Celebrity Birthdays in April
A look at the famous on the day they were born, including Eddie Murphy, Ashley Judd
AARP Members Only Access, April 2023
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PHOTO BY: Sthanlee B. Mirador/Sipa USA via Getty Images
Apr. 30: Isiah Thomas, 62
Point guard Isiah Thomas, 62, packed a punch in his short-for-the-NBA frame of nearly 6 feet,-1 inch. Born in Chicago on April 30, 1961, Thomas played on the gold-medal-winning U.S. team at the 1979 Pan-American Games before joining the Indiana University Hoosiers and leading them to 1980 and 1981 national championships. When it came time for the NBA draft, he was selected second overall by the Detroit Pistons, kicking off an impressive 13-season run with the team. Following a narrow loss to the L.A. Lakers in the 1988 NBA finals, Thomas and the “Bad Boys” (as the Pistons were called in that era) roared back with a vengeance with back-to-back championships in 1989 and 1990, and Thomas was named MVP during the latter. Before retiring, he was a 12-time All-Star, and he holds the Pistons records for points (18,822), assists (9,061), steals (1,861) and games played (979). After his playing days, Thomas remained an integral part of the NBA, first as a part owner of the Toronto Raptors expansion team and later as head coach of the Indiana Pacers, before making the leap to the WNBA as the president of the New York Liberty. A 2000 inductee in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Thomas has also been named a member of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. In addition to being an on-again, off-again commentator, Thomas has had an unexpected second act as the owner of Cheurlin 1788, the world’s first African American-owned Champagne company. Cheers! —Nicholas DeRenzo
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Apr. 29: Michelle Pfeiffer, 65
Long known for her beauty and her impressive range as an actress, Michelle Pfeiffer, 65, was born in Santa Ana, California, on April 29, 1958. Though she originally studied to be a court reporter, her victory at the 1978 Miss Orange County pageant set her on a course for Hollywood, and she was soon earning roles in shows like Fantasy Island. Her big break came with 1982’s Grease 2, in which she played the new leader of the Pink Ladies. While the musical was a commercial and critical failure, Pfeiffer’s star power was undeniable. Throughout the 1980s, she held her own against heavyweights like Al Pacino in Scarface and Susan Sarandon and Cher in The Witches of Eastwick, and in 1988, she earned her first Oscar nomination for the historical drama Dangerous Liaisons. Within five years, Pfeiffer earned two more Academy Award nods for The Fabulous Baker Boys and Love Field, and by the 1990s, she was one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses. Firmly entrenched in the A-list, she stretched her acting muscles across diverse genres like superhero flicks (she was purr-fect as Catwoman in Batman Returns), costume dramas (The Age of Innocence), romantic-comedies (One Fine Day), gritty modern dramas (Dangerous Minds), musicals (Hairspray) and even Shakespear comedy (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in which she played fairy queen Titania). Following a brief hiatus, Pfeiffer came back swinging In 2017, appearing in Murder on the Orient Express and Darren Aronofsky’s psychological horror film Mother! and earning her first Emmy nomination for channeling Ruth Madoff in the HBO film The Wizard of Lies. The following year, she joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Janet Van Dyne, the original Wasp and mother of Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), a role she returned to in this year’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. But it was her decidedly more down-to-earth role as Betty Ford in last year’s Showtime anthology series The First Lady that earned her a Critics Choice Awards nomination and some of her best reviews. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images
Apr. 28: Alice Waters, 79
Widely considered one of the greatest chefs in American culinary history, Alice Waters, 79, truly changed the way we eat. Born in New Jersey on April 28, 1944, Waters grew up a rather picky eater. As a college student, she transferred to UC Berkeley, where she was immediately inspired by the student-led protest movements, and she later studied abroad in France, where she first began to experience the wonders of farm-to-table cooking. Back home in Berkeley, she opened the ground-breaking restaurant Chez Panisse in 1971. Unlike other fussy fine-dining establishments at the time, it had a single fixed-price menu that changed daily, using high quality seasonal ingredients and whatever her favorite farmers were growing. The restaurant and her take on California cuisine set off a revolution in the American food world, inspiring generations of followers. In 1992, she became the first woman to be named best chef by the James Beard Foundation. To celebrate the restaurant’s 25th anniversary, Waters founded the Chez Panisse Foundation, an educational outreach program, while her Edible Schoolyard Project was designed to teach kids about growing and cooking their own food. In the years since, she’s received such honors as the National Humanities Medal and the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and her portrait was hung in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Waters has also written more than a dozen books including her 2017 memoir Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook and We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto, which came out in paperback last summer and urges readers to embrace “slow food” as a way to promote biodiversity, pleasure, health and community. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Jim Spellman/WireImage via Getty Images
Apr. 27: Ace Frehley, 72
