Manu Chao, a Spanish/French singer who sings in French, Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, Galician, and Portuguese and occasionally in other languages

Manu Chao (born José-Manuel Thomas Arthur Chao; June 21, 1961) is a Spanish/French singer who sings in French, Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, Galician, and Portuguese and occasionally in other languages. Chao began his musical career in Paris, busking and playing with groups such as Hot Pants and Los Carayos, which combined a variety of languages and musical styles. With friends and his brother Antoine Chao, he founded the band Mano Negra in 1987, achieving considerable success, particularly in Europe. He became a solo artist after its breakup in 1995, and since then tours regularly with his live band, Radio Bemba.

 Chao had Spanish parents. His mother, Felisa Ortega, is from Bilbao, Basque country, and his father, writer and journalist Ramón Chao, is from Vilalba, Galicia. They emigrated to Paris to avoid Francisco Franco's dictatorship—Manu's grandfather had been sentenced to death. Shortly after Manu's birth, the Chao family moved to the outskirts of Paris, and Manu spent most of his childhood in Boulogne-Billancourt and Sèvres. As he grew up he was surrounded by many artists and intellectuals, most of whom were acquaintances of his father. Chao cites much of his childhood experience as inspiration for some songs.

Manu Chao sings in Spanish, French, English, Portuguese, Galician, Arabic and Wolof often mixing several languages in the same song. His music has many influences, such as punk, rock, French chanson, Iberoamerican salsa, reggae, ska, and Algerian raï. These influences were obtained from immigrants in France, his Iberian connections, and foremost his travels in Mesoamerica as a nomad following the disbanding of Mano Negra.

Many of Chao's lyrics talk about immigration, love, living in ghettos and drugs and often carry a left-wing message. This reflects Chao's own political leanings—he is very close to the Zapatistas and their public spokesman, Subcomandante Marcos. He has many followers among the European left, the Latin American left and the anti-globalisation and anti-free trade movements^. He is also a founding member of ATTAC.^[14] Punk and reggae historian Vivien Goldman commented of his work, "I was writing about Good Charlotte and The Police. They adopted the trappings of punk. They aren’t bad groups, but the punk aspect is more manifested by somebody like Manu Chao. He's one of the punkiest artists out there I can think of. It's an inclusionary spirit that is punk."

Chao also has a tendency to reuse music or lyrics from previous songs to form new songs. The contemporary hit single in France "Bongo Bong", takes its lyrics from the earlier Mano Negra hit "King of the Bongo", which bears a similar style to that of The Clash. The musical backdrop for "Bongo Bong", in turn, was used in several other Chao songs, including "Je Ne T'Aime Plus" from the same album and "Mr. Bobby" and "Homens" from Próxima Estación: Esperanza. Also, the tune of "La Primavera", a track from that same album, is used in several other songs featured on the LP, while lyrics for a few songs on Sibérie m'était contée are repeated several times with different music, leading the lyrics to be interpreted in various ways depending on the mood of the track. Several musical themes and clips from that album also appear on Amadou & Mariam's Chao-produced Dimanche à Bamako, which were being produced at approximately the same time.
Though Chao is quite well known in Europe and Latin America, he has not had the same success in the English-speaking world. Tours in the United States with Mano Negra were not as successful as elsewhere and Chao seems inclined to focus his efforts in the places where his musical style finds its roots. Though his live performances in the U.S. are infrequent, Chao played a handful of dates there in 2006, including a headlining show at Lollapalooza 2006 in Chicago, IL. His final appearance on his 2006 U.S. tour was a benefit concert in the Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn, New York on August 7. He returned to that venue in the summer of 2007 for two concerts, part of the multicultural "Celebrate Brooklyn" concert series. The crowd was treated to a nearly two-hour performance, including two encores. Manu Chao also appeared at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland to a sellout crowd on June 23, 2007. This was a semi-spontaneous endeavour between Thievery Corporation and Manu Chao facilitated by a new-found friendship developed during Lollapalooza 2006. He was one of the headlining acts at the 2008 Austin City Limits Music Festival and the Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park. In January 2012 he was the headline act at the opening night of Sydney Festival, marking his first concert in Australia.

