What’s Down

What is going on with Selena Gomez and her friends.

Personal lifeGomez was born in Grand Prairie, Texas. She is the daughter of former stage actress Amanda Dawn “Mandy” Teefey (née Cornett) and Ricardo Joel Gomez. Her father is of Mexican an-cestry, and her mother is of part Ital-ian descent. Regarding her Hispanic heritage, Gomez said: “My family does have Quinceañeras, and we go to the communion church. We do every-thing that’s Catholic, but we don’t re-ally have anything traditional except [that we] go to the park and have bar-becues on Sundays after church.” Her birth parents divorced when she was five years old, and she was raised as an only child by her working mother. In 2006, Mandy remarried Brian Teefey. She was named after Tejano singer Selena, who died almost three years after Gomez was born. In a 2009 interview with People, Gomez mentioned that she developed an early interest in acting from watch-ing her mother prepare for and act in theater productions.[11] She earned a high school diploma through homeschooling in May 2010. On February 27, 2011, Gomez at-tended the 2011 Vanity Fair Oscar Party with Canadian singer Justin Bieber, confirming several months of media speculation about a romantic relationship between the pair. The relationship has since continued to garner significant media attention. Acting career2002–06: Barney & Friends and early work. Gomez began her acting career at age seven, playing Gianna on Barney & Friends. She later had minor roles in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and the TV film Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial By Fire. Gomez also starred in the television movie Brain Zapped. (Selena Gomez also found out that she wanted to be an actress because in E Special she states “I would also watch my mom on stage do her lines”.)In 2004, Gomez was discovered by the Disney Channel in a USA-wide scouting. Gomez appeared as a guest star on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and had a guest appearance – that later turned into a recurring role – on Hannah Montana from seasons two to three. Gomez previ-ously taped two different pilots that were spin-offs to two previous Disney series. The first one, What’s Stevie Thinking?, was the spin-off to Lizzie McGuire. Gomez played Stevie San-chez, Miranda Sanchez’s little sister. The other show was titled Arwin!, the spin-off to The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, in which she played Alexa. Neither series was picked up.

2007–09: Wizards of Waverly PlaceIn early 2007 Gomez was cast in the Disney Channel series Wizards of Wa-verly Place as one of the three main characters, Alex Russo. The show pre-miered to an audience of 5.9 million, becoming a hit. Many news outlets began dubbing Gomez the next ‘Miley Cyrus’ causing some controversy and a reported ‘feud’. Gomez clarified that there was no feud and that she was flattered by the comparison, saying: “It’s a little overwhelming, but I think really, it’s a compliment. She’s obvious-ly extremely successful, and I think she’s a wonderful performer.So being

compared to her, I was very, very flattered.” In 2008, Gomez appeared in Another Cinderella Story, the direct-to-DVD sequel to the 2004 Hilary Duff film, opposite Drew Seeley. She also had a minor voiceover role as one the Mayor’s ninety-six daughters in Hor-ton Hears a Who!

No. 1 scripted telecast of 2009 and Disney Channel’s second most-viewed film premiere after High School Musical 2. In September 2009, Wizards of Waverly Place won “Out-standing Children’s Program” at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2010, the film adaptation won the se-ries its second consecutive Emmy for “Outstanding Children’s Program” at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards. 2010–present: Focus on film

Gomez’s first theatrical film Ramona & Beezus premiered on July 23, 2010 and met with generally posi-

tive reviews.[40] In March 2010, Variety reported that Gomez was set to star as one of the three lead roles in Monte Carlo, alongside Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy. In the film Gomez plays Grace, a girl who’s “mistaken for a socialite while on a trip to Paris.” To prepare for the role Gomez learned how to play polo and also took two weeks of vocal training to learn two differ-ent British accents. The same year Gomez confirmed that the fourth season of her hit Disney Channel show, Wizards of Waverly Place, would be its last.In February 2011, Deadline.com reported that Uni-versal Pictures and Strike Entertain-ment had acquired the novel Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher with Gomez attached to the lead That same month TV Guide reported that

Gomez would make a cameo in the Muppets film. Production for the final season of Wizards of Waverly Place came to a wrap on May 14, 2011. Gomez co-hosted the 2011 MuchMu-sic Video Awards on June 19. She also hosted the 2011 MTV EMAs on No-vember 6, 2011, in Belfast, Hot Mess.

