title: Odessa, Texas

text: The jack rabbit has become the symbol of Odessa. Beginning in 1932, Odessa held a rodeo for roping rabbits. In one competition, cowgirl Grace Hendricks roped a rabbit from horseback in five seconds and beat her male competitors. The unusual rodeo ended in 1977 because of objections from the Humane Society. Many businesses and residences about Odessa display models of rabbits.


title: Zika virus

text: Zika virus (ZIKV; pronounced or ) is a member of the virus family "Flaviviridae". It is spread by daytime-active "Aedes" mosquitoes, such as "A. aegypti" and "A. albopictus". Its name comes from the Ziika Forest of Uganda, where the virus was first isolated in 1947. "Zika virus" shares a genus with the dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, and West Nile viruses. Since the 1950s, it has been known to occur within a narrow equatorial belt from Africa to Asia. From 2007 to , the virus spread eastward, across the Pacific Ocean to the Americas, leading to the 2015–2016 Zika virus epidemic.


title: Zika virus

text: The infection, known as Zika fever or "Zika virus" disease, often causes no or only mild symptoms, similar to a very mild form of dengue fever. While there is no specific treatment, paracetamol (acetaminophen) and rest may help with the symptoms. Zika can spread from a pregnant woman to her baby. This can result in microcephaly, severe brain malformations, and other birth defects. Zika infections in adults may result rarely in Guillain–Barré syndrome.


title: Zika virus

text: In January 2016, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued travel guidance on affected countries, including the use of enhanced precautions, and guidelines for pregnant women including considering postponing travel. Other governments or health agencies also issued similar travel warnings, while Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Jamaica advised women to postpone getting pregnant until more is known about the risks.


title: Zika virus

text: "Zika virus" belongs to the family "Flaviviridae" and the genus "Flavivirus", thus is related to the dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, and West Nile viruses. Like other flaviviruses, "Zika virus" is enveloped and icosahedral and has a nonsegmented, single-stranded, 10 kilobase, positive-sense RNA genome. It is most closely related to the Spondweni virus and is one of the two known viruses in the Spondweni virus clade.


title: Zika virus

text: A positive-sense RNA genome can be directly translated into viral proteins. As in other flaviviruses, such as the similarly sized West Nile virus, the RNA genome encodes seven nonstructural proteins and three structural proteins in the form of a single polyprotein (). One of the structural proteins encapsulates the virus. This protein is the flavivirus envelope glycoprotein, that binds to the endosomal membrane of the host cell to initiate endocytosis. The RNA genome forms a nucleocapsid along with copies of the 12-kDa capsid protein. The nucleocapsid, in turn, is enveloped within a host-derived membrane modified with two viral glycoproteins. Viral genome replication depends on the making of double-stranded RNA from the single-stranded, positive-sense RNA (ssRNA(+)) genome followed by transcription and replication to provide viral mRNAs and new ssRNA(+) genomes.


title: Zika virus

text: A longitudinal study shows that 6 hours after cells are infected with "Zika virus", the vacuoles and mitochondria in the cells begin to swell. This swelling becomes so severe, it results in cell death, also known as paraptosis. This form of programmed cell death requires gene expression. IFITM3 is a trans-membrane protein in a cell that is able to protect it from viral infection by blocking virus attachment. Cells are most susceptible to Zika infection when levels of IFITM3 are low. Once the cell has been infected, the virus restructures the endoplasmic reticulum, forming the large vacuoles, resulting in cell death.


title: Zika virus

text: There are two Zika lineages: the African lineage and the Asian lineage. Phylogenetic studies indicate that the virus spreading in the Americas is 89% identical to African genotypes, but is most closely related to the Asian strain that circulated in French Polynesia during the 20132014 outbreak.


title: Zika virus

text: The vertebrate hosts of the virus were primarily monkeys in a so-called enzootic mosquito-monkey-mosquito cycle, with only occasional transmission to humans. Before 2007, Zika "rarely caused recognized 'spillover' infections in humans, even in highly enzootic areas". Infrequently, however, other arboviruses have become established as a human disease and spread in a mosquito–human–mosquito cycle, like the yellow fever virus and the dengue fever virus (both flaviviruses), and the chikungunya virus (a togavirus). Though the reason for the pandemic is unknown, dengue, a related arbovirus that infects the same species of mosquito vectors, is known in particular to be intensified by urbanization and globalization. Zika is primarily spread by "Aedes aegypti" mosquitoes, and can also be transmitted through sexual contact or blood transfusions. The basic reproduction number ("R", a measure of transmissibility) of "Zika virus" has been estimated to be between 1.4 and 6.6 .


title: Zika virus

text: In 2015, news reports drew attention to the rapid spread of Zika in Latin America and the Caribbean. At that time, the Pan American Health Organization published a list of countries and territories that experienced "local "Zika virus" transmission" comprising Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, Suriname, and Venezuela. By August 2016, more than 50 countries had experienced active (local) transmission of "Zika virus".


title: Zika virus

text: Zika is primarily spread by the female "Aedes aegypti" mosquito, which is active mostly in the daytime. The mosquitos must feed on blood to lay eggs. The virus has also been isolated from a number of arboreal mosquito species in the genus "Aedes", such as "A. africanus", "A. apicoargenteus", "A. furcifer", "A. hensilli", "A. luteocephalus", and "A. vittatus", with an extrinsic incubation period in mosquitoes around 10 days.


title: Zika virus

text: The true extent of the vectors is still unknown. Zika has been detected in many more species of "Aedes", along with "Anopheles coustani, Mansonia uniformis", and "Culex perfuscus", although this alone does not incriminate them as vectors. To detect the presence of the virus usually requires genetic material to be analysed in a lab using the technique RT-PCR. A much cheaper and faster method involves shining a light at the head and thorax of the mosquito, and detecting chemical compounds characteristic of the virus using near-infrared spectroscopy.


title: Zika virus

text: Transmission by "A. albopictus", the tiger mosquito, was reported from a 2007 urban outbreak in Gabon, where it had newly invaded the country and become the primary vector for the concomitant chikungunya and dengue virus outbreaks. New outbreaks can occur if a person carrying the virus travels to another region where "A. albopictus" is common.


title: Zika virus

text: The potential societal risk of Zika can be delimited by the distribution of the mosquito species that transmit it. The global distribution of the most cited carrier of Zika, "A. aegypti", is expanding due to global trade and travel. "A. aegypti" distribution is now the most extensive ever recorded – on parts of all continents except Antarctica, including North America and even the European periphery (Madeira, the Netherlands, and the northeastern Black Sea coast). A mosquito population capable of carrying Zika has been found in a Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, DC, and genetic evidence suggests they survived at least four consecutive winters in the region. The study authors conclude that mosquitos are adapting for persistence in a northern climate. "Zika virus" appears to be contagious via mosquitoes for around a week after infection. The virus is thought to be infectious for a longer period of time after infection (at least 2 weeks) when transmitted via semen.


title: Zika virus

text: Research into its ecological niche suggests that Zika may be influenced to a greater degree by changes in precipitation and temperature than dengue, making it more likely to be confined to tropical areas. However, rising global temperatures would allow for the disease vector to expand its range further north, allowing Zika to follow.


title: Zika virus

text: Zika can be transmitted from men and women to their sexual partners; most known cases involve transmission from symptomatic men to women. As of April 2016, sexual transmission of Zika has been documented in six countries – Argentina, Australia, France, Italy, New Zealand, and the United States – during the 2015 outbreak. ZIKV can persist in semen for several months, with viral RNA detected up to one year. The virus replicates in the human testis, where it infects several cell types including testicular macrophages, peritubular cells and germ cells, the spermatozoa precursors. Semen parameters can be altered in patients for several weeks post-symptoms onset, and spermatozoa can be infectious. Since October 2016, the CDC has advised men who have traveled to an area with Zika should use condoms or not have sex for at least six months after their return as the virus is still transmissible even if symptoms never develop.


title: Zika virus

text: "Zika virus" can spread by vertical (or "mother-to-child") transmission, during pregnancy or at delivery. An infection during pregnancy has been linked to changes in neuronal development of the unborn child. Severe progressions of infection have been linked to the development of microcephaly in the unborn child, while mild infections potentially can lead to neurocognitive disorders later in life. Congenital brain abnormalities other than microcephaly have also been reported after a Zika outbreak. Studies in mice have suggested that maternal immunity to dengue virus may enhance fetal infection with Zika, worsen the microcephaly phenotype and/or enhance damage during pregnancy, but it is unknown whether this occurs in humans.


title: Zika virus

text: , two cases of Zika transmission through blood transfusions have been reported globally, both from Brazil, after which the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended screening blood donors and deferring high-risk donors for 4 weeks. A potential risk had been suspected based on a blood-donor screening study during the French Polynesian Zika outbreak, in which 2.8% (42) of donors from November 2013 and February 2014 tested positive for Zika RNA and were all asymptomatic at the time of blood donation. Eleven of the positive donors reported symptoms of Zika fever after their donation, but only three of 34 samples grew in culture.


title: Zika virus

text: "Zika virus" replicates in the mosquito's midgut epithelial cells and then its salivary gland cells. After 5–10 days, the virus can be found in the mosquito's saliva. If the mosquito's saliva is inoculated into human skin, the virus can infect epidermal keratinocytes, skin fibroblasts in the skin and the Langerhans cells. The pathogenesis of the virus is hypothesized to continue with a spread to lymph nodes and the bloodstream. Flaviviruses replicate in the cytoplasm, but Zika antigens have been found in infected cell nuclei.


title: Zika virus

text: The viral protein numbered NS4A can lead to small head size (microcephaly) because it disrupts brain growth by hijacking a pathway which regulates growth of new neurons. In fruit flies, both NS4A and the neighboring NS4B restrict eye growth.