You might not immediately recognize Ace Frehley, 72, even though he’s in one of the biggest rock bands in history. That’s because, as the co-founder and original lead guitarist of Kiss, his face was often obscured by black and white makeup. Born in the Bronx on April 27, 1951, Frehley received his first electric guitar on his 14th birthday, and in 1972, he teamed up with Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and Peter Criss after answering a local newspaper audition ad. He quickly became known for his “spaceman” makeup and his aggressive theatricality, which included Gibson Les Paul custom guitars that emitted smoke and shot pyrotechnic rockets. Those fireworks were nothing compared to the drama in the band, and he kissed Kiss goodbye in 1982. In the years that followed, he formed his own band, Frehley’s Comet, before setting off on a solo career. The Kiss quartet reunited for a 1995 taping of MTV Unplugged. It was such a success that they stuck together for a farewell reunion tour that stretched on for nearly 18 months, and Frehley remained with the band until 2002 — a year longer than bandmate Peter Criss. They all shared the stage together again in 2014 when the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Frehley used his acceptance speech to discuss his seven and a half years of sobriety. Since 2009, Frehley has released five solo albums, including Origins Vol. 2 in 2020, which debuted at number 3 on the Billboard rock album charts. This year, he’s back out on tour. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney
Apr. 26: Jet Li, 60
Following in the footsteps of legends like Bruce Lee, Jet Li, 60, emerged as a martial artist phenom at the age of 8, when he began learning kung fu. Born in Beijing on April 26, 1963, Li Lianjie quickly rose through the ranks, winning a national championship at 11 and touring 45 countries. After holding the world champion title for five years, he retired from the sport at 17 and made his film debut in 1982’s Shaolin Temple, as a man who studies under monks at the legendary birthplace of Chinese martial arts. It was during the release of this soon-to-be hit that he started going by Jet Li. In 1991, he took on the role of the Qing Dynasty folk hero Wong Fei-hung in Once Upon a Time in China and its three sequels, kicking off an impressive run of martial-arts epics in his home country. His first Hollywood role came in 1998 with Lethal Weapon 4, and soon he starred in hits like Romeo Must Die, a hip-hop remix of Romeo and Juliet. Of course, he was still a major box office draw back home in films like Hero, which was nominated for best foreign film at the Oscars, and in 2008, he appeared opposite Jackie Chan in The Forbidden Kingdom. In recent years, following appearances in the Mummy and Expendables franchises, Li has stepped back from the big screen. His most recent credit was in 2020, when he played the emperor in Disney’s live-action Mulan. He’s been focusing more on his One Foundation, which he created in 2007 after he and his daughter narrowly escaped death during a deadly tsunami. “I changed my mind and decided not to focus only on the movies,” Li recently told USA Today about the organization, which provides relief and counseling after natural disasters. “I want to help pay back my society.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
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Apr. 25: Hank Azaria, 59
The man of a million voices, Hank Azaria, 59, was born in Queens on April 25, 1964, and after a few bit parts and failed pilots in the late 1980s, he leaned into his childhood talent for mimicry and joined the voiceover cast of the groundbreaking animated sitcom The Simpsons. Over the years, he’s picked up six Emmys for his work voicing the citizens of Springfield, including Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum, Superintendent Chalmers, Snake Jailbird and more, and he’s still going strong after more than 700 episodes. Beyond his voiceover work, Azaria emerged as a go-to actor on shows such as Mad About You and Friends, and he proved to be a scene-stealer on the big screen as well, memorably playing the flamboyant servant Agador in The Birdcage — a performance he based on his grandmother. In 2005, he earned a Tony nomination for his Broadway debut as Sir Lancelot in the Monty Python musical Spamalot, but he always had his greatest successes on the small screen. After years of supporting roles, he took center stage as the titular character on two series: Huff, on which he played a psychiatrist going through a midlife crisis, and Brockmire, on which he starred as a baseball announcer who has an on-air meltdown after finding out his wife cheated on him. This year, his series Hello Tomorrow! started streaming on Apple TV+, and it’s a high-concept, retro-futuristic dramedy that sees Azaria and Billy Crudup playing moon timeshare salesmen. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Apr. 24: Shirley MacLaine, 89
A prolific Hollywood star whose career has lasted decades longer than many of her peers’, Shirley MacLaine, 89, was born in Richmond, Virginia, on April 24, 1934, and her big break came quite by accident: She was cast as a chorus girl and understudy in the Broadway musical The Pajama Game, and she was discovered by a powerful movie producer one night while filling in for the injured lead. MacLaine made her screen debut in the 1955 Alfred Hitchcock film The Trouble With Harry, which won her a Golden Globe for most promising newcomer. A few years later, she earned her first Oscar nomination for Some Came Running, in which she starred opposite Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, and soon she was an integral part of the Rat Pack, teaming back up with the crew for Ocean’s Eleven. Over the decades, she picked up more Academy Award nods for the romantic comedies The Apartment and Irma la Douce and the ballet drama The Turning Point, as well as for codirecting the documentary The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir. Sixth time proved to be the charm when she finally took home the trophy for the beloved tearjerker Terms of Endearment, and in the years that followed, she took on feisty roles in films such as Steel Magnolias and Guarding Tess. An omnivorous creative force, the 2013 Kennedy Center honoree has directed a feature film (Bruno), wrote books about her spirituality and her family life, and continued to steal scenes, playing everyone from Endora in the Bewitched movie to an American who goes toe to toe with Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess on Downton Abbey. MacLaine keeps busy, appearing last year in the Tribeca Film Festival black comedy American Dreamer and in a two-episode guest arc on Hulu’s acclaimed Only Murders in the Building. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
Apr. 23: Melina Kanakaredes, 56
