Thursday, November 20, 2014

Success 2014: Zucchero Fornaciari, an Italian rock singer and Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. His music is largely inspired by gospel, soul and rock music, and alternates between ballads and more rhythmic boogie-like pieces

Adelmo Fornaciari (born 25 September 1955), more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero /ˈtsukkero/, is an Italian rock singer and Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. His music is largely inspired by gospel, soul and rock music, and alternates between ballads and more rhythmic boogie-like pieces.
Zucchero is the Italian word for sugar, as his teacher used to call him. In his career, spanning four decades, Fornaciari has sold over 60 million records around the world and has achieved numerous awards, including two World Music Awards, six IFPI Europe Platinum Awards and a Grammy Award nomination.
After the million selling success of Blue's and Oro incenso e birra in Italy, and his collaborations with Joe Cocker, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton and Miles Davis, Fornaciari from 1990 on attempted to conquer the rest of Europe. The album Blue’s was released the following year in the United Kingdom, and in 1990 Zucchero Sings his Hits in English, an album that featured songs from the Blue's and Oro incenso e birra albums, some of which translated to English by Frank Musker, was released worldwide.
Fornaciari's best known hit "Senza una donna" ("Without a Woman"), in a duet with Paul Young, is from this album. The first pressing of the album didn't feature the duet: the song was performed by Fornaciari only. The duet was a great success worldwide, reaching the top 10 in European charts. Other European hit singles from this album include English versions of "Diamante" (of which the original Italian lyrics were written by Francesco De Gregori), and "Wonderful World" (with Eric Clapton). Diamante was later released as a duet with Randy Crawford, a variant not available on any album until the special edition of Zu & Co.
Between 1991 and 1993 Fornaciari continued duetting with some of the world’s most famous artists, such as Sting, Luciano Pavarotti, a young Andrea Bocelli, Peter Maffay, Elton John, Brian May and Eric Clapton. Many of these duets would later be included in the compilation Zu & Co. (2004). 1992 saw Fornaciari perform at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, with the remaining three members of Queen, singing "Las Palabras de Amor". 1991 also saw the release of Fornaciari's first live album Live at the Kremlin, recorded in Moscow and featuring guest appearances by Randy Crawford (on John Lennon's "Imagine") and Toni Childs.

Success 2014: Rezzo Schlauch, a german politician

Rezzo Schlauch (* 4. Oktober 1947 in Gerabronn) ist ein deutscher PolitBündnis 90/Die Grünen) und Rechtsanwalt. Er war von 1998 bis 2002 Vorsitzender der Bundestagsfraktion von Bündnis 90/Die Grünen und von 2002 bis 2005 Parlamentarischer Staatssekretär im Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit.
iker (
Schlauch ist seit 1980 Mitglied in der Partei Bündnis 90/Die Grünen. Von 1982 bis 1984 war er Beisitzer im Landesvorstand der Grünen in Baden-Württemberg. Von 1984 bis zu seiner Wahl in den Deutschen Bundestag 1994 war er Mitglied des Landtages von Baden-Württemberg. Hier war er von 1990 bis 1992 Vorsitzender der Landtagsfraktion der Grünen. 1994 wurde Schlauch Mitglied des Bundestages. Von 1998 bis 2002 war er gemeinsam mit Kerstin Müller Vorsitzender der Bundestagsfraktion Bündnis 90/Die Grünen.
1996 unterlag er mit 39,3 % der Stimmen bei den Wahlen zum Amt des Oberbürgermeisters von Stuttgart im zweiten Wahlgang gegen Wolfgang Schuster (CDU), der 43,1 % der Stimmen bekam, nur knapp.Bereits sechs Jahre zuvor hatte er gegen Manfred Rommel in Stuttgart 20,7 % und 1982 bei der Oberbürgermeisterwahl in Crailsheim 12 % der Stimmen erzielt.
Im August 2002 kam Schlauch negativ in die Presse, als bekannt wurde, dass er dienstlich erworbene Flugmeilen für einen Urlaub genutzt hatte. Für das gleiche Vergehen hatte er davor Cem Özdemir gescholten. Er versuchte vergeblich, die Affäre zu vertuschen, und musste von der Parteiführung und den Medien Kritik einstecken.
Im Oktober 2002 wurde Schlauch zum Parlamentarischen Staatssekretär beim Bundesminister für Wirtschaft und Arbeit Wolfgang Clement ernannt. Er war außerdem Mittelstandsbeauftragter der Bundesregierung.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Success 2014: Michel Platini, a former French football player and manager, and the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2007. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, he came sixth in the FIFA Player of the Century vote, and was chosen on the FIFA World Cup Dream Team. He won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1983, 1984 and 1985

Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a former French football player and manager, and the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2007. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, he came sixth in the FIFA Player of the Century vote, and was chosen on the FIFA World Cup Dream Team.
He won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, a record jointly held with Dutch internationals Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten. In 2004, Platini was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.
During his professional football career, Platini played for the clubs Nancy, Saint-Étienne, and Juventus, and was a member of the French national team that won the 1984 European Championship, a tournament in which he was the top goalscorer and voted the best player. He also participated in the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cups, reaching the semi-finals in the latter two. Platini, Alain Giresse, Luis Fernández and Jean Tigana together made up the "carré magique" (French for "magic square"), the group of midfield players that formed the heart of the French team in the 1980s.
A versatile offensive midfield playmaker renowned for his control, technical ability, and vision, Platini is regarded as one of the best passers in football history, and one of the best penalty kick and free kick specialists.Despite primarily being a creative midfielder who provided assists, Platini was also a prolific goalscorer, renowned for his accurate finishing ability, winning the Serie A capocannoniere award three consecutive times between 1983-1985; he was also the top scorer of Juventus's victorious 1984-85 European Cup campaign. Platini was the record goalscorer of the France national team until striker Thierry Henry surpassed the 41 goals mark in 2007; Platini holds the record for most goals (9) scored in European Championship final tournaments despite only appearing in the victorious 1984 edition. Due to his leadership, as well as his technical and creative attributes, he was given the nickname "Le Roi" ("The King", in French).
Platini was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honour on 29 April 1985 and became Officier in 1988. He was the French national team coach for four years, and was the co-organizer of the 1998 World Cup in France. He has also been the chairman of the FIFA Technical and Development Committee, and vice-president of the French Football Federation.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Denis Law, a Scottish former football player, best known for the 11 years that he spent at United, where he scored 237 goals in 404 appearances. He was nicknamed The King and The Lawman by supporters, and Denis the Menace by opposing supporters. He is the only Scottish player in history to have won the prestigious Ballon d'Or award, in 1964

Denis Law CBE (born 24 February 1940) is a Scottish former football player, who enjoyed a long and successful career as a striker from the 1950s to the 1970s.
Law's career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, Manchester City signed him for a transfer fee of £55,000, setting a new British record. Law spent one year there before Torino bought him for £110,000, this time setting a new record fee for a transfer between an English and an Italian club. Although he played well in Italy, he found it difficult to settle there and signed for Manchester United in 1962, setting another British record transfer fee of £115,000.
He is best known for the 11 years that he spent at United, where he scored 237 goals in 404 appearances, second only to Bobby Charlton in the club's goalscoring chart. He was nicknamed The King and The Lawman by supporters, and Denis the Menace by opposing supporters who generally feared and respected him. He is the only Scottish player in history to have won the prestigious Ballon d'Or award, doing so in 1964, and helped his club win the First Division in 1965 and 1967. He missed their European Cup triumph in 1968 through injury.
Law left Manchester United in 1973 to return to Manchester City for a season, and represented Scotland at the 1974 FIFA World Cup. He retired at the start of the 1974–75 season. Law played for Scotland a total of 55 times and jointly holds the Scottish international record goal tally with 30 goals. Law holds a United record for scoring 46 competitive goals in a single season.