title: Zika virus

text: Zika fever (also known as "Zika virus" disease) is an illness caused by "Zika virus". Around 80% of cases are estimated to be asymptomatic, though the accuracy of this figure is hindered by the wide variance in data quality, and figures from different outbreaks can vary significantly. Symptomatic cases are usually mild and can resemble dengue fever. Symptoms may include fever, red eyes, joint pain, headache, and a maculopapular rash. Symptoms generally last less than seven days. It has not caused any reported deaths during the initial infection. Infection during pregnancy causes microcephaly and other brain malformations in some babies. Infection in adults has been linked to Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) and Zika virus has been shown to infect human Schwann cells.


title: Zika virus

text: Diagnosis is by testing the blood, urine, or saliva for the presence of "Zika virus" RNA when the person is sick. In 2019, an improved diagnostic test, based on research from Washington University in St. Louis, that detects Zika infection in serum was granted market authorization by the FDA.


title: Zika virus

text: Prevention involves decreasing mosquito bites in areas where the disease occurs, and proper use of condoms. Efforts to prevent bites include the use of DEET or picaridin - based insect repellent, covering much of the body with clothing, mosquito nets, and getting rid of standing water where mosquitoes reproduce. There is no vaccine. Health officials recommended that women in areas affected by the 2015–2016 Zika outbreak consider putting off pregnancy and that pregnant women not travel to these areas. While no specific treatment exists, paracetamol (acetaminophen) and rest may help with the symptoms. Admission to a hospital is rarely necessary.


title: Zika virus

text: The World Health Organization has suggested that priority should be to develop inactivated vaccines and other nonlive vaccines, which are safe to use in pregnant women.


title: Zika virus

text: , 18 companies and institutions were developing vaccines against Zika, but they state a vaccine is unlikely to be widely available for about 10 years.


title: Zika virus

text: In June 2016, the FDA granted the first approval for a human clinical trial for a Zika vaccine. In March 2017, a DNA vaccine was approved for phase-2 clinical trials. This vaccine consists of a small, circular piece of DNA, known as a plasmid, that expresses the genes for the Zika virus envelope proteins. As the vaccine does not contain the full sequence of the virus, it cannot cause infection. As of April 2017, both subunit and inactivated vaccines have entered clinical trials.


title: Zika virus

text: The virus was first isolated in April 1947 from a rhesus macaque monkey placed in a cage in the Ziika Forest of Uganda, near Lake Victoria, by the scientists of the Yellow Fever Research Institute. A second isolation from the mosquito "A. africanus" followed at the same site in January 1948. When the monkey developed a fever, researchers isolated from its serum a "filterable transmissible agent" which was named Zika in 1948.


title: Zika virus

text: Zika was first known to infect humans from the results of a serological survey in Uganda, published in 1952. Of 99 human blood samples tested, 6.1% had neutralizing antibodies. As part of a 1954 outbreak investigation of jaundice suspected to be yellow fever, researchers reported isolation of the virus from a patient, but the pathogen was later shown to be the closely related Spondweni virus. Spondweni was also determined to be the cause of a self-inflicted infection in a researcher reported in 1956.


title: Zika virus

text: Subsequent serological studies in several African and Asian countries indicated the virus had been widespread within human populations in these regions. The first true case of human infection was identified by Simpson in 1964, who was himself infected while isolating the virus from mosquitoes. From then until 2007, there were only 13 further confirmed human cases of Zika infection from Africa and Southeast Asia. A study published in 2017 showed that the Zika virus, despite only a few cases were reported, has been silently circulated in West Africa for the last two decades when blood samples collected between 1992 and 2016 were tested for the ZIKV IgM antibodies.


title: Zika virus

text: In April 2007, the first outbreak outside of Africa and Asia occurred on the island of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia, characterized by rash, conjunctivitis, and arthralgia, which was initially thought to be dengue, chikungunya, or Ross River disease. Serum samples from patients in the acute phase of illness contained RNA of Zika. There were 49 confirmed cases, 59 unconfirmed cases, no hospitalizations, and no deaths.


title: Zika virus

text: After October 2013 Oceania's first outbreak showed an estimated 11% population infected for French Polynesia that also presented with Guillain–Barre syndrome (GBS). The spread of ZIKV continued to New Caledonia, Easter Island, and the Cook Islands and where 1385 cases were confirmed by January 2014. During the same year, Easter Island acknowledged 51 cases. Australia began seeing cases in 2012. Research showed it was brought by travelers returning from Indonesia and other infected countries. New Zealand also experienced infections rate increases through returning foreign travelers. Oceania countries experiencing Zika today are New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Marshall Islands, American Samoa, Samoa, and Tonga.


title: Zika virus

text: Between 2013 and 2014, further epidemics occurred in French Polynesia, Easter Island, the Cook Islands, and New Caledonia.


title: Zika virus

text: There was an epidemic in 2015 and 2016 in the Americas. The outbreak began in April 2015 in Brazil, and spread to other countries in South America, Central America, North America, and the Caribbean. In January 2016, the WHO said the virus was likely to spread throughout most of the Americas by the end of the year; and in February 2016, the WHO declared the cluster of microcephaly and Guillain–Barré syndrome cases reported in Brazil – strongly suspected to be associated with the Zika outbreaka Public Health Emergency of International Concern. It was estimated that 1.5 million people were infected by Zika in Brazil, with over 3,500 cases of microcephaly reported between October 2015 and January 2016.


title: Zika virus

text: A number of countries issued travel warnings, and the outbreak was expected to significantly impact the tourism industry. Several countries have taken the unusual step of advising their citizens to delay pregnancy until more is known about the virus and its impact on fetal development. With the 2016 Summer Olympics hosted in Rio de Janeiro, health officials worldwide voiced concerns over a potential crisis, both in Brazil and when international athletes and tourists returned home and possibly would spread the virus. Some researchers speculated that only one or two tourists might be infected during the three-week period, or approximately 3.2 infections per 100,000 tourists. In November 2016, the World Health Organization declared that "Zika virus" was no longer a global emergency while noting that the virus still represents "a highly significant and a long-term problem".


title: Zika virus

text: On May 15, 2017, three cases of Zika virus infection in India were reported in the state of Gujarat. By late 2018, there had been at least 159 cases in Rajasthan and 127 in Madhya Pradesh.


title: Zika virus

text: In July 2021, the first case of Zika virus infection in the Indian state of Kerala was reported. After the first confirmed case, 19 other people who had previously presented symptoms were tested, and 13 of those had positive results, showing that Zika had been circulating in Kerala since at least May 2021. By August 6th 2021, there had been 65 reported cases in Kerala.


title: Zika virus

text: On October 22, 2021, an officer in the Indian Air Force in Kanpur tested positive for Zika virus, making it the first reported case in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.


title: Zika virus

text: On 22 March 2016, Reuters reported that Zika was isolated from a 2014 blood sample of an elderly man in Chittagong in Bangladesh as part of a retrospective study. Zika is also occurring in Tanzania as of 2016.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: The Plastic Ono Band was a rock band formed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1969 for their collaborative and solo projects based on their 1968 Fluxus conceptual art project of the same name.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: Lennon and Ono began a personal and artistic relationship in 1968, collaborating on several experimental releases. After their marriage in 1969, they decided their future endeavours would be credited to the Plastic Ono Band. The band featured a rotating line-up of musicians including Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, Billy Preston, Jim Keltner, Keith Moon, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, and Lennon's former Beatles bandmates George Harrison and Ringo Starr. After Lennon and Ono moved to New York in 1971, they collaborated with Elephant's Memory under the name "Plastic Ono Elephant's Memory Band". Lennon's collaborations continued under similar names until 1974.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: From 2009 to 2015 (29 years after Lennon was murdered), Ono and her son Sean Lennon led a new incarnation of the group, the Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: John Lennon and Yoko Ono first met in 1966. Lennon was a world-famous member of the Beatles, and Ono was an avant-garde artist and performer. By 1968, the two established a romantic relationship and they began collaborating on a number of musical projects.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: The Plastic Ono Band name, and its Fluxus idea of an open-ended plastic band, was first conceived of by Ono in 1967 as an idea for an art exhibition in Berlin. The Plastic Ono Band was first realized in 1968 as a multi-media machine maquette by John Lennon, also called "The Plastic Ono Band". In 1968, Lennon and Ono began a personal and artistic relationship (they married in 1969) in which they decided to credit their future endeavors as the work of The Plastic Ono Band. Ono and Lennon collaborated on several art exhibitions, concerts, happenings and experimental noise music recording projects, before recording and releasing somewhat more standard rock-based albums that were still connected to the Plastic Ono Band concept.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: They first recorded together in May 1968; these recordings would be released in November as the experimental album "". The pair also worked throughout the summer on "Revolution 9", an experimental piece that appeared on the Beatles' self-titled double album (also known as the "White Album"). In December 1968, Lennon and Ono appeared together at The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus with a supergroup named "The Dirty Mac", consisting of Eric Clapton, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and violinist Ivry Gitlis. Lennon and Ono continued with their experimental releases parallel to Lennon's activities in the Beatles, releasing "" in May 1969.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: On 20 March 1969, Lennon and Ono married, and subsequently hosted their first "Bed-in for Peace" event. The event saw the new couple using press coverage of their marriage to advocate for peace. Recordings made around this time would be released as their third and final experimental album, "Wedding Album". The Plastic Ono Band moniker was first used on 12 May, when Lennon and Ono participated in George Harrison's mixing session for "Jam Peace" – a jam that Harrison had recorded during a session with Apple Records artist Billy Preston. The track was subsequently titled "I Remember Jeep" and the artist credit on the EMI tape box was changed to George Harrison for inclusion on the bonus disc of his 1970 solo album "All Things Must Pass".


