- Jennifer Lopez is also the name of an on-air forecaster at the Weather Channel.
Jennifer Lynn López (also known as J. Lo, born July 24, 1970) is a well-known Puerto Rican-American actress, singer, fashion designer, dancer, and all-around cultural icon.
Early Years
Lopez was born and raised in the Castle Hill section of The Bronx, New York City, New York. Lopez speaks English and Spanish and has two sisters, Leslie (a music teacher) and Lynda, a well known television news anchor.
Lopez started off as a backup dancer. She later took up acting, saying that she always knew she wanted to do this, and that her inspiration came from some of her favorite artists.
Television shows
She started in television as a "fly girl" (dancer) on the television comedy program In Living Color. She also played a small role in a short-lived television program South Central . Later, she starred in Second Chances and Hotel Malibu .
Movies
Lopez started her acting career early in the 1990s with movies like Mi Familia , Money Train , and U Turn , but her breakthrough was the part of Selena Quintanilla in the movie Selena. She followed this with a well-received performance in Out Of Sight with George Clooney.
She has also appeared in Anaconda, The Cell, Angel Eyes , The Wedding Planner, Enough, Maid in Manhattan, Gigli, Jersey Girl, and Shall We Dance, and has appeared in several other movies and television shows.
She is considered especially adept at romantic comedies, with Wedding Planner and Maid in Manhattan being her two most commercially and critically successful vehicles. Many people consider Lopez to be stronger and more talented as an actor than as a singer, criticizing her limited vocal range and her producers' heavy use of background vocalists. On the other hand a few of her film performances have been heavily criticized, most notably in the overall disaster Gigli.
Upcoming movies
- Monster-In-Law (2005)
- An Unfinished Life (2005)
- Bordertown (2006)
- American Darlings
Music
Her music, mainly pop, includes the albums J.Lo and On The 6 , a reference to the subway line she used to take growing up in Soundview.
On The 6 was released in 1999 and featured the massive first single, "If You Had My Love". It also contained the Spanish language, Latin-flavored duet "No me ames" with Marc Anthony, which was an international hit and was not released as a single in the United States, although the video got moderate airplay on American VH1 and The Box as a novelty.
In the fall of 1999, the album's second American single, "Waiting For Tonight" was released. It was not a hit on the same scale as "If You Had My Love", but was huge nonetheless. The memorable video capitalized on the millennium craze of the time, featuring J. Lo at a futuristic dance party in a jungle, while an enormous clock counted down the seconds to the year 2000. The video also had a popular dance remix, by popular club remixer, Hex Hector . To date, the remix video still gets occasional airplay on MTV2, during dance blocks.
The albums also included the other hit singles like, "Feelin' So Good", a hip hop track which contained guest raps by Big Pun and Fat Joe and the Latin-dance-flavored track, "Let's Get Loud" (which became a staple DJ starter song at various kinds of affairs).
Towards the end of 2000, Lopez released "Love Don't Cost A Thing", her first single from her second album, J. Lo. Upon the album's release in early 2001, it quickly rose to the top of the charts; as had the single, which became her biggest hit since "If You Had My Love". The second single, "Play", which was written by rising teen star, Christina Milian, was a huge dance radio and club hit in early 2001 and was also successful on pop radio.
The album's next two singles, "I'm Real" and "Ain't It Funny" were her biggest ever hits both spending many weeks on top of the Billboard charts. However, to capitalize on this, Lopez asked Murder Inc. to remix both songs, completely changing the lyrics and melodies and adding raps from Ja Rule in both songs, and from Caddillac Tah to "Ain't It Funny (Remix)". The "I'm Real" and "Ain't It Funny" remixes were two of the biggest pop and rap hits in late 2001 and early 2002, respectively, and their more hip hop sound gave J.Lo street credibility and brought her music to a whole new group of fans.
She continued the successful trend by getting 50 Cent and Nas to write rhymes for two remixes of her next single, "I'm Gonna Be Alright". In mid-2002, Lopez released a remix album called , featuring the already popular rap remixes of "I'm Real", "I'm Gonna Be Alright", and "Ain't It Funny", and well as the dance remix of "Waiting For Tonight". The album also included rarer dance and hip hop remixes of her past singles, and a new song, a ballad called "Alive," which was included in Lopez' movie, Enough.
In the fall of 2002, Lopez released This Is Me... Then , which spawned three hugely popular singles: "Jenny From The Block," (based on the "Watch Out Now" by the Beatnuts which included raps from Jadakiss and Styles P ); "All I Have," one of 2003's most popular songs to date, which was a duet with LL Cool J; and "I'm Glad". Later she released the fourth single "Baby I Love You" the musical theme for the movie Gigli. Last, she released the fifth single "The One", but the video was based on the remixed version of the song which featured East Coast Rapper Joe Budden.
On November 18, 2003, she released her fifth album, Reel Me , which included a DVD having all her music videos from her first video "If You Had My Love" to her last one "Baby I Love You." This album also included a bonus track, "Baby I Love You (Remix)" featuring R. Kelly. In 2004, Lopez had her duets with Marc Anthony on his albums Amar Sin Mentiras and Valio La Pena which was "Escapemonos" which was featured in Latin Pop and Salsa.
Lopez's fourth studio album Rebirth was released on March 1, 2005. The album has spawned the hit, "Get Right", which was well received worldwide, debuting at #1 in the UK; peaking at #3 in Australia; and peaking in the top 20 in the USA. The second single, "Hold You Down", with rapper Fat Joe, has yet to ignite the charts, only barely making it into the top 75, peaking at #66.