Born to a Greek American family in Ohio on April 23, 1967, actress Melina Kanakaredes, 56, first broke into television with a two-time Emmy-nominated role as Eleni Andros Cooper on the daytime soap opera Guiding Light. After recurring roles on shows such as NYPD Blue, on which she played the girlfriend of Jimmy Smits’ Detective Bobby Simone, Kanakaredes took center stage on the drama series Providence. She played Dr. Sydney Hansen, a successful Hollywood plastic surgeon who moves back to Rhode Island after the death of her mother — who shows back up as a ghost to offer her advice. The show lasted for 96 episodes and ended in 2002, but she wasn’t off the airwaves for long, and two years later, she starred as NYPD Detective Stella Bonasera on CSI: NY for six seasons. Over the years, she appeared on Broadway as Sally Bowles in the Tony-winning Sam Mendes Cabaret revival and in the films Snitch and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. She briefly returned to television on Fox’s The Resident as an ethically compromised oncologist, and more recently, she was developing a semi-autobiographical sitcom called Greek Candy about her family’s century-old chocolate factory. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Jim Poorten/NBAE via Getty Images
Apr. 22: Jack Nicholson, 86
One of the greatest actors of the New Hollywood generation (and beyond), Jack Nicholson, 86, was born on April 22, 1937, and raised on the Jersey Shore. Before he gained “respectability,” Nicholson frequently collaborated with B-movie king Roger Corman, appearing in small parts in The Little Shop of Horrors and other films. His career began to turn around with his role in the 1969 countercultural road movie Easy Rider, followed quickly by the existentialist art film Five Easy Pieces, the two of which earned him his first two Oscar nominations. By the 1970s, he was established as a major A-lister, earning raves for his performances as private eye Jake Gittes in Chinatown and the institutionalized convict R.P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, for which he won his first Academy Award. In the years that followed, Nicholson brought his irreverent charisma to a diverse array of cinematic genres, including horror (The Shining), historic epics (Reds), military dramas (A Few Good Men) and even superhero flicks (Batman, in which he memorably played the Joker). Over the decades, he racked up an impressive dozen Oscar nominations, tying with Katharine Hepburn for the second-most nods for a performer after Meryl Streep, and he won his second and third awards for Terms of Endearment and As Good as It Gets, two films that showed off his comedic chops. In the wake of his most recent nomination for 2002’s About Schmidt, Nicholson’s output has slowed down considerably, and he’s appeared in only a handful of films, including Something’s Gotta Give, The Departed and, most recently, How Do You Know in 2010. Since then, though he hasn’t made any official announcements about retirement, Nicholson has stepped back from public life — though he can still occasionally be seen courtside, cheering on his beloved L.A. Lakers. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Dia Dipasupil via Getty Images
Apr. 21: Patti LuPone, 74
One of the most dominant Broadway divas of her generation, Patti LuPone, 74, started in show biz early, performing as part of a family act called the LuPone Trio alongside her brothers. Born in Long Island on April 21, 1949, she was part of the first graduating class of the Drama Division of the Juilliard School and made her Broadway debut in a 1973 production of Three Sisters. After picking up her first Tony nod for The Robber Bridegroom, she landed the role of a lifetime when she was cast as Argentine first lady Eva Perón in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita, for which she took home her first trophy. Across the pond, she originated the role of Fantine in the original London production of Les Misérables, becoming the first American actress to win a Laurence Olivier Award. Like many stage actresses at the height of their success, LuPone made the leap to the screen in films such as Witness and Driving Miss Daisy and the sweet TV drama series Life Goes On, in which she played the protective mother of a young man with Down syndrome. But the stage was always home. In 1992, she starred as Norma Desmond in the West End debut of Sunset Boulevard and clashed with Lloyd Webber when he decided to recast the role with Glenn Close for its Broadway bow. LuPone had the last laugh: Over the decades, she’s picked up a whopping eight Tony nominations for characters including Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd (in a production that required her to play tuba!) and Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, winning her second and third trophies for Gypsy and last year’s gender-swapped Company revival, in which she tore the roof off with her blazing rendition of “The Ladies Who Lunch.” In recent years, the 2006 American Theater Hall of Fame inductee has become a favorite of producer Ryan Murphy, appearing in Pose, Hollywood and multiple seasons of American Horror Story. Next up, she plays Joaquin Phoenix’s mother in Beau Is Afraid, which hits theaters today and has been described by director Ari Aster as a “nightmare comedy.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Bruce Glikas via Getty Images
Apr. 20: George Takei, 86
Long before he became a beloved actor, George Takei, 86, lived a life with all the ups and downs of a classic Hollywood melodrama: He was born in Los Angeles on April 20, 1937, and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, his Japanese American family was forcefully relocated to an internment camp. After beginning an architecture degree at UC Berkeley, he switched to acting after he got a summer job on the MGM lot dubbing characters from Japanese to English for the American release of the monster flick Rodan. Takei’s life changed forever in 1966, when he was cast as one of the first major — and non-stereotypical — Asian characters in television history as Lt. Hikaru Sulu on the groundbreaking Star Trek. Though the show was canceled after three seasons, he returned to the role of Sulu for the animated series and a number of films in the ever-popular franchise. Over the decades, Takei popped up from time to time in guest stints on series such as Hawaii Five-O, Chico and the Man and General Hospital. In 2005, Takei came out as gay and emerged as a prominent advocate for LGBT rights. In recent years, he’s drawn on his childhood experiences for projects including the musical Allegiance, which he starred in on Broadway in 2015, and the 2019 graphic novel They Called Us Enemy, which picked up an American Book Award. This year, Takei returned to Allegiance for a run in London, and he’s set to bring his booming baritone — which has been on display in films such as Mulan — to voiceover work in upcoming projects Patsy Lee & The Keepers of the 5 Kingdoms and Avatar: The Last Airbender. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage via Getty Image
Apr. 19: Ashley Judd, 55