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: During the couple's second bed-in, held in Montreal in late May and early June 1969, Lennon, Ono and their guests recorded the Lennon-penned song "Give Peace a Chance" and Ono's "Remember Love". These were released on 4 July as a single credited to the Plastic Ono Band. It was the first single released by Lennon outside of the Beatles, with whom he was still active. Although an independent composition and release by Lennon, his Beatles writing partner Paul McCartney was still credited, as both a contractual and personal agreement of sharing credit. There is written and photographic evidence to suggest, however, that the original Plastic Ono Band was a sound and light installation set up in the Apple press office. In the 26 July 1969 edition of "Disc and Music Echo", Derek Taylor, the Beatles press officer, wrote the following article:


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: The band was made in perspex in Hoylake, in Cheshire (where Selwyn Lloyd and I were brought up separately) by an inventor I know called Charles Melling. It was Yoko's idea, with John, made to her specifications; four pieces – like John, Paul, George and Ringo, three taller and one shorter. Two rectangular, one cylindrical and a cube. One column holds a tape-recorder and amplifier, another a closed circuit TV set with live camera, a third a record player with amplifier, and the fourth has a miniature light show and a loud speaker. But they could hold anything, they are as adaptable as the Beatles. The perspex columns were fitted with their equipment by Apple electronics under the direction of (Magic) Alexis Mardas and here ends the first and last technological press release you will have from me.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: The single was preceded by a press launch for the Plastic Ono Band on 3 July. According to Ono, the name was coined by Lennon as a result of Ono's use of plastic stands for recording. Press material outlined the "band" as a conceptual movement, not limited to a strict membership like a normal group. Lennon and Ono also stated that the audience were members, with the accompanying slogan "YOU are the Plastic Ono Band".


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: The Plastic Ono Band remained dormant for most of the summer of 1969 as the Beatles worked on completing "Abbey Road". On 12 September, Lennon received a call from John Brower, organizer of the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival (set to occur the following day), offering Lennon free attendance to the festival in order to boost its profile. Lennon offered instead to perform at the festival. Brower agreed, and Lennon quickly assembled a band. He initially approached Beatles bandmate George Harrison to play lead guitar, but Harrison turned him down. On Harrison's recommendation, Lennon recruited Eric Clapton for the role; bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Alan White filled out the first performing line-up of the Plastic Ono Band. While organising the band, Lennon privately decided to leave the Beatles, due to longstanding tensions in the group. The band rehearsed on the plane to Toronto, and performed both rock songs sung by Lennon and experimental pieces led by Ono. A recording of the show was released in December as "Live Peace in Toronto 1969", the first LP credited to the Plastic Ono Band.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: On 20 September, Lennon revealed to the other Beatles that he was leaving the band, although it was not revealed publicly at the time. A few days later, the Plastic Ono Band began recording their next single. "Cold Turkey" had been initially presented by Lennon as a potential Beatles single, but this was rejected by McCartney. "Cold Turkey" and its B-side "Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking for Her Hand in the Snow)" featured a Plastic Ono Band almost identical to the Toronto line-up except White was replaced by Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. The writing credit for "Cold Turkey" contained only Lennon's name, reflecting his split with McCartney and the Beatles.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: Following the release of the "Cold Turkey" single, Lennon began preparations for a follow-up. On 26 November, he mixed "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" and "What's the New Mary Jane", for release as a single. Both songs were old Beatles recordings. "You Know My Name" dated initially from 1967, with further work by Lennon and McCartney in 1969. The B-side was a 1968 Lennon song recorded by him, Harrison and Ono, and originally intended for inclusion on the White Album. The single was put on hold by EMI, and was ultimately cancelled, possibly due to objections from the Beatles.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: On 15 December, the Plastic Ono Band took part in a benefit concert for UNICEF at the Lyceum Ballroom in London, titled "Peace for Christmas". With 48 hours' notice, Lennon and Ono assembled the Toronto line-up of Clapton, Voormann and White; Clapton brought along Harrison, Billy Preston and the Delaney & Bonnie and Friends touring group, with whom they were touring at the time. In addition to Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, the group included saxophonist Bobby Keys, drummer Jim Gordon and trumpet player Jim Price. Keith Moon of the Who also joined the performance. Lennon later referred to this line-up as "the Plastic Ono Supergroup". Following the Lyceum show, Lennon and Ono engaged in a media blitz and advertising campaign for peace, taking out billboards in major cities saying "WAR IS OVER! If You Want It – Happy Christmas from John & Yoko".


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: The new year saw the Plastic Ono Band reconvening to record another single. "Instant Karma!" was written and recorded on 27 January 1970, fulfilling Lennon's idea for an instant single. Lennon, Ono, George Harrison, Klaus Voormann, Alan White and Billy Preston, along with backing vocalists recruited from a nearby pub, composed the POB for the session. On Harrison's suggestion, American producer Phil Spector was hired, beginning a working relationship that extended for several years into both his and Lennon's careers. "Instant Karma!", backed with Ono's "Who Has Seen the Wind?", was released just over a week later. The single was credited to "Lennon/Ono with the Plastic Ono Band", in contrast to earlier releases, which were credited to the band alone.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: During the summer of 1970, Lennon and Ono undertook primal therapy under the guidance of Arthur Janov in Los Angeles. This therapy had a great effect on Lennon's writing. In the meantime, the Beatles had publicly broken up, and the pair returned to London at the end of September to begin recording on a pair of studio albums, "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" and "Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band". The core of the Plastic Ono Band backing the two was Klaus Voormann on bass and Ringo Starr on drums. Phil Spector co-produced Lennon's record, and he and Billy Preston played keyboards on some tracks. George Harrison contributed sitar to Ono's album. Lennon's record consisted of straightforward, stripped down rock, while Ono's featured experimental and avant-garde music. Both albums were released on 11 December. The single "Mother" / "Why" was issued, the songs coming from "John Lennon" and "Yoko Ono" respectively. In early 1971, Lennon recorded "Power to the People" with a line-up of Billy Preston, Bobby Keys, Klaus Voormann and Alan White. Ono's B-side "Open Your Box" featured Voormann and Jim Gordon. The single was released in March, with the sides credited to "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" and "Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band" respectively.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: In the spring and summer of 1971, Lennon and Ono recorded their respective albums "Imagine" and "Fly". Using the same "John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band" and "Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band" artist credits, the albums featured contributions from George Harrison, Nicky Hopkins, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, Jim Keltner and Jim Gordon, and Phil Spector co-produced "Imagine". On 6 June, Lennon and Ono performed with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in New York City, later dubbing the collaboration "John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with The Mothers of Invention".


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: The next use of the Plastic Ono Band name was the 1971 Christmas single "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)". Credited to "John & Yoko/The Plastic Ono Band", the recording featured drummer Jim Keltner, pianist Nicky Hopkins and guitarists Hugh McCracken, Chris Osbourne (who had played on "Fly"), Teddy Irwin and Stuart Scharf. The B-side, "Listen, the Snow Is Falling", featured the same musicians as "Happy Xmas", with the addition of Klaus Voormann on bass. Co-produced by Phil Spector, the single was issued on 1 December.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: Lennon and Ono left the UK to settle in New York City during the fall of 1971. In Greenwich Village, the couple became more politically active and began writing protest songs. These songs became the basis for their next album, "Some Time in New York City". As backing, they enlisted the help of New York band Elephant's Memory, consisting of guitarist Wayne 'Tex' Gabriel, bassist Gary Van Scyoc, saxophonist Stan Bronstein, keyboardist Adam Ippolito, keyboardist John La Boosca, and drummer Richard Frank, Jr. Phil Spector co-produced, and Jim Keltner also played on the album. The album was released on 12 June 1972, credited to "John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with Elephant's Memory plus Invisible Strings". "Some Time in New York City" included a second disc, titled "Live Jam", consisting of the recordings from the 1969 Peace for Christmas concert and, with bass overdubs by Klaus Voormann, the 1971 performance with Frank Zappa.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: Ono and Lennon continued to work with Elephant's Memory throughout 1972. On 30 August, as the Plastic Ono Elephant's Memory Band (which also included Jim Keltner), they performed two "One to One" benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden. The event was organised by Geraldo Rivera to raise money for children with mental challenges. By this time, La Boosca had left Elephant's Memory, and the concerts saw the addition of John Ward on bass. The shows were filmed and recorded, and released in February 1986 as the album "Live in New York City". They also performed at the "Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon".


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: The last collaboration between the Plastic Ono Band and Elephant's Memory was Ono's double album "Approximately Infinite Universe". It was recorded throughout the fall of 1972, and was released in January 1973.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: By the beginning of 1973, recording had begun on Ono's next album, "Feeling the Space", featuring a new group of studio musicians. This incarnation of the Plastic Ono Band featured guitarist David Spinozza, keyboardist Ken Ascher, bassist Gordon Edwards, percussionists Arthur Jenkins and David Friedman, saxophonist Michael Brecker, pedal steel guitarist Sneaky Pete Kleinow, as well as regular contributor Jim Keltner. The album was released in November.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: Throughout 1973, Lennon and Ono's relationship became strained. By August, the two had begun a period of separation that Lennon called "the Lost Weekend". Lennon recorded "Mind Games", using the same players as on "Feeling the Space", dubbed "the Plastic U.F.Ono Band". Around the time of the album's release in November, Lennon moved to Los Angeles with new lover May Pang. In October, Lennon began the recording of an album of rock 'n' roll oldies (a contractual obligation due to a lawsuit). The sessions featured many Plastic Ono Band regulars (including much of the "U.F.Ono Band", Klaus Voormann, and Phil Spector as producer), but when released in 1975 as "Rock 'n' Roll", the album was credited to Lennon alone.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: The sessions for "Rock 'n' Roll" were extremely troubled and were abandoned until a later date. In July 1974, Lennon returned to New York to record "Walls and Bridges". The new "Plastic Ono Nuclear Band" featured Jim Keltner, Kenneth Ascher and Arthur Jenkins continuing from "Mind Games", the returns of Klaus Voormann, Nicky Hopkins and Bobby Keys, and the addition of guitarists Jesse Ed Davis and Eddie Mottau. Recording was completed in August, and the album was released in September.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: "Walls and Bridges" was the last release of new material by the Plastic Ono Band in the 1970s. Lennon subsequently returned to his marriage with Ono and retired from music following the birth of his son Sean in October 1975. That same month, Lennon issued the compilation "Shaved Fish", his last release to be credited to the Plastic Ono Band.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: In 2009, Yoko Ono revived the Plastic Ono Band name with the 2009 EP "Don't Stop Me!", a preview of the album "Between My Head and the Sky". Both albums, and subsequent activities, are credited to the "Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band". The core members of the new Plastic Ono Band were Sean Lennon (the son of Ono and Lennon), Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada) and Yuka Honda. From 2009, the band performed live concerts, with additional members including bassist Shimmy Hirotaka Shimizu, horn player Michael Leonhart, cellist Erik Friedlander and drummer Yuko Araki. They also performed with many guest performers, including Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Bette Midler, Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Scissor Sisters, Harper Simon, Paul Simon and Gene Ween.


