials of the Ming and Qing dynasties carried out the administration of the empire using a common language based on northern varieties, known as Guānhuà (官話, literally "speech of officials"), known as Mandarin in English after the officials. Knowledge of this language was thus essential for an official career, but it was never formally defined.

In the early years of the 20th century, Literary Chinese was replaced as the written standard by written vernacular Chinese, which was based on northern dialects. In the 1930s, a standard national language Guóyǔ (國語, literally "national language") was adopted, with its pronunciation based on the Beijing dialect, but with vocabulary also drawn from other northern varieties. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the standard was known as Pǔtōnghuà (普通话/普通話, literally "common speech"), but was defined in the same way as Guóyǔ in the Republic of China now governing Taiwan. It also became one of the official languages of Singapore, under the name Huáyǔ (华语/華語, literally "Chinese language").

Although the three standards remain close, they have diverged to some extent. Most Mandarin speakers in Taiwan and Singapore came from the southeast coast of China, where the local dialects lack the retroflex initials /tʂ tʂʰ ʂ/ found in northern dialects, so that many speakers in those places do not distinguish them from the apical sibilants /ts tsʰ s/. Similarly, retroflex codas (erhua) are typically avoided in Taiwan and Singapore. There are also differences in vocabulary, with Taiwanese Mandarin absorbing loanwords from Min Chinese, Hakka Chinese, and Japanese, and Singaporean Mandarin borrowing words from English, Malay, and southern varieties of Chinese.

Eastern South Slavic (Bulgarian–Macedonian–Torlakian (Gorani)–Paulician (Banat))
Some linguists and scholars, mostly from Bulgaria and Greece, but some also from other countries, consider Eastern South Slavic to be a pluricentric language with four standards: Bulgarian (based on the Rup, Balkan and Moesian ("Eastern Bulgarian") dialects), Macedonian (based on the Western and Central Macedonian dialects), Gorani (based on the Torlakian dialects), and Paulician (including Banat Bulgarian). Politicians and nationalists from Bulgaria are likely to refer to this entire grouping as 'Bulgarian', and to be particularly hostile to the notion that Macedonian is an autonomous language separate from Bulgarian, which Macedonian politicians and citizens tend to claim. As of 2021, the hypothesis that Eastern South Slavic, 'Greater Bulgarian', 'Bulgaro-Macedonian', or simply 'Bulgarian', is a pluricentric language with several mutually intelligible official standards in the same way that Serbo-Croatian is, and Czechoslovak used to be, has not yet been fully developed in linguistics; it is a popular idea in Bulgarian politics, but an unpopular one in North Macedonia.

English
English is a pluricentric language, with differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling, etc., between each of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom, North America, the Caribbean, Ireland, English-speaking African countries, Singapore, India, and Oceania. Educated native English speakers using their version of one of the standard forms of English are almost completely mutually intelligible, but non-standard forms present significant dialectal variations, and are marked by reduced intelligibility.

British and American English are the two most commonly taught varieties in the education systems where English is taught as a second language. British English tends to predominate in Europe and the former British colonies of the West Indies, Africa, and Asia, where English is not the first language of the majority of the population. (The Falkland Islands, a British territory off the southeast coast of South America with English as its native language, have their own dialect, while British English is the standard.) In contrast, American English tends to dominate instruction in Latin America, Liberia, and East Asia (In Latin America, British English is taught in schools with British curriculum in countries with descendants of British settlers.)

Due to globalization and the resulting spread of the language in recent decades, English is becoming increasingly decentralized, with daily use and statewide study of the language in schools growing in most regions of the world. However, in the global context, the number of native speakers of English is much smaller than the number of non-native speakers of English of reasonable competence. In 2018, it was estimated that for every native speaker of English, there are six non-native speakers of reasonable competence, raising the questions of English as a lingua franca as the most widely spoken form of the language.

