Succes 2011: Tamira Paszek, the No.1 ranked tennis player in Austria

Tamira Shelah Paszek (born December 6, 1990 in Dornbirn, Vorarlberg, Austria) is a professional tennis player from Austria. As of July 4, 2011, she is the no.1 ranked tennis player from Austria in the WTA ranking, at No. 41.

 She was introduced to tennis by her mother, Françoise Paszek, at age four-and-a-half. Her mother is Chilean born, and her father is Ariff Mohamed, who is Tanzanian-born, Kenya-raised and lived in Canada.Both her paternal grandparents are from India.[citation needed] She is currently being coached by Angel Giminez having previously been coached by Larri Passos (former coach of former ATP No.1 Gustavo Kuerten).

As a junior, Paszek was a finalist in the 2005 Girls' Singles Championship at Wimbledon and at the US Open – Girls' Singles in 2006.

In September 2005 she won her first title at an ITF tournament in Sofia. In October of the same year she received a wild card to appear at her first WTA tournament in Linz; she defeated Elena Vesnina in the first round and lost to Ana Ivanović after a tough first set.

In 2006 she passed qualifications in Istanbul, where she lost in the second round to Catalina Castaño; and in Portorož in the Banka Koper Slovenia Open, where she won her first WTA title by defeating number 6 seed Maria Elena Camerin from Italy 7–5 6–1. This was a career-first Tour singles title in only her third Tour main draw. That title made her the youngest Tour singles titlist in 2006 and the seventh-youngest all-time, the youngest winner being Tracy Austin. A month later, at the Zürich Open, she lost to Camerin in the second round of qualifying. She finished 2006 as No. 181 in the WTA rankings.

She started the 2007 WTA Tour at the Australian Open, where she passed qualifications and defeated Top 40 player Séverine Brémond in straight sets in the first round, before losing to No.22 seed Vera Zvonareva.

After her loss to Na Li in the second round of the Miami Masters, she broke the top 100 of the WTA rankings. At the 2007 French Open she was defeated by Justine Henin in the second round 7–5 6–1 after being 5–0 down in the first set.

At Paszek's first grass tournament of her career, she reached the third round in Birmingham, losing to Maria Sharapova in a tight match 6–3 4–6 6–2. At the 2007 Wimbledon Championships she reached the fourth round after beating two seeded players, No.17 seed Tatiana Golovin and No.12 seed Elena Dementieva; she then eventually lost to No.5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets. The win pushed her up 19 spots from #54 to #35, a career high and only a few spots from a guaranteed seeding spot at the US Open.

She also participated at the Fed Cup for Austria in 2007. She won her first two matches in the group stage against Australia but lost both her matches in the World Group play-offs against Israel; a singles match against Shahar Pe'er and a doubles match, partnering Melanie Klaffner.

She debuted on the 2007 US Open, reaching the fourth round, beating on the way #24 and #11 seed, Francesca Schiavone and Patty Schnyder. She lost to #6 seed, Anna Chakvetadze.

Paszek decided against defending her title in the Banka Koper Slovenia Open in Portorož, Slovenia, in favour of the larger China Open tournament in Beijing. However, she was bundled out in the second round by fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva (whom she beat in Wimbledon) 6–2, 6–0 in less than an hour.

At the 2008 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, Paszek made it to the semifinals, losing to veteran Lindsay Davenport 6–4, 6–3. In the first round of the 2008 Australian Open, Paszek played third-seeded Jelena Janković of Serbia in the first round. Paszek easily won the first set 6–2, and Janković went on to win the second set 6–2. In the deciding set, Paszek led 5–3 and had three match points before Janković came back to win the three-hour match 2–6 6–2 12–10.

Following this she lost in the first round of Doha to Patty Schnyder 6–4 6–0. Then she competed for the first time as a seed in a tier 1 tournament in Indian Wells retiring in the third round to Casey Dellacqua being down 6–1 4–0. Then in Miami she was defeated by Anna Chakvetadze in the second round 6–3 6–2.

This started a losing streak of 6 straight matches running through the French Open and Wimbledon. At Wimbledon she lost her second marathon match of the year to Francesca Schiavone 6–3 5–7 10–8. It came to an end in Los Angeles where she defeated Aiko Nakamura only to lose to Flavia Pennetta in the second round.

On July 31, Paszek beat World no.1 Ana Ivanović of Serbia in the third round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal in three sets: 6–2, 1–6, 6–2. In the quarterfinals, she played Victoria Azarenka who defeated her 6–4 7–5. Then she lost in the first round of Cincinnati to Petra Cetkovská. At the US Open she defeated the 23-seed Maria Kirilenko 6–3 3–6 6–4, only then to lose to a lower ranked opponent Magdaléna Rybáriková.

Paszek was runner up in Bali. She reached the final after taking out the 7-seed Flavia Pennetta and the top seed Daniela Hantuchová. She lost the final against Patty Schnyder 3–6 0–6. She then withdrew from the Linz tournament due to injury.

Paszek ended her professional relationship with coach Lari Passos and is now coached by Angel Giminez

2010: In January, Tamira lost in second round of qualifying at tournament in Auckland. After successfully defeating Carly Gullickson 6–3 7–5 she retired in her match against Rebecca Marino after trailing 6–0 1–0. Her next tournament was 2010 Moorilla Hobart International. She scored a big win after defeating Roberta Vinci 6–4 6–3, but she then lost to Gisela Dulko in very long and difficult match with 6–1 0–6 7–6 scor

Her next tournament was 2010 Australian Open where she lost to Julia Görges in first round 6–0 3–6 6–3. At tournament in Paris Tamira lost to eventual runner-up Lucie Šafářová 6–0 6–3.To reach the main draw at 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships, Tamira entered qualifying. She defeated Tsvetana Pironkova in first round, but she lost to Anna-Lena Grönefeld 6–3 7–5. After Dubai she entered in Indian Wells, but she lost to Julie Coin with 6–4 6–3 score. At 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, Tamira beat Anne Keothavong 6–4 6–2, but she lost to 22-th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7–6 4–6 6–3

She lost in early rounds of Marbella, Barcelona and Fes. She didn't enter to 2010 French Open

Instead,Tamira entered 25,000 $ ITF tournament in Izmir, Turkey. She won that tournament beating Çağla Büyükakçay 6–2 6–3. Her next tournament was ITF Budapest. She successfully qualified defetaing Lukacs Vanda and Cepelova Jana, and she reached second round losing to Lenka Wienerová.