In 2003 he approached Amadou & Mariam and later produced their 2004 album Dimanche à Bamako ("Sunday in Bamako"). His song "Me llaman Calle", written for the 2005 Spanish film Princesas, earned that film a Goya nomination for Best Original Song. It has been released in 2007's La Radiolina. Vocals from the song are included in the Go Lem System song "Calle Go Lem". Time magazine named "Me Llaman Calle" one of The 10 Best Songs of 2007, ranking it at No. 8. Writer Josh Tyrangiel observed,

Chao's warm singing over José Manuel Gamboa and Carlos Herrero's leaping Flamenco counter melody creates a direct emotional line to the core of this mid-tempo ballad. With its easy melody and universal rhythm Me Llaman Calle walks proudly in the shadow of Bob Marley, the last guy who made world music this disarmingly simple.

His song "La Vida Tómbola" was featured in the documentary film Maradona by Serbian filmmaker Emir Kusturica. The song "La Trampa", recorded with Tonino Carotone for the compilation album Fuerza! was used as the theme song for the short-lived improvisational comedy Drew Carey's Green Screen Show.
The songs "Bongo Bong" and "Je ne t'aime plus", which appear back-to-back on Clandestino, were covered by British singers Robbie Williams and Lily Allen, who recorded them as a single track, "Bongo Bong and Je Ne T'aime Plus" and released it as a single from the album Rudebox.

Success 2014: Jackie Stewart, a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland. Nicknamed the "Flying Scot", he competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Championships

Sir John Young "Jackie" Stewart, OBE (born 11 June 1939) is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland. Nicknamed the "Flying Scot", he competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Championships. He also competed in Can-Am. In 2009 he was ranked fifth of the fifty greatest Formula One drivers of all time by journalist Kevin Eason who wrote: "He has not only emerged as a great driver, but one of the greatest figures of motor racing."
He is well known in the United States as a color commentator (pundit) of racing television broadcasts for ABC's Wide World of Sports and ABC Sports, having worked in that role in the Indianapolis 500 from 1971 to 1981. He has also been a spokesman for Ford, Rolex and Moët.
Between 1997 and 1999, in partnership with his son, Paul, he was team principal of the Stewart Grand Prix Formula One racing team.

