Hard Rock Cafe

Hard Rock Cafe International, Inc. is a chain of theme restaurants founded in 1971 by Americans Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain. In 2007, Hard Rock was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and is headquartered in Orlando, Florida. Currently, there are 191 Hard Rock locations in 59 countries including 157 cafes, 22 hotels and 11 casinos.

History

Restaurants

The first Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) opened on 14 June 1971, in Piccadilly, London, under the ownership of young Americans Peter Morton and Isaac Tigrett. Hard Rock initially had an eclectic decor but it later started to display memorabilia. Hard Rock has amassed one of the largest collections of rock and roll memorabilia in the world. The chain began to expand worldwide in 1982 with locations in (among others) Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Paris and Berlin. Hard Rock Cafe locations in the United States vary from smaller, more tourist driven markets (Biloxi, Pigeon Forge, Key West, etc.) to large metropolises (Houston, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, etc.). Hard Rock Cafe typically does not franchise cafe locations in the United States. All US cafes are corporate owned and operated, except for cafes in Tampa and Four Winds New Buffalo casino. However, in the transition of the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel property originally owned and then later sold to Rank by founder Peter Morton, Peter retained hotel naming rights West of the Mississippi. When Peter Morton sold his Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel to the Morgans Group, he also sold those naming rights, which then gave rise to two U.S. franchise Hotels (without cafes) in Albuquerque and Tulsa. The Albuquerque hotel no longer pays for the Hard Rock rights and reverted to its former name in June 2013. More hotels franchised off from Morgan's are planned for Sioux City and Vancouver.

Hard rock

Hard rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music that began in the mid-1960s, with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. It is typified by a heavy use of aggressive vocals, distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, drums, and often accompanied with pianos and keyboards.

Hard rock developed into a major form of popular music in the 1970s, with bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Who, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, AC/DC and Van Halen. During the 1980s, some hard rock bands moved away from their hard rock roots and more towards pop rock, while others began to return to a hard rock sound. Established bands made a comeback in the mid-1980s and it reached a commercial peak in the 1980s, with glam metal bands like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard and the rawer sounds of Guns N' Roses, which followed up with great success in the later part of that decade. Hard rock began losing popularity with the commercial success of grunge and later Britpop in the 1990s.

Despite this, many post-grunge bands adopted a hard rock sound and in the 2000s there came a renewed interest in established bands, attempts at a revival, and new hard rock bands that emerged from the garage rock and post-punk revival scenes. In the 2000s, only a few hard rock bands from the 1970s and 1980s managed to sustain highly successful recording careers.

Hard Rock (disambiguation)

Hard rock is a genre of rock music

Hard rock may also refer to:

Ester Dean

Esther Renay Dean (born April 15, 1982), better known by her stage name Ester Dean, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her 2009 single "Drop It Low" featured singer Chris Brown. Dean has also co-written songs for many artists including Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry, Beyoncé, Priyanka Chopra, Mary J. Blige, Nicki Minaj, Kelly Clarkson, Ciara, The Pussycat Dolls, Usher, Kelly Rowland, Girlicious, Keri Hilson, Rihanna, R. Kelly, Britney Spears, Melody Thornton, Vanessa White, Kevin McHale, Selena Gomez, G.R.L., Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, Pia Toscano, Tinie Tempah, Lil Wayne, Machine Gun Kelly and Eurovision Song Contest 2012 winner Loreen.

In 2011, Dean contributed to the soundtrack for the animated film, Rio by Blue Sky Studios.

In 2012, she voiced two of the characters in the fourth film in the Ice Age franchise, Ice Age: Continental Drift, and also wrote a song for the movie, entitled "We Are (Family)". Dean made her acting debut in the film Pitch Perfect (2012) as Cynthia-Rose Adams, a role she reprised for the sequel, Pitch Perfect 2 (2015).