title: Methuselah

text: The subgiant star HD 140283 is believed to be the oldest extant star discovered, often nicknamed "The Methuselah Star" after the ancient biblical figure. The name is also used to refer to the exoplanet PSR B1620−26 b, which is one of the oldest known exoplanets with an estimated age of 12.7 billion years old.


title: Methuselah

text: In 2019, a Titan named Methuselah appears in "", which resides in Outpost 67 in Munich, Germany. In the film, King Ghidorah wakes it up alongside the other titans. It makes an appearance in Godzilla Dominion as well.


title: Louisa Jacobson

text: Louisa Jacobson Gummer (born June 12, 1991) is an American actress and model. She is best known for playing Marian Brook on hit HBO series "The Gilded Age".


title: Louisa Jacobson

text: Jacobson was born in Los Angeles, California, on June 12, 1991, to actress Meryl Streep and sculptor Don Gummer. She is the younger sister of musician Henry Gummer and actresses Mamie Gummer and Grace Gummer. She attended Poly Prep Country Day School and graduated from Vassar College in 2013 majoring in psychology. She also attended British American Drama Academy in Oxford and is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama with a master of fine arts in acting.


title: Louisa Jacobson

text: On stage, Jacobson made her professional acting debut as Mary Dalton in Yale Repertory Theatre’s production of Nambi E. Kelley’s "Native Son", directed by Seret Scott.


title: Louisa Jacobson

text: In 2018, she starred in Williamstown Theatre Festival’s production of Carson McCullers’ play "Member of the Wedding", opposite Tavi Gevinson and directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch.


title: Louisa Jacobson

text: In 2022, she made her television debut starring in Julian Fellowes' HBO series "The Gilded Age" opposite Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon.


title: Louisa Jacobson

text: She uses the surname Jacobson, which is her middle name, as there already is an actress named Louisa Gummer, and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) requires that 'no member use a professional name which is the same as, or resembles so closely as to tend to be confused with the name of any other member'


title: Yaya Touré

text: Gnégnéri Yaya Touré (born 13 May 1983) is an Ivorian professional football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He is an academy coach for Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Touré aspired to be a striker during his youth and has played centre-back, including for Barcelona in the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final. However, he has spent the majority of his career as a box-to-box midfielder for club and country, where he has been regarded as one of the world's best players in his position. One of the greatest African players of all time, Touré was voted African Footballer of the Year for 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Touré began his playing career at Ivorian club ASEC Mimosas, where he made his debut at age 18. His performances attracted attention from Europe. He had stints with Beveren, Metalurh Donetsk, Olympiacos and Monaco before moving to Barcelona in 2007. He played over 100 matches for the club and was part of the historic 2009 Barcelona side that won six trophies in a calendar year. In 2010, Touré moved to Premier League club Manchester City, where he scored a number of key goals, most notably the only goals in the 2011 FA Cup semi-final and final. He also helped City earn their first league title in 44 years.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Touré earned 100 caps for the Ivory Coast from 2004 to 2015, representing the nation at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup tournaments. He also represented them in six Africa Cup of Nations in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015, helping them finish runner-up in 2006 and 2012, while captaining them to victory in 2015. He is the younger brother of fellow footballer Kolo Touré, who was his teammate at Manchester City and for the national team.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Touré was born in Bouaké. joined the ASEC Mimosas youth academy in 1996 on the recommendation of his long-time mentor Patrick van Reijendam. A prominent figure in the ASEC academy was Jean-Marc Guillou. In 2001, Guillou invested heavily in a Belgian club, Beveren, with the aim of using the team to showcase Ivorian players in a European league. Touré moved to Beveren in 2001, one of many ASEC players to do so in this period. By 2003, he was one of 14 Ivorians in the Beveren squad.


title: Yaya Touré

text: In the summer of 2003, Touré had a trial with Arsenal. He started a pre-season friendly against Barnet on 19 July, playing as a second striker and then moving up front in the second half. Manager Arsène Wenger recognised his talent but could not decide on his best position and described his performance against Barnet as "completely average". The match finished 0–0 and the BBC Sport website said Touré, "[B]lotted his copy book by missing Arsenal's clearest chance of the game, heading a cross from Quincy Owusu-Abeyie wide." Wenger was still keen to sign the then 20-year-old but Touré had difficulties in receiving a work permit. Ultimately, Touré grew impatient and opted to sign for Ukrainian side Metalurh Donetsk in December 2003, where he spent one-and-a-half years.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Touré joined Olympiacos in 2005. He was described as "the new Patrick Vieira" by his older brother. Olympiacos won the double that season, and Touré was one of their key players. His performances in Greece were impressive and attracted interest from many clubs.


title: Yaya Touré

text: After representing Ivory Coast at the 2006 World Cup, Yaya Touré was signed by French Ligue 1 side Monaco in August 2006. However, he had a difficult relationship with the incumbent manager, László Bölöni, with Touré claiming Bölöni refused to play him in his preferred midfield position. Bölöni was soon sacked with Monaco languishing in the second-last position in the league table.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Laurent Banide replaced Bölöni and Touré subsequently became an influential player in the second half of the season, scoring five times to help haul the club out of relegation difficulties. He had established himself as a key midfielder, and with interest from around Europe he decided to join Barcelona in the summer of 2007.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Touré joined Spanish side Barcelona for €10 million (£6.7 million) and made his official debut for the club on 26 August 2007 during the La Liga season opener against Racing de Santander.


title: Yaya Touré

text: In the 2007 Joan Gamper Trophy match against Inter Milan, Touré scored his first goal for Barcelona in the 5–0 victory. He scored his first official goal with Barcelona in a La Liga match against Athletic Bilbao on 2 September 2007, a 3–1 win. His first UEFA Champions League match for "Barça" was against Schalke 04 in the 2007–08 quarter-final, securing a 2–0 aggregate victory and a berth in the semi-final.


title: Yaya Touré

text: During the early stages of the 2008–09 season, newly appointed manager Pep Guardiola favoured Sergio Busquets in the defensive role of Barcelona's midfield trio. In the 2009 Champions League Final, Touré played at centre-back due to injuries and suspensions of first-choice defenders, despite having only played there twice before for Barcelona. In late June 2010, Barcelona confirmed that Touré would be allowed to leave the club in the summer.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 2 July 2010, Touré signed a five-year deal with Premier League club Manchester City for a fee of around £24 million. He was issued squad number 42, the reverse of the number 24 shirt he wore at Barcelona, since Patrick Vieira had already been allocated number 24. The move teamed Touré up with his elder brother Kolo, who signed for City in July 2009 from Arsenal.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 28 July, Touré made his debut for City in a pre-season friendly against Club América, which City won 4–1 on penalties after a 1–1 draw with the Mexican side. In his home debut on 7 August, in a friendly against Valencia, he was named man of the match.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 14 August 2010, Touré made his Premier League debut in a 0–0 draw against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. A week later, Touré impressed in the 3–0 defeat of Liverpool at Eastlands, forming a part of a three-man midfield with Gareth Barry and Nigel de Jong. On 19 September, Touré scored his first City goal, against Wigan Athletic. The goal was scored in the 70th minute and Touré was assisted by Carlos Tevez, who also scored in that match. Touré had been seen to take up a more attacking position under Roberto Mancini and revelled in the position. In December, he scored a brilliant left-footed drive against West Ham United and soon scored a second, which was later credited as an own goal because the ball rebounded off the post onto goalkeeper Robert Green's back and bounced in.


title: Yaya Touré

text: In January 2011, Touré scored his third goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a delightful counter-attack move, with Touré making up 90 yards to latch onto the ball and fire it past the goalkeeper, with Manchester City eventually winning 4–3. Touré's fifth goal for City came on 25 February in a UEFA Europa League match against Aris. The goal was a deflected strike to make the score 3–0 to Manchester City. On 16 April 2011, Touré scored the only goal of the game in a Man of the Match performance against Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final. Touré continued his Wembley success by scoring the only goal in his side's 1–0 win over Stoke City in the 2011 FA Cup Final, ending Manchester City's 35-year wait for a major trophy, and writing himself into Manchester City folklore in the process.


title: Yaya Touré

text: The 2011–12 season began strongly as Manchester City led the table for the majority of the season, with Touré playing a vital part in midfield. On 21 December 2011, in a 3–0 home win over Stoke City, Touré set new Premier League records for most passes attempted (168) and most completed (157) in a single match. His efforts and performances were rewarded as he was crowned African Footballer of the Year for 2011, an impressive achievement for a midfielder, since the previous 12 awards have gone to African forwards.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 3 January 2012, in a match against Liverpool, Touré scored City's second goal of the match, a 33rd-minute header from a David Silva corner. He was later fouled for the penalty that made the score 3–0 to City. On 5 January, it was announced Touré would be leaving to join the Ivorian national team for the Africa Cup of Nations and would miss City's FA Cup third round clash with fierce rivals Manchester United.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Commenting to Sky Sports News after being targeted by racist mobs throughout a UEFA Europa League tie at Porto in February 2012 (his first match back with City after the African Nations Cup), Touré spoke of his love for playing football in England: "That's why we like the Premier League, it never happens there."


title: Yaya Touré

text: As the 2011–12 came to a close, Manchester City lost ground to Manchester United in the Premier League title race. After a defeat by Arsenal on 8 April 2012, an eight-point deficit had been established between City and leaders United, with most writing off City's chances of winning the league with six matches remaining. However, City defeated West Bromwich Albion 4–0, Norwich City 6–1, and Wolverhampton Wanderers 2–0 with United slipping-up, meaning the deficit at the top was now only three points with only three matches to play. A victory against Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium would move City to top on goal difference. The match was keenly anticipated as one of the most important matches the Premier League's 20-year history. Manchester City won the match, thanks to Vincent Kompany headed goal just before half-time. Touré's performance throughout the match garnered many plaudits in the media, describing his performance as "dominant" and "magnificent".