She then entered 2010 Wimbledon, qualified but lost to Kurumi Nara in second round 7–5 6–4.

She tried to qualify in Budapest defeating Eleni Danilidou and Jessica Moore but lost to Andreja Klepač 5–7 6–2 6–1. Her next tournament will be 2010 ECM Prague Open. She entered qualifing. Tamira defeated Tadeja Majerič 6–4 6–0 and then crushed first seed Anastasia Rodionova. She than lost to Liana Ungur 2–6 3–2. After losing the first set 6–2, Tamira went to play better breaking Ungur serve and lead 2–0.On the other side Ungur came back broke twice to lead 3–2. Tamira then retired because of heat and stomach inyuri.But,because Gisela Dulko withdrew Tamira gained her chance to enter to the main draw. She faced French star Alizé Cornet and lost 7–6 6–7 6–4 in match that last 3 hours and 40-minutes.

Her next tournament was the 2010 Banka Koper Slovenia Open where she defeated Jelena Kostanić Tošić 7–5 6–2 for her first main draw win since Ponte Vedra Beach in 2009.

After some bad losses in qualifying of the Premier tournaments, Tamira found her form in the 2010 US Open where she entered qualifying. She defeated Michaëlla Krajicek, Koreas Kim So- Jing and Russias Evgeniya Rodina to reach the main draw. In the final qualifying round, Paszek trailed Rodina 2–6 after the first set before coming back to win the second and blank the Russian in the third. In the 1st round of the main draw, she defeated 26th seed Lucie Šafářová despite being down 2–6 1–4 in the second set. She lost to Chan Yung-jan in the second round.

Her next tournament was at the 2010 Bell Challenge. She defeated Marina Erakovic 6–0 6–4 and Jill Craybas in the second round 6–2 6–3.In her first quarter-final of the 2010 she defeated No.8 seed Sofia Arvidsson 6–3 6–4.She than crushed Christina McHale in the semifinal to book her place in the final where she won the title by beating Bethanie Mattek-Sands 7–6(6) 2–6 7–5.

She will be in the 100 rankings again.

2011: Tamira started 2011 ranked No.89 and lost in the first round of Auckland to Sofia Arvidsson. She qualified for Hobart and reached the second round of the main draw before falling to Jarmila Gajdosova. Prior to Wimbledon 2011 Tamira had a standard year before she went on to reach the Quarter Finals of Wimbledon for the first time in her career, defeating world No.7 and 6th seed Francesca Schiavone (her first top 10 win of 2011) in an epic third round match that lasted 3 hours and 42 minutes. Tamira finally prevailed 3–6, 6–4, 11–9 hitting a total of 40 winners to 36 unforced errors. Tamira played Russian Ksenia Pervak in the fourth round. She went on winning, beating Pervak in three sets: 6–2, 2–6, 6–3, reaching the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time. Tamira played number 4 seed Victoria Azarenka in the Quarter Finals of Wimbledon. The match started on Court 1 but was moved to Centre Court after the first game due to rain. Paszek lost in straight sets 6–3, 6–1.

Rush Hour 3 (2007): Jackie Chan

Rush Hour 3 is a 2007 martial arts/action-comedy film, and the third installment in the Rush Hour film series, starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, that began with the 1998 film Rush Hour and continued with the first sequel Rush Hour 2 in 2001. The film was officially announced on May 7, 2006, and filming began on July 4, 2006. The film is set in Paris, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong. Rush Hour 3 was released on August 10, 2007, in USA.

Academy Award-winning film director Roman Polanski co-stars as a French police official involved in Lee and Carter's (Chan and Tucker's characters) case. In her first appearance in an American film, Noémie Lenoir portrays Geneviève, a beautiful stage performer who is one of the main suspects in the case as well as Carter's love interest. Tzi Ma reprises his role as Ambassador Han, Lee's boss and friend who appeared in the first installment. Yvan Attal co-stars as George, a cab driver who becomes Lee and Carter's new sidekick.

The film starts with Carter (Tucker) directing traffic. Concurrently, Chinese Ambassador Han addresses the importance of fighting the Triads at the World Criminal Court, announcing that he may know the whereabouts of Shy Shen, a semi-mythical individual of great importance to the Triads. Before announcing, an assassin shoots and Han takes a bullet in the shoulder, disrupting the conference. Detective Lee (Chan) pursues the shooter and corners him, discovering that the assassin is his Japanese foster brother Kenji (Sanada). When Lee hesitates to shoot Kenji, he makes his escape.
In the hospital, Lee learns that Han will make a full recovery. Han's daughter, Soo-Yung (Zhang), now grown up, arrives and makes Lee and Carter promise to capture the one behind the shooting. She then informs Lee and Carter that her father gave her an envelope which contains important information regarding the Triad, and that the envelope is in her locker at the martial arts studio where she teaches. Lee and Carter make their way to the studio, but find out that a gang of armed men have already arrived and emptied it. The duo are then told by the Master of the studio that Soo-Yung and Han are in danger, and rush back to the hospital

Once the two reach the hospital, a gang of assassins arrive to kill Soo-Yung and Han. Lee and Carter manage to defeat them. They interrogate the leader of the assassins but find that he only speaks French. With the help of a fellow nun Sister Agnes (Dana Ivey), who can speak French, translates for them and Carter and Lee find out that they are marked for death by the Triad along with Soo-Yung and Han. For her protection, they take her to the French Embassy and leave her under the care of Reynard (von Sydow), the French ambassador and the chairman of the World Criminal Court. When a car bomb nearly kills Reynard and Soo-Yung the duo decides to go to Paris to investigate.

In Paris, after getting a painful cavity search from a Parisian commissioner (Polanski) Lee and Carter meet up with George, a taxi driver (Attal), who is prejudiced against Americans. He drives them to a Triad hideout. Once there, Lee fights off a Triad assassin named Jasmine (Kudoh) while Carter meets a beautiful woman whose name is not disclosed (Lenoir). Lee and Carter escape and Reynard later tells Lee that Shy Shen is not a person, but a list of the Triad leaders and reveals that Han's informant knows where to find it. The informant turns out to be Geneviève, the woman Carter met at the gentlemen's club.