In 1964 he drove in Formula Three for Tyrrell. His debut, in the wet at Snetterton on 15 March, was dominant, taking an astounding 25 second lead in just two laps before coasting home to a win on a 44 second cushion.Within days, he was offered a Formula One ride with Cooper, but declined, preferring to gain experience under Tyrrell; he failed to win just two races (one to clutch failure, one to a spin) in becoming F3 champion.
After running John Coombs' E-type and practising in a Ferrari at Le Mans, he took a trial in an F1 Lotus 33-Climax, in which he impressed Colin Chapman and Jim Clark. Stewart again refused a ride in F1, but went instead to the Lotus Formula Two team. In his F2 debut, he was second at the difficult Clermont-Ferrand circuit in a Lotus 32-Cosworth.
While he signed with BRM alongside Graham Hill in 1965, a contract which netted him £4,000, his first race in an F1 car was for Lotus, as stand-in for an injured Clark, at the Rand Grand Prix in December 1964; the Lotus broke in the first heat, but he won the second On his F1 debut in South Africa, he scored his first Championship point, finishing sixth. His first major competition victory came in the BRDC International Trophy in the late spring, and before the end of the year he won his first World Championship race at Monza, fighting wheel-to-wheel with teammate Hill's P261.Stewart finished his rookie season with three seconds, a third, a fifth, and a sixth, and third place in the World Drivers' Championship. He also piloted Tyrrell's unsuccessful F2 Cooper T75-BRM, and ran the Rover Company's revolutionary turbine car at Le Mans.
1966 saw him almost win the Indianapolis 500 on his first attempt, in John Mecom's Lola T90-Ford only to be denied by a broken scavenge pump while leading by over a lap with eight laps to go; however, Stewart's performance, having had the race fully in hand and sidelined only by mechanical failure, won him Rookie of the Year honours despite the winner, Graham Hill, also being an Indianapolis rookie. At the start of the 1966 season, Stewart won the Australasian 8 round championship from his BRM teamate Graham Hill in 2 litre BRMs and also raced closely with his great rival and friend Jim Clark who was somewhat disadvantaged by an unreliable Lotus 39 which was let down by old Climax 2.5s.
Also, in 1966, a crash triggered his fight for improved safety in racing. On lap one of the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, when sudden rain caused many crashes, he found himself trapped in his overturned^[8] BRM, getting soaked by leaking fuel, which can result in a fire. The marshals had no tools to help him, and it took his teammate Hill and Bob Bondurant, who had also crashed nearby, to get him out after borrowing a spanner from a spectator's car. Since then, a main switch to disconnect electrics and a removable steering wheel have become standard. Also, noticing the long and slow transport to a hospital, he brought his own doctor to future races, while BRM supplied a medical truck for the benefit of all. Stewart also began to keep a spanner taped to his steering wheel. It was a poor year all around; the BRMs were notoriously unreliable, although Stewart did win the Monaco Grand Prix. Stewart had some success in other forms of racing during the year, winning the 1966 Tasman Series and the 1966 Rothmans 12 Hour International Sports Car Race.
BRM's fortunes did not improve in 1967, despite closely contesting the Tasman championship with Jim Clark who in a Lotus 33 probably raced closer and harder with Jackie than at any time in their careers, while Clark usually won, Stewart won a classic victory in the NZGP with Clark attempting to run him down in the last laps with bodywork flying off the 33. Stewart came no higher than second at Spa, though he won F2 events for Tyrrell at Karlskoga, Enna, Oulton Park, and Albi in a Matra MS5 or MS7. He also placed 2nd driving a works-entered Ferrari driving with Chris Amon at the BOAC 6 Hours at Brands Hatch, the 10th round of World Sportscar Championship at the time.
In Formula One, he switched to Tyrrell's Matra International team, where he drove a Matra MS10-Cosworth^[8] for the 1968 and 1969 seasons. Skill (and improving tyres from Dunlop) brought a win in heavy rain at Zandvoort. Another win in rain and fog at the Nürburgring, where he won by a margin of four minutes. He also won at Watkins Glen, but missed Jarama and Monaco due to an F2 injury at Jarama. His car failed at Mexico City, and so lost the driving title to Hill.
In 1969, Stewart had a number of races where he completely dominated the opposition, such as winning by over 2 laps at Montjuïc, a whole minute at Clemont-Ferrand and more than a lap at Silverstone. With additional wins at Kyalami, Zandvoort, and Monza, Stewart became world champion in 1969 in a Matra MS80-Cosworth. Until September 2005, when Fernando Alonso in a Renault became champion, he was the only driver to have won the championship driving for a French marque and, as Alonso's Renault was built in the UK, Stewart remains the only driver to win the world championship in a French-built car.
For 1970, Matra insisted on using their own V12 engines, while Tyrrell and Stewart wanted to keep the Cosworths as well as the good connection to Ford. As a consequence, the Tyrrell team bought a chassis from March Engineering; Stewart took the March 701-Cosworth to wins at the Daily Mail Race of Champions and Jarama, but was soon overcome by Lotus' new 72. The new Tyrrell 001-Cosworth, appearing in August,^[8] suffered problems, but Stewart saw better days for it in 1971, and stayed on. Tyrrell continued to be sponsored by French fuel company Elf, and Stewart raced in a car painted French Racing Blue for many years. Stewart also continued to race sporadically in Formula Two, winning at the Crystal Palace and placing at Thruxton. A projected Le Mans appearance, to co-drive the 4.5 litre Porsche 917K with Steve McQueen, did not come off, for McQueen's inability to get insurance.^[8] He also raced Can-Am, in the revolutionary Chaparral 2J. Stewart achieved pole position in 2 events, ahead of the dominant McLarens, but the chronic unreliability of the 2J prevented Stewart from finishing any races.^[8]
Stewart went on to win the Formula One world championship in 1971 using the excellent Tyrrell 003-Cosworth, winning Spain, Monaco, France, Britain, Germany, and Canada. He also did a full season in Can-Am, driving a Carl Haas sponsored Lola T260-Chevrolet. and again in 1973. During the 1971 Can-Am series, Stewart was the only driver able to challenge the McLarens driven by Dennis Hulme and Peter Revson. Stewart won 2 races; at Mont Tremblant and Mid Ohio. Stewart finished 3rd in the 1971 Can-Am Drivers Championship. The stress of racing year round, and on several continents eventually caused medical problems for Stewart. During the 1972 Grand Prix season he missed the Belgian Grand Prix at Nivelles due to gastritis, and had to cancel plans to drive a Can-Am McLaren, but won the Argentine, French, U.S., and Canadian Grands Prix, to come second to Emerson Fittipaldi in the drivers' standings. Stewart also competed in a Ford Capri RS2600 in the European Touring Car Championship, with F1 teammate François Cevert and other F1 pilots, at a time where the competition between Ford and BMW was at a height. Stewart shared a Capri with F1 Tyrrell teammate François Cevert in the 1972 6 hours of Paul Ricard, finishing second. He also received an OBE.
Entering the 1973 season, Stewart had decided to retire. He nevertheless won at South Africa, Belgium, Monaco, Holland, and Austria. His last (and then record-setting) 27th victory came at the Nürburgring with a convincing 1-2 for Tyrrell. "Nothing gave me more satisfaction than to win at the Nürburgring and yet, I was always afraid." Stewart later said. "When I left home for the German Grand Prix I always used to pause at the end of the driveway and take a long look back. I was never sure I'd come home again." After the fatal crash of his teammate François Cevert in practice for the 1973 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen, Stewart retired one race earlier than intended and missed what would have been his 100th Grand Prix. Nevertheless, Stewart still won the drivers' championship for the year.
Stewart held the record for most wins by a Formula One driver (27) for 14 years (broken by Alain Prost in 1987) and the record for most wins by a British Formula One driver for 19 years (broken by Nigel Mansell in 1992).

