Art and Music

The arts, modes of expression that use skill or imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others. Traditional categories within the arts include literature (including poetry, drama, story, and so on), the visual arts (painting, drawing,...

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  David Bowie
  David Bowie, British singer, songwriter, and actor who was most prominent in the 1970s and best known for his shifting personae and musical genre hopping. To call Bowie a transitional figure in rock history is less a judgment than a job description. Every niche he ever found was on a cusp, and he…
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  Star Wars
  Star Wars, space opera film series (created by George Lucas) that became one of the most successful and influential franchises in motion picture history. Begun in the 1970s and ’80s and resuscitated at the turn of the 21st century, the Star Wars films continually advanced the field of motion…
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  Donald Trump
  Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States (2017– ). Trump was a real-estate developer and businessman who owned, managed, or licensed his name to several hotels, casinos, golf courses, resorts, and residential properties in the New York City area and around the world. From the 1980s Trump…
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  Adele
  Adele, English pop singer and songwriter whose soulful, emotive voice and traditionally crafted songs made her one of the most broadly popular performers of her generation. Adkins was raised by a young single mother in various working-class neighbourhoods of London. As a child, she enjoyed singing…
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  Charles Perrault
  Charles Perrault, French poet, prose writer, and storyteller, a leading member of the Académie Française, who played a prominent part in a literary controversy known as the quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns. He is best remembered for his collection of fairy stories for children, Contes de ma mère…
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  Leonardo DiCaprio
  Leonardo DiCaprio, American actor and producer, who emerged in the 1990s as one of Hollywood’s leading performers, noted for his portrayals of unconventional and complex characters. DiCaprio first acted at age five, performing on the children’s television show Romper Room, and, as a teenager, he…
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  J.J. Abrams
  J.J. Abrams, American writer, director, and producer who was known for his role in creating several hit television series, including Lost (2004–10), and for his blockbuster action and science-fiction movies, notably Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). Abrams’s father was a producer of…
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  Glenn Frey
  Glenn Frey, (Glenn Lewis Frey), American musician (born Nov. 6, 1948, Detroit, Mich.—died Jan. 18, 2016, New York, N.Y.), was a cofounder, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the country-rock band the Eagles, one of the most-successful musical groups of the 1970s. The Eagles had a string of…
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  Darth Vader
  Darth Vader, film character, lead villain of the popular American science fiction franchise Star Wars. First seen in the movie Star Wars (1977; later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope), the towering, black-clad Darth Vader is a menacing villain. His head is covered by a mechanical helmet,…
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  William Gibson
  William Gibson, American-Canadian writer of science fiction who was the leader of the genre’s cyberpunk movement. Gibson grew up in southwestern Virginia. After dropping out of high school in 1967, he traveled to Canada and eventually settled there, earning a B.A. (1977) from the University of…
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  George Lucas
  George Lucas, American motion-picture director, producer, and screenwriter who created several of the most popular films in history. The son of a small-town stationer and a mother who was often hospitalized for long periods for ill health, Lucas was an early reader of classic adventure stories such…
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  Quentin Tarantino
  Quentin Tarantino, American director and screenwriter whose films are noted for their stylized violence, razor-sharp dialogue, and fascination with film and pop culture. Tarantino worked in a video store in California before selling two screenplays that became True Romance (1993) and Oliver Stone’s…
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  Jennifer Lawrence
  Jennifer Lawrence, American actress who was known for her versatility on-screen and her accessible, honest off-screen persona. At the age of 22 she won the Academy Award for best actress for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook (2012). Lawrence knew from an early age that she wanted to act,…
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  Ludwig van Beethoven
  Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer, the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. Widely regarded as the greatest composer who ever lived, Ludwig van Beethoven dominates a period of musical history as no one else before or since. Rooted in the…
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  Frank Sinatra