Philippine English (which is predominantly spoken as a second language) has been primarily influenced by American English. The rise of the call center industry in the Philippines has encouraged some Filipinos to "polish" or neutralize their accents to make them more closely resemble the accents of their client countries.

Countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and Canada have their own well-established varieties of English which are the standard within those countries but are far more rarely taught overseas to second language learners. (Standard English in Australia and New Zealand is related to British English in its common pronunciation and vocabulary; a similar relationship exists between Canadian English and American English.)

English was historically pluricentric when it was used across the independent kingdoms of England and Scotland prior to the Acts of Union in 1707. English English and Scottish English are now subsections of British English.

French
In the modern era, there are several major loci of the French language, including Standard French (also known as Parisian French), Canadian French (including Quebec French and Acadian French), American French (for instance, Louisiana French), Haitian French, and African French.

Until the early 20th century, the French language was highly variable in pronunciation and vocabulary within France, with varying dialects and degrees of intelligibility, the langues d'oïl. However, government policy made it so that the dialect of Paris would be the method of instruction in schools, and other dialects, like Norman, which has influence from Scandinavian languages, were neglected. Controversy still remains in France over the fact that the government recognizes them as languages of France, but provides no monetary support for them nor has the Constitutional Council of France ratified the Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

North American French is the result of French colonization of the New World between the 17th and 18th centuries. In many cases, it contains vocabulary and dialectal quirks not found in Standard Parisian French owing to history: most of the original settlers of Quebec, Acadia, and later what would become Louisiana and northern New England came from Northern and Northwest France, and would have spoken dialects like Norman, Poitevin, and Angevin with far fewer speaking the dialect of Paris. This, plus isolation from developments in France, most notably the drive for standardization by L'Académie française, make North American dialects of the language quite distinct. Acadian French, spoken in New Brunswick, Canada, has many words no longer used in modern France, much of it having roots in the 17th century, and a distinct intonation. Québécois, the largest of the dialects, has a distinct pronunciation that is not found in Europe in any measure and a greater difference in vowel pronunciation, and syntax tends to vary greatly. Cajun French has some distinctions not found in Canada in that there is more vocabulary derived from both local Native American and African dialects and a pronunciation of the letter r that has disappeared in France entirely. It is rolled, and with heavier contact with the English language than any of the above the pronunciation has shifted to harder sounding consonants in the 20th century. Cajun French equally has been an oral language for generations and it is only recently that its syntax and features been adapted to French orthography.

Minor standards can also be found in Belgium and Switzerland, with particular influence of Germanic languages on grammar and vocabulary, sometimes through the influence of local dialects. In Belgium, for example, various Germanic influences in spoken French are evident in Wallonia (for example, to blink in English, and blinken in German and Dutch, blinquer in Walloon and local French, cligner in standard French). Ring (rocade or périphérique in standard French) is a common word in the three national languages for beltway or ring road. Also, in Belgium and Switzerland, there are noted differences in the number system when compared to standard Parisian or Canadian French, notably in the use of septante, octante/huitante and nonante for the numbers 70, 80 and 90. In other standards of French, these numbers are usually denoted soixante-dix (sixty-ten), quatre-vingts (fourscore) and quatre-vingt-dix (fourscore-and-ten). French varieties spoken in Oceania are also influenced by local languages. New Caledonian French is influenced by Kanak languages in its vocabulary and grammatical structure. African French is another variety.