Succes 2014: Leon Vreme, unul dintre cei mai importanți artiști români contemporani

Leon Vreme s-a născut în 1930, la Noul Caragaci.
Studii: Institutul de Arte Plastice Ion Andreescu Cluj-Napoca, Promoţia 1957
Din 1957 participa la saloanele oficiale din Timişoara, precum şi la saloanele republicane şi expoziţiile reprezentative ale filialei UAP din Timişoara la Bucureşti.





Expoziții:
20 personale în ţară
10  personale în străinătate
50 internaţionale
45 colective şi de grup în străinătate

Arta monumentală:
În colaborare cu pictorul Luca Adalbert, 1959 Cugir, Fresca, Palatul Culturii, 1968 Băile Herculane, Fresca, Gara Oraşului, 1973 Timişoara, Mozaic, holul Universităţii de Vest

Premii şi distincţii:
2003 Timişoara, „Diploma de Excelenţă pentru merite deosebite în domeniul creaţiei şi al promovării valorilor culturale”, Facultatea de Arte din Timişoara, 2003 Premiul UAP din România pentru pictura pe anul 2002, 2003 Bucureşti, Premiul Naţional pentru Pictura, Uniunea Artiştilor Plastici
2004 Bucureşti, Ordinul „Meritul Cultural în grad de ofiţer”, 2005 Timişoara, Premiul „Pro Cultura Timisiensis” pentru întreaga activitate, Consiliul Jude]ean Timiş, 2007 Arad, Premiul de excelenta „Sever Frentiu” – Bienala 2007
2013 Premiul “Formă” pentru Excelentă în artele plastice, Deva

Lucrări în colecţii publice şi particulare din ţară şi străinătate:
Muzeul de Artă din Timişoara, Bucureşti, Bistriţa, Sofia, Reşita şi Targu-Mures, Recanati – Italia; Colecţia Elisabeta şi Gheorghe David ˆ Targu-Mures; Colecţia de artă contemporană „Artea”, Varna/Bulgaria, colecţia Muresan-Boca, Dej; colecţia Gerhard Modjesch Karsruhe, precum şi în colecţii particulare din Austria, Franţa, Germania, Anglia, Elveţia, Norvegia, Belgia, Olanda, Bulgaria, Grecia şi S.U.A., Centrul de artă „Forcalquier” Franţa. Muzeul de Artă Contemporană „Recanati” ˆ Italia.