After the two locate Geneviève, they save her from an assassination attempt by the Triads and flee to their hotel room. Privately, Carter tries to interrogate Genviève but they find themselves falling in love with each other. However, they are attacked again by Jasmine who sneaks up behind Carter and Genevieve who are about to make love in bed. No longer safe at the hotel, they decide to hide out with George, who now has developed a great appreciation for the United States. Lee and Carter learn that Geneviève not only knows where the list is, but that she is the list. The names of the thirteen Triad leaders have been tattooed on the back of her head, as per tradition, and Geneviève explains that she will be decapitated and buried if the Triads capture her. When Lee and Carter bring Geneviève to Reynard, he accidentally reveals that he has been working with the Triads all along. Kenji calls and informs Lee that he has captured Soo-Yung and that he would like to exchange her for Geneviève.
Lee arrives at the exchange point, the Jules Verne Restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, with Carter disguised as Geneviève. Kenji challenges Lee to a sword fight, during which the two fall off the tower and get caught in a safety net. Kenji's sword cuts the safety net open and it collapses, leaving both men hanging on for dear life. Lee grabs Kenji's arm, intending to save his life. Kenji says his final goodbye to Lee and willingly lets go of him as he falls to his death, saving Lee's life. Lee then manages to climb up to safety. Meanwhile, Carter saves Soo-Yung and they defeat Jasmine who gets stuck between a large wheel and is split in half (off camera).

As Carter and Lee send Soo-Yung down the elevator to safety, they make their escape from the Triads by gliding down to safety with a large French flag. Unfortunately, they are confronted by Reynard, holding Geneviève hostage and threatening to kill her and frame them. However, George, having followed Lee and Carter, shoots Reynard from behind. The police arrive, with the commissioner who earlier gave out the cavity searches gloating and trying to get undeserved credit. After giving the commissioner a team punch to the face, Lee and Carter leave the scene dancing to the song "War" by Edwin Starr.

Succes 2011: Jackie Chan

Jackie Chan (born Chan Kong sang, 陳港生; 7 April 1954) is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, filmmaker, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer.

In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts. Jackie Chan has been acting since the 1960s and has appeared in over 100 films. Chan has received stars on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

As a cultural icon, Chan has been referenced in various pop songs, cartoons, and video games. An operatically trained vocalist, Chan is also a Cantopop and Mandopop star, having released a number of albums and sung many of the theme songs for the films in which he has starred.
In 1976, Jackie Chan received a telegram from Willie Chan, a film producer in the Hong Kong film industry who had been impressed with Jackie's stuntwork. Willie Chan offered him an acting role in a film directed by Lo Wei. Lo had seen Chan's performance in the John Woo film Hand of Death (1976) and planned to model him after Bruce Lee with the film New Fist of Fury.^[10] His stage name was changed to Sing Lung (Chinese: 成龍, also transcribed as Cheng Long,^[16] literally "become the dragon") to emphasise his similarity to Bruce Lee, whose stage name was Lei Siu-lung (Chinese: 李小龍, meaning "Little Dragon"). The film was unsuccessful because Chan was not accustomed to Lee's martial arts style. Despite the film's failure, Lo Wei continued producing films with similar themes, resulting in little improvement at the box office.
Chan's first major breakthrough was the 1978 film Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, shot while he was loaned to Seasonal Film Corporation under a two-picture deal. Under director Yuen Woo-ping, Chan was allowed complete freedom over his stunt work. The film established the comedic kung fu genre, and proved to be a breath of fresh air for the Hong Kong audience.Chan then starred in Drunken Master, which finally propelled him to mainstream success.
Upon Chan's return to Lo Wei's studio, Lo tried to replicate the comedic approach of Drunken Master, producing Half a Loaf of Kung Fu and Spiritual Kung Fu. He also gave Chan the opportunity to co-direct The Fearless Hyena with Kenneth Tsang. When Willie Chan left the company, he advised Jackie to decide for himself whether or not to stay with Lo Wei. During the shooting of Fearless Hyena Part II, Chan broke his contract and joined Golden Harvest, prompting Lo to blackmail Chan with triads, blaming Willie for his star's departure. The dispute was resolved with the help of fellow actor and director Jimmy Wang Yu, allowing Chan to stay with Golden Harvest.

Willie Chan had become Jackie's personal manager and firm friend, and has remained so for over 30 years. He was instrumental in launching Chan's international career, beginning with his first forays into the American film industry in the 1980s. His first Hollywood film was Battle Creek Brawl in 1980. Chan then played a minor role in the 1981 film The Cannonball Run, which grossed US$100 million worldwide. Despite being largely ignored by audiences in favour of established American actors like Burt Reynolds, Chan was impressed by the outtakes shown at the closing credits, inspiring him to include the same device in his future films.
After the commercial failure of The Protector in 1985, Chan temporarily abandoned his attempts to break into the US market, returning his focus to Hong Kong films.
Back in Hong Kong, Chan's films began to reach a larger audience in East Asia, with early successes in the lucrative Japanese market including The Young Master (1980) and Dragon Lord (1982). The Young Master went on to beat previous box office records set by Bruce Lee and established Chan as Hong Kong cinema's top star. With Dragon Lord, he began experimenting with elaborate stunt action sequences,including a pyramid fight scene that holds the record for the most takes for a single scene with 2900 takes, and the final fight scene where he performs various stunts, including one where he does a back flip off a loft and falls to the lower ground.
Chan produced a number of action comedy films with his opera school friends Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. The three co-starred together for the first time in 1983 in Project A, which introduced a dangerous stunt-driven style of martial arts that won it the Best Action Design Award at the third annual Hong Kong Film Awards. Over the following two years, the "Three Brothers" appeared in Wheels on Meals and the original Lucky Stars trilogy. In 1985, Chan made the first Police Story film, a US-influenced action comedy in which Chan performed a number of dangerous stunts. It was named the "Best Film" at the 1986 Hong Kong Film Awards.^[28] In 1987, Chan played "Asian Hawk," an Indiana Jones-esque character, in the film Armour of God. The film was Chan's biggest domestic box office success up to that point, grossing over HK $35 million.