German
Standard German is often considered an asymmetric pluricentric language; the standard used in Germany is often considered dominant, mostly because of the sheer number of its speakers and their frequent lack of awareness of the Austrian Standard German and Swiss Standard German varieties. Although there is a uniform stage pronunciation based on a manual by Theodor Siebs that is used in theatres, and, nowadays to a lesser extent, in radio and television news all across German-speaking countries, this is not true for the standards applied at public occasions in Austria, South Tyrol and Switzerland, which differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, and sometimes even grammar. (In Switzerland, the letter ß has been removed from the alphabet, with ss as its replacement.) Sometimes this even applies to news broadcasts in Bavaria, a German state with a strong separate cultural identity. The varieties of Standard German used in those regions are to some degree influenced by the respective dialects (but by no means identical to them), by specific cultural traditions (e.g. in culinary vocabulary, which differs markedly across the German-speaking area of Europe), and by different terminology employed in law and administration. A list of Austrian terms for certain food items has even been incorporated into EU law, even though it is clearly incomplete. Scholarly scepticism in German dialectology about the pluricentric status of German has led some linguists to detect a One Standard German Axiom (OSGA) as active in the field.

Hindustani
The Hindi languages are a large dialect continuum defined as a unit culturally. Medieval Hindustani (then known as Hindavi ) was based on a register of the Delhi dialect and has two modern literary forms, Standard Hindi and Standard Urdu. Additionally, there are historical literary standards, such as the closely related Braj Bhasha and the more distant Awadhi, as well as recently established standard languages based on what were once considered Hindi dialects: Maithili and Dogri. Other varieties, such as Rajasthani, are often considered distinct languages but have no standard form. Caribbean Hindi and Fijian Hindi also differ significantly from the Sanskritized standard Hindi spoken in India.

Malay–Indonesian
The Malay language has many local dialects and creolized versions, but it has two main normative varieties which are Malaysian and Indonesian: Indonesian is codified by Indonesia as its own lingua franca based on the dialect spoken in Riau Islands, whereas Malaysia codifies Malaysian based on the vernacular dialect of Johor. Thus, both lects have the same dialectal basis, and linguistic sources still tend to treat the standards as different forms of a single language. In popular parlance, however, the two varieties are often thought of as distinct tongues in their own rights due to the growing divergence between them and for political reasons. Nevertheless, they retain a high degree of mutual intelligibility despite a number of differences in vocabulary (including many false friends) and grammar.

Malayalam
Malayalam is a pluricentric language with historically more than one written form. Malayalam script is officially recognized, but there are other standardized varieties such as Arabi Malayalam of Mappila Muslims, Karshoni of Saint Thomas Christians and Judeo-Malayalam of Cochin Jews.

Persian
The Persian language has three standard varieties with official status in Iran (locally known as Farsi), Afghanistan (officially known as Dari), and Tajikistan (officially known as Tajik). The standard forms of the three are based on the Tehrani, Kabuli, and Dushanbe varieties, respectively.

The Persian alphabet is used for both Farsi (Iranian) and Dari (Afghan). Traditionally, Tajiki is also written with Perso-Arabic script. In order to increase literacy, a Latin alphabet (based on the Common Turkic Alphabet) was introduced in 1917. Later in the late 1930s, the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic promoted the use of Cyrillic alphabet, which remains the most widely used system today. Attempts to reintroduce the Perso-Arabic script were made.

The language spoken by Bukharan Jews is called Bukhori (or Bukharian), and is written in Hebrew alphabet.

Portuguese
Apart from the Galician question, Portuguese varies mainly between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese (also known as "Lusitanian Portuguese", "Standard Portuguese" or even "Portuguese Portuguese"). Both varieties have undergone significant and divergent developments in phonology and the grammar of their pronominal systems. The result is that communication between the two varieties of the language without previous exposure can be occasionally difficult, although speakers of European Portuguese tend to understand Brazilian Portuguese better than vice versa, due to the heavy exposure to music, soap operas etc. from Brazil. Word ordering can be dramatically different between European and Brazilian Portuguese.

A unified orthography for all the varieties (including a limited number of words with dual spelling) has been approved by the national legislatures of the Portuguese-speaking countries and is now official; see Spelling reforms of Portuguese for additional details. Formal written standards remain grammatically close to each other, despite some minor syntactic differences.