title: Plastic Ono Band

text: In 2010, at a concert titled "We Are the Plastic Ono Band", Ono and Sean Lennon reunited with Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Jim Keltner. In 2011, Ono and Lennon collaborated with the Flaming Lips on an EP entitled "The Flaming Lips with Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band". The latest release from the Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band is the 2013 album "Take Me to the Land of Hell". The Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band continued to make live appearances into 2015.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: Lena Johanna Therese Meyer-Landrut (; born 23 May 1991), also known by the mononym Lena, is a German singer. She rose to fame after representing Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Oslo, winning the contest with her song "Satellite". Both "Satellite" and her debut album "My Cassette Player" (2010) debuted at number one in Germany and became platinum sellers. With her three entries from the German national final "Unser Star für Oslo", Meyer-Landrut set an all-time chart record in her home country by debuting with three songs in the top five of the German Singles Chart. She represented Germany for the second consecutive time in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf with the song "Taken by a Stranger", finishing in tenth place.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: Meyer-Landrut followed this with a series of successful albums, including "Good News" (2011), "Stardust" (2012), "Crystal Sky" (2015) and "Only Love, L" (2019), all of which entered the top two of the German Albums Chart. Several singles from these albums became top ten hits on the pop charts throughout German-speaking Europe, including "Stardust" and "Wild & Free." One of the best-selling female German artists to emerge in the early 2010s, Meyer-Landrut has won several high-profile prizes as a recording artist such as the 1LIVE Krone, a Comet, the Radio Regenbogen Award, three Echo Music Awards, and five MTV Europe Music Awards.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: Beyond her music career, Meyer-Landrut has been featured as a coach on seven seasons of the reality competition television series "The Voice Kids" as well as an expert panel member for the Eurovision Song Contest on several occasions. In 2017, she joined the cast of the fourth season of "Sing meinen Song – Das Tauschkonzert", the German version of the series "The Best Singers" whose accompanying compilation album topped the Austrian and German Albums Chart. In addition, Meyer-Landrut has also voiced characters in audiobooks and animated films, including "" (2010), "Tarzan" (2013), "Trolls" (2016) and "Wonder Park" (2019), and has been a brand ambassador for L'Oréal hair coloring and skin care products.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: Lena Meyer-Landrut was born in Hanover, Germany, on 23 May 1991. She is the granddaughter of Andreas Meyer-Landrut, the Baltic German-born West German ambassador to the Soviet Union in Moscow from 1980 to 1983 and 1987 to 1989, and Hanna Karatsony von Hodos who was born in Bratislava, Slovakia of Hungarian nobility. She grew up as an only child, and started taking dancing lessons at the age of five; initially doing ballet and later practicing various modern styles, including hip-hop and jazz dance. Meyer-Landrut grew fond of singing and appeared as an extra in a number of German television series, though she never received any formal acting or vocal training. In June 2010 she graduated from IGS Roderbruch Hannover, a comprehensive school, receiving her Abitur diploma.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: Meyer-Landrut decided to take part in the talent show "Unser Star für Oslo", a newly created national television programme to select the German entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. The show was organised by public broadcaster ARD and private television station ProSieben, as well as entertainer, music producer and former Eurovision entrant Stefan Raab. From 4,500 entrants, Meyer-Landrut was picked as one of the 20 contestants for the show. Asked about her motivation to apply, she said, "I like to test myself. I wanted to see how I am perceived, and I wanted to hear what people with knowledge have to say about it. I personally can't judge myself at all." After her first appearance, performing "My Same" by British singer Adele, Meyer-Landrut received much praise from the show's jury panel and was instantly considered the favourite. The following week, Adele's "My Same" entered the German singles chart at number 61. Meyer-Landrut reached the final of "Unser Star für Oslo", mainly performing lesser-known songs by international artists The Bird and the Bee, Kate Nash, Paolo Nutini and Lisa Mitchell. Of her eight cover performances, five of the original songs subsequently charted in Germany, with all but "Foundations" reaching their peak chart position. In the final, on 12 March 2010, Meyer-Landrut sang three songs specifically written for the contest, "Bee", "Satellite" and "Love Me". Through televoting the audience chose "Satellite", written by American Julie Frost and Dane John Gordon, to be her designated song in the event she won the show. In a second round of voting Meyer-Landrut was chosen as Germany's entry for the 55th Eurovision Song Contest, beating the last remaining contestant, Jennifer Braun.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: Throughout the show, Meyer-Landrut was seen as the clear favourite. One day after winning "Unser Star für Oslo", her three songs from the finals topped the German iTunes Store sales chart, making her the first singer to accomplish this. "Satellite" sold over 100,000 downloads in its first week, becoming Germany's fastest-selling digital release ever. Her three songs entered the top five of the German singles chart reaching positions one, three and four. No artist had achieved this since the charts were first established in Germany in 1959. "Satellite" was certified gold after the first week and platinum after the fourth week of its release. The song remained at number one for five consecutive weeks in Germany. The music video for "Satellite" was shot during the night of the final and premiered on German television stations four days later. While competing at "Unser Star für Oslo", Meyer-Landrut continued to attend school. The last show was held one month before the start of her final exams. Following them she released her debut album, "My Cassette Player", on 7 May 2010. Produced by Stefan Raab, it


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: includes the singles "Satellite", "Love Me" and "Bee", as well as two cover songs and eight unreleased titles. Meyer-Landrut is credited as a co-writer for the lyrics of five songs. The album debuted at number one on the German albums chart. It peaked at number one on the Austrian albums chart, and at number three on the Swiss albums chart. "Satellite" has been certified double Platinum, and the album has been certified five times Gold for sales of over 500,000 units.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: Representing a "Big Four" country, Meyer-Landrut automatically qualified for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. Germany received a wild card during the running order draw, allowing the German representatives to choose the country's position for the final. They chose position 22 out of the 25 spots. Meyer-Landrut arrived in Oslo one week before the show and completed five rehearsals of her song "Satellite". Before the final, she was considered one of the favourites. Bookmakers regarded her as the second favourite behind Azerbaijan's Safura, while Google projected she would win based on search volume in the participating countries. According to Norway's "Aftenposten" she received the most media attention of all the participants. The final was held on 29 May 2010 at Oslo's Telenor Arena. Appearing fourth from last, Meyer-Landrut wore a simple black dress and performed on a bare stage with four backing singers. Her pared-back presentation was a break from recent Eurovision trends, as it did not feature any choreography, dancers or an elaborate stage show. "Satellite" received a total of 246 points, giving Germany its first win since 1982, and the first victory as a unified country. The song won over Turkey's entry "We Could Be the Same" with a margin of 76 points, the second largest in Eurovision history, second only to Alexander Rybak's margin of 169 points in the 2009 contest. (It would later be eclipsed by Loreen's victory in 2012, sporting a margin of 113 points). "Satellite" was awarded the maximum of 12 points nine times and received points from all but five countries. The BBC called "Satellite" the first "contemporary pop hit Eurovision has produced in decades," ushering in "a new era for the annual music jamboree". Meyer-Landrut's victory received much attention in Germany and the show was seen by 15 million viewers on German television (a 49.1 percent market share). She returned to Hanover the following day, where she was greeted by 40,000 people. In June, "Satellite" regained the top spot on the German singles chart for one week and also peaked at number one in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. It also topped the European Hot 100 singles chart—the first Eurovision song to do so.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: In June 2010 in the German dubbed version of the computer-animated film "", Meyer-Landrut provided the voice for the character originally spoken by Isabelle Fuhrman. In January 2011, the TV-Show "Unser Song für Deutschland" was held and Meyer-Landrut's 2011 Eurovision song was determined via televoting. The twelve songs Meyer-Landrut performed during that show were recorded on her second studio album "Good News," which was released on 8 February 2011. The album reached Gold status in Germany within one week after its release. On 18 February 2011, the "Unser Song für Deutschland" final was held. It was decided through televoting that Meyer-Landrut would perform the entry "Taken by a Stranger" in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. In April 2011, she went on her first German tour of the largest concert halls in Berlin, Hanover, Frankfurt, Dortmund, Leipzig, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart and Cologne, though the concerts were not sold out. In May 2011, Meyer-Landrut attempted to defend her title for the second consecutive time in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest at Düsseldorf. She was the third winner to do so, and the first in over 50 years. She sang the song "Taken by a Stranger", placing 10th. She also appeared in the opening performance of the show, less than an hour before she took the stage to represent Germany.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: On 24 May 2012, Meyer-Landrut performed as part of the interval act during the second semi-finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. She was joined by the five Eurovision winners from 2007 to 2011, which included Marija Šerifović, Dima Bilan, Alexander Rybak, and Ell & Nikki. Meyer-Landrut, Marija, Dima and Alexander performed their winning song entries accompanied by traditional Azeri instruments, and were joined by Ell & Nikki for a rendition of "Waterloo". In late July and early August she went on a promotion tour called "Lenas Wohnzimmer", which took her to Munich, Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin. She performed several of her new songs. Since October 2012 she has performed the theme song in the opening credits of "Sesamstraße", the German version of "Sesame Street" accompanied by Elmo on trumpet. Also that year, Meyer-Landrut covered the Pippi Longstocking song "Sjörövar Fabbe" ("Seeräuber-Opa Fabian") for the compilation album "Giraffenaffen" in November 2012.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: On 21 September, "Stardust", the first single from her new album of the same name, was released. A commercial success, it was certified Gold for selling 150,000 copies. The album was released on 12 October and debuted at number two on the German Albums Chart. It produced two further singles, including "Neon (Lonely People)" and "Mr. Arrow Key". Meyer-Landrut attended the 2013 Echo Awards on 21 March. She was nominated for two categories—Best National Video for "Stardust", and as Best National Female Artist. She won the Best National Video award, but lost the Best Female National Artist award to singer Ivy Quainoo. Meyer-Landrut went on a club tour through thirteen German cities starting in Stuttgart on 2 April 2013 and finishing in Offenbach am Main on 21 April. The final concert was streamed live via the Internet. The No One Can Catch Us Tour name was taken from a line on her first single from the album, "Stardust". In April and May 2013 she was one of three judges on the show "The Voice Kids" alongside Tim Bendzko and Henning Wehland.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: Meyer-Landrut was president of the German jury, also including Carolin Niemczyk, Alina Süggeler, Tim Bendzko and Florian Silbereisen, and the spokesperson for Germany, revealing the countries voting results at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 final on 18 May. In July 2013, it was announced that she would be the German voice of Jane in the motion capture animated film "Tarzan 3D", which was released in German cinemas in February 2014. In the same month she dubbed the voice of three characters in the two audiobooks "Giraffenaffen – Wir sind da!" and "Giraffenaffen – Die Schatzssuche", which were both published in October 2013. Meyer-Landrut re-united with her Eurovision mentor Stefan Raab in October 2013 when she was featured on "Revolution", a single released by Raab's band Dicks on Fire. In June 2013, this song was used for a video promoting the Doosh shower head Doosh, invented by Stefan Raab. In it Lena poses as Lara Croft in the shower. In 2013 she became a L'Oréal hair coloring and skin care products brand ambassador.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: From March to May 2014 Meyer-Landrut returned as coach for the second season of "The Voice Kids" along with Henning Wehland from Söhne Mannheims and Johannes Strate from Revolverheld. Around the same time, she began principal work on her fourth studio album "Crystal Sky". Taking her sound further into the electro and dance pop genre, she worked with the English production and songwriting team Biffco, and the Berlin-based collective Beatgees on most of the album. In November 2014, one of their collaborations, the children's song "Schlaft alle", appeared on the compilation album "Giraffenaffen 3". The same month, Meyer-Landrut's rendition of the Aladdin song "A Whole New World" was included on the compilation album "I Love Disney".


