Trivia: Born January 19th 1946, Dolly Parton has risen from relative poverty to become one of the most famous and wealthy country music stars in the world. Easily recognizable for her flamboyant platinum blonde wigs, vivid makeup, petite physique, and extra-large breasts -- which figure prominently in her humorous on-stage remarks -- Parton has shown a real knack for marketing herself in creative, lucrative ways that belie the downhome mannerisms and apple pie sweetness of her public persona. Parton's ventures range from a songwriting career,a semi-successful crossover to pop music, a sporadic acting career, a 100-million-dollar company, Dolly Parton Enterprises, and her ultimate self-promotion, the Dollywood musical theme park in Tennessee, which has become so popular since it's opening in 1986 that in 1997, it was largely responsible for the closing of its only rival, Opryland. Parton's singing career began with television appearances in Knoxville at age 12. The following year she had a recording contract and was appearing at the Grand Ole Opry and at age 21, she had her first hit song, "Dumb Blonde" (1967). It was, however, Porter Wagoner who made her a star when he hired her to duet with him. Together, they toured the country, made records, and appeared numerous times at the Opry. She went solo in 1974 and soon had a string of hits, including the semi-autobiographical "Coat of Many Colors." During the '70s, Parton was a favorite on talk shows and music specials. In 1980, she made her acting debut opposite Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dabney Coleman in the hit revenge comedy 9 to 5. As in most of her subsequent acting endeavors, Parton essentially played herself. She wrote and performed the film's title song and earned an Oscar nomination. She has since continued composing and singing in her films. Parton offered one of her best acting performances as a big-hearted beautician in Steel Magnolias (1989).Parton would continue to selectively revisit the realm of acting over the coming years, appearing in Frank McKlusky, C.I. and Joyful Noise, as well as on TV shows like Hannah Montana.

Trivia: One of the world's most popular singers, an award-winning, versatile actress of stage, feature film, and television, a distinguished filmmaker, and a major producer, Barbra Streisand reigns as the grande dame of American entertainment. Born on April 24th, 1942, Streisand was raised in a middle-class Brooklyn household, the daughter of a high school teacher father who died when Streisand was a baby, and a mother who dreamed of the stage, she graduated from high school two years ahead of her classmates. As a young woman, Streisand attended acting classes and worked various odd jobs and in nightclubs, until she won a Greenwich Village talent contest. She landed her first major acting job in the 1962 Broadway musical I Can Get It for Your Wholesale and stole the show with her portrayal of frowsy secretary Miss Marmelstein. The 21-year-old subsequently debuted on Judy Garland's television show, opposite Garland's daughter Liza Minnelli and Broadway institution Ethel Merman. Streisand's powerful, clear soprano, charisma, and unusual looks made her the perfect choice in Jule Styne's and Bob Merrill's musical Funny Girl in 1964. Essaying the life of another great performer, comedienne/singer/actress Fanny Brice, the young performer became the hottest actress on the Great White Way and a bona fide star, after a highly rated television special, My Name Is Barbra (1965), for which she received two Emmy awards. Streisand's Oscar-winning performance in the film version of Funny Girl assured her a prominent place in the Hollywood heavens. As previously mentioned, the plain-looking Streisand seemed an unlikely candidate for movie stardom, but as her character Fanny blossomed onscreen from an awkward girl from a poor Jewish neighborhood to a self-assured national star, so did Streisand successfully grow to possess a certain womanly loveliness, although hers has always been an interesting rather than a classical beauty. In 1969, she played the irrepressible Dolly Levi in the film version of Jerry Herman's smash hit musical Hello Dolly! (1969). Superficially, Streisand was too young to play the middle-aged matchmaker, but with her strong comedic abilities and powerful voice, she carried the role off with aplomb. Unfortunately, the film didn't click with audiences and neither did her third film, the romantic musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970). In film, she had greater success when she starred opposite George Segal in the romantic comedy The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) and Ryan O'Neal in Peter Bogdonavich's classic screwball comedy What's Up Doc? (1972). The latter was a huge success and led to a far less successful re-pairing with O'Neal in The Main Event (1979). In 1972, Streisand showed her dramatic side in the complex story of a troubled housewife, Up the Sandbox, following it with the smash hit romantic melodrama, The Way We Were (1973), in which Streisand starred opposite another 1970s icon, Robert Redford. The film was named one of the year's top ten by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures and the title song, written by Marvin Hamlisch, provided Streisand with a major hit and earned Hamlisch an Oscar for Best Song. In 1975, Streisand reprised the role of Fanny Brice in Funny Lady, an uneven chronicle of Brice's later years that had far fewer sparkling moments than the original, but still produced a memorable soundtrack, filled with classic Billy Rose songs. Streisand, who for years had been controlling almost every aspect of her recordings, decided to take the reigns as an executive producer for her 1976 remake and update of A Star Is Born. Co-starring Kris Kristofferson and sparing no expense, the musical drama received decidedly mixed reviews; the subsequent soundtrack album was a much bigger hit. In 1983, Streisand caused a controversy when she announced that she would direct, produce, write, and star in her own feature, Yentl. The brouhaha centered around the notoriously egotistical 40-year-old Streisand's plan to play a teenage girl who masquerades as a Yeshiva student and it would also be a musical. The actress struggled valiantly to pull off the difficult task, audiences were not impressed, and the film was widely panned. Once again, however, the soundtrack provided her with another hit. Still, she would not make another movie until 1987, when she produced and starred in the self-indulgent Nuts. As with her previous few films, she also penned the soundtrack. In 1991, she had her first hit movie in a decade, directing, producing, and starring in a tragic drama opposite Nick Nolte, Prince of Tides. She followed it up in 1996 with the touching comedy-drama The Mirror Has Two Faces. Streisand then took a break from appearing before the camera until 2004's sequel to Meet the Parents, Meet the Fockers. She and Dustin Hoffman shared the screen as a pair of touchy-feely retirees and the two were noted for their chemistry and seemingly genuine enjoyment of their screwball antics. She reprised her role in another sequel, Little Fockers, in 2010. Streisand later took a starring role opposite Seth Rogen in The Guilt Trip (2012).Even during her break from on-camera work, Streisand continued her involvement behind the scenes, spending the first years of the 21st century extensively exploring the medium of television. She served as executive producer for such TV projects as The Long Island Incident, Frankie & Hazel, What Makes A Family, and Varian's War.Streisand's successes as a singer include 38 albums, 30 charting singles, and seven Grammys, one of which is a special Legend award. Throughout her career, her romantic travails have provided fans with hours of entertainment. Early in her career, a marriage to actor Elliot Gould produced son Jason Gould, who has also become an actor. During the 1970s, Streisand had a tempestuous, long-term relationship with hairdresser turned producer Jon Peters. In the late '90s, she quietly married longtime beau, actor James Brolin.