African Portuguese and Asian Portuguese are based on the standard European dialect, but have undergone their own phonetic and grammatical developments, sometimes reminiscent of the spoken Brazilian variant. A number of creoles of Portuguese have developed in African countries, for example in Guinea-Bissau and on the island of São Tomé.

Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian is a pluricentric language with four standards (Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian) promoted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia. These standards do differ slightly, but do not hinder mutual intelligibility. Rather, as all four standardised varieties are based on the prestige Shtokavian dialect, major differences in intelligibility are identified not on the basis of standardised varieties, but rather dialects, like Kajkavian and Chakavian. "Lexical differences between the ethnic variants are extremely limited, even when compared with those between closely related Slavic languages (such as standard Czech and Slovak, Bulgarian and Macedonian), and grammatical differences are even less pronounced. More importantly, complete understanding between the ethnic variants of the standard language makes translation and second language teaching impossible."

Spanish
Spanish has both national and regional linguistic norms, which vary in terms of vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation, but all varieties are mutually intelligible and the same orthographic rules are shared throughout.

In Spain, Standard Spanish is based upon the speech of educated speakers from Madrid. All varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula are grouped as Peninsular Spanish. Canarian Spanish (spoken in the Canary Islands), along with Spanish spoken in the Americas (including Spanish spoken in the United States, Central American Spanish, Mexican Spanish, Andean Spanish, and Caribbean Spanish), are particularly related to Andalusian Spanish.

The United States is now the world's second-largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico in total number of speakers (L1 and L2 speakers). A report said there are 41 million L1 Spanish speakers and another 11.6 million L2 speakers in the U.S. This puts the US ahead of Colombia (48 million) and Spain (46 million) and second only to Mexico (121 million).

The Spanish of Latin Americans has a growing influence on the language across the globe through music, culture and television produced using the language of the largely bilingual speech community of US Latinos.

In Argentina and Uruguay the Spanish standard is based on the local dialects of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. This is known as Rioplatense Spanish, (from Rio de la Plata (River Plate)) and is distinguishable from other standard Spanish dialects by voseo. In Colombia, Rolo (a name for the dialect of Bogotá) is valued for its clear pronunciation. The Judeo-Spanish (also known as Ladino; not to be confused with Latino) spoken by Sephardi Jews can be found in Israel and elsewhere; it is usually considered a separate language.

Swedish
Two varieties exist, though only one written standard remains (regulated by the Swedish Academy of Sweden): Rikssvenska (literally "Realm Swedish", also less commonly known as "Högsvenska", 'High Swedish' in Finland), the official language of Sweden, and Finlandssvenska which, alongside Finnish, is the other official language of Finland. There are differences in vocabulary and grammar, with the variety used in Finland remaining a little more conservative. The most marked differences are in pronunciation and intonation: Whereas Swedish speakers usually pronounce before front vowels as, this sound is usually pronounced by a Swedo-Finn as ; in addition, the two tones that are characteristic of Swedish (and Norwegian) are absent from most Finnish dialects of Swedish, which have an intonation reminiscent of Finnish and thus sound more monotonous when compared to Rikssvenska.

There are dialects that could be considered different languages due to long periods of isolation and geographical separation from the central dialects of Svealand and Götaland that came to constitute the base for the standard Rikssvenska. Dialects such as Elfdalian, Jamtlandic, and Gutnish all differ as much, or more, from standard Swedish than the standard varieties of Danish. Some of them have a standardized orthography, but the Swedish government has not granted any of them official recognition as regional languages and continues to look upon them as dialects of Swedish. Most of them are severely endangered and spoken by elderly people in the countryside.

Tamil
The vast majority of Tamil speakers reside in southern India, where it is the official language of Tamil Nadu and of Puducherry, and one of 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India. It is also one of two official languages in Sri Lanka, one of four official languages in Singapore, and is used as the medium of instruction in government-aided Tamil primary schools in Malaysia. Other parts of the world have Tamil-speaking populations, but are not loci of planned development.

