IN: Beyonce Giselle Knowles was born in Houston, Texas, to Celestine "Tina" Knowles (nee Beyince), a hairdresser and salon owner, and Mathew Knowles, a Xerox sales manager. Beyonce's name is a tribute to her mother's maiden name. Beyonce's younger sister Solange is also a singer and a former back up dancer for Destiny's Child.

Jody Rosen highlights her tone and timbre as particularly distinctive, describing her voice as "one of the most compelling instruments in popular music". Her vocal abilities mean she is identified as the centerpiece of Destiny's Child. Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that her voice is "velvety yet tart, with an insistent flutter and reserves of soul belting". Rosen notes that the hip hop era highly influenced Beyonce's unique rhythmic vocal style, but also finds her quite traditionalist in her use of balladry, gospel and falsetto. Other critics praise her range and power, with Chris Richards of The Washington Post saying she was "capable of punctuating any beat with goose-bump-inducing whispers or full-bore diva-roars."  Beyonce's music is generally R&B, but she also incorporates pop, soul and funk into her songs. 4 demonstrated Beyonce's exploration of 1990s-style R&B, as well as further use of soul and hip hop than compared to previous releases. While she almost exclusively releases English songs, Beyonce recorded several Spanish songs for Irreemplazable (re-recordings of songs from B'Day for a Spanish-language audience), and the re-release of B'Day. To record these, Beyonce was coached phonetically by American record producer Rudy Perez.  She has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Destiny's Child and her solo efforts. Her early songs were personally driven and female-empowerment themed compositions like "Independent Women" and "Survivor", but after the start of her relationship with Jay-Z, she transitioned to more man-tending anthems such as "Cater 2 U". Beyonce has also received co-producing credits for most of the records in which she has been involved, especially during her solo efforts. However, she does not formulate beats herself, but typically comes up with melodies and ideas during production, sharing them with producers.  In 2001, she became the first black woman and second female lyricist to win the Pop Songwriter of the Year award at the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Pop Music Awards. Beyonce was the third woman to have writing credits on three number one songs ("Irreplaceable", "Grillz" and "Check on It") in the same year, after Carole King in 1971 and Mariah Carey in 1991. She is tied with American lyricist Diane Warren at third with nine song-writing credits on number-one singles. (The latter wrote her 9/11-motivated song "I Was Here" for 4.) In May 2011, Billboard magazine listed Beyonce at number 17 on their list of the "Top 20 Hot 100 Songwriters", for having co-written eight singles that hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She was one of only three women on that list, along with Alicia Keys and Taylor Swift.

what else did he comment about her voice?

OUT: "velvety yet tart, with an insistent flutter and reserves of soul belting".


IN: Edi Rama (formerly: Edvin; born 4 July 1964) is an Albanian politician, artist, writer and former basketball player, who has been the Prime Minister of Albania since 2013. Rama has also been Chairman of the Socialist Party of Albania since 2005. Before his election as Prime Minister, Rama held a number of other positions. He was appointed Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports in 1998, a position that he held until 2000.

Edi Rama was born on 4 July 1964 in Tirana, Albania to Kristaq Rama, a well-known sculptor born in Durres, creator of numerous statues of Albania's communist dictator Enver Hoxha, and Aneta Rama (nee Koleka), a graduate of medicine from Vuno, Vlore, sister of Spiro Koleka a member of the Politburo during Communist Albania.  Rama started painting early in his childhood. During his teenager years, his talent was noticed by influential Albanian painters of the time, Edi Hila and Danish Jukniu. They encouraged Rama to further develop his painting skills in a professional context. As a teenager, Rama was involved in sports as a professional basketball player for Dinamo Tirana. He was also part of the Albania national basketball team. However, in 1982, he decided to enroll to the Academy of Arts in Tirana.  After graduating, Rama started working as an instructor at the Academy of Arts. During this time, he organized several open student meetings, during which the communist government was publicly criticized. Essays from those meetings were collected in the book Refleksione, which Rama published together with publicist Ardian Klosi in 1992.  Shortly before the fall of communism in Albania, Rama attempted several times to get involved with the incipient fight for democracy. He tried to influence student protests and become part of the newly created Democratic Party of Albania, but soon left after a quarrel over ideological matters with Sali Berisha.  In 1994, Rama emigrated to France, and tried to make a career as a painter. He and his former student, Anri Sala, exhibited their works in several art galleries.

What hobbies did Edi have growing up?

OUT:
Rama started painting early in his childhood.