title: Yaya Touré

text: Touré scored a brace on 6 May in City's 2–0 win over Newcastle United, moving three points above Manchester United with one match left to play in the Premier League season. Touré played the full first half before coming off due to injury as City defeated Queens Park Rangers 3–2 on the final day of the season, assisting Pablo Zabaleta's opening goal in the 39th minute, to secure the first league championship for "the Sky Blues" in 44 years.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Touré started the 2012–13 season with a goal in the FA Community Shield in the 3–2 win over Chelsea in Aston Villa's stadium Villa Park. This goal was followed up by scoring first for City in two games, against Liverpool at Anfield and against Queens Park Rangers at home. In City's opening UEFA Champions League match of the season, away to Real Madrid, Touré produced a stellar individual performance, assisting an Edin Džeko goal and continually worrying the hosts. However, despite his best efforts, City lost 3–2 to a late Cristiano Ronaldo goal. He also scored in the Manchester derby, making it 2–1 to Manchester United, but City eventually lost 3–2. On 20 December 2012, Touré was crowned the 2012 African Player of the Year award at a ceremony in Accra, Ghana. It is the second time he has won the award. On 24 February 2013, after returning from the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, Touré scored the opening goal as City beat Chelsea 2–0 website the Premier League. On 4 April 2013, Touré signed a new contract with City, keeping him at the club until 2017. On 14 April, he was named Man of the Match as City again beat Chelsea, this time in the semi-final of the FA Cup.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Touré scored his first goal of the 2013–14 season with a free-kick as City defeated Newcastle United 4–0 in their opening Premier League match. In City's second home match of the season, he scored in a similar fashion from a free-kick against Hull City. His form continued with a goal from distance in the UEFA Champions League group match against Viktoria Plzeň on 17 September 2013. On 22 September, he scored the second goal in a 4–1 derby win over Manchester United and was named Man of the Match. His scoring streak continued when he scored direct from a free kick against Wigan Athletic in the third round of the League Cup. On 2 November, he scored again from a direct free-kick, this time in a 7–0 victory against Norwich City. The goal was his fifth in the league and seventh overall. Then-City manager Manuel Pellegrini noted at the time that Touré regularly stayed behind after training to improve his free-kick technique.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Under Pellegrini, Touré was promoted to vice-vice-captain. He regularly captained the team in the first half of the 2013–14 season in the absence of Vincent Kompany. On 23 October 2013, Touré was the subject of racist abuse from CSKA Moscow supporters at the Arena Khimki in the group stage of the Champions League. On 2 December 2013, Touré was named the 2013 BBC African Footballer of the Year.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 4 December 2013, Touré scored twice for Manchester City in a 3–2 win at West Bromwich Albion. This took his tally of league goals to seven, his highest in a single Premier League season. On 2 March 2014, Touré scored the equalising goal for Manchester City in the 2014 League Cup final against Sunderland.


title: Yaya Touré

text: The match ended in a 3–1 win for Manchester City. On 22 March 2014, he scored the first hat-trick in his career in a 5–0 win over Fulham at Etihad Stadium. Touré scored the third goal for Manchester City on 25 March 2014 in the Manchester Derby at Old Trafford, powering City to a 3–0 victory over their local rivals. On 13 April 2014, Touré suffered a groin injury and was substituted after just 19 minutes of a 3–2 defeat to Liverpool.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 18 April, Touré was named as one of the six players on the shortlist for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award. On 27 April 2014, he was named in the PFA Team of the Year.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 7 May, Touré scored his 20th Premier League goal of the season in a 4–0 defeat of Aston Villa, becoming only the second midfielder to score 20 goals in a Premier League season, after Frank Lampard. His performances helped City to a second Premier League title in three years. Touré completed more passes than any other player throughout the 2013–14 Premier League season, with 1,169 successful passes in total; he also made an average of 76.41 passes per game, and achieved an average passing accuracy of 90.76% throughout the course of the entire season.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 5 November 2014, in a home UEFA Champions League group fixture against CSKA Moscow, Touré scored City's equaliser in the eighth minute after his compatriot Seydou Doumbia had taken under two minutes to put CSKA ahead. City were already 1–2 down and had Fernandinho sent off when Touré was dismissed for shoving Roman Eremenko. The result put City into last place in their group.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 1 March 2015, Touré started the Premier League match against Liverpool and his brother Kolo came on as an 83rd-minute substitute, marking the first time the two brothers faced each other in a competitive match.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 10 August 2015, Touré scored as Manchester City defeated West Bromwich Albion 3–0 at The Hawthorns in their opening fixture of the 2015–16 Premier League season. Although he played in the second leg of the Champions League play-off against Steaua București, Guardiola opted to omit Touré from City's Champions League squad. Touré's agent, Dimitri Seluk, subsequently stated that Guardiola humiliated Touré by omitting him for the first team. In response, Guardiola said Touré would not be included in the team until he receives an apology. A few weeks after a public apology to Guardiola on behalf of his agent, Touré made a surprising return to the first team on 16 November, starting against Crystal Palace in which he scored two goals to earn City a 2–1 away win.


title: Yaya Touré

text: It was announced on 4 May 2018 that Touré would leave Manchester City at the end of the 2017–18 season. His final appearance came in the 3–1 win over Brighton & Hove Albion.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Toure re-signed for Super League Greece club Olympiacos on 2 September 2018. His contract with Olympiacos was terminated in December 2018 by mutual agreement.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 10 May 2019, it was reported Touré had retired from professional football and planned to start a coaching career. He later refuted the reports, clarifying he was preparing himself for coaching badges but was "still in contention to play for a few more years."


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 3 July 2019, Touré joined China League One side Qingdao Huanghai. He left the club on 1 January 2020.


title: Yaya Touré

text: In July 2020, Touré completed training sessions with EFL League Two side Leyton Orient but did not sign a contract.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Touré has been a regular member of the Ivory Coast national team since his debut in 2004. In 2014, he was named captain of the team after the retirement of Didier Drogba. In November 2014, he won his 100th international cap in a 0–0 draw with Cameroon.


title: Yaya Touré

text: In 2006, Touré appeared for "les Éléphants" in all three of the team's matches at its first ever World Cup. In the 2010 tournament, he again appeared in all of the Ivory Coast's matches, scoring the opening goal in a 3–0 win over North Korea. Touré made his third World Cup appearance during the 2014 competition, and captained the team in their opening match – a 2–1 defeat of Japan in which he was named man of the match by FIFA.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Touré has represented the Ivory Coast at six Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2015; ending as runners-up in the 2006 and 2012 editions, and winners in 2015. Touré was named in the CAF's team of the tournament in 2008, 2012 and 2015. On 4 February 2015, Touré scored the opening goal in the Ivory Coast's 3–1 semi-final victory over DR Congo to qualify "les Éléphants" for their third Africa Cup of Nations Final in nine years. On 8 February, Touré captained the Ivory Coast to its first AFCON win since 1992 with a penalty shootout defeat of Ghana at the Estadio de Bata in Equatorial Guinea.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 20 September 2016, Touré announced his retirement from international football. He returned to the national team set-up in March 2018.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Formerly a striker, Yaya Touré plays primarily in the centre of the pitch as either a holding midfielder, or as a box-to-box midfielder, often switching between offensive and defensive stances throughout matches in the latter role. Touré is a complete and versatile midfielder. He is also capable of playing as a central defender, or in the number 10 role. His key strengths are his passing range, vision and physical ability. He is gifted with good technique and ball control, although he also excels defensively at breaking down opposing attacking plays and winning back possession through his powerful tackling ability. He is known for his pace, stamina and physical presence, which is often combined with lungbursting runs from midfield, and he has been referred to as a "human train" and a "colossus" by various pundits. Touré is frequently pushed forward during the latter part of matches, most notably in the penultimate match of the 2011–12 season against Newcastle United where Touré scored two late goals to win the match, and put Manchester City at the top of the league. He is also capable of scoring goals due to his powerful striking ability from distance, and his heading ability, as well as his adeptness at scoring from set-pieces and penalties. Jonathan Wilson, when writing for "The Guardian" in 2013, described Touré as a holding midfielder who can "make tackles," and who is "capable of regaining the ball," while also noting that he frequently functioned "as the more "creative player alongside a destroyer." He also added that "he likes to make forward surges." As such, he labelled Touré as a "carrier" or "surger," namely "a player capable of making late runs or carrying the ball at his feet."


title: Yaya Touré

text: Touré has in his repertoire an unusual method of striking the ball, referred to by Norwegian footballer Alexander Tettey as a "Yaya", and described by BBC's Pat Nevin as a way of striking the ball with a far back area of the foot close to the heel, allowing the ball to move in a straight line which a goalkeeper can find hard to read.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 10 February 2021, Touré joined Ukrainian Premier League club Olimpik Donetsk as assistant manager. He left the position after 4 months at the club.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 14 June 2021, Touré was appointed as an assistant coach by Russian Premier League club Akhmat Grozny until June 2022.


title: Yaya Touré

text: After a spell coaching part-time, Touré was appointed as an Under-16 coach at Tottenham Hotspur's academy.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Touré is the younger brother of Kolo Touré, who was his teammate at Manchester City and the Ivorian national team. Their younger brother Ibrahim Touré was also a footballer, who died on 19 June 2014 at the age of 28 after a short battle with cancer. Touré is Muslim.


title: Yaya Touré

text: In October 2013, Touré joined a campaign against elephant poaching, becoming a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme.


title: Yaya Touré

text: On 13 December 2016, Touré pleaded guilty to drunk driving. He was arrested by police on 28 November after being pulled over and found to be more than twice over the legal driving limit. Touré said he had not "intentionally consumed alcohol", explaining to the court he had consumed diet cola from a jug at a party without realising there was brandy in it. He conceded that his drink tasted "odd" and that he felt tired after consuming it, but did not suspect he was drunk. Judge Gary Lucy said it was "inconceivable" that he was unaware that he was drinking alcohol. Touré was banned from driving for 18 months, and was fined £54,000 – at the time the largest fine for drunk driving in British legal history.


title: Yaya Touré

text: Touré was nominated in the Personality of the Year category at the 2014 MTV Africa Music Awards. In July 2014, Touré was nominated for Prize in Entertainment at the 2014 The Future Africa Awards. In December 2015, Touré won the BBC African Footballer of the Year on a public vote for the second time, after leading the Ivory Coast to victory in the 2015 African Cup of Nations.


title: Pilates

text: Pilates (; ) is a type of mind-body exercise developed in the early 20th century by German physical trainer Joseph Pilates, after whom it was named. Pilates called his method "Contrology". It is practiced worldwide, especially in countries such as Australia, Canada, South Korea, the United States and the United Kingdom. As of 2005, there were 11 million people practicing the discipline regularly and 14,000 instructors in the United States.