Tamil is diglossic, with the literary variant used in books, poetry, speeches and news broadcasts while the spoken variant is used in everyday speech, online messaging and movies. While there are significant differences in the standard spoken forms of the different countries, the literary register is mostly uniform, with some differences in semantics that are not perceived by native speakers. There has been no attempt to compile a dictionary of Sri Lankan Tamil.

As a result of the Pure Tamil Movement, Indian Tamil tends to avoid loanwords to a greater extent than Sri Lankan Tamil. Coinages of new technical terms also differ between the two. Tamil policy in Singapore and Malaysia tends to follow that of Tamil Nadu regarding linguistic purism and technical coinages.

There are some spelling differences, particularly in the greater use of Grantha letters to write loanwords and foreign names in Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia. The Tamil Nadu script reform of 1978 has been accepted in Singapore and Malaysia, but not Sri Lanka.

Others

 * Standard Irish (Gaeilge), Scottish Gaelic and possibly Manx can be viewed as three standards arisen through divergence from the Classical Gaelic norm via orthographic reforms.
 * Komi, a Uralic language spoken in northeastern European Russia, has official standards for its Komi-Zyrian and Komi-Permyak dialects.
 * Korean: North and South (to some extent—differences are growing; see North–South differences in the Korean language and Korean dialects)
 * Kurdish language has two main literary norms: Kurmanji (Northern Kurdish) and Sorani (Central Kurdish). The Zaza–Gorani languages, spoken by some Kurds, are occasionally considered to be Kurdish as well, despite not being mutually intelligible.
 * For most of its history, Hebrew did not have a center. The grammar and lexicon were dominated by the canonical texts, but when the pronunciation was standardised for the first time, its users were already scattered. Therefore, three main forms of pronunciations developed, particularly for the purpose of prayer: Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Temani. When Hebrew was revived as a spoken language, there was a discussion about which pronunciation should be used. Ultimately, the Sephardi pronunciation was chosen even though most of the speakers at the time were of Ashkenazi background, because it was considered more authentic. The standard Israeli pronunciation of today is not Identical to the Sephardi, but is somewhat of a merger with Ashkenazi influences and interpretation. The Ashkenazi pronunciation is still used in Israel by Haredim in prayer and by Jewish communities outside of Israel.
 * Lao and Isan, the situation in Thailand is in stark contrast to Laos where the Lao language is actively promoted as a language of national unity. Laotian Lao people are very conscious of their distinct, non-Thai language and although influenced by Thai-language media and culture, strive to maintain 'good Lao'. Although spelling has changed, the Lao speakers in Laos continue to use a modified form of the Tai Noi script, the modern Lao alphabet.
 * Norwegian consists of a multitude of spoken dialects displaying a great deal of variation in pronunciation and (to a somewhat lesser extent) vocabulary, with no officially recognized "standard spoken Norwegian" (but see Urban East Norwegian). All Norwegian dialects are mutually intelligible to a certain extent. There are two written standards: Bokmål, "book language", based on Danish (Danish and Norwegian Bokmål are mutually intelligible languages with significant differences primarily in pronunciation rather than vocabulary or grammar), and Nynorsk, "New Norwegian", based primarily on rural Western and rural inland Norwegian dialects.
 * Pashto has three official standard varieties: Central Pashto, which is the most prestigious standard dialect (also used in Kabul), Northern Pashto, and Southern Pashto.
 * Romance languages
 * Gallo-Italian languages include a great variety of dialects, some mutually unintelligible, and various written standards unrecognised both by Italy and Switzerland. Lombard, Piedmontese, Friulian and Istriot orthographies exist, with varying degrees of territorial specificity.
 * Romanian in Romania and that in Moldova during the Soviet era, but nowadays, Romania and Moldova use the same standard of Romanian.
 * Sardinian consists of a conglomerate of spoken dialects, displaying a significant degree of variation in phonetics and sometimes vocabulary. The Spanish subdivision of Sardinia into two administrative areas led to the emergence of two separate orthographies, Logudorese and Campidanese, as standardized varieties of the same language.
 * Ukrainian and Rusyn (Priashiv (Prešov), Lemko, Pannonian) are either considered to be standardized varieties of the same language or separate languages.
 * Dutch is considered pluricentric with recognised varieties in Suriname, ABC Islands, Belgium and the Netherlands.
 * The Albanian language has two main varieties Gheg and Tosk. Gheg is spoken to the north and Tosk spoken to the south of the Shkumbin river. Standard Albanian is a standardised form of spoken Albanian based on Tosk.
 * The Belarusian language features two orthographic standards: official Belarusian, sometimes referred to as Narkamaŭka, and Taraškievica, also known as "classical orthography". The division stems from 1933 reform believed by some to be an attempt to artificially similarize Belarusian and Russian languages. Originally, these standards differed only in written form, but due to Taraškievica being widely used among Belarusian diaspora, it grew some distinct orthoepic features, as well as differences in vocabulary.
 * Afrikaans varieties of South Africa and Namibia.