In 1998, Chan released his final film for Golden Harvest, Who Am I? After leaving Golden Harvest in 1999, he produced and starred alongside Shu Qi in Gorgeous a romantic comedy that focused on personal relationships and featured only a few martial arts sequences. Chan then helped create a PlayStation game in 2000 called Jackie Chan Stuntmaster, to which he lent his voice and performed the motion capture. He continued his Hollywood success in 2000 when he teamed up with Owen Wilson in the Western action comedy Shanghai Noon which was also a box office success and spawned the sequel Shanghai Knights (2003). He reunited with Chris Tucker for Rush Hour 2 (2001) which was an even bigger success than the original and experimented with special effects with The Tuxedo (2002) and The Medallion (2003). Despite the success of these films Chan became frustrated with Hollywood over the limited range of roles and lack of control over the film-making process. In response to Golden Harvest's withdrawal from the film industry in 2003, Chan started his own film production company, JCE Movies Limited (Jackie Chan Emperor Movies Limited) in association with Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG). His films have since featured an increasing number of dramatic scenes while continuing to succeed at the box office; examples include New Police Story (2004), The Myth (2005) and the hit film Rob-B-Hood (2006).
Chan's next release was the third installment in the Rush Hour series: Rush Hour 3 in August 2007. It grossed US$255 million. However, it performed poorly in Hong Kong, grossing only HK$3.5 million during its opening weekend.

As Chan had stated years before, there would be a point in his life in which he would have to be modernized and use special effects, and try new different things than martial arts flicks. This began in 2007, with the filming of The Forbidden Kingdom (released in 2008), Chan's first onscreen collaboration with fellow Chinese actor Jet Li, which was completed on 24 August 2007 and the film was released in April 2008. The film featured heavy use of effects and wires. Chan voiced the character Master Monkey in the DreamWorks Animation film, Kung Fu Panda, released in June 2008, appearing with stars Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie. In addition, he has assisted Anthony Szeto in an advisory capacity for the writer-director's film Wushu, released on 1 May 2008. The film stars Sammo Hung and Wang Wenjie as father and son.
In November 2007, Chan began filming Shinjuku Incident, a dramatic role featuring no martial arts sequences with director Derek Yee, which sees Chan take on the role of a Chinese immigrant in Japan.The film was released on 2 April 2009. According to his blog, Chan discussed his wishes to direct a film after completing Shinjuku Incident, something he has not done for a number of years.The film is expected to be the third in the Armour of God series, and has a working title of Armour of God III: Chinese Zodiac. Chan originally stated that he would start filming on 1 April 2008, but that date had passed and the current state of the film is unknown. Because the Screen Actors Guild did not go on strike, Chan started shooting his next Hollywood movie The Spy Next Door at the end of October in New Mexico.^[50] In The Spy Next Door, Chan plays an undercover agent whose cover is blown when he looks after the children of his girlfriend; Chan most likely did the film to appeal to his younger audience in America. In Little Big Soldier, Chan stars, alongside Leehom Wang in a non-martial arts comedy movie based on the Warring States Period.
On 22 June 2009, Chan left Los Angeles to begin filming The Karate Kid, a remake of the 1984 original, in Beijing. The film was released in America on 11 June 2010 and sees Chan's first dramatic American film. In the film, he plays Mr. Han, a kung fu master and maintenance man who teaches Jaden Smith's character, Dre, kung-fu so he can defend himself from school bullies. In Chan's next movie, Shaolin, he plays the cook of the temple instead of one of the major characters.
Jackie Chan's 100th film 1911 will be released in 26 September 2011. He is both the co-director and star of the movie.
Jackie Chan wins Favorite Buttkicker award at the Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards in 2011 for The Karate Kid.

Until recently, Jackie Chan performed all of his own stunts, which are choreographed by the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. He has stated in interviews that the primary inspiration for his more comedic stunts were films such as The General directed by and starring Buster Keaton, who was also known to perform his own stunts. Since its establishment in 1983, Chan has used the team in all his subsequent films to make choreographing easier, given his understanding of each member's abilities. Chan and his team undertake many of the stunts performed by other characters in his films, shooting the scenes so that their faces are obscured.
The dangerous nature of his stunts makes it difficult for Chan to get insurance, especially in the United States, where his stunt work is contractually limited. Chan holds the Guinness World Record for "Most Stunts By A Living Actor", which emphasizes "no insurance company will underwrite Chan's productions, in which he performs all his own stunts".In addition, he holds an unrecognised record for the most number of takes for a single shot in a film, having shot over 2900 retakes for a complex scene involving a Jianzi game in Dragon Lord.
Chan has been injured numerous times attempting stunts; many of them have been shown as outtakes or as bloopers during the closing credits of his films. He came closest to death filming Armour of God, when he fell from a tree and fractured his skull. Over the years, Chan has dislocated his pelvis and broken his fingers, toes, nose, both cheekbones, hips, sternum, neck, ankle and ribs on numerous occasions. Promotional materials for Rumble in the Bronx emphasized that Chan performed all of the stunts, and one version of the movie poster even diagrammed his many injuries.

Until recently, Jackie Chan performed all of his own stunts, which are choreographed by the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. He has stated in interviews that the primary inspiration for his more comedic stunts were films such as The General directed by and starring Buster Keaton, who was also known to perform his own stunts. Since its establishment in 1983, Chan has used the team in all his subsequent films to make choreographing easier, given his understanding of each member's abilities. Chan and his team undertake many of the stunts performed by other characters in his films, shooting the scenes so that their faces are obscured.
The dangerous nature of his stunts makes it difficult for Chan to get insurance, especially in the United States, where his stunt work is contractually limited. Chan holds the Guinness World Record for "Most Stunts By A Living Actor", which emphasizes "no insurance company will underwrite Chan's productions, in which he performs all his own stunts".In addition, he holds an unrecognised record for the most number of takes for a single shot in a film, having shot over 2900 retakes for a complex scene involving a Jianzi game in Dragon Lord.
Chan has been injured numerous times attempting stunts; many of them have been shown as outtakes or as bloopers during the closing credits of his films. He came closest to death filming Armour of God, when he fell from a tree and fractured his skull. Over the years, Chan has dislocated his pelvis and broken his fingers, toes, nose, both cheekbones, hips, sternum, neck, ankle and ribs on numerous occasions. Promotional materials for Rumble in the Bronx emphasized that Chan performed all of the stunts, and one version of the movie poster even diagrammed his many injuries.
Death hoax