Trivia: One of America's foremost song stylists, Tony Bennett has enjoyed a career that began in the late 1930s and finds him still entertaining audiences well into the 21st century. Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in Astoria, Queens, on August 3, 1926, Bennett was a music fan from an early age. He began singing professionally when he was just 13 years old, working part-time as a singing waiter to help support his family after the death of his father. In 1946, after serving in World War II, Bennett began studying singing at the American Theater Wing under the G.I. Bill and developed a strong vocal technique and a sense of phrasing that owed a debt of influence to a number of great jazz instrumentalists. In 1950, Bennett was signed to Columbia Records and scored the first in a series of hit records that would last into the mid-1960s. In 1956, Bennett hosted a summer replacement television program, The Tony Bennett Show, and he was a frequent guest on the leading television variety shows of the day. Bennett made his acting debut in 1959 in a guest role on Danny Thomas' successful situation comedy Make Room for Daddy, and in 1963 he appeared in a five-episode story arc on the drama series 77 Sunset Strip. But his big-screen debut in the 1966 potboiler The Oscar convinced him that he wasn't cut out to be an actor, and it would be almost 30 years before he returned to the screen, playing a guest-starring role on the situation comedy Evening Shade. As tastes in popular music changed in the 1960s, Bennett's career went into a slump that lasted until the end of the 1970s. But with his son Danny Bennett serving as his manager, he began making a remarkable comeback in the 1980s, recording a number of acclaimed theme albums, making frequent appearances on Late Night With David Letterman, voicing himself on a 1990 episode of The Simpsons, and making a 1994 appearance on MTV Unplugged that confirmed he'd once again broken through to the pop audience. Bennett's music has been used in dozens of notable films and television shows, including The Last Picture Show, Goodfellas, JFK, Swingers, and My Best Friend's Wedding. He became the subject of a 2012 documentary, The Zen of Bennett, which chronicled the recording of his album Duets II.