Born in Granada Hills, California, on April 19, 1968, Ashley Judd, 55, has show business in her blood: Her mother was the late country legend Naomi Judd, and her half sister is Wynonna. In 1991, after a two-episode stint on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Judd took on a recurring role on the popular NBC drama Sisters, but she truly broke out with the Sundance Film Festival smash Ruby in Paradise, in which she played a young woman working in a Florida souvenir shop who’s trying to make a new life for herself. Judd next earned raves — and Emmy and Golden Globe nominations — for the 1996 TV movie Norma Jean & Marilyn, in which she and Mira Sorvino played two sides of the blonde bombshell Marilyn Monroe. She found success in bigger-budget thrillers such as Kiss the Girls and Double Jeopardy, while branching out on the Broadway stage, starring as Maggie in the 2003 revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and in the musical biopic De-Lovely, in which she played Cole Porter’s wife, Linda. Offscreen, Judd emerged as a humanitarian and a political activist, and in 2018, she participated in a bombshell New York Times report about Harvey Weinstein’s years of sexual abuse that set off the #MeToo movement. In a somewhat surprising twist, when the Times story was turned into the drama She Said late last year, Judd appeared as herself in the film. “It’s so important to be in our truth and to have our righteousness in our story,” she told USA Today about playing herself. “So it was a really simple thing for me to do, and I was very grateful for the opportunity.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for GOOD The Play
Apr. 18: David Tennant, 52
Born in Bathgate, Scotland, on April 18, 1971, David Tennant, 52, knew that he wanted to be an actor from the age of 3: He was such a fan of the long-running series Doctor Who that he would write essays about the character in school and tote around a Doctor Who doll. At 17, he became the youngest student ever admitted to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, which led to lauded performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company; his turn as the Danish prince, in fact, was deemed “the greatest Hamlet of his generation” by The Guardian. With his turns on the British series Blackpool and Casanova, Tennant began gaining a wider audience, but 2005 proved to be a life-changing year for him, when he was cast as his childhood hero, Doctor Who, a time-traveling scientist who gets reincarnated in different forms. He remained on the sci-fi classic through 2010 and he’d return for occasional guest gigs. In the years that followed, he became a reliable presence on a wide array of TV shows: He earned raves playing a detective opposite Olivia Colman in Broadchurch, struck fear as the mind-controlling supervillain Kilgrave on the Marvel series Jessica Jones and even voiced Scrooge McDuck on the rebooted DuckTales. Since 2019, he and Michael Sheen have costarred as, respectively, a demon and an angel in Amazon Prime’s fantastical Good Omens, based on the book by Neil Gaiman. During the pandemic, the pair teamed up for the BBC comedy series Staged, which they filmed through videoconferencing technology from their respective homes, and they’ll be back onscreen together some time this year for the second season of Omens. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP
Apr. 17: Liz Phair, 56
Liz Phair’s swaggering persona and bold feminist lyrics made her a favorite among indie fans of the 1990s. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, on April 17, 1967, Phair, 56, got her start by self-releasing a series of lo-fi cassettes under the name Girly-Sound. After signing to Matador Records, she took a bold step and, for her studio debut, released a sprawling, 18-track double album, the generation-defining Exile in Guyville. The album, which was certified gold by the RIAA, was a hit among critics, with Spin and Pazz & Jop ranking it the best album of 1993 and Rolling Stone later including it at number 56 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Her sophomore outing, Whip-Smart, also went gold, and she earned back-to-back Grammy nods for best female rock vocal performance for “Supernova” and “Don’t Have Time.” A decade after her attention-grabbing debut, Phair’s self-titled 2003 album ruffled the feathers of purists, due to its embrace of slicker pop sounds. The notoriously snobby music website Pitchfork infamously gave Liz Phair a 0.0 out of 10, but the album proved to be a commercial success, with “Why Can’t I?” becoming her highest-charting single to date, peaking at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2021, Phair released her most recent album, Soberish, and many critics called it a return to form, though the specter of Guyville still looms large: If you want to learn more about it, check out Rob Sheffield’s podcast episode about the album, released last year. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Arnold Turner/Getty Images for BET
Apr. 16: Martin Lawrence, 58
Martin Lawrence, 58, was born in Frankfurt, Germany, on April 16, 1965, the son of a soldier who left the family behind when Martin was only 8 years old. Despite that unhappy start — or perhaps because of it — Lawrence got into comedy while still in school, when his teacher encouraged him to go to an open-mic night. A well-received appearance on Star Search landed him a recurring gig on the sitcom What’s Happening Now!, which in turn led to roles in films like Do the Right Thing and House Party. 1992 was a game-changer for the rising comedian, who began hosting Def Comedy Jam and also started his very own sitcom, Martin. Lawrence earned a legion of fans for his hilarious turn as the DJ Martin Payne, but the show also gave him the chance to show off his Eddie Murphy–like mastery of different characters: He also played the flashy Sheneneh Jenkins, Martin’s mother, an aging pimp, a bratty child, a white surfer dude, a martial arts expert, a 1970s blaxploitation star and more. Lawrence branched out with blockbuster franchises like Bad Boys, a buddy-cop caper costarring Will Smith, and Big Momma’s House, in which he plays an FBI agent who has to go undercover as a grandmother. In recent years, after a failed TV comeback alongside Kelsey Grammer in FX’s Partners, he returned to the role of Miami detective Marcus Burnett for 2020’s Bad Boys for Life, which was the year’s highest-grossing American film. Last year, he took on his darkest role in years for Mindcage, where he played a detective who seeks the help of an incarcerated serial killer to catch a copycat murderer. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for CORE Gala
Apr. 15: Linda Perry, 58