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: From February to April 2015 Meyer-Landrut reprised her role as a coach on the third season of "The Voice Kids" along with singers Strate and Mark Forster. After four press concerts in Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, and Cologne from late February to early March 2015 she released "Crystal Sky"s first single "Traffic Lights" to radio in March 2015. It reached the top twenty of the German Singles Chart. "Crystal Sky" was released in May 2015. It marked her fourth consecutive album to reach the top two of the German Albums Chart. But it was less successful in Austria and Switzerland, where it failed to reach the top twenty on both music markets' charts. In September 2015, Meyer-Landrut released "Wild & Free", the theme song for the motion picture "Fack ju Göhte 2" as a single. The song peaked at number eight on the German Singles Chart, becoming her highest-charting single in three years.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: After taking a little break, in December 2016, Meyer-Landrut revealed on her Twitter account that her forthcoming fifth studio album would be called "Gemini" and that she had already began working on it. In April 2017, she released the single "Lost in You", which reached number 58 in Germany. The following month, Meyer-Landrut participated in the fourth season of the German TV show "Sing meinen Song - Das Tauschkonzert", the German version of the series "The Best Singers". In its third episode, she premiered the previously unreleased song "If I Wasn't Your Daughter". German press instantly discussed the song's content, which refers to Lena's relationship with her father who left the family when she was two. The song reached the top forty in Germany and Switzerland where it became her highest-charting single since 2015's "Wild & Free". A "Sing meinen Song" compilation album, released in May 2016, topped the Austrian and German Albums Chart. In August 2017, Lena collaborated with the German hip hop group Genetikk on the song "Lang lebe die Gang". In November 2017, Meyer-Landrut stated via YouTube that she had scrapped the entire "Gemini" album, because she was not happy with it.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: In June 2018, Meyer-Landrut collaborated with DJ Topic and Spanish DJ Juan Magán on the single "Sólo Contigo". In October, it was revealed, that she would return as a coach on the seventh season of "The Voice Kids". In November 2018, Lena released "Thank You" as the lead single from her fifth studio album "Only Love, L". The song debuted and peaked at number 40 in Germany. On 15 March 2019, "Don't Lie to Me" was released as the album's second single. The song debuted and peaked at number 63 in Germany. The song "Sex in the Morning" featuring Ramz was released on 29 March 2019. Released on 5 April 2019, "Only Love, L" peaked at number 2 in Germany.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: The "More Love Edition" of "Only Love, L" was released on 6 December 2019. It featured the songs "Better" and "It Takes Two", as well as acoustic versions of "Thank You", "Don't Lie to Me", "Skinny Bitch" and "Better".


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: Meyer-Landrut has been noted for her unconventional way of handling the press, which has been labelled "aloof" as well as "quick-witted" and "intuitive". She usually refuses to answer questions about her private life, including her family, friends and personal beliefs, sometimes calling questions "stupid" or responding with counterquestions instead. This has drawn praise as well as criticism, including allegations of being arrogant and disrespectful.


title: Lena Meyer-Landrut

text: Meyer-Landrut's demeanour has been described as "carefree", and "laid-back and self-effacing". She has been said to possess an "adequate youthful megalomania," to "cultivate her forwardness" and to stand for "unadorned genuineness" and "sincerity". She has also been described as giving "infatuation a rhythm" and blurring the "fine line between puppy love and psychotic obsession" in her song "Satellite". Her vocals have been both praised and criticised. In an attempt to explain Meyer-Landrut's success, her appearance has been called a "mix of loveliness, professionalism and a little craziness". She has also been lauded for her stage presence and charisma.


title: Leap second

text: A leap second is a one-second adjustment that is occasionally applied to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), to accommodate the difference between precise time (International Atomic Time (TAI), as measured by atomic clocks) and imprecise observed solar time (UT1), which varies due to irregularities and long-term slowdown in the Earth's rotation. The UTC time standard, widely used for international timekeeping and as the reference for civil time in most countries, uses TAI and consequently would run ahead of observed solar time unless it is reset to UT1 as needed. The leap second facility exists to provide this adjustment. The leap second was introduced in 1972 and since then 27 leap seconds have been added to UTC.


title: Leap second

text: Because the Earth's rotation speed varies in response to climatic and geological events, UTC leap seconds are irregularly spaced and unpredictable. Insertion of each UTC leap second is usually decided about six months in advance by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), to ensure that the difference between the UTC and UT1 readings will never exceed 0.9 seconds.


title: Leap second

text: This practice has proven disruptive, particularly in the twenty-first century and especially in services that depend on precise timestamping or time-critical process control. The International Telecommunication Union was considering in 2015 whether or not to continue the practice. In November 2022 at the 27th General Conference on Weights and Measures, it was decided to abandon the leap second by or before 2035. From then the difference between atomic and astronomical time will be allowed to grow to a larger value yet to be determined. A suggested possible future measure would be to let the discrepancy increase to a full minute, which would take 50 to 100 years, and then have the last minute of the day taking two minutes in a "kind of smear" with no discontinuity.


title: Leap second

text: In about , Ptolemy, the Alexandrian astronomer, sexagesimally subdivided both the mean solar day and the true solar day to at least six places after the sexagesimal point, and he used simple fractions of both the equinoctial hour and the seasonal hour, none of which resemble the modern second. Muslim scholars, including al-Biruni in 1000, subdivided the mean solar day into 24 equinoctial hours, each of which was subdivided sexagesimally, that is into the units of minute, second, third, fourth and fifth, creating the modern second as of the mean solar day in the process. With this definition, the second was proposed in 1874 as the base unit of time in the CGS system of units. Soon afterwards Simon Newcomb and others discovered that Earth's rotation period varied irregularly, so in 1952, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) defined the second as a fraction of the sidereal year. In 1955, considering the tropical year to be more fundamental than the sidereal year, the IAU redefined the second as the fraction of the 1900.0 mean tropical year. In 1956, a slightly more precise value of was adopted for the definition of the second by the International Committee for Weights and Measures, and in 1960 by the General Conference on Weights and Measures, becoming a part of the International System of Units (SI).


title: Leap second

text: Eventually, this definition too was found to be inadequate for precise time measurements, so in 1967, the SI second was again redefined as 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation emitted by a caesium-133 atom in the transition between the two hyperfine levels of its ground state. That value agreed to 1 part in 10 with the astronomical (ephemeris) second then in use. It was also close to of the mean solar day as averaged between years 1750 and 1892.


title: Leap second

text: However, for the past several centuries, the length of the mean solar day has been increasing by about 1.4–1.7 ms per century, depending on the averaging time. By 1961, the mean solar day was already a millisecond or two longer than SI seconds. Therefore, time standards that change the date after precisely SI seconds, such as the International Atomic Time (TAI), would become increasingly ahead of time standards tied to the mean solar day, such as Universal Time (UT).


title: Leap second

text: When the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) standard was instituted in 1960, based on atomic clocks, it was felt necessary to maintain agreement with UT, which, until then, had been the reference for broadcast time services. From 1960 to 1971, the rate of UTC atomic clocks was slowed by the BIH to remain synchronized with UT2, a practice known as the "rubber second". The rate of UTC was decided at the start of each year, and was slower than the rate of atomic time by −150 parts per 10 for 1960–1962, by −130 parts per 10 for 1962–63, by −150 parts per 10 again for 1964–65, and by −300 parts per 10 for 1966–1971. Alongside the shift in rate, an occasional 0.1 s step (0.05 s before 1963) was needed. This predominantly frequency-shifted rate of UTC was broadcast by MSF, WWV, and CHU among other time stations. In 1966, the CCIR approved "stepped atomic time" (SAT), which adjusted atomic time with more frequent 0.2 s adjustments to keep it within 0.1 s of UT2, because it had no rate adjustments. SAT was broadcast by WWVB among other time stations.


