Lay (entertainer)

Zhang Yixing (born (1991-10-07)October 7, 1991), known professionally as Lay (Korean: 레이) as a member of EXO and (Zhang) Yixing for China-based personal projects, is a Chinese singer, actor, and dancer. He first became known after participating in the Chinese TV talent show Star Academy in 2005. In January 2012, Yixing debuted as a member of the Chinese-South Korean group EXO and its sub-unit EXO-M. In January 2015, Lay was ranked 5th on Baidu's "2014 Top 10 Most Popular Celebrities" list. In September 2015, he released his autobiography titled Standing Firm At 24, which broke several online book records.

Life and career

1991–2014: Early life and career beginnings

Zhang Yixing was born in Changsha, Hunan, China on October 7, 1991. In 2000, at 9 years old, he participated in a Chinese TV show as the fan club member of the actor and singer Jimmy Lin, giving him his first contact with the entertainment industry. Lay began his career as a local child star in the province of Hunan, after winning third place in a competition organized by the popular TV show Star Academy in 2005. He also appeared in an episode of Ce Yue Yue Xin Kai and Liu Na's variety show, Na Ke Bu Yi Yang between 2005 and 2006. In April 2006, he participated in auditions to star in the series The Duke of Mount Deer directed by Zhang Jizhong, and despite being among the finalists did not win the role. In 2008 joined S.M. Entertainment after a successful audition with the company's global casting system in Changsha. At the time of the auditions, he was 16 years old and was studying for his college entrance exams. In 2011, prior to debuting with Exo, he briefly worked for SHINee on their concert tour as Jonghyun's dance replacement.

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of tonality, rhythm, the use of sustained tones and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung without accompaniment or with accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in a group of other musicians, such as in a choir of singers with different voice ranges, or in an ensemble with instrumentalists, such as a rock group or baroque ensemble. Singers may also perform as soloist with accompaniment from a piano (as in art song and in some jazz styles) or with a symphony orchestra or big band. There are a range of different singing styles, including art music styles such as opera and Chinese opera, religious music styles such as Gospel, traditional music styles, world music, jazz, blues and popular music styles such as pop and rock.

Singing can be formal or informal, arranged or improvised. It may be done for religious devotion, as a hobby, as a source of pleasure, comfort, or ritual, as part of music education, or as a profession. Excellence in singing requires time, dedication, instruction, and regular practice. If practice is done on a regular basis then the sounds can become more clear and strong. Professional singers usually build their careers around one specific musical genre, such as classical or rock, although there are singers with crossover success (singing in more than one genre). They typically take voice training provided by voice teachers or vocal coaches throughout their careers.

Singer Motors

Singer Motors Limited was a British motor vehicle manufacturing business, originally a bicycle manufacturer founded as Singer & Co by George Singer, in 1874 in Coventry, England. Singer & Co's bicycle manufacture continued. From 1901 George Singer's Singer Motor Co made cars and commercial vehicles.

Singer Motor Co was the first motor manufacturer to make a small economy car that was a replica of a large car, showing a small car was a practical proposition. It was much more sturdily built than otherwise similar cyclecars. With its four-cylinder ten horsepower engine the Singer Ten was launched at the 1912 Cycle and Motor Cycle Show at Olympia. William Rootes, Singer apprentice at the time of its development and consummate car-salesman, contracted to buy 50, the entire first year's supply. It became a best-seller. Ultimately Singer's business was acquired by his Rootes Group in 1956, which continued the brand until 1970, a few years following Rootes' acquisition by the American Chrysler corporation.

Singer (naval mine)

The Singer was a naval mine made and deployed by the Confederacy during the American Civil War. It was a manually laid moored contact mine.

Development

During the American Civil War, Matthew Fontaine Maury, a Confederate government official established the Torpedo Bureau and the Torpedo Corps in Richmond, Virginia to oversee the development and deployment of new types of naval mines. Maury was convinced that the only way to defend the coastlines against Union assaults was through the widespread use of naval mines. Mines were inexpensive and easily produced on a large scale. The low cost and large volume of mines produced would supplement the small naval forces of the Confederacy and make it possible to defend against the superior fleet of the Union navy. The efforts of the Torpedo Bureau and the Torpedo Corps proved to be worth the investment of the Confederacy. For the relative low cost of the mines they did a tremendous amount of damage to the Union forces, sinking a total of 27 Union naval vessels.