This year is all about films and acting and I want my band to play music wherever with whoever. We will be back but, it will be a good while.” In February 2012, it was announced that Gomez will replace Miley Cyrus in the animated comedy Hotel Transyl-vania playing Mavis, the daughter of Dracula who will be voiced by Adam Sandler. As of March 2012, Gomez has been cast in four upcoming films; in which three of them she has been cast as a lead role. She will first appear in Hotel Transylvania, an animated film, voic-ing the character of Mavis, who was originally supposed to be voiced by Miley Cyrus, however Cyrus dropped out of the film in early 2012 in order to focus on her music career.[55] The film is scheduled to be released on September 21, 2012. Next, Gomez will appear in Spring Breakers, which is currently being filmed on location in Sarasota, Florida. The film is being written and directed by Harmony Korine. Gomez has also been cast as the main role of Hannah Baker in the film adaptation of young-adult fiction novel, 13 Reasons Why. The novel was written by Jay Asher. She will also play the lead role in a film called Hot Mess, a comedy film directed by Dave Meyers. On April 7th Selena posted a video for fans in which she revealed that she will be filming a new movie called “The Gateway” in Bulgaria. Career2008-2009: Solo careerIn 2008, Gomez recorded a cover of “Cruella de Vil”—which included a music video—for the compila-tion album DisneyMania 6. Gomez recorded three songs for the Another Cinderella Story soundtrack, which Gomez appears in. Gomez also recorded “Fly to Your Heart” for the 2008 animated film Tinker Bell. In July 2008, before Gomez’ sixteenth birthday, she signed a recording deal with Hollywood Records, a music label owned by Disney. In 2009, Gomez recorded “One and the Same” for Princess Protection Program as a duet with her co-star Lovato. Gomez recorded four songs, one of which was a cover, for the Wizards of Waverly Place soundtrack, only one single (Magic) from the album was released. In May, of the same year, Gomez was featured, with Forever the Sickest Kids, on a duet version of the non-album song “Whoa Oh!”. 2009–2012: Selena Gomez & the Scene and musical hiatusFormed in 2009, Selena Gomez & the Scene is a teen pop band which con-sists of Selena Gomez on vocals.

Jonas Brothers The Jonas Brothers are an American boy band. Formed in 2005, they have gained popularity from the Disney Channel children’s television net-work and consists of three brothers from the shore region of New Jersey; Paul Kevin Jonas II, Joseph Adam Jonas and Nicholas Jerry Jonas. In the summer of 2008 they starred in the Disney Channel Original Mov-ies Camp Rock and its sequel, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. The band has released four albums: It’s About Time, Jonas Brothers, A Little Bit Longer, and Lines, Vines and Trying Times. In 2008, the group was nominated for the Best New Artist award at the 51st Grammy Awards and won the award for Breakthrough Artist at the American Music Awards. As of May 2009, before the release of Lines, Vines and Trying Times, they have sold over eight million albums worldwide.

History and music career1999–2005: Nick Jonas - Discovery and solo albumMain articles: Nick Jonas and Nicholas Jonas (album)The band started as a solo project for Nick Jonas. At the age of 7, Nicho-las began performing on Broadway.[13][14] He has acted in several plays, including A Christmas Carol (in 2000 as Tiny Tim and as Scrooge at eight), Annie Get Your Gun (in 2001 as Little Jake), Beauty and the Beast (in 2002 as Chip), and Les Misérables (in 2003 as Gavroche). After Les Misérables closed, he performed in The Sound of Music (as Kurt) at the Paper Mill Playhouse. In 2002 while performing in Beauty and the Beast, Nick had written a song with his father called “Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)”. With background vocals from the Beauty and the Beast cast, Nick performed the song on the 2002 annual Broad-way “Equity Fights AIDS” album, Broadway’s Greatest Gifts: Carols for a Cure, Vol. 4. In November 2003, INO Records received a demo copy of “Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)”. The label released the song to Christian radio, where it quickly became popular on Record & Radio’s Christian Adult Contemporary Chart.