title: Pilates

text: Pilates developed in the aftermath of the late 19th century physical culture of exercising in order to alleviate ill health. There is however only limited evidence to support the use of Pilates to alleviate problems such as lower back pain. Evidence from studies show that while Pilates improves balance, it has not been shown to be an effective treatment for any medical condition other than evidence that regular Pilates sessions can help muscle conditioning in healthy adults, when compared to doing no exercise.


title: Pilates

text: Pilates was developed by Joseph Pilates, from Mönchengladbach, Germany. His father was a gymnast and his mother a naturopath.


title: Pilates

text: During the first half of the twentieth century, he developed a system of exercises which were intended to strengthen the human mind and body. Pilates believed that mental and physical health were interrelated.


title: Pilates

text: In his youth he had practiced many of the physical training regimens available in Germany, and it was from these he developed his own method. It has clear connections with the physical culture of the late nineteenth century, such as the use of special apparatuses and claims that the exercises could cure ill health. It is also related to the tradition of "corrective exercise" or "medical gymnastics" as typified by Pehr Henrik Ling.


title: Pilates

text: Pilates said that the inspiration for his method came to him during World War One, while he was being held at the Knockaloe internment camp on the Isle of Man. He developed his method there for four years, working on his fellow internees.


title: Pilates

text: Joseph Pilates accompanied his method with a variety of equipment, for which he used the term "apparatus". Each apparatus was designed to help accelerate the process of stretching, strengthening, body alignment and increased core strength started by the mat work. The best-known and most popular apparatus today, the Reformer, was originally called the Universal Reformer, aptly named for "universally reforming the body". Eventually Pilates designed other apparatus, including the Cadillac, Wunda Chair, High "Electric" Chair, Spine Corrector, Ladder Barrel and Pedi-Pole.


title: Pilates

text: Pilates published two books related to his training method: "Your Health: A Corrective System of Exercising That Revolutionizes the Entire Field of Physical Education" in 1934, and "Return to Life Through Contrology" in 1945.


title: Pilates

text: His first students went on to teach his methods, including: Romana Kryzanowska, Kathy Grant, Jay Grimes, Ron Fletcher, Mary Bowen, Carola Treir, Bob Seed, Eve Gentry, Bruce King, Lolita San Miguel, and Mary Pilates, Joseph's niece. Contemporary Pilates includes both the "Modern" Pilates and the "Classical/Traditional" Pilates. Modern Pilates is partly derived from the teaching of some first generation students, while Classical Pilates aims to preserve the original work as Joseph Pilates taught it.


title: Pilates

text: A systematic review of 2012 examined the literature to divine a consensus description of Pilates. It said it can be described as "a mind-body exercise that requires core stability, strength, and flexibility, and attention to muscle control, posture, and breathing".


title: Pilates

text: In his book "Return to Life through Contrology", Joseph Pilates presents his method as the art of controlled movements, which should look and feel like a workout (not a therapy) when properly manifested. If practiced with consistency, Pilates improves flexibility, builds strength and develops control and endurance in the entire body. It puts emphasis on alignment, breathing, developing a strong core, and improving coordination and balance. The core, consisting of the muscles of the abdomen, low back, and hips, is often called the "powerhouse" and is thought to be the key to a person's stability. Pilates' system allows for different exercises to be modified in range of difficulty from beginner to advanced or to any other level, and also in terms of the instructor and practitioner's specific goals and/or limitations. Intensity can be increased over time as the body adapts itself to the exercises.


title: Pilates

text: A number of versions of Pilates are taught today and the majority are based on up to nine principles.


title: Pilates

text: In 2015 the Australian Government's Department of Health published a meta study which reviewed the existing literature on 17 alternative therapies including Pilates, in order to determine whether any were suitable for being covered by health insurance. The review found that due to the small number and methodologically limited nature of the existing studies, the effectiveness of Pilates is uncertain. Accordingly, in 2017, the Australian government named Pilates a practice that would not qualify for insurance subsidy, saying this step would "ensure taxpayer funds are expended appropriately and not directed to therapies lacking evidence".


title: Pilates

text: For the treatment of lower back pain, low quality evidence suggests that while Pilates is better than doing nothing, it is no more effective than other forms of physical exercise. There is some evidence regular sessions can help with the conditioning of the abdominal muscles of healthy people, when compared to doing no exercise. There is no good evidence it helps improve balance in elderly people.


title: Pilates

text: Modern yoga, like Pilates, is a mind-and-body discipline, though yoga classes are more likely to address spiritual aspects explicitly. Some poses are similar in the two disciplines; for example, open leg balance closely resembles Navasana, boat pose; roll over is similar to Halasana, plough pose; and swan and push-up are essentially identical to Bhujangasana, cobra pose and Chaturanga Dandasana, low plank pose, respectively. Both disciplines develop strength, flexibility, and fitness. Pilates, however, emphasises core strength where yoga emphasizes flexibility.


title: Pilates

text: In October 2000 "Pilates" was ruled a generic term by a U.S. federal court, making it free for unrestricted use. The term is still capitalized in writing, due to its origin from the proper name of the method's founder.


title: Pilates

text: As a result of the court ruling, the Pilates Method Alliance was formed as a professional association for the Pilates community. Its purpose was to provide an international organization to connect teachers, teacher trainers, studios, and facilities dedicated to preserving and enhancing the legacy of Joseph H. Pilates and his exercise method by establishing standards, encouraging unity, and promoting professionalism.


title: Don McLean

text: Donald McLean III (born October 2, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his 1971 hit song "American Pie", an eight-and-a-half-minute folk rock "cultural touchstone" about the loss of innocence of the early rock and roll generation. His other hit singles include "Vincent" (about Vincent van Gogh), "Dreidel", and "Wonderful Baby"; as well as his renditions of Roy Orbison's "Crying" and the Skyliners' "Since I Don't Have You".


title: Don McLean

text: McLean's composition "And I Love You So" has been recorded by Elvis Presley, Perry Como, Helen Reddy, Glen Campbell, and others. In 2000, Madonna had a hit with a rendition of "American Pie".


title: Don McLean

text: In 2004, McLean was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In January 2018, BMI certified that "American Pie" and "Vincent" had reached five million and three million airplays respectively.


title: Don McLean

text: McLean's grandfather and father, both also named Donald McLean, were of Scottish origin. McLean's mother, Elizabeth Bucci, was Italian, originated from Abruzzo in central Italy. He has other extended family in Los Angeles and Boston.


title: Don McLean

text: Though some of his early musical influences included Frank Sinatra and Buddy Holly, as a teenager, McLean became interested in folk music, particularly the Weavers' 1955 recording "At Carnegie Hall". He often missed long periods of school because of childhood asthma, particularly music lessons, and although McLean slipped back in his studies, his love of music was allowed to flourish. By age 16, he had bought his first guitar and began making contacts in the music business, becoming friends with the folk singers Erik Darling and Fred Hellerman of the Weavers. Hellerman said, "He called me one day and said, 'I'd like to come and visit you', and that's what he did! We became good friends — he has the most remarkable music memory of anyone I've ever known."


title: Don McLean

text: When McLean was 15, his father died. Fulfilling his father's request, McLean graduated from Iona Preparatory School in 1963, and briefly attended Villanova University, dropping out after four months. After leaving Villanova, McLean became associated with the famed folk music agent Harold Leventhal for several months before teaming up with his personal manager, Herb Gart, for 18 years. For the next six years, he performed at venues and events including The Bitter End and the Gaslight Cafe in New York, the Newport Folk Festival, the Cellar Door in Washington, D.C., and the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Gart's 18-year tenure as McLean's manager ended acrimoniously in the 1980s. Following Gart's death in September 2018, McLean wrote:


title: Don McLean

text: McLean attended night school at Iona College and received a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1968. He turned down a scholarship to Columbia University Graduate School in favor of pursuing a career as a singer-songwriter, performing at such venues as Caffè Lena in Saratoga Springs, New York and The Main Point in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.


title: Don McLean

text: Later that year, with the help of a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, McLean began reaching a wider audience, with visits to towns up and down the Hudson River. He learned the art of performing from his friend and mentor Pete Seeger. McLean accompanied Seeger on his Clearwater boat trip up the Hudson River in 1969 to raise awareness about environmental pollution in the river. During this time, McLean wrote songs that appeared on his first album "Tapestry". McLean co-edited the book "Songs and Sketches of the First Clearwater Crew", with sketches by Thomas B. Allen, for which Pete Seeger wrote the foreword. Seeger and McLean sang "Shenandoah" on the 1974 Clearwater album. McLean still thinks about his experiences of working with Seeger: "Hardly a day goes by when I don't think of Pete and how generous and supportive he was. If you could understand his politics and you got to know him, he really was some kind of modern day saint."


title: Don McLean

text: McLean recorded "Tapestry" in 1969 in Berkeley, California, during the student riots. After being rejected 72 times by labels, the album was released by Mediarts, a label that had not existed when he first started to look for one. He worked on the album for a couple of years before putting it out. It attracted good reviews but little notice outside the folk community, though on the Easy Listening chart "Castles in the Air" was a success, and in 1973 "And I Love You So" became a number 1 Adult Contemporary hit for Perry Como.


title: Don McLean

text: McLean's major break came when Mediarts was taken over by United Artists Records, thus securing the promotion of a major label for his second album, "American Pie." The album launched two number one hits in the title song and "Vincent". "American Pie"s success made McLean an international star and piqued interest in his first album, which charted more than two years after its initial release.


title: Don McLean

text: McLean's magnum opus "American Pie" is a sprawling, impressionistic song inspired partly by the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) in a plane crash in 1959, and developments in American youth culture in the subsequent decade. The song popularized the expression "The Day the Music Died" in reference to the crash.


title: Don McLean

text: The song was recorded on May 26, 1971, and a month later received its first radio airplay on New York's WNEW-FM and WPLJ-FM to mark the closing of Fillmore East, the famous New York concert hall. "American Pie" reached number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 from January 15 to February 5, 1972, and remains McLean's most successful single release. The single also topped the "Billboard" Easy Listening chart. With a total running time of 8:36 encompassing both sides of the single, it was also the longest song to reach number one until Taylor Swift's "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)" broke the record in 2021. Some stations played only part one of the original split-sided single release.