Yesterday, early 150,000 Jackie Chan fans have “liked” a page memorializing the action film star… despite the fact Jackie Chan is, in fact, alive and well.
The page, originally called “Jackie Chan R.I.P 08/17/2011″ and now just called “Jackie Chan R.I.P” (perhaps for the next time “Jackie Chan dead” becomes a Twitter trending topic?) has been instrumental in pushing forward this incarnation of the Jackie Chan death hoax. For some reason, Chan can’t stay alive in the internet death hoax rumor mill this year. In March, news of his death spread virally on Twitter, and fans of the Rush Hour star poured out condolences until it became apparent Chan had not died of a heart attack as the rumor claimed.
While the number of Facebook likes on the Jackie Chan death hoax page may seem like a lot, compare it to the actual Jackie Chan fan page, which has 20,161,490 likes. (Chan actually owns the Facebook page for simply “Jackie,” like “Madonna,” or “Cher.”) Were there any official news on Jackie Chan’s health or significant injury, it would certainly turn up on Jackie Chan’s official page rather than some fly by night page that won’t allow access to its wall- a wall that’s probably covered in messages that insist Chan has not died.
38,000+ people have “liked” Chan’s most recent quote on the page, in which he says:

‎”When I work I do it from my heart, and my heart is that I bring love to the world. When I travel around the world I bring my love. I bring so much love in my heart. I hope you can feel that.”
- Jackie

Success 2011: Lee Westwood, the golfer that became the World number 1 in 2010, ending the reign of Tiger Woods

Lee John Westwood OBE (born 24 April 1973) is an English professional golfer. Noted for his consistency, Westwood is one of the few golfers who has won tournaments on every major continent, including victories on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He was named player of the year for the 1998, 2000, and 2009 seasons. He has won the 2000 European Tour Order of Merit, and the renamed 2009 Race to Dubai. He has represented Europe for the last seven consecutive Ryder Cups. In late 2010 Westwood became the World number one golfer, ending the reign of Tiger Woods, and becoming the first British golfer since Nick Faldo in 1994 to hold that position. He held the number one position for a total of 22 weeks.

In 1996 he won his first professional tournament, the Volvo Scandinavian Masters, closely followed by the Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters in Japan. His success continued in 1997 defending his Japanese title and winning the Malaysian Open, the Volvo Masters in Spain, and the Holden Australian Open, beating Greg Norman in a playoff. He also partnered with Nick Faldo in the Ryder Cup that year.

Westwood has won 21 events on the European Tour and has also won tournaments in North America, Africa, Asia and Australia. His most successful year to date has been 2000 when he won seven tournaments worldwide and was ranked first on the European Order of Merit, ending Colin Montgomerie's long run of European Tour dominance.

Westwood took a significant break from the game following the birth of son Samuel Bevan in 2001, and together with a restructuring of his swing under David Leadbetter, led to him being out of contention in tournaments until his 2003 victory in Germany, his 25th worldwide.

Westwood returned to the winners circle in 2007 by winning both the Valle Romano Open de Andalucia and the Quinn Direct British Masters to bring his total European Tour wins to 18. As a result he moved back into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings. Westwood finished the 2007 season with five top 10 finishes in the last five events. He carried this form into the 2008 season, starting with two tied second places and a fifth, moving back into the top 20 in the world rankings. At the Masters, Westwood finished tied for 11th and he narrowly missed out on becoming the first European in 38 years to win the U.S. Open, finishing 3rd on level-par, his best finish in a major. He followed this up in 2009 with two further 3rd place finishes, in the Open and the PGA Championship. In October 2009, Westwood ended his two-year wait for a tournament win by winning the Portugal Masters. This was followed the next month with a win at the Dubai World Championship, which also brought with it the inaugural Race to Dubai title.
Westwood has played in the Gary Player Invitational charity event several times to assist Player raise money for children in need around the world.

Westwood earned a career-best second place at the 2010 Masters Tournament, leading by one shot going into the final day before being overtaken by eventual champion Phil Mickelson. Westwood came through with his 2nd tour victory at the St. Jude Classic the week before the U.S. Open. Westwood claimed another second place finish at the 2010 Open Championship, although he was a distant runner-up to Louis Oosthuizen. Despite the two 2nd place finishes at the season's first three majors, Westwood did not compete in the PGA Championship due to injury.

In May 2011, Westwood contested a playoff at the BMW PGA Championship with fellow Englishman and at the time world number two Luke Donald. On the par five 18th, Donald hit his approach shot into the green leaving six feet for birdie. Westwood attempted to follow him in close to the hole but got too much backspin on his pitch and the ball spun back into the water hazard.

Westwood eventually chipped up from the drop zone and went on to make double bogey. Donald would then hole his birdie putt to win the championship and in the process become the new world number one.

In June 2011, Westwood equalled his best performance at the U.S. Open finishing in a tie for third place at Congressional CC, an event which was dominated by Rory McIlroy. This was the fourth time in his career that Westwood had finished third in a major.

TV Series : Friends (1994–2004) - Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow & Matt LeBlanc

Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television. The original executive producers were Crane, Kauffman and Kevin S. Bright, with numerous others being promoted in later seasons.

Kauffman and Crane began developing Friends under the title Insomnia Cafe in November/December 1993. They presented the idea to Bright, with whom they had previously worked, and together they pitched a seven-page treatment of the series to NBC. After several script rewrites and changes, including a second title change to Friends Like Us, the series was finally named Friends and premiered on NBC's coveted Thursday 8:30 pm timeslot. Filming for the series took place at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California in front of a live studio audience. After ten seasons on the network, the series finale was promoted by NBC, and viewing parties were organized around the U.S. The series finale (the 236th episode), airing on May 6, 2004, was watched by 51.1 million American viewers, making it the fourth most watched series finale in television history and the most watched episode of the decade.

Friends received positive reviews throughout most of its run, becoming one of the most popular sitcoms of all time. The series won many awards and was nominated for 63 Primetime Emmy Awards. The series, an instant hit from its debut, was also very successful in the ratings, consistently ranking in the top ten in the final primetime ratings. Many critics now regard it as one of the finest shows in television history, including TV Guide, which ranked it #21 on their list of the 50 greatest TV shows of all time. The series made a large cultural impact, which continues today. The Central Perk coffee house that was featured prominently in the series has inspired various imitations throughout the world. The series continues in syndication worldwide. All 10 seasons are available on DVD. The spin-off series Joey was created to follow up with the series after the finale.
The series featured six main characters throughout its run, with many other characters recurring throughout all ten seasons.

* Jennifer Aniston portrays Rachel Green, a fashion enthusiast and Monica Geller's best friend from high school. Rachel and Ross Geller are involved in an on-again-off-again relationship throughout the series. Rachel's first job is as a waitress at the coffeehouse Central Perk, but she later becomes an assistant buyer at Bloomingdale's and a buyer at Ralph Lauren in season five. At the end of season eight, Rachel and Ross have a daughter named Emma in "The One Where Rachel Has a Baby, Part Two".