Born in Massachusetts on April 15, 1965, Linda Perry, 58, started writing songs at the age of 15, and after playing guitar on the streets of San Francisco, she got a much steadier gig as frontwoman of 4 Non Blondes. Their hit single, “What’s Up?,” became something of a surprise radio hit, and after peaking at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, it often shows up on lists of the greatest one-hit wonders of all time. Perry was never a fan of the band’s poppier side, so she left the Blondes behind to go solo with 1996’s In Flight. But she’d have much more success on the other side of the mic as a songwriter and producer: Her credits include such hits as Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful,” Gwen Stefani’s “What You Waiting For?” and Pink’s “Get the Party Started.” Perry was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015, but she hasn’t been resting on her laurels: She and Dolly Parton wrote the Golden Globe–nominated song “Girl in the Movies” from the Netflix comedy Dumplin’, and last year, she added another best song Grammy nomination to her résumé for “A Beautiful Noise,” which she collaborated on with Alicia Keys, Brandi Carlile and other musicians. Most recently, she composed the scores for the riveting dramas To Leslie and The Luckiest Girl Alive. —Nicholas DeRenzo
April 15: Linda Perry, 58
Hed: Linda Perry Still Keeps ’Em Singing
Dek: The former 4 Non Blondes was nominated for song of the year at last year’s Grammys
Born in Massachusetts on April 15, 1965, Linda Perry, 58, started writing songs at the age of 15, and after playing guitar on the streets of San Francisco, she got a much steadier gig as frontwoman of 4 Non Blondes. Their hit single, “What’s Up?,” became something of a surprise radio hit, and after peaking at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, it often shows up on lists of the greatest one-hit wonders of all time. Perry was never a fan of the band’s poppier side, so she left the Blondes behind to go solo with 1996’s In Flight. But she’d have much more success on the other side of the mic as a songwriter and producer: Her credits include such hits as Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful,” Gwen Stefani’s “What You Waiting For?” and Pink’s “Get the Party Started.” Perry was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015, but she hasn’t been resting on her laurels: She and Dolly Parton wrote the Golden Globe–nominated song “Girl in the Movies” from the Netflix comedy Dumplin’, and last year, she added another best song Grammy nomination to her résumé for “A Beautiful Noise,” which she collaborated on with Alicia Keys, Brandi Carlile and other musicians. Most recently, she composed the scores for the riveting dramas To Leslie and The Luckiest Girl Alive.
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PHOTO BY: Timothy Hiatt/Getty Images
Apr. 14: Anthony Michael Hall, 55
As perhaps the least bratty member of the 1980s Brat Pack, Anthony Michael Hall, 55, made a career for himself playing nice guys and social outcasts in the movies of director John Hughes. Born in Boston on April 14, 1968, Hall had his big break as Rusty Griswold in National Lampoon’s Vacation, though he’d forever be remembered for the roles he took on as a teenager in the Hughes classics Sixteen Candles, Weird Science and The Breakfast Club. At the age of 17, he took a big swing when he became the youngest cast member in Saturday Night Live history, during the 1985 rebuilding season, when Lorne Michaels returned after five years away; the show was panned by critics, and Hall was fired alongside most of his fellow castmates. During the ’90s, he went on to appear in films like Edward Scissorhands and Six Degrees of Separation, and he returned to his Weird Science roots playing geek god Bill Gates in the TV movie Pirates of Silicon Valley. He later starred in the mystery series The Dead Zone about a man who wakes up from a six-year coma with a special psychic power that lets him see the past and the future. More recently, he’s ridden the wave of pop culture nostalgia, appearing in the horror sequel Halloween Kills and the 1980s-set sitcom The Goldbergs as the guidance counselor who catches the eye of matriarch Beverly after the death of her husband. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
Apr. 13: Ron Perlman, 73
Known for his deep growl of a voice and distinctive looks, Ron Perlman, 73, has carved out an impressive career as a character actor with quite a few leading roles on his résumé. Born in Manhattan on April 13, 1950, Perlman made his big-screen debut in Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Quest for Fire, as the prehistoric tribesman Amoukar. He reteamed with Annaud for 1986’s medieval drama The Name of the Rose, in which he played a hunchbacked monk, and a year later, landed the role that would make him a star. His turn as lovable lion-man Vincent in the fantasy drama series Beauty and the Beast earned him a Golden Globe for best actor. Following supporting roles in films like The Island of Dr. Moreau and Alien: Resurrection, director Guillermo del Toro tapped him for his big-budget comic book movie Hellboy; del Toro spent four years convincing the studio to take a chance on Perlman, who earned a new legion of fans as the half-demon superhero. In 2008, he returned to series television playing the menacing leader of a motorcycle gang in Sons of Anarchy. He left after six years and starred on the Amazon Prime drama Hand of God as a corrupt judge who believes God wants him to seek justice as a vigilante. Over the years, del Toro has remained one of his biggest cheerleaders and a frequent collaborator, with Perlman appearing in many of his projects, including 2021’s Nightmare Alley and last year’s stop-motion-animated Pinocchio, in which he voiced the villainous fascist official Podestà. And you can currently catch him in a pivotal role on the acclaimed Peacock mystery dramedy Poker Face from Knives Out director Rian Johnson. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: David Livingston/Getty Images
Apr. 12: Andy García, 67