title: Leap second

text: In 1972, the leap-second system was introduced so that the UTC seconds could be set exactly equal to the standard SI second, while still maintaining the UTC time of day and changes of UTC date synchronized with those of UT1. By then, the UTC clock was already 10 seconds behind TAI, which had been synchronized with UT1 in 1958, but had been counting true SI seconds since then. After 1972, both clocks have been ticking in SI seconds, so the difference between their displays at any time is 10 seconds plus the total number of leap seconds that have been applied to UTC as of that time; , 27 leap seconds have been applied to UTC, so the difference is 10 + 27 = 37 seconds.


title: Leap second

text: The scheduling of leap seconds was initially delegated to the Bureau International de l'Heure (BIH), but passed to the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) on January 1, 1988. IERS usually decides to apply a leap second whenever the difference between UTC and UT1 approaches 0.6 s, in order to keep the difference between UTC and UT1 from exceeding


title: Leap second

text: The UTC standard allows leap seconds to be applied at the end of any UTC month, with first preference to June and December and second preference to March and September. , all of them have been inserted at the end of either June 30 or December 31. IERS publishes announcements every six months, whether leap seconds are to occur or not, in its "Bulletin C". Such announcements are typically published well in advance of each possible leap second date – usually in early January for June 30 and in early July for December 31. Some time signal broadcasts give voice announcements of an impending leap second.


title: Leap second

text: Between 1972 and 2020, a leap second has been inserted about every 21 months, on average. However, the spacing is quite irregular and apparently increasing: there were no leap seconds in the six-year interval between January 1, 1999, and December 31, 2004, but there were nine leap seconds in the eight years 1972–1979.


title: Leap second

text: Unlike leap days, which begin after February 28, 23:59:59 local time, UTC leap seconds occur simultaneously worldwide; for example, the leap second on December 31, 2005, 23:59:60 UTC was December 31, 2005, 18:59:60 (6:59:60 p.m.) in U.S. Eastern Standard Time and January 1, 2006, 08:59:60 (a.m.) in Japan Standard Time.


title: Leap second

text: When it is mandated, a positive leap second is inserted between second 23:59:59 of a chosen UTC calendar date and second 00:00:00 of the following date. The definition of UTC states that the last day of December and June are preferred, with the last day of March or September as second preference, and the last day of any other month as third preference. All leap seconds (as of 2019) have been scheduled for either June 30 or December 31. The extra second is displayed on UTC clocks as 23:59:60. On clocks that display local time tied to UTC, the leap second may be inserted at the end of some other hour (or half-hour or quarter-hour), depending on the local time zone. A negative leap second would suppress second 23:59:59 of the last day of a chosen month so that second 23:59:58 of that date would be followed immediately by second 00:00:00 of the following date. Since the introduction of leap seconds, the mean solar day has outpaced atomic time only for very brief periods and has not triggered a negative leap second.


title: Leap second

text: Leap seconds are irregularly spaced because the Earth's rotation speed changes irregularly. Indeed, the Earth's rotation is quite unpredictable in the long term, which explains why leap seconds are announced only six months in advance.


title: Leap second

text: A mathematical model of the variations in the length of the solar day was developed by F. R. Stephenson and L. V. Morrison, based on records of eclipses for the period to , telescopic observations of occultations for the period 1623 until 1967 and atomic clocks thereafter. The model shows a steady increase of the mean solar day by per century, plus a periodic shift of about 4 ms amplitude and period of about 1,500 yr. Over the last few centuries, rate of lengthening of the mean solar day has been about per century, being the sum of the periodic component and the overall rate.


title: Leap second

text: The main reason for the slowing down of the Earth's rotation is tidal friction, which alone would lengthen the day by 2.3 ms/century. Other contributing factors are the movement of the Earth's crust relative to its core, changes in mantle convection, and any other events or processes that cause a significant redistribution of mass. These processes change the Earth's moment of inertia, affecting the rate of rotation due to the conservation of angular momentum. Some of these redistributions increase Earth's rotational speed, shorten the solar day and oppose tidal friction. For example, glacial rebound shortens the solar day by 0.6 ms/century and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake is thought to have shortened it by 2.68 microseconds.


title: Leap second

text: It is a mistake, however, to consider leap seconds as indicators of a slowing of Earth's rotation rate; they are indicators of the accumulated difference between atomic time and time measured by Earth rotation. The plot at the top of this section shows that in 1972 the average length of day was approximately seconds and in 2016 it was approximately seconds, indicating an overall increase in Earth's rotation rate over that time period. Positive leap seconds were inserted during that time because the annual average length of day remained greater than SI seconds, not because of any slowing of Earth's rotation rate.


title: Leap second

text: In 2021, it was reported that Earth was spinning faster in 2020 and experienced the 28 shortest days since 1960, each of which lasted less than seconds. This caused engineers worldwide to discuss a negative leap second and other possible timekeeping measures of which some could eliminate leap seconds.


title: Leap second

text: The TAI and UT1 time scales are precisely defined, the former by atomic clocks (and thus independent of Earth's rotation) and the latter by astronomical observations (that measure actual planetary rotation and thus the solar time at the Greenwich meridian). UTC (on which civil time is usually based) is a compromise, stepping with atomic seconds but periodically reset by a leap second to match UT1.


title: Leap second

text: The irregularity and unpredictability of UTC leap seconds is problematic for several areas, especially computing (see below). With increasing requirements for accuracy in automation systems and high-frequency trading, this raises a number of issues, since a leap second represents a jump as much as a million times larger than the accuracy required for industry clocks. Consequently, the long-standing practice of inserting leap seconds is under review by the relevant international standards body.


title: Leap second

text: On July 5, 2005, the Head of the Earth Orientation Center of the IERS sent a notice to IERS Bulletins C and D subscribers, soliciting comments on a U.S. proposal before the ITU-R Study Group 7's WP7-A to eliminate leap seconds from the UTC broadcast standard before 2008 (the ITU-R is responsible for the definition of UTC). It was expected to be considered in November 2005, but the discussion has since been postponed. Under the proposal, leap seconds would be technically replaced by leap hours as an attempt to satisfy the legal requirements of several ITU-R member nations that civil time be astronomically tied to the Sun.


title: Leap second

text: A number of objections to the proposal have been raised. P. Kenneth Seidelmann, editor of the Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac, wrote a letter lamenting the lack of consistent public information about the proposal and adequate justification. Steve Allen of the University of California, Santa Cruz cited what he claimed to be the large impact on astronomers in a "Science News" article. He has an extensive online site devoted to the issues and the history of leap seconds, including a set of references about the proposal and arguments against it.


title: Leap second

text: At the 2014 General Assembly of the International Union of Radio Scientists (URSI), Demetrios Matsakis, the United States Naval Observatory's Chief Scientist for Time Services, presented the reasoning in favor of the redefinition and rebuttals to the arguments made against it. He stressed the practical inability of software programmers to allow for the fact that leap seconds make time appear to go backwards, particularly when most of them do not even know that leap seconds exist. The possibility of leap seconds being a hazard to navigation was presented, as well as the observed effects on commerce.


title: Leap second

text: The United States formulated its position on this matter based upon the advice of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which solicited comments from the general public. This position is in favor of the redefinition.


title: Leap second

text: In 2011, Chunhao Han of the Beijing Global Information Center of Application and Exploration said China had not decided what its vote would be in January 2012, but some Chinese scholars consider it important to maintain a link between civil and astronomical time due to Chinese tradition. The 2012 vote was ultimately deferred. At an ITU/BIPM-sponsored workshop on the leap second, Han expressed his personal view in favor of abolishing the leap second, and similar support for the redefinition was again expressed by Han, along with other Chinese timekeeping scientists, at the URSI General Assembly in 2014.


title: Leap second

text: At a special session of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity Meeting on February 10, 2015, Chunhao Han indicated China was now supporting the elimination of future leap seconds, as were all the other presenting national representatives (from Australia, Japan, and the Republic of Korea). At this meeting, Bruce Warrington (NMI, Australia) and Tsukasa Iwama (NICT, Japan) indicated particular concern for the financial markets due to the leap second occurring in the middle of a workday in their part of the world. Subsequent to the CPM15-2 meeting in March/April 2015 the draft gives four methods which the WRC-15 might use to satisfy Resolution 653 from WRC-12.


title: Leap second

text: Arguments against the proposal include the unknown expense of such a major change and the fact that universal time will no longer correspond to mean solar time. It is also answered that two timescales that do not follow leap seconds are already available, International Atomic Time (TAI) and Global Positioning System (GPS) time. Computers, for example, could use these and convert to UTC or local civil time as necessary for output. Inexpensive GPS timing receivers are readily available, and the satellite broadcasts include the necessary information to convert GPS time to UTC. It is also easy to convert GPS time to TAI, as TAI is always exactly 19 seconds ahead of GPS time. Examples of systems based on GPS time include the CDMA digital cellular systems IS-95 and CDMA2000. In general, computer systems use UTC and synchronize their clocks using Network Time Protocol (NTP). Systems that cannot tolerate disruptions caused by leap seconds can base their time on TAI and use Precision Time Protocol. However, the BIPM has pointed out that this proliferation of timescales leads to confusion.


title: Leap second

text: At the 47th meeting of the Civil Global Positioning System Service Interface Committee in Fort Worth, Texas, in September 2007, it was announced that a mailed vote would go out on stopping leap seconds. The plan for the vote was:


title: Leap second

text: In January 2012, rather than decide yes or no per this plan, the ITU decided to postpone a decision on leap seconds to the World Radiocommunication Conference in November 2015. At this conference, it was again decided to continue using leap seconds, pending further study and consideration at the next conference in 2023.