* Courteney Cox portrays Monica Geller, the mother hen of the group and a chef, known for her obsessive-compulsive and competitive nature. Monica is often jokingly teased by the others for having been extremely overweight as a child, especially by her brother Ross. Monica works as a chef in various restaurants throughout the show and marries Chandler Bing in season seven.
* Lisa Kudrow portrays Phoebe Buffay, an eccentric masseuse and self-taught musician. Phoebe is ditsy but street smart and writes and sings (badly) her own quirky songs, accompanying herself on the guitar. She has an "evil" identical twin named Ursula. In the last season, she marries Mike Hannigan played by Paul Rudd.
* Matt LeBlanc portrays Joey Tribbiani, a struggling actor and food lover who becomes famous for his role on Days of our Lives as Dr. Drake Ramoray. Joey is a simple-minded womanizer with many short-term girlfriends throughout the series. He falls in love with Rachel in season eight.
* Matthew Perry portrays Chandler Bing, an executive in statistical analysis and data reconfiguration for a large multi-national corporation. Chandler quits his job and becomes a junior copywriter at an advertising agency during season nine. Chandler is known for his sarcastic sense of humor and bad luck in relationships. Chandler marries Monica in season seven, and they adopt twins at the end of the series.
* David Schwimmer portrays Ross Geller, Monica Geller's older brother, a paleontologist working at the Museum of Natural History, and later a professor of paleontology at New York University. Ross is involved in an on-again-off-again relationship with Rachel throughout the series. Ross has three failed marriages during the series: Rachel, Emily, and Carol, a lesbian who is also the mother of his son, Ben (Cole Sprouse). He and Rachel have a daughter at the end of season eight.
The main cast members were familiar to television viewers before their roles on Friends but were not considered stars. Cox had the highest profile career of the main actors when she was initially cast, having appeared in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Family Ties. Kudrow previously played Ursula Buffay on Mad About You, and reprised the dual role of twin sister Ursula as a recurring character during several episodes of Friends. Before her role on Friends, Kudrow was an office manager and researcher for her father, a headache specialist. LeBlanc had appeared as a minor character in the sitcom Married... with Children, and as a main character in its spin-offs, Top of the Heap and Vinnie & Bobby. Aniston and Perry had already appeared in several unsuccessful sitcom pilots before being cast in Friends. Before his role on Friends, Schwimmer played minor characters in The Wonder Years and NYPD Blue. During the series' ten-season run, the actors all became household names.

In their original contracts for the first season, cast members were paid $22,500 per episode. The cast members received different salaries in the second season, beginning from the $20,000 range to $40,000 per episode. Before their salary negotiations for the third season, the cast decided to enter collective negotiations, despite Warner Bros.' preference for individual deals. The actors were given the salary of the least-paid cast member, meaning Aniston and Schwimmer had their salaries reduced. The stars were paid $75,000 per episode in season three, $85,000 in season four, $100,000 in season five, $125,000 in season six, $750,000 in seasons seven and eight, and $1 million in seasons nine and ten. The cast also received syndication royalties beginning with the fifth season.

Series creator David Crane wanted all six actors to be equally prominent, and the series was lauded as being "the first true 'ensemble' show". The cast members made efforts to keep the ensemble format and not allow one member to dominate; they entered themselves in the same acting categories for awards, opted for collective salary negotiations, and asked to appear together on magazine cover photos in the first season. The cast members also became best friends off-screen, and guest star Tom Selleck reported sometimes feeling left out. The cast remained good friends after the series' run, most notably Cox and Aniston, with Aniston being godmother to Cox and David Arquette's daughter, Coco. In the official farewell commemorative book Friends 'Til The End, each separately acknowledged in interviews that the cast had become their family.

Succes 2011: Willie Nelson, an american icon of country music

Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 30, 1933) is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist.The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger (1975) and Stardust (1978), made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. He was one of the main figures of outlaw country, a subgenre of country music that developed at the end of the 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound.

Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana.

Born during the Great Depression, and raised by his grandparents, Nelson wrote his first song at age seven and joined his first band at ten. During high school, he toured locally with the Bohemian Fiddlers as their lead singer and guitar player. After graduating from high school in 1950, he joined the Air Force but was later discharged due to back problems. After his return, Nelson attended Baylor University for two years but dropped out because he was succeeding in music. During this time, he worked as a disc jockey in Texas radio stations and a singer in honky tonks. Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington, where he wrote "Family Bible" and recorded the song "Lumberjack" in 1956. In 1960, he signed a publishing contract with Pamper Music which allowed him to join Ray Price's band as a bassist. During that time, he wrote songs that would become country standards, including "Funny How Time Slips Away", "Hello Walls", "Pretty Paper", and "Crazy". In 1962, he recorded his first album, And Then I Wrote. Due to this success, Nelson signed in 1964 with RCA Victor and joined the Grand Ole Opry the following year. After mid-chart hits during the end of 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, and the failure to succeed in music, Nelson retired in 1972 and moved to Austin, Texas. The rise of the popularity of Hippie music in Austin motivated Nelson to return from retirement, performing frequently at the Armadillo World Headquarters.

In 1973, after signing with Atlantic Records, Nelson turned to outlaw country, including albums such as Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages. In 1975, he switched to Columbia Records, where he recorded the critically acclaimed album, Red Headed Stranger. The same year, he recorded another outlaw country album, Wanted! The Outlaws, which he recorded with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. During the mid 1980s, while creating hit albums like Honeysuckle Rose and recording hit songs like "On the Road Again", "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", and "Pancho & Lefty", he joined the country supergroup The Highwaymen, along with fellow singers, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson. During 1990 Nelson's assets were seized by the Internal Revenue Service, that claimed that he owed US $32,000,000. It was later discovered that his accountants, Price Waterhouse did not pay Nelson's taxes for years. The impossibility of Nelson to pay his outstanding debt was aggravated by weak investments made by him during the 1980s. Nelson released in 1991 The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories?, the profits of the double album, destined to the IRS and the auction of Nelson's assets cleared his debt by 1993. During the 1990s and 2000s, Nelson continued touring extensively, and released albums every year. Reviews ranged from positive to mixed. Nelson explored genres such as reggae, blues, jazz, and folk. Nelson made his first movie appearance in the 1979 film, The Electric Horseman, followed by other appearances in movies and on television.