Trivia: Began singing in public with his brothers Maurice and Robin in 1955, when they sang between shows at movie houses in Manchester, England. Moved with his family to Australia in 1958; they returned to England in early 1967. Hired with his brothers in 1959 to sing between races at the Redcliffe Speedway, which was near their home in Brisbane, Australia. One of the racers liked what he heard and recommended them to a DJ friend, who in turn featured them on his radio show. Impressed Australian singer Col Joye in 1962 to such an extent that he arranged for Barry and his brothers to open for Chubby Checker in Sydney. With the Bee Gees, frequently appeared on Australian TV during the mid-1960s, even starring in their own TV special in 1964. After returning to England in 1967, the Bee Gees released a string of hit singles, beginning with "New York Mining Disaster 1941" that same year. They didn't score their first U.S. No. 1 until 1971, however, with "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart." With the Bee Gees, helped popularize the nascent pop-disco sound in 1975 with the hits "Jive Talkin'" (No. 1) and "Nights on Broadway" (No. 7). Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, which featured many Bee Gee songs, sold 30 million copies during the late 1970s and early '80s, quickly becoming the top-selling album in history (until Michael Jackson's Thriller came along). Scored six consecutive No. 1 singles in the late 1970s ("How Deep Is Your Love," "Night Fever," "Stayin' Alive," "Love You Inside Out," "Too Much Heaven" and "Tragedy). Wrote the title song for the 1978 movie Grease. Coproduced and cowrote Barbra Streisand's 1980 Guilty album, which sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. Other artists he's collaborated with include Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross and Dionne Warwick. Inducted with the Bee Gees into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994 and into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

Trivia: Known mostly for his work in the pop/rock supergroup the Bee Gees with his older brother, Barry, and twin brother, Robin, Maurice Gibb was the harmony vocalist and bass player. He was also married to British pop superstar Lulu for a few years in the early '70s. Generally appearing as himself, most of his film and television credits are for his work as a composer and songwriter for a wide variety of productions, including composing the score for the movie A Breed Apart. His earliest television work dates to 1965 for several appearances on Beat-Club, which was a kind of American Bandstand for the U.K. He made his film debut in the little-seen documentary Popcorn, appearing along with fellow musical stars Joe Cocker and Jimi Hendrix. In 1970, he and brother Barry Gibb wrote the short-lived British TV show Cucumber Castle, starring himself as Prince Marmaduke, King of Jelly. In perhaps his most recognizable roles and songs, he and the other bandmembers wrote the music and appeared as singers in the movies Saturday Night Fever and Staying Alive, both starring John Travolta. In 1978, the Bee Gees played a Beatles-derived band in the ill-fated movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, along with fellow superstars of the time Peter Frampton and Aerosmith. The late '90s saw a resurgence of public attention on the the Bee Gees, and he made numerous television, film, and guest-starring appearances. He spent his later years with his wife Yvonne and two children in Florida, where he opened a paintball shop called Commander Mo's. He died of cardiac arrest in Miami Beach, FL, on January 12, 2003.

Trivia: Survivor, along with his first wife Molly, of the infamous Hither Green train wreck of 1967, which killed nearly 50 people. Briefly embarked on a solo career between 1969 and 1970, releasing one album, Robin's Reign, and recording a second unreleased record, before reuniting with his band mate brothers, Barry and Maurice. Appeared on the title track of the 1978 children's music album Sesame Street Fever. In 1994, was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, as a member of the Bee Gees, and in 1997 the group received their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Composed, with his son Robin-John Gibb, his first classical piece, The Titanic Requiem, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the ship, in 2012. In April 2012, developed pneumonia and fell into a two-week coma. He temporarily recovered before passing away in May 2012.

Trivia: Born in Chicago, African-American composer/musician Quincy Jones grew up in Seattle. An alumnus of both the Berklee School and Boston's Schillinger school of music, the 17-year-old Jones became a trumpeter/arranger for Dizzy Gillespie, then toured with Lionel Hampton before organizing his own band. From the late '50s through 1968, Jones held down executive posts at Barclay Records of Paris and Mercury Records of Hollywood. The first of Jones' jazz-dominated movie scores was for 1965's The Pawnbroker; subsequent film assignments included In Cold Blood (1967), In the Heat of the Night (1967), The Wiz (1978) and The Color Purple (1984), which he co-produced. Equally active on the small screen, Jones composed theme and incidental music for the TV series I Spy and Ironside, and in 1978 won an Emmy for his work on the monumental miniseries Roots. A pioneer in the realm of music video, Jones produced and arranged the blockbuster Michael Jackson video Thriller, which earned him one of his two dozen-plus Grammies. Jones also organized and produced the all-star benefit video We Are the World, assembling a fantastic aggregation of top recording talent with the admonition "Check your vanity at the door." In 1990, Jones was the subject of the documentary film Listen Up. Quincy Jones was honored with the Jean Hersholt humanitarian award at the 1995 Academy Awards celebration. He has appeared in numerous documentaries about musicians and celebrities, and lent his vocal talents to Disney's Fantasia 2000 in 1999, and making a cameo appearance in Austin Powers in Goldmember. He contributed to the score of Get Rick or Die Tryin'.