title: Pluricentric language


text:
Unwritten Law (album)

Unwritten Law is the third album by the San Diego-based punk rock band Unwritten Law, released in 1998 by Interscope Records. It was their first album to chart, reaching No. 16 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart. Music videos were filmed for the songs "Teenage Suicide", "California Sky", "Holiday", "Cailin", and "Lonesome". "Cailin" and "Lonesome" were released as singles, the former being Unwritten Law's first song to chart, reaching No. 28 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.

Production
Pivit bassist Micah Albao performed as a session bassist on the album, as the band's bassist John Bell had left prior to them going into the studio. Following the recording sessions, Pat "PK" Kim of Sprung Monkey joined Unwritten Law as their new permanent bass player. The album includes guest appearances by Brandon Boyd and Mike Einziger of Incubus on the hidden track "418". An outtake from these sessions, "Take Me Away" later appeared as a b-side on the Seein' Red single.

While the band was in the studio, they were dropped by Epic, and were signed by Interscope Records after Tom Whalley heard the album, as the band recalled:"When we were in Seattle making the record, Epic Records decided to drop us while we were in the studio. They never even heard the new record. After that, we didn't know if we wanted to go back to an independent label or just try to find another major. Interscope Records came in right away and genuinely showed a love for the record. It made sense to go with them."

Appearances in Media

 * "Teenage Suicide" appeared in the 1998 thriller film Dead Man's Curve, and the 1998 surf film The Show.

 * "Cailin" appeared in the 1999 horror comedy film Idle Hands, and the 2000 comedy-drama film Coyote Ugly.

 * "California Sky" appeared on the 2001 PlayStation video game T.J. Lavin's Ultimate BMX.

Band

 * Scott Russo – lead vocals
 * Steve Morris – lead guitar, backing vocals
 * Rob Brewer – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
 * Wade Youman – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

 * Micah Albao – bass guitar
 * Rick Parashar – piano, keyboards, tambura, percussion
 * Geoff Turner – DJ
 * Erik Aho – additional guitar on "Cailin"
 * Brandon Boyd – spoken vocals and didgeridoo on "418"
 * Mike Einziger – additional guitar on "418"
 * Craig Yarnold – additional backing vocals on "Holiday"

Production

 * Rick Parashar – producer, engineer, mixing
 * Andy Wallace – mixing of "Sorry"
 * Jon Plum – assistant producer, engineer, and mixing
 * Geoff Ott – second engineer
 * Kelly Gray – additional mixing on "Underground" and "418"
 * Jon Mathias – engineer of "Holiday"
 * George Marino – mastering

Artwork

 * Lorna Turner – graphic design
 * Craig Tomkinson and Dave Morris – photography

title: Unwritten Law (album)


text:
User talk:Arbajian

Welcome
Thanks for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Thanks.

title: User talk:Arbajian