By September 2004, an executive at Columbia Records found out about Nick’s song. Nick was soon jointly signed to INO Records and Colum-bia Records and released the single “Dear God”. A second single, a new solo recording of “Joy to the World (A Christmas Prayer)”, was released on November 16. It was supposed to be followed by a December release of a self-titled solo album Nicholas Jonas, but the album had been pushed back; it did, however, get a limited release. Nick, along with his brothers, Kevin and Joe, had written several other songs for the album. In early 2005, Columbia Records’ new president, Steve Greenberg, listened to Nick’s record. Greenberg liked Nick’s voice. After meeting with Nick and hear-ing the song “Please Be Mine”, writ-ten and performed by the brothers,

Daylight/Columbia Records decided to sign the three as a group act.

2005–06: It’s About TimeAfter being signed to Columbia, the brothers considered naming their group “Sons of Jonas” before set-tling on the name “Jonas Brothers.” Throughout 2005, the Jonas Brothers had gone on several tours, opening for various artists including, Jump5, Kelly Clarkson, Jesse McCartney, the Backstreet Boys, and The Click Five. They spent the latter portion of the year on an anti-drug tour with Aly & AJ and The Cheetah Girls. Addition-ally, they opened for The Veronicas in early 2006. For the album, titled It’s About Time, the band collaborated with several writers, including Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), Michael Mangini (Joss Stone), Des-mond Child (Aerosmith, Bon Jovi), Billy Mann (Destiny’s Child, Jessica Simpson) and Steve Greenberg. The album was initially supposed to be released in February 2006, but was pushed back several times.

The delay was due to executive changes at Sony (the parent company of Columbia) and the executives’ desire to have “another lead single” on the album. For the album, the Jonas Brothers covered two hit songs by UK band Busted – “Year 3000” and “What I Go to School For”.The Jonas Brothers’ first single, “Mandy”, was released on December 27, 2005. Its music video was shown on MTV’s Total Request Live on Feb-ruary 22, 2006 and reached number four. Another song, “Time for Me to Fly,” was released on the Aquama-rine soundtrack, also in February. In March, “Mandy” was featured in the Nickelodeon television film Zoey 101: Spring Break-Up and the Zoey 101: Music Mix soundtrack album, with Nicholas Jonas listed as the artist name. The group’s music was also fea-

tured on Cartoon Network’s Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. The band covered “Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)” from Pirates of the Carib-bean for the DisneyMania 4 album, released on April 4, 2006. Over the summer of 2006, the Jonas Brothers went on tour with Aly & AJ. The Jonas Brothers also cre-ated the theme song for the second season of American Dragon Jake Long, airing from June 2006 to Septem-ber 2007 on the Disney Channel.

It’s About Time was finally released on August 8, 2006. According to the band’s manager, it was only a “limited release” of 50,000 copies, so the album can be bid on auction sites like eBay for up to $200–$300 USD. Because Sony was not interested in further promoting the band, the Jonas Broth-ers then considered switching labels. On October 3, 2006, Nick’s 2004 solo single, “Joy to the World (A Christ-mas Prayer),” was re-released on Joy to the World: The Ultimate Christmas Collection. Also in October, the Jonas Brothers covered “Poor Unfortunate Souls” from The Little Mermaid. Along with a music video, the song was released on a two-disc special-edition release of The Little Mermaid soundtrack. The second single from It’s About Time was “Year 3000, which music video premiered on Disney Channel in January 2007. The band was ultimately dropped by Columbia Records in early 2007.

2007–08: Jonas BrothersAfter briefly being without a label, the Jonas Brothers signed with Hol-lywood Records in February 2007.[Around the same time, the broth-ers began appearing in commercials for Baby Bottle Pops, singing the jingle.On March 24, two additional songs on two different albums were released: “Kids of the Future”, from the Meet the Robinsons soundtrack (based on Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America”), and “I Wanna Be Like You”, from DisneyMania 5.The Jonas Brothers made their first appearance at the White House on Monday, April 9, 2007, during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, where they sang the National An-them.They returned on Wednesday June 27, 2007, during a Celebrating Women in Sports Tee Ball game on the South Lawn. They sang the Na-tional Anthem, and, after the game, the Jonas Brothers entertained at the picnic-reception with a selection of their hits.Their self-titled second album was released on August 7, 2007. It reached number five on the Billboard Hot 200 chart in its first week. Two singles with music videos were also released around this time — “Hold On” two weeks before, and “S.O.S.” 4 days before the release of the album.