Peterpan

Background information
Origin : Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
Genre(s) : Pop-alternative
Years active : 1997–present
Label(s) : Musica Studios Indonesia
Associated acts : The Titans

Peterpan is a multi-award winning Indonesian pop rock band currently consisting of Ariel, Andika, Loekman and Reza. They are well known for their simple lyrics and catchy beats and also Ariel's voice.
History
The group started in 1997 when Andika (Andika Naliputra Wirahardja), who played the keyboard, formed a school band in Bandung, called Topi, together with Uki (Mohammad Kautsar Hikmat), who plays guitar, Ariel (Nazril Irham) as a vocalist, Abel as a bassist and Ari as a drummer. They mainly played Brit Alternative until Ari withdrew from the group and marked the end of Topi.
Andika started to regroup Topi's former members in 2000. The drummer position was replaced by Reza (Ilsyah Ryan Reza), a college student from Palu. Loekman (Loekman Hakim), Indra's elder brother's friend, also joined them as their lead guitarist, which added a sense of matureness and enriched the melody in their songs to complete the band.
Andika then suggested Peterpan as the name for the band, Peter referring to a dreamer who wanted to fly, a Disney cartoon character name which according to Andika comes in front of other character names such as Mickey Mouse, Spiderman, X-Men etc. After the name was chosen, Peterpan was formally founded on September 1st 2000.
On 2001, Peterpan played their music on Bandung streets, one cafe to the others with a realistic vision of being a home band in one of Bandung famous cafes. Peterpan often played top 40 songs, rocks songs (Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Coldplay, U2, Creed, etc) at O'Hara and Sapu Lidi (Indonesian for broomstick) cafe. It was in Sapu Lidi Cafe the band was spotted by Noey, a producer who planned to release a compilation album.
Subsequently, Peterpan sent 3 demo songs: Sahabat (Best Friend), Mimpi yang Sempurna (A Perfect Dream), and Taman Langit (Garden of Sky). Mimpi yang Sempurna was chosen as one of the songs to be included in a compilation album titled Kisah 2002 Malam (The Story of 2002 Nights). The album was commercially successful and surprisingly it was Mimpi yang Sempurna that came as the best song in this album boosting the sales up too 150,000 copies. It is considerably a good achievement for a compilation album sales in Indonesia. Mimpi yang Sempurna was automatically charted in Indonesian Radios top air play and popularly known, making the song frequently performed by street musicians.
Musica, Indonesian top major label proposed a contract to Peterpan and in June 2003 their Debut album titled 'Taman Langit' was released. Peterpan members' different tastes of music varies with the songs' lyrics and music. Ariel's vocal strength and Peterpan's simple lyrics were noted as Peterpan's main musical strength.
Afterwards, Peterpan released their 2nd album titled 'Bintang Di Surga' (A Star in Heaven) in August 2004. In its 2nd week of release, Bintang di Surga reached 350,000 sales. From this point, Peterpan reached the same level as other Indonesian big bands in the terms of commercial album sales.
In Bintang di Surga Peterpan made big improvements in their music which can be felt in each of the songs. Ariel's vocal character was stronger, Loekman and Uki synchronized to each other in playing guitar better, Reza gave more color to each songs, Andika grew his creativity in arranging the album tracks, and Indra bass groove added flavor to the album. By end of 2005, the 2nd album sales had reached the number of 2.7 million copies, a fantastic number in Indonesian recently slow economy and music sales.
Recognizing their success in the music industry, Peterpan received 3 SCTV awards, 1 in 2004 and 2 in 2005. They also received MTV Asia Awards for Indonesian Favourite Artist at Bangkok on May 9th 2005. In the Indonesian AMI awards 2005, Peterpan received the award of "Best Pop Alternative Band" with the song Kukatakan Dengan Indah(I Say It Beautifully).

