Plainfield

William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz... repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists. He is considered by some to be the most influential post-World War II jazz pianist. Evans had a distinct playing posture in which his neck would often be stooped very low, and his face parallel to the piano. Evans is an inductee of the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. Bill Evans was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, United States, to a mother of Rusyn ancestry and a father of Welsh descent. He received his first musical training at his mother's church. Evans' mother was an amateur pianist with an interest in modern classical composers, and Evans began classical piano lessons at age six. He also became a proficient flautist by age 13 and could play the violin. At age 12, Evans filled in for his older brother Harry in Buddy Valentino's band. At this age he was able to interpret classical music, but he couldn't improvise.
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Richard Ira "Rich" Vos is an American comedian. Originally from Plainfield, New Jersey, Vos has been a working stand-up for decades. Friend and... fellow comic Colin Quinn jokingly described Vos in his early days as a "Jersey Hack". On the 2001 English Channel 5 show The People of New York vs Jerry Sadowitz, Vos was the bouncer, often performing his own skits. In 2004, Vos released his first DVD. Entitled Vos, the self-produced stand-up comedy special consisted of an unedited 55 minute performance from a single camera angle, recorded off the monitor at the Stress Factory in New Brunswick, New Jersey, with a plain black cover with the word "Vos" printed in sans-serif font on it. He also released a CD entitled "I'm Killing Here". He has the distinction of being the first white comedian to perform on Def Comedy Jam. Vos placed 3rd on the first season of NBC's Last Comic Standing and starred in the show's first and third seasons. In September 2005, Vos married comedian Bonnie McFarlane, who was seen on season 2 of Last Comic Standing. Together they have a daughter, Rayna Lynn Vos, born on July 31, 2007.
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Mary Catherine McCormack is an American actress. Known for her work in television, she has had leading roles as Justine Appleton in the series... Murder One , as Deputy National Security Adviser Kate Harper in The West Wing and as Mary Shannon in In Plain Sight . Her film roles include Private Parts ; Deep Impact ; True Crime ; High Heels and Low Lifes ; K-PAX ; Right at Your Door and 1408 . McCormack was born in Plainfield, New Jersey. She is the daughter of clinical therapist Norah and car dealership and ice cream parlor owner William McCormack. Her parents divorced in 1990. She has a sister Bridget, a professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, and a brother William, an actor who has appeared in a recurring role as FBI agent Robert O'Connor on In Plain Sight. McCormack graduated from The Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison, New Jersey, in 1987 and went on to attend and graduate from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, majoring in English and painting. McCormack married Brothers & Sisters producer Michael Morris in July 2003.
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Joseph Black was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro League and Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Redlegs, and... Washington Senators who became the first black pitcher to win a World Series game, in 1952. Black died of prostate cancer at age 78. A native of Plainfield, New Jersey, he starred at Plainfield High School. Black attended on a baseball scholarship and graduated from Morgan State University in 1950 and later received an honorary doctorate from Shaw University. He was a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He appears prominently in Roger Kahn's classic book, The Boys of Summer. Black helped the Baltimore Elite Giants of the Negro Leagues win two championships in seven years. He and Jackie Robinson pushed for a pension plan for Negro League players and was instrumental in the inclusion of players who played before 1947. Black then played for a year in the Brooklyn Dodgers' minor league system. The Dodgers promoted Black to the major leagues in 1952, five years after teammate Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier. Black was 28 when he reached the majors.
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LaVita Raynor, first known as Hot Totti, is a female rapper and sister of Kima from female R&B group Total. She appeared on the "Irv Gotti... Presents The Murderers" album, with a solo song from her, accompanied by a video called "Vita, Vita, Vita". Her album "La Dolce Vita" was never released, with the 1st single "Justify My Love" not gaining attention. She also appeared on "Irv Gotti Presents The Inc" on the songs "Down 4 U" & "Here We Come".
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Taiwan Brown is an American actor, host, and former MtvU video jockey. He is currently the host for the iptv network OmitTV.com. He stands 5'8.... Brown was born in Brooklyn, New York and currently resides in Plainfield, New Jersey. He is currently re-editing a pilot for an interactive music countdown show pitched to Yahoo's upcoming network TV launch of their new channel Launch TV. He also plans to make a podcast for Revision3. During the school year he frequently co-hosts a radio show on UCCR, his college radio station. Taiwan credits Fuse TV VJ Steven Smith for his start in television. On February 8, 2008, Taiwan lost to Clint Catalyst who won the first place in the first round for TV Host in CBS's BigShotLive contest. He is still a member and stated on his Myspace blog that he was contacted by email for being in the top five. Taiwan stated he did not want to give a cut of his earnings to BigShotLive for one year, as agreed too in his contract - if signed, also a percentage goes to a future agent he would need to acquire to help grow is career.
