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Damon Albarn has been the lead singer of several bands. He was born in Whitechapel (London) in 1968. When he was a child he used to take part in all the school performances despite being the worst actor in the world (as he said later). He studied violin and piano to become a good composer. As a teenager he was shy and sensitive, he didn’t have friends until he met Graham Coxon who played the saxophone and the bass.

They had a very close relationship and they formed a band called “The Aftermath” without much success. Then, Damon and Graham took different ways. In the college Damon started again in the music industry with two mates and they decided to form “Circus”, an indie band. Those mates left the band so Damon offered Graham and two friends (Dave and Alex) to join in the band.

They decided to change the sound of the band and they were called “Seymour”. But because o this sound developement they changed the name again to “Blur” in 1989 and they became one of the most important Britpop bands. Its first album was “Lisure”. Albums like “Parklife” or “Modern life is rubbish” gave them an enormous success and some music awards. In 2002 Graham left the band and “Blur” split up.

In 2003 Damon formed “Gorillaz”, which combines electronic and indie music, with his friend Jamie Hewlett. Gorillaz is a virtual band where all its components are cartoons; Damon is the lead singer but he has never appeared in the videoclips or in the concerts, instead of him, 4 virtual members sing and play the instruments. This idea came into Damon’s mind because he were fed up with public life. Gorillaz has published a new album recently called “Damon days”.

Nowadays Damon has a new band with the guitarist of “The Who” called “The good the bad and the queen” whose sound has a low beat. They only play in pubs and in small locals.

Anastacia Lyn Newkirk, better known as Anastacia, is an American singer-songwriter who has sold over 20 million albums since 2000. Her success is due to her powerful voice, which is often said to be like a black woman’s. It is hard to describe the genre she belongs to as she has sung everything: from soul to pop-rock and disco. Despite being from the United States, she has never succeeded there. Nevertheless, she has reached the top in charts in Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1968, Anastacia was influenced by her family. Her mother was a Broadway musical theatre actress and her father a club-singer. As she was always singing and performing for the family, her grandmother nicknamed her ‘Stage’. At the age of twelve, her parents got divorced and she moved with her mother, her sister and her brother to New York. There, she enrolled the Professional Children’s School in Manhattan.

After a decade working as a dancer, she appeared on the talent show ‘The Cut’ (MTV) in 1999. In spite of the fact that she did not win, she attracted the interest of many record labels and she was even phoned by Michael Jackson, who wanted her to sign a contract with his own label. She eventually opted for Sony BMG and her first album -titled ‘Not That Kind’-, was released in 2000, becoming a world success. Her second album was released two years later under the name of ‘Freak of Nature’ –as she labels herself. In early 2003 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was while she was recovering from her illness that she started to write her next album, which came out in 2004. The self-titled ‘Anastacia’ album is the one which has been more awarded. After four years of relax, she came back with a new album titled ‘Heavy Rotation’ which was released in October 2008.

Anastacia is now happier than ever as she married her bodyguard Wayne Newton two years ago. Also, she has become a mother as her husband has two children from his previous relationship. Now in her forties, she is as excited as at the beginning about her career and she is looking forward to making a world tour in 2009.

Jhonny Depp was born the 9^th of June 1963 in Owensboro,Kentuky,EE.UU.

He started playing in bands at the age of twelve but he realised that he was better at performing.His first appearance in a film was in 1984 in “A nightmare on Elm Street”.

He’s acted in lots of famous films such as “Pirates of the Caribbean”, “Sleepy Hollow”, “Charlie and the chocolate factory”, “Edward Scissorhands” (which is my favourite one) or the latest film in which he played the main character,the musical “Sweeney Todd” directed by Tim Burton.

I think he’s a great actor who can play all type of roles but he usually plays the mysterious and funny ones. He’s got a big sense of humour which is his main feature apart from being one of the sexiest men in the world.

Now that we´re working with crime vocabulary let´s listen to these songs:

Which one do you prefer? Which is the funniest?

Natalie Portman, whose real name is Natalie Hershlag, was born in Jerusalen, Israel, in 1981. However, she started living in the United States when she was a kid, so she can speak both English and Hebrew fluently.