title: Leap second

text: In October 2014, Włodzimierz Lewandowski, chair of the timing subcommittee of the Civil GPS Interface Service Committee and a member of the ESA Navigation Program Board, presented a CGSIC-endorsed resolution to the ITU that supported the redefinition and described leap seconds as a "hazard to navigation".


title: Leap second

text: Some of the objections to the proposed change have been addressed by its supporters. For example, Felicitas Arias, who, as Director of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM)'s Time, Frequency, and Gravimetry Department, was responsible for generating UTC, noted in a press release that the drift of about one minute every 60–90 years could be compared to the 16-minute annual variation between true solar time and mean solar time, the one hour offset by use of daylight time, and the several-hours offset in certain geographically extra-large time zones.


title: Leap second

text: A proposed alternative to the leap second is the leap hour or leap minute, which requires changes only once every few centuries.


title: Leap second

text: On November 18, 2022, the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) resolved to eliminate leap seconds by 2035.


title: Leap second

text: The year 2035 for eliminating leap seconds was chosen considering Russia's request to extend the timeline, since, unlike the United States's global navigation satellite system, GPS, which does not adjust its time with leap seconds, Russia's system, GLONASS, does adjust its time with leap seconds.


title: Leap second

text: To compute the elapsed time in seconds between two given UTC dates requires the consultation of a table of leap seconds, which needs to be updated whenever a new leap second is announced. Since leap seconds are known only 6 months in advance, time intervals for UTC dates further in the future cannot be computed.


title: Leap second

text: Although BIPM announces a leap second 6 months in advance, most time distribution systems (SNTP, IRIG-B, PTP) announce leap seconds at most 12 hours in advance, sometimes only in the last minute and some even not at all (DNP 03). Clocks that are not regularly synchronized can miss a leap second, but still can claim to be perfectly synchronized.


title: Leap second

text: Not all clocks implement leap seconds in the same manner. Leap seconds in Unix time are commonly implemented by repeating 23:59:59 or adding the time-stamp 23:59:60. Network Time Protocol (SNTP) freezes time during the leap second, some time servers declare "alarm condition". Other schemes "smear" time in the vicinity of a leap second, spreading out the second of change over a longer period. This aims to avoid any negative effects of a substantial (by modern standards) step in time.


title: Leap second

text: The textual representation of a leap second is defined by BIPM as "23:59:60". There are programs that are not familiar with this format and may report an error when dealing with such input.


title: Leap second

text: Most computer operating systems and most time distribution systems represent time with a binary counter indicating the number of seconds elapsed since an arbitrary epoch; for instance, since 00:00:00 in POSIX machines or since 00:00:00 in NTP. This counter does not count positive leap seconds, and has no indicator that a leap second has been inserted, therefore two seconds in sequence will have the same counter value. Some computer operating systems, in particular Linux, assign to the leap second the counter value of the preceding, 23:59:59 second ( sequence), while other computers (and the IRIG-B time distribution) assign to the leap second the counter value of the next, 00:00:00 second ( sequence). Since there is no standard governing this sequence, the timestamp of values sampled at exactly the same time can vary by one second. This may explain flaws in time-critical systems that rely on timestamped values.


title: Leap second

text: Several models of global navigation satellite receivers have software flaws associated with leap seconds:


title: Leap second

text: Several software vendors have distributed software that has not properly functioned with the concept of leap seconds:


title: Leap second

text: There were misplaced concerns that farming equipment using GPS navigation during harvests occurring on December 31, 2016, would be affected by the 2016 leap second. GPS navigation makes use of GPS time, which is not impacted by the leap second.


title: Leap second

text: Due to a software error, the UTC time broadcast by the NavStar GPS system was incorrect by about 13 microseconds on January 25-26, 2016.


title: Leap second

text: The most obvious workaround is to use the TAI scale for all operational purposes and convert to UTC for human-readable text. UTC can always be derived from TAI with a suitable table of leap seconds. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) video/audio industry standards body selected TAI for deriving timestamps of media.


title: Leap second

text: IEC/IEEE 60802 (Time sensitive networks) specifies TAI for all operations. Grid automation is planning to switch to TAI for global distribution of events in electrical grids. Bluetooth mesh networking also uses TAI.


title: Leap second

text: Instead of inserting a leap second at the end of the day, Google servers implement a "leap smear", extending seconds slightly over a 24-hour period centered on the leap second. Amazon followed a similar, but slightly different, pattern for the introduction of the June 30, 2015, leap second, leading to another case of the proliferation of timescales. They later released an NTP service for EC2 instances which performs leap smearing. UTC-SLS was proposed as a version of UTC with linear leap smearing, but it never became standard.


title: Leap second

text: It has been proposed that media clients using the Real-time Transport Protocol inhibit generation or use of NTP timestamps during the leap second and the second preceding it.


title: Leap second

text: NIST has established a special NTP time server to deliver UT1 instead of UTC. Such a server would be particularly useful in the event the ITU resolution passes and leap seconds are no longer inserted. Those astronomical observatories and other users that require UT1 could run off UT1 – although in many cases these users already download UT1-UTC from the IERS, and apply corrections in software.


title: Thomas Anders

text: Bernd Weidung (born 1 March 1963), known by his stage name Thomas Anders, is a German singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the pop duo Modern Talking.


title: Thomas Anders

text: Starting his singing career while still in school, Anders unsuccessfully attempted to establish himself as a Schlager artist for several years. After forming the Eurodisco duo Modern Talking with Dieter Bohlen in 1983, they became a worldwide sensation with their hit "You're My Heart, You're My Soul". They followed up with a string of other hits, namely "You Can Win If You Want", "Cheri, Cheri Lady", "Brother Louie", "Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. for Love)", "Geronimo's Cadillac", and "Jet Airliner", before dissolving in 1987. In 1998, they reunited and produced several new songs such as "You Are Not Alone", "Sexy, Sexy Lover", "No Face, No Name, No Number", "Ready for the Victory", and "TV Makes the Superstar", before dissolving again in 2003. Their controversial break-ups led to several lawsuits and heavy coverage from the German tabloid press. During their two stints together, the duo sold 120 million records worldwide and received numerous sales certifications around the globe.


title: Thomas Anders

text: After the two break-ups of Modern Talking, Anders performed as a solo artist during the 1990s and after 2003. During the first Modern Talking split, he released six studio albums, none of which managed to chart, whereas some singles such as "Love of My Own" achieved mediocre success. Only his Spanish language album "Barcos de Cristal" (1994) proved successful in Argentina, where its eponymous title track climbed to number 1. Following the second break-up, Anders started a more successful solo career, with his album "This Time" (2004) reaching number 14 in Germany and producing number 1 hits in Russia and Turkey. His 2010 album "Strong" reached Platinum status in Russia for sales of more than 650,000 copies. "Two" (2010), a collaboration album with Jörn-Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen reached number 11 in Germany, while his first German language album "Pures Leben" (2017) climbed at number 14.


title: Thomas Anders

text: While being unable to match his success with Modern Talking with his solo career, Anders is considered a musical icon in Eastern Europe, where he is more revered than in his native country and regularly performs stadium tours and on New Year's Eve in Poland. In 2006, the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv made him an honorary professor for "shaping the musical taste of a generation", and he holds the distinction for being the best-selling foreign artist of all time in Russia.


title: Thomas Anders

text: Anders was born in Koblenz, West Germany and grew up in the small village of Mörz, a suburb of Münstermaifeld, with an older brother and a younger sister. His father worked as a civil servant at the local Revenue service agency, while his mother ran a convenience store. He began showing interest in music early as a child, and subsequently took piano and singing lessons. He did his first stage-performance at the age of six, playing Saint Nicholas in a religious children's play. At the age of ten, he entered a singing contest and won against 100 other children. As a prize, he performed over 300 times at a local music hall in Koblenz, offering a variety of children's songs and Schlager music. During his childhood, he performed as "Bernie von der Mosel".


title: Thomas Anders

text: Anders attended in Münstermaifeld. He finished his 'Abitur' in 1982 at in Koblenz, to take advanced music classes.


title: Thomas Anders

text: After that, he studied musicology, publishing and German studies for five semesters at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, with the intention to become a music journalist, all the while trying to become a singer. However, after getting his big break as the lead singer of Modern Talking, he dropped out to focus on his career.


title: Thomas Anders

text: Following a string of performances at several clubs and discothèques, Anders participated in a music contest organized by the radio station Radio Luxembourg in 1979, which he walked away from without earning enough points. Two days after the contest, Anders was offered a record contract by the same jury members of the radio contest. He signed his first record contract with CBS while still in school and took up the stage name of Thomas Anders, performing in the then-popular German Schlager genre. In 1980, at the age of 17, he published his first single, Schlager ballad "Judy", which failed to chart. A year later, he appeared in German TV show "Hätten Sie heut' Zeit für mich?" and performed his second single, "Du weinst um ihn", another Schlager ballad. Again, the song failed to make an impact, as did his third single, "Es war die Nacht der ersten Liebe", an attempt at an upbeat Schlager song. Consequently, he was released by CBS in late 1981.


title: Thomas Anders

text: After finishing school, Anders signed a contract with Hansa Records in 1982. He next released another commercially unsuccessful Schlager ballad, "Ich will nicht dein Leben", produced by fellow Schlager artist .


title: Thomas Anders

text: In 1983, he was approached by Intersong, a subsidiary of Hansa, whether he was interested to record several German Schlager cover versions of English songs. Thus, he was introduced to producer Dieter Bohlen, with whom he recorded "Was macht das schon?", the German cover version of F. R. David's "Pick Up the Phone" and also "Heißkalter Engel", the German cover version of Real Life's "Send Me an Angel". From late 1983 to the mid of 1984 Bohlen produced other tracks for Anders including "Wovon träumst du denn", "Endstation Sehnsucht" and "Es geht mir gut heut' Nacht", which he performed at German TV shows such as "Night Club". As was the case with his previous attempts at Schlager music, however; all of these songs failed to achieve commercial or critical success.