To add to the failure of "Hold You Down", it has recently been reported that Lopez is in strife with her current album. Only selling 400,000 copies as far, the album has been considered a flop, and has not been well received by the general public. As well as that, only chances of the album being promoted has been dashed, as the advertising campaign for Rebirth has already exceeded its limit finacially, and sees Lopez US$125,000 in debt.
Rumours have it that Lopez is still to grace her presence in the music scene, with two albums supposedly in production. There is the much hyped Spanish album, a collaboration with husband, Marc Anthony. As well as that, there is also rumours of a new remix album, encompassing hits from Lopez's albums: This Is Me...Then and Rebirth .
Fashion
Lopez owns a clothing line called J.Lo By Jennifer Lopez. Her line is the most successful clothing line of artists on the industry market. Furthermore, she is planning to launch a jewelry line, hats, gloves, and a scarves line.
In October, 2003, Lopez introduced a perfume called Still. In November, 2003, she launched a new clothing line called Sweetface, which caused an outcry from animal activists for her promotion of exotic furs.
She did a photoshoot to represent the Louis Vuitton winter 2003 campaign, in which the pictures would be seen all over the world through TV commercials, billboards, ads, newspapers, magazines and more.
Other merchandise includes clothing for men and a cologne line for men due for release in winter 2004/05.
She does have a perfume line out right now called Glow, and she was in question before, because the name came from another patented perfume.
J.Lo Inc.
Jennifer Lopez owns a production company Nuyorican Productions, in which she is expected to produce some of her upcoming movies. Some of the projects are Carmen, Dirty Girls Social Club, and The Hector Lavoe Project. This company was founded together with her manager, Benny Medina, against whom she filed a lawsuit because of alleged fraud in July 2003.
The company produced the commercially successful movies The Cell, The Wedding Planner, and Maid In Manhattan . These three movies put together made more than $350 million worldwide.
Relationships
Lopez has been in two short-lived marriages. The first one, which was with Ojani Onoa , ended in divorce in 1998 after 21 months, and the second, in 2001-2002, was with Chris Judd, her former backup dancer. Between marriages, in 1999-2000, she dated singer and designer Puff Daddy, breaking up after a shooting incident in a New York night club. Recently, Lopez has been engaged to Ben Affleck, but the marriage planned for September 13, 2003 was called off a few days before the event. In January 2004 the couple split.
News media reported that on June 5, 2004, Lopez married singer Marc Anthony. However, after more than half a year of matrimony, it has been rumoured that the Lopez-Anthony marriage may be on the rocks.
Nicknames
- J.Lo or Jaylo
- Jen
- Jenny
- Jenny Lo
- La Lopez (The Lopez)
- Mrs. Lopez
Claims to fame
- Lopez was the first Latina to get paid over a million dollars for a project.
- Lopez was the first Latina actress to star in a leading role in film since Rita Hayworth retired in the 1970s.
- Lopez is (in 2003) the highest paid Latina actress in Hollywood.
- Lopez's first album On The 6 went platinum 8 times.
- Lopez's first single "If You Had My Love" was #1 for more than 9 weeks.
- Lopez is the first actress and singer to have a movie ("The Wedding Planner") and an album ("J.Lo") at #1 in the same week.
- Lopez's second album J.Lo went platinum 9 times.
- Lopez's third album J To Tha L-O! The Remixes was the first album of remixes to hit #1, because no other album of remixes had climbed the chart.
- Lopez's perfume Glow made history in 2001, by being the #1 perfume in more than 9 countries in more than 4 months.
- Lopez is the only woman who has been #1, 3 years in a row in the FHM list of the 100 Sexiest Females in the world.
- Lopez made the 2004 Fortune list of the wealthiest entertainers under the age of 40. Her wealth is estimated at $255 million.
- Lopez's butt is often an object of admiration as well as the brunt of many jokes in popular culture.
- Lopez made the highest debut of 2003 on the US charts with All I Have debuting at #17.
- Lopez has sold over 35 million records worldwide.
Discography
Albums
- 1999 "On the 6" #8 US, US sales: 3,000,000
- 2001 "J. Lo" #1 US, #2 UK, US sales: 4,000,000
- 2002 "J to tha L-O! The Remixes" #1 US, #4 UK, US sales: 1,500,000
- 2002 "This is Me... Then" #2 US, #13 UK, US sales: 2,500,000
- 2005 "Rebirth" #2 US, #8 UK
Hit singles
- 1999 "If You Had My Love" #1 US, #4 UK
- 1999 "Waiting for Tonight" #8 US, #5 UK
- 2000 "Feelin' So Good" #52 US, #15 UK
- 2001 "Love Don't Cost a Thing" #3 US, #1 UK
- 2001 "Play" #10 US, #3 UK
- 2001 "Ain't It Funny" #3 UK
- 2001 "I'm Real" #1 US, #4 UK
- 2002 "Ain't It Funny" (remix) #1 US, #4 UK
- 2002 "I'm Real" (remix) #1 US, #4 UK
- 2002 "I'm Gonna Be Alright" #10 US, #3 UK
- 2002 "Jenny from the Block" #3 US, #3 UK
- 2002 "All I Have" (feat. LL Cool J) #1 US, #2 UK (2003 release in the UK)
- 2003 "I'm Glad" #32 US, #11 UK
- 2004 "Baby I Love You" #72 US, #3 UK
- 2005 "Get Right" #13 US, #1 UK
- 2005 "Hold You Down" (feat. Fat Joe) #66 US
DVDs
- 1999 "Feelin' So Good"
- 2001 "Let's Get Loud", US sales: 500,000
- 2003 "The Reel Me", US sales: 1,500,000
Related articles
External links
Last updated: 05-07-2005 12:47:00
Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