Born in Havana on April 12, 1956, Andy García, 67, was part of the wave of refugees who moved to Miami after Fidel Castro took power, and it was as a high school student in Florida that he decided to start pursuing acting, after mono sidelined his athletic hopes. Following minor roles as a gang member in the pilot of Hill Street Blues and a cocaine kingpin in 8 Million Ways to Die, García had his big break in The Untouchables, in which he played a law enforcement agent working with Eliot Ness. He would go toe to toe with more Hollywood heavyweights in The Godfather Part III, earning an Oscar nomination for playing the illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone. Increasingly high-profile roles in films like When a Man Loves a Woman and Desperate Measures followed, and he later channeled the legendary Cuban trumpeter for the 2000 HBO movie For Love of Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story, receiving nominations from the Emmys and the Golden Globes. But he wasn’t just playing a musician on film: In real life, he’s an accomplished percussionist who won a 2005 Latin Grammy for best traditional tropical album. He enjoyed a multiyear turn in the Ocean’s Eleven trilogy as casino owner Terry Benedict, and he’s had a recent resurgence with films like Book Club, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and last year’s Cuban American reboot of Father of the Bride, which he produced and starred in opposite Gloria Estefan. This year, he’s set to show off his impressive range with two very different ensemble sequels: the explosion-filled The Expendables 4, with costars including Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham, and Book Club: The Next Chapter, in which he returns as Diane Keaton’s love interest. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Noam Galai/Getty Images for “The Iceman Cometh”
Apr. 11: Bill Irwin, 73
You’d have to go back to perhaps Charlie Chaplin to find another clown with as acclaimed and diverse a career as Bill Irwin, 73, who was born on April 11, 1950 in Santa Monica. After studying theater at Oberlin College, he made a complete 180-degree turn and attended the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in Florida. He co-founded his own circus in the 1970s and was later awarded the MacArthur Genius Grant in 1984. Among his most renowned projects in those days was a 1989 Broadway show called Largely New York, an unclassifiable vaudevillian romp that earned him Tony nominations for best play, actor, director and choreographer. Many Americans — especially children of the ‘90s — might know Irwin best for his work as the mime Mr. Noodle on the “Elmo’s World” segment of Sesame Street. He appeared in films like How the Grinch Stole Christmas, but he always kept one foot in the world of New York City theater; Irwin won the 2005 best actor Tony for his performance in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opposite Kathleen Turner and later appeared in Waiting for Godot, Bye Bye Birdie and The Iceman Cometh. In December, he appeared in the tear-jerking dramedy Spoiler Alert, based on Michael Ausiello’s memoir about losing his husband to cancer, and he brought that same mix of pathos and humor to his turn in the critically adored production of Samuel Beckett’s existentialist play Endgame, which runs through April 16 at New York’s Irish Repertory Theatre. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: A. Doheny/WireImage via Getty Images
Apr. 10: Anne Lamott, 69
Known for her writings on motherhood, alcohol addiction and faith, writer Anne Lamott, 69, has moved seamlessly between fiction and nonfiction writing since she got started on her first book nearly 50 years ago. The daughter of novelist Kenneth Lamott, Anne was born on April 10, 1954, and she wrote her first semi-autobiographical novel, Hard Laughter, for her father when he was diagnosed with brain cancer in 1975. In the years that followed, her novels like Rosie and Joe Jones landed her a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1985, and by the ‘90s, Lamott also began releasing nonfiction works like Operating Instructions, about raising her son as a single mother, and her most famous book, the New York Times best seller Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Over the years, she’s become nearly impossible to pin down: She’s a devout Christian who writes extensively about her faith, but she’s also a politically progressive feminist. Lamott’s many contradictions made for a fascinating documentary, Freida Lee Mock’s 1999 film Bird by Bird with Anne, but you don’t have to look far to find her plumbing her own depths: Her latest book, Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage offers a window into her recent marriage at the age of 65. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Georg Wendt/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
Apr. 9: Paulina Porizkova, 58
Born in Czechoslovakia on April 9, 1965, supermodel Paulina Porizkova, 58, had a childhood worthy of an international thriller: Her parents were anti-Soviet dissidents who fled to Sweden when Paulina was three, leaving her with her grandmother, and when her mother returned to rescue her, the family was placed under house arrest. They eventually made it out in 1973, and Paulina started modeling as a teenager, landing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue in both 1984 and 1985. That decade, Porizkova became a bonafide superstar, appearing in the Cars music video for “Drive” (she later married band member Ric Ocasek) and films like Anna and Her Alibi, for which she earned the dubious honor of a Razzie Awards nomination for worst actress. She appeared on the covers of magazines like Vogue and Cosmopolitan, and her $6 million contract with Estée Lauder broke records at the time. More recently, Porizkova appeared as a judge on a season of America’s Next Top Model and even released the novel A Model Summer, about a 15-year-old Swedish girl who faces the good, the bad and the ugly of the modeling world. Last year, Porizkova pushed the limits on the grueling celebrity reality competition Beyond the Edge, which saw her braving the elements in the Panamanian jungle alongside the likes of Bachelor Colton Underwood and actress Jodie Sweetin. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Liz Hafalia/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Apr. 8: Barbara Kingsolver, 68
