Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick was a pop and R&B star of the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Dionne’s real name is Marie Dionne Warwick. She was born on December 12, 1940 in East Orange, New Jersey.
Warwick received her very first Grammy Award for singing “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” She was the first African-American female artist to win for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance. She had twelve consecutive top one hundred hit singles between 1963 and 1966. In 1985 she recorded “That’s What Friends Are For” with Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and Elton John to raise money for the American Foundation for AIDS Research. In 2006 Dionne Warwick was on American Idol. She has a new album of gospel music, “Why We Sing”, coming early this year. She is a great singer from our state!
By: Caress Wright
Robert Morris School
Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi was born John Francis Bonjiovi, Jr. in Perth Amboy, New Jersey on March 2, 1962. He is 45 years old. His genres are hard rock, soft rock and glam metal. The instruments he plays are guitar, piano, harmonica, vocals, drums and keyboards.
In 1980, when he was 17 years old, he cleaned up for his cousin, Tony Bonjiovi’s record studio, The Power Station. A band named Meco was there recording. Tony thought John could sing “R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas”. It was his first professional recording. He is the lead singer and founder of the rock band Bon Jovi he has sold over 100 million albums worldwide. He is also owner of an Arena Football League team, the Philadelphia Soul.
By: John Choueiri
Robert Morris School
Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah was born in Newark, NJ on March 18, 1970. She was one of the first female hip-hop singers. She was a rapper. She has been nominated for an Academy Award.
Her name was Dana Elaine Owens and her parents divorced when she was eight. Her cousin gave her the name Queen Latifah. That means nice in Arabic. She played basketball in High School.
Her first album was All Hail the Queen. She has many more albums. She has starred in movies such as The Last Holiday. Queen Latifah gave her brother, Lancelot, a motorcycle for his birthday. Lancelot was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1992 and she wears the key from the motorcycle around her neck to remember him. Queen Latifah had a hard time with his death.
Queen Latifah is known all over the world and she comes from our state!
By: Alejandra Martinez
Robert Morris School
The New Jersey Viet Nam Veterans’ War Memorial
The New Jersey Viet Nam Veterans’ War Memorial is located in Holmdel, New Jersey. It was dedicated on May 7. 1995. There are 1,559 names of soldiers from New Jersey who were killed or are missing in action on the Memorial.
You can visit the Memorial 24 hours a day, every day for free. You can take a guided tour run by volunteer veterans. The Memorial is an open circle, 200 feet in diameter. There are 366 black granite panels around the outside. Each panel stands for a day of the year and that’s how the names are listed, by the day the soldier died. You should visit the Memorial to see how many soldiers helped their country by giving their lives during the Viet Nam War.
By: Cecilia Nunez
Robert Morris School
Monopoly
Monopoly is the popular board game which helped to make Atlantic City’s shore resort known around the world. In the 1930’s, Monopoly was created by Charles Darrow. Lizzie Magie invented the Landlord’s game which the game Monopoly is based on. William Darrow, son of the man who developed the game of Monopoly, named the game in 1933. It is weird how that can happen in real life. More Monopoly money is printed in a year than real money throughout the world. The longest Monopoly game lasted over 1,680 hours. That means 70 days. There are now many different types of Monopoly such as Disney Monopoly, Catopoly, Dogopoly, and Spongebob Monopoly. It’s the most enjoyable game to play with a friend. Although Monopoly gets confusing to play sometimes, it is still my favorite game.
By: Brianny Santos
Robert Morris School