She tried to start a career as a model, but because of her height (1.60 metres), it was really difficult and she gave it up, although it allowed her to begin working as an actress. Those days her parents changed her surname for her grandmother´s so that it could be easier for her to find a job.

World known at the age of eighteen as Padme Amidala, her role in the film Star Wars, Portman had already acted in many other films since she was twelve. By the year 2001, she had even tried doing theatre ( “The Seagull”), and in the last few years, she has acted in several interesting movies; for instance, “Cold Mountain”, “Closer” and “Paris, je t´aime”. In fact,  in 2005 she won the Golden Globe award and she had been candidate for the Oscar in 2004.

Apart from her career as an actress, she has studied psychology and languajes such as French or Japanese. About her private life, she has had some boyfriends, but she is still single nowadays.

Is it possible to became one of the 100 most influential people in the world and at the same time became the most beautiful woman by People?

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Rafa Nadal, who has recently seized No. 1 in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Ranking, is not just an outstanding tennis player (he has won five Gran Slam singles titles, the 2004 Davis Cup, and the gold medal in 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing). His whole life set an example for the younger generation of the significance of virtues such as tenacity, perseverance, comradeship, sportsmanship, spirit of self-improvement, etc. Because of all these achievements, both in the professional and in the personal field, the jury for the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports has recently decided to bestow the 2008 Award on him.

Born in Manacor (Mallorca) in 1986, Nadal, whose family is highly involved in the sport’s world (his uncle Miguel Angel is a former professional football player, and his other uncle, Toni, is Rafa’s coach, who taught him to play left-handed even though he is naturally right-handed), started practicing tennis at the age of five. By the time he was twelve he had won the Spanish and the European tennis titles in his age group. He was also the striker of the local football team. But then his father, Sebastian, forced him to choose between his two main passions, tennis and football, to prevent his marks from getting worse. Obviously Rafa chose tennis, although he still loves football (he is a passionate supporter of Real Madrid).

In the year 2001, when he was only 15 years old, he became a professional tennis player. Only a year later, he was ranked in the world’s top 50 players. Since then his career has been full of records and success. This year he has reached the top peak of his career: he has won both the French Open (the fourth time in a row) and Wimbledon, beating the former No. 1 Roger Federer, with whom Rafa has had a long rivalry.

In spite of his worldwide fame as a tennis player, his life is not only focused on playing tennis. Nadal tries to lead a normal life. He has been going out with Xisca Perelló, a childhood friend, for three years now. He had also recently established a charitable foundation bearing his name, which focuses on social work among disadvantaged groups and cooperation for development.

He was born in March, 1845. His father worked as a textile dealer in Lenep (Prusia). When he was three years old, all the family moved to Holland. At the age of sixteen, he joined the Utrecht Technical School, and he lived with Jan Willem Guning, a famous Chemist. He was wrongly accused of making jokes and this lead to his expulsion. When he was twenty years old, he arrived in Zurich, and he could start his studies in Mechanical Engineering. He obtained his degree in 1869. At that time, Professor August Kundt replaced Julius Clausius, and Rontgen was assigned as a lecturer. In 1872, Rontgen moved to Estrasburgo. During 1874, he worked in several areas, making his research basically in the thermal conductivity of gases. In those days, he worked as an assistant. In this stage of his life, he began to work in the Physics Institute, as a Principal. He developed an intense activity, since he had a good budget for research activities. During 1894, he was working as a full professor in Würzwug; he was quite popular among professors and he became Chancellor. Despite this administrative position, he was able to carry out a lot of experiments: in fact, at that time he began to work with vacuum tubes, and he discovered X-ray radiation, of course, by accident. He was working with cathodic rays when he realized that a special sheet placed in another location, emitted a strange light. It was the first step to discover X-ray and their possibilities. Of course, before he discovered them, other people had experimented with X-ray radiation, but without realized what they really had in their hands. In 1901, he won the Nobel Prize in physics, due to X-Ray and their medical applications. Despite this prize, which he donated to University, he died without money in 1923. His research activities were continued by his students, and many other applications were developed