Nelson is a major liberal activist and the co-chair of the advisory board of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, which is in favor of marijuana legalization. On the environmental front, Nelson owns the bio-diesel brand Willie Nelson Biodiesel, which is made from vegetable oil. Nelson is also the honorary chairman of the Advisory Board of the Texas Music Project, the official music charity of the state of Texas.

Willie Nelson was born in Abbott, Texas during the Great Depression on April 30, 1933 to Myrle Marie (née Greenhaw) and Ira Doyle Nelson. The Nelson family had moved from Arkansas in 1929, looking for work. Nelson's grandfather, William, worked as a blacksmith, while his father worked as a mechanic. His mother left soon after he was born, and his father remarried and moved away, leaving the grandparents, who both studied music at night via a mail-order course, to bring up Nelson and his sister Bobbie. Nelson's grandfather bought him a guitar when he was six, and taught him a few chords; and with his sister Bobbie he sang gospel songs in the local church. He wrote his first song when he was seven, and played the guitar for the local band Bohemian Polka at age nine. During the summer, like most of Abbott's inhabitants, the family picked cotton. As Nelson didn't like picking cotton, starting at age thirteen and continuing through high school, he earned money by singing in local dance halls, taverns, and honky tonks. Nelson was influenced musically during his childhood by Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Ernest Tubb, Django Reinhardt, Ray Price and Hank Snow.

Nelson attended Abbott High School where, as well as raising pigs for the Future Farmers of America organization, he was a halfback in the school football team, and also played basketball as a guard, and as a shortstop in baseball.[11] While still at school he sang and played guitar in The Texans, a band formed by his sister's husband, Bud Fletcher. After leaving school in 1950 he joined the United States Air Force for eight to nine months, then worked as a disc jockey at local radio stations. He had short stints with KHBR in Hillsboro, Texas and later with KBOP in Pleasanton, Texas. In 1952, he married Martha Matthews, and from 1954 to 1956 studied agriculture at Baylor University, where he joined the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, but dropped out to pursue success in music.

Nelson uses a variety of music styles to create his own distinctive blend of country music – a hybrid of jazz, pop, blues, rock and folk. His "unique sound", which uses a "relaxed, behind-the-beat singing style and gut-string guitar", and his "nasal voice and jazzy, off-center phrasing", has been responsible for his wide appeal, and has made him a "vital icon in country music", influencing the "new country, new traditionalist, and alternative country movements of the '80s and '90s".

Nelson is widely recognized as an American icon. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993, and he received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1998.

In 2003 Governor Perry signed bill #2582, introduced by State Representative Elizabeth Ames Jones and Senator Jeff Wentworth,[127] which funded the Texas Music Project, the state's official music charity. Nelson was named Honorary Chairman of the Advisory Board of the project. In 2005, Democratic Texas Senator Gonzalo Barrientos introduced a bill to name 49 miles (79 km) of the Travis County section of State Highway 130 after Nelson, and at one point 23 of the 31 state Senators were co-sponsors of the bill.[129] The legislation was dropped after two Republican senators, Florence Shapiro and Wentworth, objected, citing Nelson's lack of connection to the highway, his fundraisers for Democrats, his drinking, and his marijuana advocacy.

An important collection of Willie Nelson materials (1975–1994) became part of the Wittliff collections of Southwestern Writers, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas. The collection contains lyrics, screenplays, letters, concert programs, tour itineraries, posters, articles, clippings, personal effects, promotional items, souvenirs, and documents. It documents Nelson's IRS troubles and how Farm Aid contributions were used. Most of the material was collected by Nelson's friend Bill Wittliff, who wrote or co-wrote Honeysuckle Rose, Barbarosa and Red Headed Stranger.

In April 2010, Nelson received the "Feed the Peace" award from The Nobelity Project for his extensive work with Farm Aid and overall contributions to world peace. On June 23, 2010 he was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry. Nelson is an honorary trustee of the Dayton International Peace Museum. In 2010, Austin, Texas renamed Second Street to Willie Nelson Boulevard. The city also planned to honor him with a life-size statue, to be placed at the entrance of Austin City Limits' new studio. The non-profit organization Capital Area Statues commissioned sculptor Clete Shields to execute the project.

For many years, Nelson's image was marked by his red hair, often divided into two long braids partially concealed under a bandanna. In the April 2007 issue of Stuff Magazine Nelson was interviewed about his long locks.[138] "I started braiding my hair when it started getting too long, and that was, I don't know, probably in the 70's." On May 26, 2010, the Associated Press reported that Nelson had cut his hair, and Nashville music journalist Jimmy Carter published a photograph of the pigtail-free Nelson on his website. Reportedly, he wanted a more maintainable hairstyle, as well helping him stay cool more easily at his Maui home.

Nelson's touring and recording group, the Family, is full of longstanding members, including his sister Bobbie Nelson, drummer Paul English, harmonicist Mickey Raphael, Bee Spears, Billy English (Paul's younger brother), and Jody Payne.Willie & Family tours North America in the bio-diesel bus Honeysuckle Rose IV, which is fueled by Bio-Willie.

As well as recording sixty seven studio albums, Nelson has appeared in over thirty films and TV shows. His acting debut was in the 1979 movie, The Electric Horseman, followed by appearances in Honeysuckle Rose, Thief, and Barbarosa.

Success 2011: Joan Armatrading, british singer, songwriter and guitarist

Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, MBE (born 9 December 1950) is a British singer, songwriter and guitarist. Armatrading is a three-time Grammy Award-nominee and has been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist. She also received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996. In a recording career spanning almost 40 years she has released a total of 17 studio albums, as well as several live albums and compilations.

Joan Armatrading was born in Basseterre, on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts, in 1950, as the third of six children. When she was three, her parents moved to Birmingham, England, where she joined them in 1958. Her father had played in a band in his youth, but he forbade his children from touching his guitar. She began writing lyrics and music at the age of 14 on a piano that her mother had bought. Shortly after that her mother bought her a £3 guitar from a pawn shop in exchange for two prams, and the younger Armatrading began teaching herself that instrument. As a teenager she began her career playing small sets of her own music at local clubs. She left school at the age of 15 to support her family, and her first job was at Rabone Chesterman, an engineering tool manufacturer in Hockley, Birmingham. She was released from this job because of her insistence on bringing her guitar to work and playing it during tea breaks.