title: Thomas Anders

text: After both Bohlen and Anders had failed to achieve success in the Schlager genre, Bohlen pitched the idea of forming a Eurodisco duo consisting of Anders as lead singer and himself to BMG. The label agreed, however; they invested only little money in the project, resulting in low-budget videos and production. To capitalize on the popularity of the genre, they sang in easily accessible English lyrics, simple and catchy rhythms, and sported then-popular outfits. Modern Talking became an overnight sensation in 1985 when their video for "You're My Heart, You're My Soul", originally released in October of the previous year, was shown in popular German music show "". After that, the song occupied top ten positions in thirty-five countries, including their homeland, where it remained perched at the top of the charts for six consecutive weeks. The single eventually went on to sell eight million copies worldwide, reaching number one in Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, as well as the European Hot 100. The track was then followed by another number-one hit in Germany and Austria, "You Can Win If You Want", which was released in the middle of 1985 from the debut album "The 1st Album". "You Can Win If You Want" eventually went gold and sold well over 250,000 units in Germany alone. The single also peaked at No. 8 in France where it also reached a gold status for sales of 500,000 units The album was certified platinum in Germany for selling over 500,000 units. and reached the top ten in Belgium, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, and Switzerland.


title: Thomas Anders

text: Soon after their second hit, Modern Talking released the single "Cheri, Cheri Lady" which also quickly climbed to the top of the charts in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Norway, meanwhile entering the top ten in Sweden and the Netherlands. The single, being the only track released from their second album "Let's Talk About Love", managed to push the album to a platinum status in West Germany for sales of over 500,000, while the single itself went gold selling well over 250,000 units, as well as being certified silver in France for certified sales of 250,000 units. The success continued with two other number one singles, "Brother Louie" and "Atlantis Is Calling (S.O.S. for Love)" both from the third album "Ready for Romance", giving them five consecutive number one hits in Germany. Both singles also had significant chart success worldwide. "Brother Louie" was their only hit in the UK, where it peaked at No. 4 in the charts and went silver for selling over 250,000 units.<ref name="Modern Talking: UK's Singles/Albums Positions"></ref> It was also certified silver in France for selling over 250,000 units. The song also reached number one in Spain, South Africa and Sweden. The duo also charted high with their sixth single "Geronimo's Cadillac" from the fourth album "In the Middle of Nowhere" and "Jet Airliner" from their fifth album "Romantic Warriors". Both singles reached the German top ten but where especially successful in Spain, where they reached number one and three, respectively. However, neither their fifth, nor their sixth album "In the Garden of Venus" managed to sell well and the latter one's only single "In 100 Years..." only reached number 30 in Germany, while reaching number 4 in Spain. Furthermore, Modern Talking and Anders were especially successful in the Soviet Union, where they were one of the first Western bands allowed to sell their records and perform. During the 80s, the band sold over 60 million copies worldwide.


title: Thomas Anders

text: Due to their lacklusterly received sixth album, Bohlen terminated the project during an interview, while Anders was in Los Angeles. This sparked further animosity between the two, who had had a tumultuous and quarreling relationship even when they were together. According to Bohlen, the main reason for breaking up the group was Anders' then-wife Nora, who refused to have her husband interviewed by female reporters, and constantly demanded huge changes made to shows, videos or recordings, a fact that Anders later admitted in his biography. After a final phone call during which both men heavily insulted each other, they refused to speak with each other for over 10 years. During their break-up, the band released a string of licensed greatest hits albums.


title: Thomas Anders

text: Following the break-up of Modern Talking, Anders and his wife emigrated to the United States, where they were unknown. He then embarked on a world tour, where he performed Modern Talking's hits, covering cities like Budapest, Ljubljana, Potsdam, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Moscow, Viña del Mar and Sun City. After that, he returned to his solo career, which, however, could not match his success with Modern Talking. In 1989, he released his first studio album as a solo artist, "Different". Produced by Gus Dudgeon and Alan Tarney, the pop album abandoned his previous Schlager and Eurodisco attempts, but failed to chart. Nonetheless, its lead single, "Love of My Own" peaked at number 24 in Germany. He recorded an alternative English title track for the animated TV series "Ducktales" by Disney in 1990. In 1991, he released his second studio album, "Whispers", which also failed to chart. "Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)", a cover of the eponymous song by The Stylistics, managed to reach number 73 on the German singles charts. The follow-up album "Down on Sunset", released in 1992, produced the single "How Deep is Your Love", which charted at number 71 in Germany, whereas the album again could not chart. Neither did his fourth album, 1993's "When Will I See You Again". The release was helmed by a cover of the song of the same name, which also featured original artists The Three Degrees, and "I'll Love You Forever", which charted at numbers 31 and 79 in Germany, respectively.


title: Thomas Anders

text: After his lackluster success in pop music, Anders decided to experiment with new styles for his next releases and moved back to Koblenz. His fifth studio album "Barcos de Cristal" (1994), was recorded completely in Spanish. In 1995, he released "Souled", a soul album featuring covers of The Beatles, Stephanie Mills, as well as original songs and a duet with The Pointer Sisters. The same year, he portrayed the pop star Ypsilon in the episode "Stockholm Marathon" of the police procedural series "Kommissar Beck". His 1997 live album "Live Concert" featured a jazz band and consisted entirely of jazz covers. However, neither release was commercially successful. Also in 1997, he starred in the musical short film "Phantomschmerz".


title: Thomas Anders

text: Bohlen and Anders had both opposed the recording of a proper greatest hits album for years. In late 1997, Bohlen suggested the recording of a new album instead and contacted Anders, who had signed a contract with Ariola for an eventual comeback several years prior. Combining the idea of a greatest hits album and a new release, it was decided to rerecord and remix their previous songs while adding a few new ones. The rerecording switched their style from Euro disco to the 1990s Eurodance, incorporating techno and additional rap vocals by Eric Singleton. In early 98, the duo officially reunited during popular TV show "Wetten, dass..?" and performed an updated version of "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" It entered the top 5 in number of countries including Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, while entering the top 10 in many others including Sweden and Finland. In Germany, the single entered the top 10 on 6 April 1998, it peaked at number 2 the following week. After spending 10 weeks within the top 10, it eventually earned a platinum-award for selling over 500,000 units in Germany alone. In France, "You're My Heart, You're My Soul '98" peaked at no. 3 eventually earning a gold-award for selling over 250,000 units. "Brother Louie '98" was released in Germany and in other European territories on 20 July 1998. While, the single entered the top-20 in (Germany) and Austria, it managed to enter the top-10 in Sweden and the top-5 in France.<ref name="Chartverfolgung/MODERN TALKING/Single"></ref> In France, "Brother Louie '98" reached a gold status for selling over 250,000 units. The corresponding album "Back For Good" entered the number one position in Germany on 13 April 1998 and spent total of five weeks at the top, it eventually earned 5 gold-awards in Germany alone for selling over 1,250,000 units. "Back For Good" spent total of 54 weeks on the German album chart.<ref name="Chartverfolgung/MODERN TALKING/Longplay"></ref> "Back for Good" was also successful outside of Germany, topping the album charts of many other countries including Sweden, Finland, Norway, Switzerland and Austria. "Back for Good" eventually went on to sell over three million copies in Europe alone, and received various certifications in countries such as Spain, Norway, Latvia, Italy, or Belgium.


title: Thomas Anders

text: Their next albums were still highly successful, albeit not matching the success of "Back for Good". In 2000, the album "Alone", composed entirely of new songs, entered the German album chart at No. 1 on 8 March 1999 and spent four consecutive weeks at the top. After spending total of 27 weeks on the album chart, "Alone" eventually went platinum, shipping more than 500,000 units in Germany. Furthermore, the album was certified platinum in Poland, Sweden and Switzerland, while going gold in Spain, Finland and Austria. The singles "Sexy, Sexy Lover" and "You Are Not Alone" were able to enter the top ten and even top five in various European countries. Coinciding with the Chinese calendar, their ninth studio album was titled "Year of the Dragon", being certified platinum in Germany. The lead single "China in Her Eyes" reached number eight in Germany, while going as high as number 6 in Spain. A second song, "No Face, No Name, No Number" proved to be highly popular in Romania and Moldavia, where it reached number 1.


title: Thomas Anders

text: Their 2001 effort, "America", failed to achieve a certification, but produced the hit single "Win the Race", which became the anthem for Formula One in Germany for the 2001 series. The single peaked at No. 5 in Germany on 26 March 2001, exactly one month after its release. With their two final albums, "Victory" (2002) and "Universe" (2003), the band reached gold status in Germany. The singles "Ready for the Victory" and "TV Makes the Superstar" managed to peak at number 7 and 2, respectively.


title: Thomas Anders

text: Aside from performing with Modern Talking, Anders was also active as a producer and songwriter. For German "Big Brother" candidates Jürgen Milski and , he co-wrote "Großer Bruder", which managed to stay at number 1 in Germany for 8 weeks and achieve platinum by selling 800.000 records. Furthermore, he produced girl group The It-Girls with "My Heart It Feels Like (Dub Dub…)" and wrote "Cry for You" for No Angels.


title: Thomas Anders

text: In 2003, Modern Talking dissolved again, again in controversial fashion. After a heavy altercation before a concert in Rostock, Bohlen animously announced the end of the band live on stage, to the shock of Anders and the public. In his 2003 book "Hinter den Kulissen", Bohlen further marginalized Anders' input to their music and accused him of stealing money from him. Anders subsequently sued Bohlen for libel and succeeded in having certain passages removed, but lost the process for compensation in 2005. In his 2011 book "100% Anders", he called the way Bohlen broke the band up and his antics "pathetic", and blamed him for breaking up the duo. Their final release, "The Final Album", a greatest hits album, was released in August 2003.