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Mary Catherine McCormack is an American actress. Known for her work in television, she has had leading roles as Justine Appleton in the series... Murder One , as Deputy National Security Adviser Kate Harper in The West Wing and as Mary Shannon in In Plain Sight . Her film roles include Private Parts ; Deep Impact ; True Crime ; High Heels and Low Lifes ; K-PAX ; Right at Your Door and 1408 . McCormack was born in Plainfield, New Jersey. She is the daughter of clinical therapist Norah and car dealership and ice cream parlor owner William McCormack. Her parents divorced in 1990. She has a sister Bridget, a professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, and a brother William, an actor who has appeared in a recurring role as FBI agent Robert O'Connor on In Plain Sight. McCormack graduated from The Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison, New Jersey, in 1987 and went on to attend and graduate from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, majoring in English and painting. McCormack married Brothers & Sisters producer Michael Morris in July 2003.
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Erika Amato is an American singer and actress, and a founding member of the band Velvet Chain. Amato was born in the town of Plainfield, New Jersey... and grew up in the town of Summit. She started playing and performing music at the age of three. She attended Kent Place School and then went to Vassar College to earn her undergraduate degree - receiving both general honors and honors in Drama. While at Vassar, she performed in both the Music Department's elite a cappella group, the Madrigals, as well as the student-run co-ed a cappella group, Matthew's Minstrels. After graduation, Amato moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, and quickly landed a guest-starring appearance on the popular show, Quantum Leap, garnering her the coveted SAG card. In the mid-1990s, she met Jeff Stacy, and together the two founded Velvet Chain, an indie band with a large cult following most famous for their appearances on the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the subsequent soundtrack album on TVT Records. The band has also self-released several albums through their own label, Freak Productions, and continue to write and record material.
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Joseph Black was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro League and Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Redlegs, and... Washington Senators who became the first black pitcher to win a World Series game, in 1952. Black died of prostate cancer at age 78. A native of Plainfield, New Jersey, he starred at Plainfield High School. Black attended on a baseball scholarship and graduated from Morgan State University in 1950 and later received an honorary doctorate from Shaw University. He was a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He appears prominently in Roger Kahn's classic book, The Boys of Summer. Black helped the Baltimore Elite Giants of the Negro Leagues win two championships in seven years. He and Jackie Robinson pushed for a pension plan for Negro League players and was instrumental in the inclusion of players who played before 1947. Black then played for a year in the Brooklyn Dodgers' minor league system. The Dodgers promoted Black to the major leagues in 1952, five years after teammate Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier. Black was 28 when he reached the majors.
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David Spencer Ware , is an American jazz saxophonist working mostly in free jazz. In 2001 critic Gary Giddins described Ware's quartet as "the best... small band in jazz today." Ware grew up in Scotch Plains, New Jersey and graduated from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School. He attended the Berklee College of Music. He lived in New York City and worked as a cab driver for 14 years, but later relocated to Scotch Plains. Ware's recorded debut was in 1971, on a privately-produced LP recorded by Abdul Hannah, an alto saxophonist from Boston. He went on to record with drummer Andrew Cyrille and pianist Cecil Taylor. In the late 1970s and early '80s Ware recorded more regularly as a bandleader, and formed his acclaimed quartet in the early 1990s. The quartet was originally composed of Ware, pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist William Parker and drummer Marc Edwards. The drum chair was later occupied by Whit Dickey, Susie Ibarra, and Guillermo E. Brown. The quartet released a string of well-reviewed albums mostly on small record labels, but saxophonist Branford Marsalis signed Ware to two-album deal with Columbia Records in the late '90s.
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LaVita Raynor, first known as Hot Totti, is a female rapper and sister of Kima from female R&B group Total. She appeared on the "Irv Gotti... Presents The Murderers" album, with a solo song from her, accompanied by a video called "Vita, Vita, Vita". Her album "La Dolce Vita" was never released, with the 1st single "Justify My Love" not gaining attention. She also appeared on "Irv Gotti Presents The Inc" on the songs "Down 4 U" & "Here We Come".
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Dionne Farris is an American female R&B/soul musician who sang on three songs with the hip hop group Arrested Development. In 1995, she had a... solo hit single called "I Know", which hit number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1996, and in 1997, she had another called "Hopeless" from the Love Jones soundtrack. This was after her demo made its way to Sony Music, and her debut album, Wild Seed, Wild Flower, was released in the summer of 1994, spawning "I Know." Wild Seed - Wild Flower reached #57 on the Billboard 200 chart. In the UK Singles Chart, "I Know" peaked at #41 in May 1995, and "Hopeless" peaked at #42 in June 1997. On April 8, 1995, she was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, season 20 episode 17, where Damon Wayans was the guest host. She also sang the closing song "For Once In My Life" in the 1996 film, The Truth About Cats & Dogs. On May 13, 1996, Dionne gave birth to a daughter named Tate. Farris has released an album entitled Signs of Life on her own record label, Free & Clear.
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