In the early 1970s, Armatrading moved to London to perform in a repertory production of the stage musical Hair. There she met the lyricist Pam Nestor, and they worked together on Armatrading's debut album Whatever's for Us, released by Cube Records in 1972. Armatrading wrote the lyrics, performed all of the vocals, wrote all of the music and played an array of instruments on the album. Nestor was credited as co-lyricist, however Cube considered Armatrading to be the more likely star material. These events produced a tension which broke up the partnership. In 1973 Armatrading's first single "Lonely Lady", a song which had not been included on the album, was released by Cube on the Fly Label (catalogue: Bug 31). It was unsuccessful in the charts. A period of inactivity for Armatrading followed, while she extricated herself from her contract with Cube Records. The single was subsequently withdrawn by Cube and re-released as a promotional single in the US by Armatrading's new label A&M Records, the same year, as A&M1452.

In January 1974 she appeared on the BBC Radio 1 John Peel Show performing "Show Some Sort Of Love Song", "Lonely Lady" and "Freedom". Armatrading sang and played acoustic guitar and piano. Supporting musicians were Snowy White (guitar), Mike Tomich (bass) and Brian Glassock (drums).

In 1975, Armatrading was free to sign with A&M Records, and issued the album Back to the Night,[6] which was promoted on tour with a six-piece jazz-pop group called The Movies. Armatrading credited English singer Elkie Brooks on the sleeve notes as she had cooked for Armatrading and the band in the studio while they had been making the album, which was produced by Brooks' then-husband Pete Gage. A major publicity relaunch in 1976 and the involvement of producer Glyn Johns propelled her next album, Joan Armatrading, into the Top 20 and spawned the Top 10 hit single "Love and Affection". The album mixed acoustic work with jazz-influenced material, and this style was retained for the 1977 follow-up Show Some Emotion, also produced by Glyn Johns, as was 1978's To the Limit. These albums included songs which continue to be staples of Armatrading's live shows, including "Willow", "Down To Zero", "Tall in the Saddle", and "Kissin' and a Huggin". Also at this time, Armatrading wrote and performed "The Flight of the Wild Geese", which was used during the opening and end titles for the 1978 war film The Wild Geese. The song was included on the soundtrack album for the film, originally released by A&M Records, later released under licence as a Cinephile DVD. A live album entitled Steppin' Out was released in 1979.

In the 1970s Armatrading became the first Black British female singer/songwriter to enjoy international success.

In 1980, Armatrading radically revised her playing style and released Me Myself I, a harder pop-oriented album produced by Richard Gottehrer, who had previously produced albums for Blondie. The album became Armatrading's highest ever charting album both in the UK and the US, while the title track became her second UK Top 40 hit single. The same pop style, now coupled with synthesisers, was also evident on the 1981 album Walk Under Ladders and 1983's The Key. All three of these albums were Top 10 successes in the UK, with The Key also producing the hit single "Drop the Pilot", Armatrading's third UK Top 40 hit single. To capitalise on her success, A&M released the best of compilation album, Track Record in 1983.

Armatrading's next studio album was 1985's Secret Secrets. The album was a top 20 hit but failed to yield any hit singles, cementing Armatrading's status as an "album artist". Taking over production responsibilities herself, she continued to record the albums Sleight of Hand (1986), The Shouting Stage (1988) and Hearts and Flowers (1990) for A&M Records, which all made the UK Top 40 but failed to achieve the level of success of her earlier works despite successful national tours (a show from her 1988 "Shouting Stage" tour was also filmed for television).

In 1989 she was the guest of Sue Lawley on the BBC 4 radio programme Desert Island Discs where her favourite choice was Van Morrison's "Madame George". Armatrading’s full list included Ella Fitzgerald and Gustav Mahler. Her luxury item was a guitar, while her castaway's book was Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie.

In 1991, A&M released the compilation The Very Best of Joan Armatrading which returned her to the Top 10. However, her following studio album for A&M, 1992's Square The Circle did not replicate this success and would be her final recording for the label. Following her departure from A&M, a label she had been with for almost 20 years, Armatrading signed with RCA for her 1995 album What's Inside. Despite various television appearances and a full tour (which included a string quartet in addition to her stage band), the album was not a commercial success, becoming her lowest charting studio album in 20 years.

In 2003, no longer attached to a major label, she released the album Lovers Speak. Though it was her first album in eight years, it met with little commercial success.

Armatrading's music is considered to be mostly pop with forays into rock, folk, jazz, blues, soul and even reggae.

Her 2007 album Into the Blues debuted at #1 on the US Billboard Blues Chart, making Armatrading the first UK female artist to earn that distinction. Into the Blues, which Armatrading calls "the CD I’ve been promising myself to write for a long time," was nominated for a Grammy Award, also making her the first female UK artist to be nominated in the Grammy Blues category.

Armatrading has been nominated twice for a Brit Award as best female vocalist and has received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996 and in 2006 received an honorary degree from Aston University, Birmingham. In 2008 she was part of Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour 2008.

In 2007 Armatrading appeared in Episode 3 of the second series of Live from Abbey Road performing "Tall In The Saddle" from her 1976 self-titled album, and "Woman In Love" from the album Into The Blues. She also appeared on Later... with Jools Holland where she performed "Love and Affection", as well as "Woman In Love" and "My Baby's Gone" both from her 2007 Into The Blues album.

On 29 March 2010, she released This Charming Life, widely viewed as a return to her guitar-based singer-songwriter pop-rock. The album debuted atop the Amazon.com mp3 download charts, and reached the top of the U.S. Blues chart.[citation needed] She embarked on an international tour to promote it; a concert from this tour in April 2010 at the Royal Albert Hall in London was released on the CD/DVD album Live at the Royal Albert Hall, along with two tracks from a concert in Denver, Colorado, U.S., in February 2011.

In addition to recording, Armatrading has toured extensively and appeared in high profile concerts such as "The Picnic at Blackbushe" in 1978 (alongside Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton) and The Prince’s Trust Rock Gala in 1983. She also appeared in the film The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball in 1987. Several films have also used classic Joan Armatrading songs on their soundtracks, and these include Whoopi Goldberg’s 1995 Boys on the Side (the song "Willow") and Goldberg’s 1995 Moonlight and Valentino (the song "The Weakness in Me"). She has also made many appearances on television, including The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1975, “Joan Armatrading: Rock Over Europe” in 1980, “Joan Armatrading in Concert” in 1982, “Late Night in Concert” in 1984 and “Joan Armatrading” in 1985.

On 30 November 2010, "This Charming Life" was played on the season finale of Sons of Anarchy, the hit television show on FX.