title: Don McLean

text: WCFL DJ Bob Dearborn unraveled the lyrics and first published his interpretation on January 7, 1972, four days after the song reached number 1 on rival station WLS, six days before it reached number 1 on WCFL, and eight days before it reached number 1 nationally (see "Further reading" under "American Pie"). Numerous other interpretations, which together largely converged on Dearborn's interpretation, quickly followed. McLean declined to say anything definitive about the lyrics until 1978. Since then McLean has stated that the lyrics are also somewhat autobiographical and present an abstract story of his life from the mid-1950s until the time he wrote the song in the late 1960s.


title: Don McLean

text: The original United Artists Records inner sleeve featured a free verse poem written by McLean about William Boyd, also known as Hopalong Cassidy, along with a picture of Boyd in full Hopalong regalia. This sleeve was removed within a year of the album's release. The words to this poem appear on a plaque at the hospital where Boyd died. The Boyd poem and picture tribute do appear on a special remastered 2003 CD.


title: Don McLean

text: In 2001, "American Pie" was voted number 5 in a poll of the 365 Songs of the Century compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.


title: Don McLean

text: On April 7, 2015, McLean's original working manuscript for "American Pie" sold for $1,205,000 (£809,524/€1,109,182) at Christie's auction rooms, New York, making it the third highest auction price achieved for an American literary manuscript.


title: Don McLean

text: In the sale catalogue notes, McLean finally revealed the meaning in the song's lyrics: "Basically in American Pie things are heading in the wrong direction. ... It [life] is becoming less idyllic. I don't know whether you consider that wrong or right but it is a morality song in a sense." The catalogue confirmed some of the better-known references in the song's lyrics, including mentions of Elvis Presley ("the king") and Bob Dylan ("the jester"), and confirmed that the song culminates with a description of the death of Meredith Hunter at the Altamont Free Concert, ten years after the plane crash that killed Holly, Valens, and Richardson, and that the song broadly depicts how the early rock innocence of the 1950s, and a bygone simpler age, had been lost; overtaken by events and changes, which themselves had been overtaken by further changes.


title: Don McLean

text: Mike Mills of R.E.M. reflected on the song, that "'American Pie' just made perfect sense to me as a song and that's what impressed me the most. I could say to people this is how to write songs. When you've written at least three songs that can be considered classic that is a very high batting average and if one of those songs happens to be something that a great many people think is one of the greatest songs ever written you've not only hit the top of the mountain but you've stayed high on the mountain for a long time."


title: Don McLean

text: When asked about his record broken by Taylor Swift in a "Billboard" interview, Don McLean said, "there is something to be said for a great song that has staying power. "American Pie" remained on top for 50 years and now Taylor Swift has unseated such a historic piece of artistry. Let's face it, nobody ever wants to lose that No. 1 spot, but if I had to lose it to somebody, I sure am glad it was another great singer/songwriter such as Taylor." When Swift broke McLean's record, she sent him flowers and a handwritten note that read "I will never forget that I'm standing on the shoulders of giants".


title: Don McLean

text: "Vincent" is a tribute to the 19th-century Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The inspiration came to McLean one morning while looking at a book about Van Gogh. As he studied a print of Van Gogh's painting "The Starry Night", he realized that a song could be written about the artist through the painting. It reached number 12 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and it proved to be a huge hit worldwide, including reaching number 1 in the UK Singles Chart. Mike Mills of R.E.M. said "You can't change a note in that song". The song was performed by NOFX on their album "45 or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough to Go on Our Other Records" and appears on the Fat Wreck Chords compilation "Survival of the Fattest". "Vincent" was sung by Josh Groban on his 2001 debut album. In 2018, singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding recorded a new, stripped back, acoustic guitar-driven version of the song.


title: Don McLean

text: Personnel from the "American Pie" album sessions were retained for his third album "Don McLean", including the producer, Ed Freeman, Rob Rothstein on bass, and Warren Bernhardt on piano. The song "The Pride Parade" provides an insight into McLean's immediate reaction to stardom. McLean told "Melody Maker" in 1973 that "Tapestry" was an album by someone previously concerned with external situations. "American Pie" combines externals with internals, and the resultant success of that album makes the third one ("Don McLean") entirely introspective."


title: Don McLean

text: Other songs written by McLean for the album include "Dreidel" (number 21 on the Billboard chart) and "If We Try" (number 58), which was recorded by Olivia Newton-John. "On the Amazon" from the 1920s musical Mr. Cinders was an unusual choice but became an audience favorite in concerts and featured in "Till Tomorrow", a documentary film about McLean produced by Bob Elfstrom (Elfstrom held the role of Jesus Christ in Johnny and June Cash's "Gospel Road)". The film shows McLean in concert at Columbia University as he was interrupted by a bomb scare. He left the stage while the audience stood up and checked under their seats for anything that resembled a bomb. After the all-clear, McLean re-appeared and sang "On the Amazon" from exactly where he had left off. Don Heckman reported the bomb scare in his review for "The New York Times" titled "Don McLean Survives Two Obstacles."


title: Don McLean

text: The fourth album "Playin' Favorites" was a top-40 hit in the UK in 1973 and included the Irish folk classic, "Mountains of Mourne" and Buddy Holly's "Everyday", a live rendition of which returned McLean to the UK Singles Chart. McLean said "The last album ("Don McLean") was a study in depression whereas the new one ("Playin' Favorites") is almost the quintessence of optimism."


title: Don McLean

text: The 1974 album "Homeless Brother", produced by Joel Dorn, was McLean's final studio recording for United Artists. The album featured fine New York session musicians, including Ralph McDonald on percussion, Hugh McCracken on guitar and a guest appearance by Yusef Lateef on flute. The Persuasions sang the background vocals on "Crying in the Chapel", and Cissy Houston provided a backing vocal on "La La Love You". The album's title song was inspired by Jack Kerouac's book "Lonesome Traveler", in which Kerouac tells the story of America's "homeless brothers" or hobos. The song features background vocals by Pete Seeger.


title: Don McLean

text: The song "The Legend of Andrew McCrew" was based on an article published in "The New York Times" concerning a black Dallas hobo named Anderson McCrew who was killed when he leapt from a moving train. No one claimed him, so a carnival took his body, mummified it, and toured all over the South with him, calling him "The Famous Mummy Man." McLean's song inspired radio station WGN in Chicago to tell the story and give the song airplay in order to raise money for a headstone for McCrew's grave. Their campaign was successful, and McCrew's body was exhumed and buried in the Lincoln Cemetery in Dallas.


title: Don McLean

text: Joel Dorn later collaborated on the McLean career retrospective "", released in 2005 on Dorn's label, Hyena Records. In 2006, Dorn reflected on working with McLean:Of the more than 200 studio albums I've produced in the past 40 plus years, there is a handful; maybe 15 or so that I can actually listen to from top to bottom. "Homeless Brother" is one of them. It accomplished everything I set out to do. And it did so because it was a true collaboration. Don brought so much to the project that all I really had to do was capture what he did, and complement it properly when necessary.


title: Don McLean

text: In 1977 a brief liaison with Arista Records that yielded the album "Prime Time", and in October 1978, the single "It Doesn't Matter Anymore". This was a track from the album "Chain Lightning" that should have been the second of four with Arista. McLean had started recording in Nashville, Tennessee, with Elvis Presley's backing singers, the Jordanaires, and many of Presley's musicians. However the Arista deal broke down following artistic disagreements between McLean and the Arista chief, Clive Davis. Consequently, McLean was left without a record contract in the United States, but through continuing deals, "Chain Lightning" was released by EMI in Europe and by Festival Records in Australia.


title: Don McLean

text: In April 1980, the Roy Orbison song "Crying" from the album began picking up airplay on Dutch radio stations and McLean was called to Europe to appear on several important musical variety shows to plug the song and support its release as a single by EMI. The song achieved number 1 status in the Netherlands first, followed by the UK and then Australia.


title: Don McLean

text: McLean's number 1 successes in Europe and Australia led to a new deal in the United States with Millennium Records, which issued "Chain Lightning" two and a half years after it had been recorded in Nashville and two years after its release in Europe. It charted on February 14, 1981, and reached number 28, and "Crying" climbed to number 5 on the pop singles chart. Orbison himself thought that McLean's version was the best interpretation he'd ever heard of one of his songs. Orbison thought McLean did a better job than he did and even went so far as to say that the voice of Don McLean is one of the great instruments of 20th-century America. According to Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, "McLean's voice could cut through steel - he is a very pure singer and he's up there with the best of them. He's a very talented singer and songwriter and he deserves his success."


title: Don McLean

text: McLean had further chart successes in the United States in the early 1980s with "Since I Don't Have You", a new recording of "Castles in the Air" and "It's Just the Sun". In 1987, the release of the country-based album" Love Tracks" gave rise to the hit singles "Love in My Heart" (a top-10 in Australia), "You Can't Blame the Train" (U.S. country number 49), and "Eventually". The latter two songs were written by Terri Sharp. In 1991, EMI reissued "American Pie" as a single in the United Kingdom, and McLean performed on "Top of the Pops". In 1992, previously unreleased songs became available on "Favorites and Rarities", and "Don McLean Classics" featured new studio recordings of "Vincent" and "American Pie".


title: Don McLean

text: McLean has continued to record new material, including "River of Love" in 1995 on Curb Records, and more recently, the albums "You've Got to Share", "Don McLean Sings Marty Robbins" and "The Western Album" for his own Don McLean Music label. "Addicted to Black" was released in May 2009.


title: Don McLean

text: The "American Pie" album features a version of Psalm 137, titled "Babylon". The song is based on a canon by Philip Hayes and was arranged by McLean and Lee Hays (of The Weavers). "Babylon" was performed in the "Mad Men" episode of the same name despite the fact that the song would not be released until 10 years after the time in which the episode is set.


title: Don McLean

text: In 1981, McLean had an international number one hit with a version of the Roy Orbison classic "Crying". It was only after the record became a success overseas that it was released in the United States. The single hit reached number 5 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in 1981. Orbison himself once described McLean as "the voice of the century", and in a subsequent re-recording of the song, Orbison incorporated elements of McLean's version.