After the 2nd album, on September 18th, 2005 Peterpan released an album as the original soundtrack for the Rexinema movie, Alexandria. The album was titled Menunggu Pagi (Waiting for Dawn) and the formal release was covered simultaneously by Indonesia's 6 top National TV stations. The soundtrack album includes five new songs for the film and renditions of five of their old songs in Bintang Di Surga.
Peterpan also collaborated with Chrisye in the song Menunggumu (Waiting For You). The song was then used as the theme song for the Indonesian Soap Opera "Liontin", series 1 and 2.
Personal life
Ariel married Sarah Amelia. The couple has a daughter named Allea Ananta.
They divorced in 2008 and Ariel is allegedly dating Luna Maya, an Indonesian model and actress whom Ariel dated before Sarah's pregnancy was found out.
Making a record
Amidst their tight schedule in 2003-2004, which climaxed on July 18, 2004, Peterpan planned a seemingly impossible mission of performing in 6 different cities in Indonesia just a period of 24 hours.[1] The concerts were titled Konser Breaking Record and listed in Museum Rekor Indonesia (MURI, Indonesian Museum of Record), includes concerts in 2 Indonesian major islands: Sumatra and Java. The concerts started on July 18th in Medan of North Sumatra Province, Padang, Pekanbaru, Lampung, Semarang of Central Java Province, and finally ended at Surabaya of Eastern Java Province.
Break-ups
On November 4th, 2006, Peterpan held a conference to formally announce the exit of their 2 members, Andika Naliputra Wirahardja and Indra. Both left Peterpan due to a music creativity difference to the other members. According to Ariel, there were problems since the making of their first album, Taman Langit. The break up came at a difficult time for Indra as he had lost his child just before the break up. Both Andika and Indra claimed that they have settled the royalty matter with Peterpan and have officially left Peterpan since October 8th, 2006. Now, Andika and Indra are members of a new band, named The Titans. The band is recording under EMI Music Indonesia, an international record company. With their brand new self-titled album ,and first single Rasa Ini (This Feeling), The Titans has established themselves well in Indonesia's music scene.Source : en.wikipedia.org

Jason Mraz

Background information
Birth name : Jason Mraz
Born : June 23, 1977 (1977-06-23) (age 31)
Origin : Mechanicsville, Virginia
Genre(s) : Rock, pop rock Reggae
Occupation(s) : Singer-songwriter, musician
Instrument(s) : Vocals, guitar, mandolin
Years active : 1999–present
Label(s) : Atlantic (2005-present), Elektra (2002–2005)
Website : www.jasonmraz.com
Notable instrument(s) Guitar

Jason Mraz (IPA: /ˈdʒeɪsʌn mɜrˈæz/, born June 23, 1977) is a Jamaican-American Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, born and raised in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Mraz's stylistic influences include reggae, pop, rock, folk, jazz, and hip hop. He has played with various artists, including Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews Band, James Blunt, Gavin DeGraw, Paula Cole, John Popper, Alanis Morissette, The Ohio Players, Rachael Yamagata, James Morrison, Lisa Hannigan, John Mayer, Jewel, Colbie Caillat, and Ingrid Michaelson.