Mircea Cărtărescu, a Romanian poet, novelist and essayist

Mircea Cărtărescu (born 1 June 1956) is a Romanian poet, novelist and essayist.Born in Bucharest, he graduated from the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Letters, Department of Romanian Language And Literature, in 1980. Between 1980 and 1989 he worked as a Romanian language teacher, and then he worked at the Writers Union and as an editor at the Caiete Critice magazine. In 1991 he became a lecturer at the Chair of Romanian Literary History, part of the University of Bucharest Faculty of Letters. As of 2010, he is an associate professor. Between 1994-1995 he was a visiting lecturer at the University of Amsterdam

 .
His debut as a writer was in 1978 in România Literară magazine.

Poetry

• Faruri, vitrine, fotografii..., ("Headlights, shop windows, photographs...") Cartea Românească, 1980 - Writers Union Prize, 1980
• Poeme de amor ("Love Poems"), Cartea Românească, 1982.
• Totul ("Everything"), Cartea Românească, 1984.
• Levantul (The Levant), Cartea Românească, 1990 - Writers Union Prize, 1990, republished by Humanitas in 1998.
• Dragostea ("Love"), Humanitas, 1994.
• 50 de sonete de Mircea Cărtărescu cu cincizeci de desene de Tudor Jebeleanu ("50 Sonnets by Mircea Cărtărescu With Fifty Drawings by Tudor Jebeleanu"), Brumar, 2003

Prose

• Desant '83 (volum colectiv/collection), Cartea Românească, 1983.
• Visul ("The Dream"), Cartea Românească, 1989 - Romanian Academy Prize, 1989; translated into French and Spanish; Latin Union Prize nominee.
  • Le rêve, Climats, 1992, ISBN 2-907563-55-6 - nominated for the Medicis prize (Best foreign book).
• Nostalgia ("Nostalgia"), full edition of "Visul", Humanitas, 1993.
  • New Directions Publishing Corporation, Translation by Julian Semilian, Introduction by Andrei Codrescu 2005, ISBN 0-8112-1588-1
• Travesti, Humanitas, 1994 - Writers Union Prize 1994; ASPRO Prize 1994; translated into French, Dutch and Spanish
• Orbitor (Blinding), vol. 1, Aripa stângă (Volume 1, "The Left Wing"), Humanitas, 1996
  
  • Gallimard, Translation (French) by Alain Paruit, 2002, ISBN 2-07-042265-8
• Jurnal ("Diary"), Humanitas, 2001, ISBN 973-50-0095-4
  • Jurnal I, 1990-1996, Humanitas, 2005, 2nd Ed., ISBN 973-50-0985-4
• Orbitor (Blinding), vol. 2, Corpul (Volume 2, "The Body"), Humanitas, 2002
• Enciclopedia zmeilor (The Encyclopedia of Dragons), Humanitas, 2002
• De ce iubim femeile (Why We Love Women), Humanitas, 2004, ISBN 973-50-0869-6
• Jurnal II, 1997-2003, ("Diary II, 1997-2003"), Humanitas, 2005, ISBN 973-50-0986-2
• Orbitor (Blinding), vol. 3, Aripa dreaptă (Volume 3, "The Right Wing"), Humanitas, 2007
• Frumoasele străine (Beautiful Strangers), Humanitas, 2010

Essays

• Visul chimeric (subteranele poeziei eminesciene) ("Chimerical Dream - The Underground of Eminescu's Poetry"), Litera, 1991
• Postmodernismul românesc ("Romanian postmodernism"), Ph.D. thesis, Humanitas, 1999
• Pururi tânăr, înfăşurat în pixeli ("Forever young, wrapped up in pixels"), Humanitas, 2003
• Baroane! ("You Baron!"), Humanitas, 2005