title: Don McLean

text: For the 1982 animated cult movie "The Flight of Dragons", produced by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr., McLean sang the opening theme. However, no soundtrack has ever been released.


title: Don McLean

text: Another hit song associated with McLean (though never recorded by him) is "Killing Me Softly with His Song", which was inspired by Lori Lieberman after she, also a singer-songwriter, saw him singing his composition "Empty Chairs" in concert. Afterwards she shared it with her manager Norman Gimbel, who had long been searching for a way to use a phrase he had copied from a novel translated from Spanish, "killing me softly with his blues". Gimbel passed the lyrics to his songwriting partner Charles Fox who composed the music to "Killing Me Softly with His Song". Lieberman recorded the song and released it in 1972. This initial version was heard by Roberta Flack who recorded it with slight changes to create a number one hit. Two decades later it was recorded by the Fugees who had another hit.


title: Don McLean

text: McLean's albums did not match the commercial success of "American Pie", but he became a major concert attraction in the United States and overseas. His repertoire included old concert hall numbers and the catalogues of singers such as Buddy Holly and Frank Sinatra. The years spent playing gigs in small clubs and coffee houses in the 1960s transformed into well-paced performances. McLean's first concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York and the Albert Hall in London in 1972 were critically acclaimed.


title: Don McLean

text: In recent years, McLean continued to tour the United States, Canada and Europe (2011, 2012) and Australia (2013). In June 2011, McLean appeared at the Glastonbury Festival in Pilton, UK, and in 2014 at California's Stagecoach Country Music Festival.


title: Don McLean

text: During 2018, McLean embarked on a world tour with concerts in North America, UK, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Israel, Norway and Finland. His concert at the London Palladium was reviewed positively by "The Times":


title: Don McLean

text: "The Jerusalem Post" noted that "McLean was the consummate professional in presenting his master class of the Great American Songbook" in their review of his June 2018 Tel Aviv concert.


title: Don McLean

text: In 2022, McLean is scheduled to perform a 35-date tour through Europe, starting in Wales and ending in Austria, for the 50th anniversary of "American Pie".. During the UK dates, McLean repeatedly mentioned that it would be his last multiple-venue tour, and, if he was to do another run of UK shows, they'd likely all be at the same venue. During the mainland Europe dates, however, this stance softened, and McLean has subsequently announced a 24-date tour of Australia and New Zealand, to take place in April and May 2023.


title: Don McLean

text: McLean's lyrics retroactively influenced the perception of a major event in the early days of rock n roll.


title: Don McLean

text: The plane crash that killed musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and "The Big Bopper" J. P. Richardson later became known as "The Day the Music Died"


title: Don McLean

text: McLean, a fan of Buddy Holly, addressed the accident in his song "American Pie" (1971), dubbing it "the Day the Music Died", which for McLean symbolized the "loss of innocence" of the early rock-and-roll generation.


title: Don McLean

text: In the documentary “The Day The Music Died”, McLean discusses for the first time in 50 years the meaning of the lyrics in the hit song American Pie.


title: Don McLean

text: In 1999 Martin Guitars honored McLean with a signature guitar. They made only 71 pieces, a limited run of D-40DM Don McLean Signature Prototype (c.1999)


title: Don McLean

text: McLean's alma mater, Iona College in New Rochelle, New York, conferred an honorary doctorate on him in 2001. McLean has since been vocal in his criticism of the college: "Iona was, in my day, a college for the average student who wanted to go home after class. The educational experience was perfect for me. I loved the small Greek revival style campus buildings and I got to put on little shows in Doorley Hall auditorium. Since those days, the Irish Christian Brothers have been virtually destroyed by the disgusting behavior of many in their order as charges of mass child molestation have destroyed their ranks. No punishment is harsh enough when you think of trusting Catholic parents giving their children over to these cynical monsters. I am very disappointed in the Irish Christian Brothers and Iona College."


title: Don McLean

text: In February 2002, "American Pie" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2004, McLean was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.


title: Don McLean

text: The biography "The Don McLean Story: Killing Us Softly With His Songs" was published in 2007. Biographer Alan Howard conducted extensive interviews for this, the only book-length biography of the often reclusive McLean to date.


title: Don McLean

text: In March 2012, the PBS network broadcast a feature-length documentary about the life and music of McLean called "Don McLean: American Troubadour" produced by four-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Jim Brown.


title: Don McLean

text: McLean is credited as a co-writer on Drake's song "Doing It Wrong", featuring Stevie Wonder. The song includes lyrics from two McLean compositions – "The Wrong Thing to Do" and "When a Good Thing Goes Bad" – both of which were featured on his 1977 album "Prime Time".


title: Don McLean

text: In March 2017, McLean's single "American Pie" was designated an "aural treasure" by the Library of Congress, "worthy of preservation" in the National Recording Registry "as part of America's patrimony". In 1991, a re-issue of "American Pie" reached the UK top 20 singles chart and in July 2017, "American Pie" peaked at number 6 on the "Billboard" Rock Digital Songs Sales chart, nearly 50 years after its first release.


title: Don McLean

text: In May 2019, the UCLA Student Alumni Association awarded McLean its George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement. However, the award was rescinded before it was formally bestowed because of McLean's conviction for domestic abuse. In response, McLean issued the following statement: "UCLA awarded this lifetime achievement award and then took it back because you found out about my squabble with my ex-wife. This has been all over the Internet for three years. Are you people morons? This is settled law. Maybe I need to give you some bribe money to grease the college wheels? I am guilty of nothing to do with assault and you had better make that clear. We live in a dark age of accusation and not law."


title: Don McLean

text: On November 7, 2019, McLean returned to New Rochelle to view a new mural depicting a likeness of his younger self, with lyrics from "American Pie", on the side of a building on the corner of 134 North Avenue and Bonnefoy Place, painted by artist Loic Ercolessi for a non-profit organization, Street Art for Mankind. The mural includes the likeness of singer/songwriter Alicia Keys, with lyrics to the song "Empire State of Mind", which she performed with Jay-Z.


title: Don McLean

text: Throughout McLean's career artists including Garth Brooks, Madonna, Drake, Josh Groban and others have recorded his songs. At a ceremony in October 2019, plaques certified by the Recording Industry Association of America for gold, platinum, and multi-platinum sales in the United States as well as presentations from Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom were bestowed on McLean. He said: "As a songwriter your songs are like your children, and you are hopeful everyone loves them as much as you do, but rarely is that the case. I am so grateful that songs I have written have touched so many lives and have been recorded by so many great artists."


title: Don McLean

text: In February 2021, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of "American Pie", McLean recorded an A cappella rendition with the band Home Free. He stars in the music video with the singers in a virtual collaboration. The video won three Telly Awards in 2021.


title: Don McLean

text: McLean received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on August 16, 2021, in the Music Category at 6314 Hollywood Boulevard, in front of The Pie Hole restaurant (corner of Hollywood and Vine). Joining in the festivities was McLean's longtime friend "Weird Al" Yankovic, a fellow Hollywood Walk of Fame recipient. Yankovic had previously recorded a parody of "American Pie" titled "The Saga Begins", which recounts the story of the film "" from the viewpoint of Obi-Wan Kenobi. The song appears on Yankovic's 1999 album "Running with Scissors".


title: Don McLean

text: In February 2022, McLean recorded a performance of "Vincent" at the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit in Los Angeles in honor of Van Gogh's birthday and the 50th anniversary of the song.


title: Don McLean

text: In April 2022, Tyson Fury teamed up with McLean to remake "American Pie". Don McLean won six Telly Awards For Fury/Whyte fight opening.


title: Don McLean

text: In June 2022, McLean published a children's book titled "American Pie: A Fable". The story follows the emotional journey of a newspaper delivery boy in the late 1950s who discovers the joy of friendship and music, eventually learning that when you recognize what truly makes you happy, you are never really alone.


title: Don McLean

text: June 2022 Don McLean received a 50-million record sales plaque from the TV show Good Morning America.


title: Don McLean

text: In July 2022 the documentary The Day The Music Died was released, in this documentary McLean discusses for the first time in 50 years the meaning of the lyrics in the hit song American Pie.


title: Don McLean

text: McLean led a wave of dropouts from the NRA convention after the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, saying it would be "disrespectful and hurtful" to perform days after 19 children and two adults were killed in a mass shooting in the state. McLean was first among performers who announced they would no longer perform at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Houston.


title: Don McLean

text: “Lately, a flood of antisemitic invective has been triggered by the ranting of a stupid attention-seeking fool we all know,” McLean wrote in the statement that did not mention Ye by name. “I want to say I stand with my Jewish friends and I stand with the state of Israel. When this kind of thing happens, we should realize why the state of Israel must be respected and protected.”


title: Don McLean

text: McLean lived in Israel on-and-off from 1978-1982 and he “grew to love the country and the people. Living there changed my life forever.”


title: Don McLean

text: Lori Lieberman was inspired by a McLean performance in late 1971 to co-write Killing Me Softly with His Song.


title: Don McLean

text: In November 1971, Lieberman, then 20, went out with her friend Michele Willens to see Don McLean perform at the Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles.


title: Don McLean

text: McLean's hit song "American Pie" was rising in the charts, but Lieberman was strongly affected by McLean singing another song: "Empty Chairs".


title: Don McLean

text: McLean said in 1973 that he was surprised to find out that the song described his singing. "I'm absolutely amazed. I've heard both Lori's and Roberta's version and I must say I'm very humbled about the whole thing. You can't help but feel that way about a song written and performed as well as this one is."


title: Don McLean

text: After decades of confirming Lieberman's contribution, Fox and Gimbel changed their story about the song's origins to downplay her role.


title: Don McLean

text: Gimbel threatened McLean with a lawsuit in 2008, demanding he remove from his website an assertion that McLean was the inspiration for "Killing Me Softly,"


title: Don McLean

text: Vincent (Starry Starry Night) was Tupac Shakur's favorite song. His girlfriend took it into the hospital room as he lay between life and death so if the worst happened, he would be listening to this song. And it’s what Tupac left this world hearing, “Vincent.” Tupac Shakur's mother insisted that Vincent (Starry Starry Night) be in his documentary.


title: Don McLean

text: McLean was raised in the Catholic faith of his mother, Elizabeth McLean; his father, Donald McLean, was a Protestant. His father died when McLean was 15.