Biography
He attended Longwood University for a short time, studying musical theatre, then he moved to San Diego from Virginia.
In 2002, Jason Mraz signed to Elektra Records, returning to Virginia to work with producer Sean Combs on his major label debut release, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, which would be certified platinum by the RIAA in July 2004 and reach #174 on Billboard's Heatseekers Chart. His first single, "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)," was co-written by music production team The Matrix. Mraz's friend and former roommate Billy "Bushwalla" Galewood also collaborated on the album, co-writing "Curbside Prophet", the album's third single, and "I'll Do Anything".
In June and July 2005, Mraz opened for Alanis Morissette during her Jagged Little Pill Acoustic Tour. On July 26, 2005, he released his second major-label album, Mr. A-Z, for Atlantic Records. It entered the Billboard 200 album chart at number 5. In December, the album earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, while its producer, the prolific Steve Lillywhite, received a nomination for Producer of the Year.
Mraz began his long-running tour in support of Mr. A-Z at the San Diego Music Awards on September 12. The tour featured a variety of opening acts, including Bushwalla and Tristan Prettyman, with whom he had co-written the duet "Shy That Way" in 2002. Mraz and Prettyman dated, ending their relationship in 2006. They also co-wrote the song "All I Want For Christmas is Us".
In November 2005, Mraz opened for the Rolling Stones on five dates during their 2005–2006 world tour. Also in 2005, Mraz was one of many singers featured in the fall advertisement campaign for The Gap entitled "Favorites". The music-themed campaign also featured other singers butt including Tristan Prettyman, Michelle Branch, Joss Stone, Keith Urban, Alanis Morissette, Brandon Boyd, and Michelle Williams. In December 2005, Mraz released the first part of his ongoing podcast.
In March 2006, Mraz also performed for the first time at a sold-out (one month before the actual performance date) performance in Singapore with Toca as part of the annual Mosaic Music Festival. In May 2006, Mraz toured mostly small venues and music festivals in the U.S., along with a few shows in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The tour included a May 6, 2006 acoustic show with P.O.D., Better Than Ezra, Live, and The Presidents of the United States of America. Mraz was featured as a headlining guest of St. Louis's annual Fair St. Louis and performed a free concert at the base of the Arch on July 1, 2006.
In December 2006, Selections for Friends, the live, online-only album recorded during the Songs for Friends Tour, was released. Selections for Friends features Jason's favorite songs from the Schubas Tavern and Villa Montalvo shows he played in July 2006.

Jason Mraz began 2007 by debuting his new single "The Beauty in Ugly", an earlier track penned by Mraz entitled "Plain Jane" that he rewrote for the ABC TV show Ugly Betty. The song was featured as a part of ABC's "Be Ugly in '07" campaign. He has since released a song in Spanish entitled "La Nueva Belleza (The New Beauty)".
In 2007, American Idol contestant Chris Richardson performed "Geek in the Pink", which subsequently garnered the song mass recognition and increased downloads at the American iTunes Store. It was also performed later that year by Canadian Idol contestant Greg Neufeld. "Geek in the Pink" peaked at #22 on the U.S. iTunes Store on March 10, 2007, but it was ineligible for the site's Hot 100. The tape-recording of bootlegs during Mraz's shows is explicitly supported by him and his management.
Jason is currently promoting his latest studio album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. which was released on May 13, 2008. Mraz's single "I'm Yours" has been #1 on AAA radio charts in the US for 3 weeks as of 6/15/08 and was made famous by a live recording from his acoustic show at the Villa Montalvo Winery which received millions of hits on his Myspace. In September 2008, the song became Mraz's first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking so far at #6. As of October 14, 2008, the album has been certified Gold by the RIAA, selling in excess of 500,000 copies in the US.

Discography
Studio albums
Waiting for My Rocket to Come (2002) #55 U.S. (Platinum)
Mr. A-Z (2005) #5 U.S.
We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. (2008) #3 U.S. (Gold) #110 UK
EPs and other releases
A Jason Mraz Demonstration (1999)
Live at Java Joe's (2001)
From the Cutting Room Floor (2001)(2002)
The E Minor EP in F (2002)
Tonight, Not Again: Jason Mraz Live at the Eagles Ballroom (2004) #49 U.S.
Wordplay - EP (2005)
Extra Credit - EP (2005) - Digital EP
Jimmy Kimmel Live: Jason Mraz - EP (2005) - iTunes
Geekin' Out Across the Galaxy (2006) - Digital Live EP
Selections for Friends (2007) - Digital Live LP #22 Top Digital Albums
iTunes Live: London Sessions - EP (2008) - U.K. iTunes
We Sing. - EP (2008) #101 U.S.
We Dance. - EP (2008) #52 U.S. We Steal Things. - EP (2008)

Source : en.wikipedia.org