  Frank Sinatra, American singer and motion-picture actor who, through a long career and a very public personal life, became one of the most sought-after performers in the entertainment industry; he is often hailed as the greatest American singer of 20th-century popular music. Sinatra’s father,…
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  Justin Bieber
  Justin Bieber, Canadian singer and teen idol whose fresh-faced good looks and appealing pop songs sparked a global craze beginning in 2009. Bieber was raised by a single mother in Stratford, Ontario, and as a child he learned to play the drums, the piano, the guitar, and the trumpet. In 2007 he…
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  Céline Dion
  Céline Dion, French Canadian pop singer, known for her vocal prowess and her passionate showmanship, who achieved international superstardom in the 1990s. Working primarily in the pop ballad tradition, she recorded numerous hit albums in both French and English and was the recipient of several…
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  Natalie Cole
  Natalie Cole, American singer who forged a successful career performing rhythm and blues and jazz-based pop music. The daughter of legendary crooner Nat King Cole, she earned a degree in child psychology from the University of Massachusetts in 1972. Although uncertain about pursuing a career in…
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  Taylor Swift
  Taylor Swift, American pop and country music singer-songwriter whose tales of young heartache achieved widespread success in the early 21st century. Swift showed an interest in music at an early age, and she progressed quickly from roles in children’s theatre to her first appearance before a crowd…
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  Sylvester Stallone
  Sylvester Stallone, American actor, screenwriter, and director who was perhaps best known for creating and starring in the Rocky and Rambo film series, which made him an icon in the action genre. Stallone was born at a charity hospital in the Hell’s Kitchen area of New York City. Forceps used…
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  Kanye West
  Kanye West, American producer, rapper, and fashion designer who parlayed his production success in the late 1990s and early 2000s into a career as a popular, critically acclaimed solo artist. West, the child of a photographer and former Black Panther father and a college professor mother, grew up…
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  The Eagles
  The Eagles, American band that cultivated country rock as the reigning style and sensibility of white youth in the United States during the 1970s. The original members were Don Henley (b. July 22, 1947, Gilmer, Texas, U.S.), Glenn Frey (b. November 6, 1948, Detroit, Michigan—d. January 18, 2016,…
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  Doctor Who
  Doctor Who, British science fiction television series produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The show’s original run lasted 26 years, from 1963 to 1989. Remembered for its primitive special effects and compelling story lines, Doctor Who became a landmark of British popular culture.…
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  The Beatles
  The Beatles, British musical quartet and a global cynosure for the hopes and dreams of a generation that came of age in the 1960s. The principal members were John Lennon (b. October 9, 1940, Liverpool, Merseyside, England—d. December 8, 1980, New York, New York, U.S.), Paul McCartney (in full Sir…
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  Netflix
  Netflix, media-streaming and video-rental company founded in 1997 by American entrepreneurs Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. It is also involved in the creation of original programming. Corporate headquarters are in Los Gatos, California. In 1999 Netflix began offering an online subscription…
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  John Wayne
  John Wayne, major American motion-picture actor who embodied the image of the strong, taciturn cowboy or soldier and who in many ways personified the idealized American values of his era. Marion Morrison was the son of an Iowa pharmacist; he acquired the nickname “Duke” during his youth and billed…
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  One Direction
  One Direction, British-Irish male vocal group whose stylish good looks and bright pop-rock sound captivated young fans around the world in the early 2010s. The members were Niall Horan (b. September 13, 1993, Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland), Zayn Malik (b. January 12, 1993, Bradford, West…
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  Michael Jackson
  Michael Jackson, American singer, songwriter, and dancer who was the most popular entertainer in the world in the early and mid-1980s. Reared in Gary, Indiana, in one of the most acclaimed musical families of the rock era, Michael Jackson was the youngest and most talented of five brothers whom his…
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  Elvis Presley
  Elvis Presley, American popular singer widely known as the “King of Rock and Roll” and one of rock music’s dominant performers from the mid-1950s until his death. Presley grew up dirt-poor in Tupelo, moved to Memphis as a teenager, and, with his family, was off welfare only a few weeks when…
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  William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare, English poet, dramatist, and actor often called the English national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time. Shakespeare occupies a position unique in world literature. Other poets, such as Homer and Dante, and novelists, such as Leo Tolstoy and…