title: Don McLean

text: Don McLean has been married twice, both marriages ending in divorce. His first wife was Carol Sauvion, of Philadelphia, who went on to win an Emmy and Peabody Award for her PBS television series "Craft in America". They were married from 1969 to 1976 and had no children.


title: Don McLean

text: His second marriage was to Patrisha Shnier McLean, of Montreal, Canada, from 1987 to 2016. They have two children, Jackie and Wyatt, and two grandchildren, Rosa and Mya. The end of the marriage saw McLean arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic violence stemming from an incident at their home in Camden, Maine. No other details from the incident were reported. Facing six charges, McLean pleaded guilty to four as part of a plea agreement. One of the four charges, domestic violence assault, was dismissed. For the remaining three McLean paid about $3,000 in fines and was not sentenced to any jail time. McLean said that it had been "hard emotional times for my wife, my children and me... the very painful breakdown of an almost 30-year relationship. Our hearts are broken and we must carry on." Jackie went on to allege that her father created a mentally and emotionally abusive environment, telling "Rolling Stone" that her father created a cult-like household. Her mother made similar statements to "The Irish Times", alleging "I do feel there is an element of brainwashing there. I relate to a lot of the things they say about cults like the charismatic leader, and how their version of things becomes your version, the twisted version" in a 2020 interview.


title: Don McLean

text: McLean has confirmed that he is now in a relationship with model Paris Dylan, who is 48 years his junior.


title: Don McLean

text: McLean is an ambassador for Teen Cancer America and performed at the Teen Cancer America and UCLA Health fundraising Backyard Concert in 2018. During the show, McLean sang a duet of his song "Vincent" with Ed Sheeran. The Don McLean Foundation is a charity set up by McLean to be funded by all his income in perpetuity. Its headquarters is based at Lakeview, the Don McLean Maine residence, and it will serve as a center for fundraisers and conferences as well as a nature preserve. Organizations that support the needy in the State of Maine and throughout the United States will be beneficiaries.


title: Vegemite

text: Vegemite ( ) is a thick, dark brown Australian food spread made from leftover brewers' yeast extract with various vegetable and spice additives. It was developed by Cyril Callister in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1922.


title: Vegemite

text: A spread for sandwiches, toast, crumpets and cracker biscuits as well as a filling for pastries, Vegemite is similar to British Marmite, New Zealand Marmite, Australian Promite, MightyMite, AussieMite, OzEmite, German Vitam-R, and Swiss Cenovis.


title: Vegemite

text: Vegemite is salty, slightly bitter, malty, and rich in glutamates – giving it an umami flavour similar to beef bouillon. It is vegan, kosher, and "halal".


title: Vegemite

text: The Vegemite brand returned to Australian ownership in 2017 when Bega Cheese purchased it alongside other assets from Mondelez International (formerly Kraft Foods Inc.).


title: Vegemite

text: In 1919, following the disruption of British Marmite imports after World War I, the Australian company Fred Walker & Co. gave Cyril Callister the task of developing a spread from the used yeast being dumped by breweries. Callister had been hired by the chairman Fred Walker.


title: Vegemite

text: Callister used autolysis to break down the yeast cells from waste obtained from the Carlton & United brewery. Concentrating the clear liquid extract and blending with salt, celery and onion extracts formed a sticky black paste.


title: Vegemite

text: Following a competition to name the new spread, "Vegemite" was selected by Fred Walker's daughter Sheilah, and registered as a trademark in Australia in 1919.


title: Vegemite

text: Vegemite first appeared on the market in 1923 with advertising emphasising the value of Vegemite to children's health, but failed to sell well. Faced with growing competition from Marmite, from 1928 to 1935 the product was renamed as "Parwill" to make use of the advertising slogan "Marmite but Parwill", a convoluted pun on the new name and that of its competitor; "If Ma [mother] might... then Pa [father] will." This attempt to expand market share was unsuccessful and the name reverted to Vegemite, but it did not recover its lost market share.


title: Vegemite

text: In 1925, Walker had established the Kraft Walker Cheese Co. as a joint venture company with J.L. Kraft & Bros to market processed cheese and, following the failure of Parwill, in 1935 he used the success of Kraft Walker Cheese to promote Vegemite. In a two-year campaign to promote sales, Vegemite was given away free with Kraft Walker cheese products (with a coupon redemption) and this was followed by poetry competitions with imported American Pontiac cars being offered as prizes. Sales responded and in 1939 Vegemite was officially endorsed by the British Medical Association as a rich source of B vitamins. Rationed in Australia during World War II, Vegemite was included in Australian Army rations and by the late 1940s was used in nine out of ten Australian homes.


title: Vegemite

text: In April 1984, a jar of Vegemite became the first product in Australia to be electronically scanned at a checkout.


title: Vegemite

text: Vegemite is produced in Australia at their Port Melbourne manufacturing facility, which produces more than 22 million jars annually. Virtually unchanged from Callister's original recipe, Vegemite now far outsells Marmite and other similar spreads in Australia. The billionth jar of Vegemite was produced in October 2008.


title: Vegemite

text: Vegemite was also produced in New Zealand for over 50 years, but as of August 2006 New Zealand production had ceased. (The New Zealand–specific version of "Marmite" remains successful there.)


title: Vegemite

text: The Vegemite brand was owned by Mondelez International (formerly Kraft Foods Inc. until 2012) until January 2017, when it was acquired by the Australian Bega Cheese group in a US$460,000,000 agreement for full Australian ownership after Bega would buy most of Mondelez International's Australia and New Zealand grocery and cheese business.


title: Vegemite

text: A common way of eating Vegemite is on toasted bread with a layer of butter or margarine. Only a small amount of Vegemite is required due to its strong flavour. A Vegemite sandwich may consist of two slices of buttered bread, Vegemite, and cheese, but other ingredients such as lettuce, avocado and tomato can be added as well.


title: Vegemite

text: Vegemite can be used as a filling for pastries, such as the cheesymite scroll, or it may be used in more exotic dishes.


title: Vegemite

text: The official Vegemite website contains several recipes using Vegemite in foods such as pasta, burgers, pizzas, casseroles, and even ice cream. It has also suggested using vegemite as an additive to soups or as an additive to two-minute noodles.


title: Vegemite

text: Limited quantities of kosher Vegemite were first produced in the 1980s; a 2004 decision to cease certification was reversed after a backlash from Jewish consumers. Around 2009, Kraft contracted with the Kashrut Authority in New South Wales for their kashrut supervision services, and by 2010, all jars and tubes of ordinary Vegemite were labelled with the authority's stamp. In 2010, Vegemite also received halal certification.


title: Vegemite

text: While the makers of Vegemite have long claimed that Vegemite was suitable for vegans, it was not until World Vegan Day 2019 that it received vegan certification


title: Vegemite

text: Vegemite is one of the richest sources of B vitamins, specifically thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and folate (B1, B2, B3 and B9, respectively). Unlike Marmite and some other yeast extracts, the base version contains no vitamin B12 although both vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 are added to the low-salt formulation.


title: Vegemite

text: The main ingredient of Vegemite is yeast extract, which contains a high concentration of glutamic acid, the source of Vegemite's rich umami flavour. Vegemite does not contain any fat, added sugar or animal content. It contains gluten (a composite of storage proteins) as the yeast is derived from brewing.


title: Vegemite

text: Vegemite contains 3.45% sodium, which equates to a salt content of approximately 8.6% Daily Value. Australia only defines low salt foods, but by UK standards Vegemite is classified as a high salt content food.


title: Vegemite

text: The low-salt version of Vegemite with a distinctive pale orange lid was introduced to the Australian domestic market in September 2014, offering a 25% reduction in sodium content. The low-salt version is also fortified with vitamin B6 and vitamin B12.


title: Vegemite

text: Originally promoted as a healthy food for children, during World War II advertising emphasised its medicinal value:


title: Vegemite

text: Vegemite fights with the men up north! If you are one of those who don't need Vegemite medicinally, then thousands of invalids are asking you to deny yourself of it for the time being.


title: Vegemite

text: At the same time, "Sister MacDonald" insisted that Vegemite was essential for "infant welfare" in magazines. Later advertisements began to promote the importance of the B complex vitamins to health.


title: Vegemite

text: Vegemite's rise to popularity was helped by the marketing campaigns written by J. Walter Thompson advertising that began in 1954, using groups of smiling, healthy children singing a catchy jingle titled "We're happy little Vegemites".


title: Vegemite

text: First aired on radio in 1954, the jingle was transferred to television in 1956. This advertising campaign continued until the late 1960s but, as it was targeted to children, it was discontinued in favour of ads promoting the product to all ages. In the late 1980s the original black and white television commercial was remastered, partially colourised and reintroduced. This commercial was to be broadcast periodically from 1991 to 2010. The two young twin girls who sang this advertising jingle were known as the "Vegemite Twins".


title: Vegemite

text: In March 2007, Kraft announced that they were trying to trace the eight original children from the campaign to celebrate the advertisement's 50th anniversary and to take part in a new campaign. The 1956 commercial was to be remade with the original children, now grown, to forge a link between "the new generation and the old ad". The media took up the search on Kraft's behalf with all eight children identified in eight days and resulted in many TV specials and interviews in the Australian national media. The 50-year reunion campaign won the "Arts, Entertainment & Media Campaign of the Year" award at the November 2007 Asia Pacific PR Awards.


title: Vegemite

text: During the 1990s, Kraft released a product in Australia known as Vegemite Singles. It combined two of Kraft's major products, Kraft Singles and Vegemite, into one, thus creating Vegemite-flavoured cheese. This extension of the Vegemite product line was an attempt by Kraft to capitalise on the enormous popularity of Vegemite and cheese sandwiches (made by placing a slice of cheese into a Vegemite sandwich). Vegemite Singles were later taken off the market.