Audiobooks

• Parfumul aspru al ficţiunii ("The Rough Fragrance of Fiction"), Humanitas, 2003

Awards and honours

• 1980 Romanian Writers' Union Prize
• 1989 Romanian Academy's Prize
• 1990 Romanian Writer's Unions Prize, Flacăra magazine Prize, Ateneu magazine Prize, Tomis magazine Prize, Cuvântul magazine Prize
• 1992 Le Rêve nominee for: Prix Mèdicis, Prix Union Latine, Le meilleur livre étranger
• 1994 Romanian Writer's Union Prize, ASPRO Prize, Moldavian Writers' Union Prize
• 1996 ASPRO Prize, Flacăra magazine Prize, Ateneu magazine Prize, Tomis magazine Prize, Cuvântul magazine Prize
• 1997 Flacăra magazine Prize, Ateneu magazine Prize, Tomis magazine Prize, Cuvântul magazine Prize
• 1999 Orbitor's French translation nominee for Prix Union Latine
• 2000 Romanian Writers Association Prize
• 2002 ASPRO Prize, AER Prize
• 2006 Grand Officer of the Cultural Merit Order (Ordinul "Meritul cultural" în grad de mare ofiţer), awarded by Romanian Presidency
• 2011 Vilenica Prize
• 2014 Best Translated Book Award, shortlisted for Blinding, translated from the Romanian into English by Sean Cotter
• 2014 Premio Euskadi de Plata to the Best Book of 2014 for Las Bellas Extranjeras (Frumoasele străine), translated from the Romanian into Spanish by Marian Ochoa de Eribe (Editorial Impedimenta)

Success 2014: The Lemon Lovers, alternative rock band

"The Lemon Lovers" is an alternative rock band from Oporto.

 The band has an unusual music project, with only two musicians: João Silva (guitar, vocals) and Victor Butuc (drums). 

Their music has great rock influences and love to make a fusion of styles. 

They have some original songs and covers (Zeca Afonso, Janis Joplin, Eric Clapton, etc..).

The project began in early 2012.

 The Lemon Lovers is a dreamer band who tries to a new concept in Portugal.

Sarah McLachlan, a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. As of 2009, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide

Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range, McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards (out of four nominations) and four Juno Awards. In addition to her personal artistic efforts, she founded the Lilith Fair tour, which showcased female musicians on a scale that had never been attempted before. The Lilith Fair concert tours took place from 1997 to 1999, and resumed in the summer of 2010. On May 6, 2014, she released her first album of original music in four years, titled Shine On.
as of 2009, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide.
Sarah McLachlan was born on January 28, 1968, and adopted in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. As a child, she took voice lessons, along with studies in classical piano and guitar. When she was 17 years old and still a student at Queen Elizabeth High School, she fronted a short-lived rock band called The October Game. One of the band's songs, "Grind", credited as a group composition, can be found on the independent Flamingo Records release Out of the Fog and the CD Out of the Fog Too. It has yet to be released elsewhere. Her high school yearbook predicted that she was "destined to become a famous rock star."
Following The October Game's first concert at Dalhousie University opening for Moev, McLachlan was offered a recording contract with Vancouver-based independent record label Nettwerk by Moev's Mark Jowett. McLachlan's parents insisted she finish high school and complete one year of studies at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before moving to Vancouver and embarking on a new life as a recording artist, and McLachlan finally signed to Nettwerk two years later before having written a single song.
In 1994 McLachlan was sued by Uwe Vandrei, an obsessed fan from Ottawa who alleged that his letters to her had been the basis of the single "Possession." The lawsuit was also challenging for the Canadian legal system: Vandrei was a self-admitted stalker whose self-acknowledged goal in filing the lawsuit was to be near McLachlan physically. Consequently, special precautions were planned to ensure McLachlan's safety if she had to be in the same location as Vandrei at any time. But before the trial began, Vandrei was found dead in an apparent suicide. This topic was explored at length in Canadian author Judith Fitzgerald's book, Building a Mystery: The Story of Sarah McLachlan & Lilith Fair.
In 1997, Sarah McLachlan married her drummer, Ashwin Sood, in Jamaica. While she was pregnant, she lost her mother to cancer in December 2001. She gave birth to daughter India Ann Sushil Sood in Vancouver on April 6, 2002, by which time she had already completed three quarters of the production on her next record, Afterglow. On June 22, 2007 she gave birth to her second daughter, Taja Summer Sood, in Vancouver. McLachlan announced her separation from Ashwin Sood in September 2008.
As of May 2014, McLachlan was dating former NHL player Geoff Courtnall.