Trivia: In tandem with John Lennon, musician Paul McCartney is responsible for composing most of the songs in the nine-year history of the Beatles. While still a member of the group, McCartney wrote the score for the 1966 film The Family Way; it would be his last solo gig until the Beatles' breakup in 1970. So prolific and popular was McCartney in his post-Beatles years that it became a standard joke amongst post-postwar kids to query "You mean that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?" Also grist for the humor mill was McCartney's incredible wealth; his legal ownership of virtually every song ever written (including such state anthems as "On Wisconsin"); and the strict vegetarian edicts of his wife and business partner Linda Eastman McCartney. Paul McCartney has also kept active in the film world, penning the theme for the 1973 James Bond flick Live And Let Die, and producing, scoring and acting in the 1984 vanity project Give My Regards to Broad Street, in which viewers were offered the unlikely premise that McCartney would face bankruptcy if he didn't locate a lost record album.

Trivia: Bearded, amiable American singer/actor Kenny Rogers launched his professional career as a member of the New Christy Minstrels, then first rose to fame as a member of the country-pop group the First Edition. After several years of hits like "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" (as well as popular syndicated TV series Rollin' on the River), the First Edition broke up in 1974. Rogers had some lean years immediately after the split, at one point making ends meet by promoting a correspondence school guitar course. The outlook became brighter in 1976 when Rogers recorded his first solo hit, "Love Lifted Me," which he followed up with the even more popular ballad "Lucille." He regained his following with a dozen TV specials and several duets with equally renowned female country artists. In 1980, Rogers made his TV-movie debut with The Gambler (1980), an agreeable Western based on one of his more successful songs ("You gotta know when to hold 'em/know when to fold 'em...etc."). The Gambler scored an immediate ratings coup, inspiring sequels over the next decade, the best of which was The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991), which had the added drawing card of guest appearances by several popular TV cowboy stars of days gone by. Rogers also pleased the crowd with the made-for-TV Coward of the County (1981), a dramatized elaboration of another of his top-selling songs. Less successful was Kenny Rogers' starring theatrical feature, Six Pack (1982), which proves that having six cute kids onscreen doesn't make you a Disney-quality hit.

Trivia: Fresh from a nondescript Liverpudlian musical group known as Rory Storme and the Hurricanes, Ringo Starr made the quantum leap to superstardom in 1962 when he replaced Pete Best as drummer for the burgeoning Beatles. Starr was regarded by many music aficionados as the least creative of the foursome, though he may well have enjoyed the largest fan following -- especially among young ladies who felt the urge to "mother" the diminutive Mr. Starr (though he appeared to be the baby of the group, Ringo was in fact the oldest of the Fab Four). In the Beatles' first two films, A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965), most of the comedy material went to Ringo, whose Chaplinesque demeanor and droll, deadpan dialogue delivery paid off in big laughs. Upon the group's breakup in 1970, it was Ringo who fared best as a solo screen actor. He had already brightened up the dull proceedings of Candy (1968) and The Magic Christian (1970); after the Beatles' split, he was seen to good advantage as the Pope in Ken Russell's Lisztomania (1975), as one of Mae West's bewildered amours in Sextette (1978) and as a bumbling Cro-Magnon in Caveman (1979), in which he co-starred with his second wife, Barbara Bach. In 1973, Ringo produced the bizarre horror movie spoof Son of Dracula, appearing onscreen with fellow rock icon Harry Nilsson. A big draw all over again in the 1980s thanks to his All-Star Band tours, Ringo Starr remains a most welcome, if infrequent TV guest star; he has also shown up in several entertaining commercials, including a 1995 Pizza Hut spot in which he co-starred with ex-Monkees Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork. Ringo continued to record music and often appeared in music documentaries, not all of which were about the Beatles. He made memorable contributions to both Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him)? as well as George Harrison: Living In the Material World.

Trivia: England's first rock 'n' roll star, London-born Tommy Steele held down several jobs before forming a "skiffle" trio with future Oliver composer Lionel Bart and Mike Pratt. While performing for shillings-and-pence at the 2I Coffee Club, Steele was discovered by agent Larry Parnes. Thanks to Parnes' tireless promotional efforts, Steele quickly rose to R 'n' R Valhalla with such hits as "Singing the Blues," "Water Water" and "Shiralee." He made his film debut in 1956, and within a year was starring in his own biopic, The Tommy Steele Story (U.S. title: Rock Around the World). Eventually outgrowing the "Britain's Elvis" tag, Steele branched out to the legitimate stage in 1960. His best theatrical showing was the title role in Half a Sixpence, a 1963 musical adaptation of H.G. Wells' Kipps. During the 1960s, Steele played to SRO houses in London and Vegas, and was starred in several American-financed movie musicals, including The Happiest Millionaire (1967), Half a Sixpence (1968) and Finian's Rainbow (1968). Though he hasn't made a film since 1969, Steele has kept busy with theatrical revues, club dates and TV specials. In 1974, Tommy Steele wrote his autobiography, My Life, My Songs.