title: Vegemite

text: On 13 June 2009, Kraft released a new version of Vegemite. The formula combines Vegemite and Kraft cream cheese, spreads more easily and has a considerably less salty and milder taste than the original. To coincide with the release of the new recipe, Kraft ran a competition to give the new flavour a name. The new name was announced during the broadcast of the 2009 AFL Grand Final as "iSnack 2.0". The name was chosen by a panel of marketing and communication experts to appeal to a younger market, capitalising on the popularity of Apple's iPod and iPhone. The choice immediately drew universal criticism and ridicule within Australia. Within days, opinion columns and social networking sites were flooded with derision and vitriol; and, after only four days, Kraft released plans to abandon the "iSnack" name, admitting that it may have been a mistake. Two days later, Kraft opened a new poll on its website, and the final name was announced on 7 October 2009 as "Vegemite Cheesybite", with Kraft claiming that the name had received 36% of the 30,357 votes that were cast for a name option, or approximately 10,900 votes. It was noted that the popular suggestion "Cheesymite", long associated with the popular Cheesymite scroll, was already trademarked by other organisations.


title: Vegemite

text: In 2011, Kraft Foods Australia launched "My First Vegemite", a special formulation of original Vegemite for children aged older than one year. According to Kraft, the new formula has a "milder taste" and "additional health benefits including iron, B6 and B12 vitamins as well as 50% less sodium", and was designed in response to consumer demand for foods with lower sugar and salt content plus additional health benefits. Immediate reaction and media reports regarding the new formula were largely positive, but Kraft Foods Australia discontinued the "My First Vegemite" product line in 2012 due to poor sales performance.


title: Vegemite

text: In April 2015, Cadbury announced that it was to release a Vegemite-flavoured block of chocolate on 1 June. The chocolate block is Cadbury's Caramello block updated by mixing vegemite with the chocolate. Critics described the taste as similar to salted caramel with a pleasant umami aftertaste. Criticism varied from "love it" to "tastes like they mixed the caramel and turkish delight filling with a lot of salt" to "needs more salt", with several tasters commenting that they thought the aftertaste was unpleasant.


title: Vegemite

text: In 2017, a premium variety, Vegemite Blend 17, was released for a limited time. It promised a "richer bolder taste", but at double the price of the standard product.


title: Vegemite

text: Other commercial products with Vegemite flavour include Smith's Crisps, In a Biskit, bagel crisps, sausages, and meat pies.


title: Vegemite

text: In October 2006, an Australian news company reported that Vegemite had been banned in the United States, and that the United States Customs Service had gone so far as to search Australians entering the country for Vegemite because it naturally contains folate, a B vitamin approved as an additive in the United States for just a few foods, including breakfast cereals. The story appears to have originated as an anecdote by a traveller who claimed to have been searched by U.S. Customs, and a spokesperson for Kraft made a misinformed comment to reporters. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration later stated that there were no plans to subject Vegemite to an import ban, or withdraw it from supermarket shelves. The United States Customs and Border Protection tried to dispel the rumour, stating on its website that "there is no known prohibition on the importation of Vegemite" and "there is no official policy within CBP targeting Vegemite for interception". The story of the "ban" later took on the status of urban legend. While Vegemite has never been popular in the US, it can still be purchased at supermarkets that stock imported food items.


title: Vegemite

text: Following newspaper reports in May 2011 that Vegemite and Marmite had been banned and were being removed from shelves in Denmark, outraged fans set up several Facebook groups. In response, Denmark's Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries stated that neither spread had been banned but that the respective companies had not applied for licences to market their products in Denmark. In 2004, Denmark had passed legislation prohibiting the sale of food products fortified with vitamins as a danger to health.


title: Vegemite

text: Vegemite is banned from Victorian prisons, with the bans beginning to come into effect from the 1990s, to prevent inmates from brewing alcohol using the paste's high yeast content—despite the fact that Vegemite contains no live yeast. Similar bans were proposed in 2015 for a number of dry communities in outback Australia, but they were not enacted.


title: Vegemite

text: The Australian rock band Men at Work refer to a "Vegemite sandwich" in the second verse of their 1981 hit song "Down Under", from their debut album "Business as Usual". Vegemite was mentioned in the original version of John Williamson's song "True Blue". He removed the reference in a later version of the song because at the time (prior to 2017), Vegemite was no longer Australian-owned. According to Williamson's website, it was "carelessly sold off ('like sponge cake') to the multi-national Kraft". Two song titles from Amanda Palmer's 2011 album "Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under" reference the product: "We're Happy Little Vegemites" and "Vegemite (The Black Death)". Similarly, Australian rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard has a song called "Vegemite" on their album Oddments.


title: Vegemite

text: Vegemite also features in Mem Fox's 1983 children's book "Possum Magic". The story involves an invisible possum who needs to eat Australian foods in order to become visible again. Among these foods is a Vegemite sandwich.


title: Vegemite

text: U.S. President Barack Obama, in response to a question in March 2011 during a joint visit with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to a high school in Virginia, gave his impression of Vegemite by stating "It's horrible". Following a description by Gillard, he said: "So, it's like a quasi-vegetable by-product paste that you smear on your toast for breakfast – sounds good, doesn't it?"


title: Vegemite

text: During a rain delay in the 2012 Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Australian race car driver and pole sitter Marcos Ambrose gave Vegemite sandwiches to the NASCAR on TNT commentary team. After taking his first bite, Kyle Petty commented: "He may be the fastest man on the racetrack. I may be the fastest man on TV headed for the bathroom." Larry McReynolds followed it up by saying: "Oh, my God. Are you sure this is edible? God! I need Sani-Flush or somethin'."


title: Vegemite

text: In a 2013 episode of his show "Steve", Steve Harvey was offered a jar of Vegemite by an Australian audience member. After tasting a small amount of it, he stated: "Vegemite sounds like a pesticide. That's about damn near what it tastes like."


title: Vegemite

text: Hugh Jackman demonstrated how to correctly spread Vegemite on the U.S. talk show "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon".


title: Vegemite

text: Terry Pratchett's Discworld book "The Last Continent" features Rincewind the wizard accidentally inventing a substance very similar to Vegemite, which proves to be very popular with the citizens of XXXX (the Discworld equivalent of Australia).


title: Vegemite

text: Christian Kracht's 2012 novel "Imperium" fictionally attributes the invention of Vegemite (and its name) to an American Adventist vegetarian named Halsey, who has seemingly been banished to Australia by his employer Kellogg's after objecting to the fact that consumption of their recently introduced cereals relies on milk, i.e. another animal product.


title: Wayne Newton

text: Carson Wayne Newton (born April 3, 1942) is an American singer and actor. One of the most popular singers in the nation from the mid-to-late 20th-century, Newton remains one of the best-known entertainers in Las Vegas. He is known by the nicknames The Midnight Idol, Mr. Las Vegas and Mr. Entertainment.


title: Wayne Newton

text: As a teenager, Newton first performed in Las Vegas in the late 1950s and was mentored by some of the nation's biggest artists including Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin and Elvis Presley. In 1963, he achieved headliner status at the Flamingo, a casino hotel in Las Vegas, and soon became one of the city's most popular performers. "The Washington Post" describes Newton as "America's number one night club act" and at his peak being more prominent in Las Vegas than both Sinatra and Presley. Throughout his career, Newton has appeared in a number of movies and television shows.


title: Wayne Newton

text: His well known songs include "Danke Schoen" (1963), "Summer Wind" (1965), "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" (1965), "Daddy, Don't You Walk So Fast" (1972) and "Years" (1980). "Danke Schoen" is Newton's signature song and was notably used in the 1986 movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off".


title: Wayne Newton

text: Newton was born Carson Wayne Newton in either Roanoke or Norfolk, Virginia to Patrick Newton (1915-1990), an auto mechanic, and his wife, Evelyn Marie "Smith" (née Plasters; 1921–1985). He is of English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and German ancestry. He believes he has some Native American ancestry (specifically, that his mother had some distant Cherokee and his father Powhatan heritage), but is not claimed or recognized by any tribe. His father served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Newton spent his early years in Fredericksburg, Virginia, learning the piano, guitar, and steel guitar at age six. He performed in a local music show, playing steel guitar and signing country music, before school.


title: Wayne Newton

text: While he was a child, his family moved to near Newark, Ohio. He began singing in local clubs, theaters, and fairs with his older brother, Jerry. Due to Newton's severe asthma, his family moved to Phoenix in 1952, at his doctor's suggestion. Soon after arriving in Phoenix, the brothers performed in a local television talent show "Lew King Rangers" and won. A a result, the owner of KOOL-TV, Tom Chauncey, who also televised the talent show, gave the brothers their own television show, "Rascals in Rhythm" and served as a mentor to them. The brothers, as the Rascals in Rhythm, appeared with the Grand Ole Opry roadshows and on ABC-TV's "Ozark Jubilee"; and performed in front of then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower and auditioned unsuccessfully for Ted Mack's "Original Amateur Hour".


title: Wayne Newton

text: In the spring of 1958, near the end of his junior year of high school, a Las Vegas booking agent saw the two Newton brothers performing on their local TV show and took them back for an audition. Impressed with their audition, the booking agent signed Newton, then-age 15, and his brother, as part of a two-week contract to perform in Las Vegas at the Flamingo. On closing night, Newton, and his brother, were offered a one-year contract to continue performing in Las Vegas. To pursue his music career, Newton left North High School just before finishing his junior year.


title: Wayne Newton

text: At age 18, Newton intended to join the US military, but because of his asthma, he was given a 1-Y rejection meaning he was only qualified to serve during the event of a major emergency. Instead, Newton volunteered his time performing shows for troops overseas.


title: Wayne Newton

text: Wayne Newton, and his brother, performed at The Flamingo for five years doing six shows for six days a week. Newton credits his ability to base his performances on what the crowd wanted to hear for his early success in Las Vegas. On September 29, 1962, the brothers first performed on "The Jackie Gleason Show". Newton would perform on Gleason's show 12 times over the following two years. In the early to mid-1960s, Newton also acted and sang as "Andy", the baby-faced Ponderosa ranchhand, on the classic western TV series, "Bonanza".


title: Wayne Newton

text: Newton first met Bobby Darin, at the Copacabana in 1962. Darin, who was impressed by Newton, agreed to produce Newton's records. By 1963, Newton had been signed to Capitol Records, and his first album was released on the label. Newton's hit song "Danke Schoen" was originally written for Darin to sing. However, Darin was intent on Newton having a hit song of his own and gave it to him. "Danke Schoen" went on to reach No. 13 on the Hot 100.