Mariza, a popular fado singer that sold over 1,000,000 records worldwide

Mariza (born Marisa dos Reis Nunes (16 December 1973, Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique), is a popular fado singer.
Mariza was born to a Portuguese father and a mother of partial African heritage. At age three, her family moved to Metropolitan Portugal, and she was raised in Lisbon's historic quarters of Mouraria and Alfama. While very young she began singing in a wide variety of musical styles, including gospel, soul and jazz. Her father strongly encouraged her to adopt fado; he felt that participating in the traditional music would grant her greater acceptance in the Portuguese community. Mariza has sold over 1,000,000 records worldwide.

In 1999, fado's most famous and beloved interpreter, Amália Rodrigues died. In the public remembrance and mourning that followed, fado regained much of its previous popularity, and Mariza was asked to perform a broadcast tribute to Rodrigues' memory, which caused her friends to begin urging her to record an album of fado music. She did so, and in 2001 Fado em Mim was released. It sold an astounding 100,000 copies (4,000 copies of a fado disc would have been considered successful). After this the record company made the disc available worldwide, and sales eventually topped 140,000 copies.
One of Mariza's hit songs, Transparente is a tribute to her African grandmother.
Mariza sang the Portuguese national anthem at the 2002 FIFA World Cup of football, at the game which pitted the home team (South Korea) against Portugal.
By the time Mariza's second album, Fado Curvo, was released in 2003, she was considered a member of the New Fado movement, with a voice reminiscent of traditional divas of the musical form such as Rodrigues. Her interpretations of fado standards brought her rapid international recognition, leading to her being the recipient, in March 2003, of BBC Radio 3's award for Best European Artist in World Music. Her British television debut was on Later with Jools Holland. For the Olympic Games of Athens 2004 she sang "A Thousand Years," as a duet with Sting. It was released on the official pop album of the Athens Olympics, Unity, on which fado is sung in English and Portuguese.

In 2004 Mariza won an EBBA Award. Every year the European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA) recognize the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year.
Mariza's third album, Transparente, was recorded in Brazil and released in 2005. She performed at Live 8; she sang at the Eden Project in Cornwall, after which she has been invited to concerts and events worldwide to promote Portuguese culture, from Australia to Finland, the United States and Argentina. That album eventually reached Top Ten in countries which include The Netherlands, Spain and Finland. Mariza, who lives in the upmarket Alcântara dockside area of Lisbon, has received many awards from countries such as Denmark, Australia, Canada, Germany, UK, Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea.^{[citation needed]}
She has performed in venues such as New York's Carnegie Hall and Central Park, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Barbican, Hollywood Bowl, London's Royal Albert Hall, Union Chapel, Royal Festival Hall, Lisbon's Centro Cultural de Belém, Frankfurt's Alte Oper, Paris' Théâtre de la Ville, Madrid's Teatro Albéniz, Barcelona's Teatro Grec, X Cairo International Song Festival 2004, Centro Cultural de Macau, Moscow International House of Music, Toronto's Massey Hall, Sydney Opera House and the National Concert Hall in Dublin in February 2010.

Her album released in 2007 Concerto em Lisboa received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. The following year, she again released an album, Terra which also was nominated for Best Folk Album at the Latin Grammy Awards. This album continued to mix a variety of genres, containing basic fado influenced by jazz, flamenco, Latin and African sounds.