Born April 8, 1955 in Annapolis, Maryland, novelist Barbara Kingsolver, 68, spent her formative years in rural Kentucky, though her physician father often moved the family to exotic locales where he tended to the poor; when she was eight years old, for instance, they picked up and moved to a remote village in the Congo, where there was no electricity or running water. By the late 1980s, Kingsolver wrote her first novel, The Bean Trees, late at night while dealing with pregnancy insomnia, and following a poetry collection and a non-fiction book about an Arizona miners’ strike, she first hit the New York Times best seller list with Pigs in Heaven, a sequel to The Bean Trees that followed the original novel’s feisty Kentucky hillbilly protagonist and her adopted Cherokee daughter. She’d achieve even greater success with The Poisonwood Bible, which follows a family of missionaries in Africa; Oprah selected it for her industry-shaping book club, and it was shortlisted as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Kingsolver’s literary inspirations have always proven far-ranging: The Lacuna follows a “perpetual outsider” who mingles with Leon Trotsky and Frida Kahlo in 1930s Mexico City, while Flight Behavior looks at the impact of global warming on the migration of monarch butterflies. A National Humanities Medal honoree, Kingsolver also occasionally played keyboard with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a literary supergroup that included the likes of Amy Tan, Stephen King and Dave Barry. Her most recent book, which came out in late 2022, is Demon Copperhead, a modern retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in southern Appalachia that explores opioid addiction and poverty. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Marilla Sicilia/Archivio Marilla Sicilia/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images
Apr. 7: Russell Crowe, 59
Russell Crowe, 59, has been around the film industry since boyhood: Born in Wellington, New Zealand on April 7, 1964 to set caterers, he made his screen debut at the age of six on the Australian wartime adventure series Spyforce. By the late-1970s, Crowe was focusing more on music, as the front man of the band Roman Antix (which he later reformed as 30 Odd Foot of Grunts), and he took on roles in musicals, including a touring production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Following a few smaller roles, Crowe made a huge splash with the dark Australian drama Romper Stomper, in which he played a neo-Nazi. Soon, he was getting cast in American films, like The Quick and the Dead and L.A. Confidential. In short succession, he was kicking off one of the most impressive runs in modern Hollywood history, with three consecutive best actor nominations for playing a tobacco-industry whistleblower in The Insider (in 2000), a Roman general in Gladiator (in 2001) (for which he took home the trophy) and brilliant mathematician John Nash in A Beautiful Mind (in 2002). The critical hits kept coming, across a surprising array of genres, including swashbuckling epics (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World), inspiring sports films (Cinderella Man), atmospheric Westerns (3:10 to Yuma) and gritty crime dramas (American Gangster). As he got older, Crowe played everyone from Robin Hood to Noah (of Ark fame) to, unexpectedly, Inspector Javert in Les Misérables, and he’s also part of a select crew that has appeared in both the DC Comics and Marvel Cinematic Universes, stealing scenes as Jor-El and Zeus. In 2019, he took on the challenging role of disgraced Fox News founder Roger Ailes in the Showtime limited series The Loudest Voice, which earned him a Golden Globe for best actor, and his upcoming films are bound to show off even more sides of his impressive range: Next up, he’s playing the real-life chief exorcist of the Vatican, Father Gabriele Amorth, in The Pope’s Exorcist, which hits theaters today. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Bruce Glikas/Stringer via AP
Apr. 6: Marilu Henner, 71
If you want to know anything — and we mean anything — about Marilu Henner’s life, just ask the 71-year-old actress: She famously has hyperthymesia (or highly superior autobiographical memory), which gives her total recall of moments from her entire life! Born in Chicago on April 6, 1952, Henner first got her acting start in the pre-Broadway Chicago cast of Grease, playing Marty; when the musical moved to the Great White Way, she decided not to join the cast, instead continuing as Marty in the national tour, alongside John Travolta. After making her screen debut in 1977’s Between the Lines, Henner got her big break on the beloved sitcom Taxi, playing Elaine Nardo, a divorced taxi driver and mother of two who wants to pursue fine art. The show ran through 1983, earning Henner a Golden Globe nomination for each of its five seasons. Following appearances in films like Cannonball Run II and Perfect, she returned to weekly television with Evening Shade, in which she starred opposite Burt Reynolds. In 1999, Henner took on the surreal challenge of playing herself in the Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon, and in recent years, she’s followed many stars of her generation to the world of reality television, appearing on Dancing with the Stars and The Celebrity Apprentice. She’s also become a regular presence on the Hallmark Channel, in both holiday romances and Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, on which she’s played the titular amateur sleuth’s real-estate agent mother in nearly 20 films. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images for Urban One Honors
Apr. 5: Pharrell Williams, 50
Pharrell Williams, 50, is one of the biggest tastemakers in modern American music, and he’s been especially adept at gliding smoothly between genres. Born in Virginia Beach on April 5, 1973, Williams was a drummer in his high school band, when he met saxophonist Chad Hugo; together, they’d form the producing duo known as the Neptunes, and their work with the likes of Mary J. Blige, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears quickly earned them attention from the Grammys. Williams and Hugo also teamed up with the rapper Shay as the band N.E.R.D., and on their five albums — including, most recently, 2017’s No_One Ever Really Dies — they blended sounds from rock, hip-hop, pop and R&B. As a lead or feature artist, Williams has netted seven Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Blurred Lines” with Robin Thicke; “Get Lucky,” with Daft Punk, which won record of the year at the Grammys; and the world-conquering “Happy” from the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack. “Happy” was nominated for the Oscar for best song in a movie, and he later picked up another nod for best picture for his work as a producer on Hidden Figures. The 13-time Grammy winner would go on to appear as a coach on The Voice, and his bold, boundary-pushing style even earned him the Fashion Icon Award at the CFDA Fashion Awards. In fact, his latest venture will make Williams’ fashion-world ascension even more official: French luxury brand Louis Vuitton recently announced him as their next men’s creative director. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Apr. 4: Clive Davis, 91