title: Wayne Newton

text: Many other prominent entertainment icons such as Lucille Ball, Danny Thomas, George Burns, and Jack Benny lent Newton their support. For example, Benny hired Newton as an opening act for his comedy show in Las Vegas. Newton performed as an opening act for five years. After his job with Benny ended, Newton was offered a job to open for another comic at the Flamingo, but Newton asked for, and was given, a headline act in 1963. Newton was known for his distinctive high-pitched voice, which stayed with him for most of his career, although his voice did lower somewhat in the 1970s and 1980s. It was in the 1970s that Newton began focusing on primarily performing in Las Vegas.


title: Wayne Newton

text: Following the death of Elvis Presley and the aging of many members of the Rat Pack, Newton emerged as the biggest entertainer in Las Vegas. In the 1970s, Newton performed primarily at the Desert Inn, The Frontier and Sands Hotel and Casino. Newton holds the record for total crowd counts during his peak.


title: Wayne Newton

text: In 1972 his recording of "Daddy, Don't You Walk So Fast" sold more than one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in July 1972. The song peaked at No. 4 in the United States and No. 1 in Australia and Canada, while the album of the same name peaked at No. 25 on the album charts.


title: Wayne Newton

text: From 1980 through 1982, The Beach Boys and The Grass Roots performed Independence Day concerts on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., attracting large crowds. However, in April 1983, James G. Watt, President Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Interior, banned Independence Day concerts on the Mall by such groups. Watt said that "rock bands" that had performed on the Mall on Independence Day in 1981 and 1982 had encouraged drug use and alcoholism and had attracted "the wrong element", who would mug individuals and families attending any similar events in the future. Watt then announced that Newton, a friend and supporter of President Reagan and a contributor to Republican Party political campaigns, would perform at the Mall's 1983 Independence Day celebration. Newton entered the Independence Day stage on the Mall on July 4, 1983, to mostly cheering members of the audience, but some members booed.


title: Wayne Newton

text: On May 23, 1989, Newton's live stage show was broadcast as a pay-per-view event called "Wayne Newton Live in Concert". Newton did not perform his trademark songs "Danke Schoen" or "Red Roses for a Blue Lady". However, he closed the show with a special finale of "MacArthur Park", which culminated with an onstage rainfall.


title: Wayne Newton

text: On December 12, 1992, Newton hit #1 on the "Cashbox" Pop and Country charts with an Elvis Presley-inspired song, "The Letter". Controversy swirled around this chart feat, as "The Letter" did not chart at all on "Billboard"'s authoritative Hot 100 chart, Adult Contemporary chart or "Bubbling Under" chart. It did not make the "Radio & Records" chart either. This marked the first and only time in history that a record hit #1 on the "Cashbox" Top 100 chart, yet failed to chart on "Billboard"'s Hot 100.


title: Wayne Newton

text: During the 1990s, Newton began performing at other casinos, as their headliner, including Bally's, Caesars Palace and MGM Grand Las Vegas. Newton performed his 25,000th solo show in Las Vegas in 1994. In 1999, Newton signed a 10-year deal with the Stardust, calling for Newton to perform there 40 weeks out of the year for six shows a week (in a showroom named after him). The "headliner-in-residence" deal was the first of its kind. In 2005, in preparation for the eventual demolition of the Stardust Casino, the deal was amicably terminated. His last show at the Stardust was on April 20, 2005. In his final performance at the Stardust, Newton sang nearly his entire repertoire and songs of other Vegas mainstays as well. During the summer of 2005, Newton began a 30-show stint that summer at the Las Vegas Hilton.


title: Wayne Newton

text: Going into the 2000s, Newton continued to perform shows in Las Vegas, but also took a larger role serving as the face of Las Vegas.


title: Wayne Newton

text: In January 2005, Newton started a reality television show on E! called "The Entertainer". The winner got a spot in his act, plus a headlining act of their own for a year. During player introductions at the 2007 NBA All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas, Newton sang Presley's "Viva Las Vegas."


title: Wayne Newton

text: Newton was featured on the 2007 fall season of "Dancing with the Stars" partnered with two-time champion Cheryl Burke. He became the third contestant to be eliminated from the contest. During the taping (which takes place at CBS Television City), he also became the first guest on "The Price Is Right", which tapes on the same lot, under host Drew Carey, who began adding guests to the show, especially to present prizes. Newton appeared after a trip to Las Vegas was shown.


title: Wayne Newton

text: Beginning October 14, 2009, Newton began performing his then newest show "Once Before I Go" at the Tropicana in Las Vegas. In 2010, Newton took a 5-year hiatus to spend time with his family and prepare his voice for later shows in Las Vegas. In 2016, Newton returned to the stage at Bally's Hotel in the form of a lounge show called "Up Close & Personal", a combination of live singing, playing some of the 13 self-taught instruments (having learned in the past to give his voice a rest when performing six shows a night at the Fremont Hotel), and showing movie and TV clips, of himself, on screen.


title: Wayne Newton

text: After performing more than 30,000 shows on the Las Vegas strip, Newton celebrated his 60th year on stage with a show entitled "Mr. Las Vegas" at Caesars Palace that ran from January through May in 2019. Referring to his 60th year on stage, Newton said "It's hard for me to articulate, much less think about it...I was here when Caesars (Palace) was built. This hotel for me has always represented the flagship of the Strip."


title: Wayne Newton

text: In June 2020, Newton was seen on television commercials in North America as a spokesperson for Caesars Entertainment to promote the reopening of Caesars Entertainment resorts during the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Wayne Newton

text: During the 2022 NFL Draft, which was held in Las Vegas, Newton announced, alongside Hall of Fame running back Marcus Allen, the Las Vegas Raider's third round pick selection of Dylan Parham from Memphis University.


title: Wayne Newton

text: On June 1, 1968, Newton married Elaine Okamura; they divorced in 1985. They have one child, Erin Newton, born July 25, 1976. On April 9, 1994, Newton married Kathleen McCrone, a lawyer from North Olmsted, Ohio. The couple have one daughter, Lauren Ashley Newton, who was born on April 29, 2002.


title: Wayne Newton

text: A street near the Harry Reid International Airport is named Wayne Newton Boulevard. Newton was elected to the Gaming Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2010, Newton testified in front of the Rules Committee of the Virginia House of Delegates where he appealed for the state to recognize the Patawomeck Indian Tribe of Virginia. Newton believes his father and grandfather have Patawomeck ancestry.


title: Wayne Newton

text: Newton has stated, "My two loves in life, from the time I can remember, were music and horses, and I couldn't decide which I loved more." His Arabian horse breeding program, located at his Casa de Shenandoah ranch, is called Aramus Arabians, and has produced six generations of horses, breeding over 700 foals, with 96 champions . Newton's first experience with horses was at his uncle's farm, where he visited frequently. He bought his first horse when he sold his bicycle and his parents' movie camera to buy a foal when he was a sixth-grader. Originally owning Thoroughbreds and American Quarter Horses, he "fell in love" with the Arabian breed via his ownership of the Champion stallion Aramus, after whom he named his horse ranch. He first came to the attention of Arabian breeders in 1969 when he partnered with Tom Chauncey, an Arabian breeder and television station owner, to purchase the stallion Naborr from the estate of Anne McCormick. They paid $150,000, which at the time was the highest price ever paid for an Arabian horse at auction. Shortly thereafter, Newton formed a partnership with other Arabian breeders to purchase Aramus, who was a son of Naborr. He became the sole owner of Aramus in 1972.


title: Wayne Newton

text: Newton was given the Arabian Horse Breeders' Association Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. He continues to be directly involved in management of his horses, planning the breeding program for his horses, determining which to keep and which to sell, and even assisting his ranch staff during foaling season. He was awarded the Arabian Professional and Amateur Horseman's Association Breeder of the Year award in 1996.


title: Wayne Newton

text: Newton was featured in the production of "You Can't Say Love Enough" (1996), an all-star single, also featuring Dolly Parton, Heidi Newfield and several other artist-celebrities; this production served to raise funds for diabetes research. Concurrently, the Wayne Newton Research Grant awarded by the American Diabetes Association was created. It has been awarded to several researchers including Jose F. Caro and Peter J. Roach.


title: Wayne Newton

text: In 2001, Newton succeeded Bob Hope as chairman of the United Service Organizations Celebrity Circle, a nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment to members of the United States Armed Forces and their families. Newton was the grand marshal of the 80th Annual Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, Virginia from May 1–7, 2007. He canceled a sold-out show to join the Festival. In 2008, Newton received a Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service. The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, a national memorial to President Wilson, commemorates "the ideals and concerns of Woodrow Wilson." The award honors leaders who have given back to their communities.


title: Wayne Newton

text: From 1980 to 1982, Newton was part owner of the Aladdin Hotel, in a partnership that led to a number of lawsuits and a failed attempt by Newton to purchase the entire hotel in 1983.


title: Wayne Newton

text: In 1992, Newton filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganize an estimated $20 million in debts, much of which was accumulated while suing NBC for libel; he claimed the network had reported that he partnered with the Mafia to buy the Aladdin. His bankruptcy declaration included a $341,000 Internal Revenue Service tax lien. By 1999, he was financially well off again.


title: Wayne Newton

text: In August 2005, the IRS filed a lawsuit against Newton alleging that he and his wife owed more than $1.8 million in taxes and penalties. One of Newton's tax lawyers disputed that, saying, "We believe the IRS owes him money."


title: Wayne Newton

text: In late 2009, officials at Oakland County International Airport in Waterford, Michigan, claimed Newton owed the airport more than $60,000 for unpaid parking fees, which they claimed he owed after having abandoned a $2 million Fokker F28 plane there more than three years before. The plane was originally flown in for renovations in 2005. After they were completed in 2007, the plane was moved to an outside parking area. The monthly parking fees were $5,000. An aircraft of this type needs to have its engines run at least once a month to retain its airworthiness. The plane has since been disassembled, transported, and reassembled on his estate grounds.


title: Wayne Newton

text: In February 2010, Bruton Smith sued Newton, claiming he was delinquent on a loan he had personally guaranteed, then bought from Bank of America. Smith sought foreclosure of Newton's Las Vegas ranch Casa de Shenandoah. That same month, Clark County sheriff's deputies were refused entry to Newton's ranch. The officers attempted to serve civil papers and seize property as part of a $501,388 judgment against Newton awarded to Monty Ward, his former personal pilot, but security personnel employed by Newton refused to accept the papers. Ward, who filed suit in 2006, won the judgment for past-due wages in January 2009.