Born in Brooklyn on April 4, 1932, record executive and producer Clive Davis, 91, has been reshaping American popular music for more than 50 years. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he joined Columbia Records as an attorney, eventually moving his way up to the label president. In his time there, Davis signed such diverse acts as Janis Joplin, Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Aerosmith, before being fired in 1973. But he bounced back in style in 1974, founding Arista Records, where he launched the careers of newcomers like Patti Smith, Barry Manilow and, most notably, Whitney Houston. His work with the R&B diva earned her the album of the year Grammy for The Bodyguard soundtrack, and he’d later pick up four trophies of his own as producer on projects by Santana, Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson. After being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, Davis left Arista to start the now-defunct label J Records, and he released his memoir The Soundtrack of My Life in 2013. Last year, Stanley Tucci played Davis in the biopic Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, and at Davis’ annual Pre-Grammy Gala, Houston’s Bodyguard costar Kevin Costner honored the producer for his decades of positive impact: “Thank you for being her bodyguard, Clive, and for every person in this room who you have stood behind and stood for. Everyone in this business has a mom, but not everyone gets a Clive.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Apr. 3: Eddie Murphy, 62
Eddie Murphy, 62, was something of a comedic wunderkind: Born in Brooklyn on April 3, 1961, he began doing stand-up around New York City when he was only a teenager, and he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 1980 before his 20th birthday. From the start, he emerged as the star of the ensemble, with breakout characters like Mister Robinson, Buckwheat and Gumby, but he never turned his back on his stand-up roots. His specials and albums were the stuff of legend, and he won a Grammy in 1984 for Eddie Murphy: Comedian. The start of the 1980s also saw the birth of Eddie Murphy the movie star, as he began appearing in comedies like 48 Hours, Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop, all of which earned him Golden Globe nominations, and his 1988 romantic comedy Coming to America was one of the biggest box-office smashes of the decade. As he entered the ’90s, the previously foulmouthed provocateur found a surprising second chapter in family comedies like Dr. Dolittle and The Nutty Professor, in which he played seven characters. He also voiced animated characters like Mushu in Mulan and Donkey in Shrek, becoming the first voice-over actor ever nominated for a BAFTA. Despite occasional critical misfires like The Adventures of Pluto Nash and Norbit, Murphy earned a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for his performance as the soul singer James “Thunder” Early in Dreamgirls and later staged another comeback playing the blaxploitation icon Rudy Ray Moore in Dolemite Is My Name. The 2015 recipient of the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and winner of this year’s Golden Globe Cecil B. deMille Award, Murphy continues to appear in daring comedies like the Netflix social satire You People. But his latest roles are also striking a note of nostalgia: After returning to the African kingdom of Zamunda for Coming 2 America, he’s set to hit the mean streets of the 90210 once again for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: NDZ/STAR MAX/IPx via AP
Apr. 2: Christopher Meloni, 62
Known for his tough-guy persona and ability to bring charisma to even the darkest characters, actor Christopher Meloni, 62, was born in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 1961. Though he’d later appear in dramas, he started his career on a slew of forgettable sitcoms, including 1st & Ten and The Fanelli Boys, even voicing a teen prehistoric creature on Dinosaurs. By the end of the 1990s, Meloni had caught a few big breaks that catapulted his career. The first was appearing on a four-episode arc in NYPD Blue, which led to his casting on HBO’s OZ as the serial killer Chris Keller. Then he was cast as popular NYPD Detective Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. His turn as Stabler earned him a 2006 Emmy nomination, and he left the franchise behind (temporarily) after more than 270 episodes and 12 seasons over contract disputes. In the years that followed, he showed off his range with a series of surprising TV roles, playing a hit man who befriends his daughter’s imaginary friend, a blue flying unicorn, on Happy!, a powerful commander on The Handmaid’s Tale and the slave catcher August Pullman on Underground. In 2021, Law & Order fans were thrilled to have Meloni back where he belongs, when he appeared in the appropriately titled SVU episode “Return of the Prodigal Son,” which launched his spin-off, Law & Order: Organized Crime. And, yes, the will-they, won’t-they energy between Stabler and Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) is still going strong. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Jon Kopaloff/Stringer via Getty Images
Apr. 1: Susan Boyle, 62
A truly remarkable find of the reality-TV era, singer Susan Boyle, 62, was born in Scotland on April 1, 1961, and as a child, she faced learning disabilities and frequent bullying. She turned to singing and began appearing in school musical productions before studying at the Edinburgh Acting School. And while she toiled away toward stardom for decades, she never quite hit it big, getting the occasional song on a local charity CD or releasing demos that went nowhere. All that changed in 2009, when she auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent, wowing the judges with her powerful and unexpected rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables. She received a standing ovation; judge Piers Morgan called her performance “the biggest surprise I’ve had in three years on this show,” and Simon Cowell called her “a little tiger.” The YouTube video of her audition has been viewed 261 million times, and she went on to place second on her BGT season. Despite not winning, she certainly had the last laugh: Boyle has released eight studio albums, two of which went multi-platinum in the United States, and she earned two Grammy nominations and inspired a stage musical about her life. Boyle last released an album in 2019, Ten, which celebrated her first decade in the music industry, but fans got a special treat in December, when she appeared on the 20th-anniversary special of the Scottish soap opera River City — one of her favorite shows — to perform a cover of ABBA’s “Thank You for the Music.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
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