World Biographical Encyclopedia

Ahmed Sékou Touré was a Guinean political leader; head of the PDG, he was elected as the first President of Guinea, serving from 1958 to his death in 1984. Touré was one of the primary Guinean nationalists involved in gaining independence of the country from France.

Johann Strauss

Johann Strauss, Jr. was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet.

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms was the German composer, pianist, and conductor. He was one of the most significant composers of the 19th century, whose works greatly enriched the romantic repertory.

Sattar Bahlulzade

Sattar Bahlulzade was an Azerbaijani painter, mostly known as the creator of modern Azerbaijani landscape painting. He was among those painters, who infused a poetic spirit into the Azerbaijan scenery.

Mike Portnoy

Michael Stephen Portnoy is an American drummer and songwriter primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal/rock band Dream Theater. He co-produced six Dream Theater albums with guitarist John Petrucci, starting from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory through Black Clouds and Silver Linings.

Edward Hale

Edward Everett Hale was an American Unitarian clergyman, social reformer, author, and editor of the last half of the nineteenth century. He wrote sermons, biographies, novels, and essays, a wide range of fiction, in various settings, for both children and adults. One of his most well-known short stories is ‘The Man without a Country’.

Hugo Chávez

Hugo Chavez was a former Army Lieutenant Colonel and President of Venezuela. A populist, Chávez instituted what he calls a "Bolivarian Revolution" in Venezuela, where key industries were nationalized and oil revenues were used in social programs for the poor.

Vera Lynn

Dame Vera Margaret Lynn is a British singer and actress. She was popular during the Second World War when she hosted the BBC concert radio program "Sincerely Yours", addressed to British troops abroad. Broadcasts of her songs of love and longing were particularly resonant with members of the military fighting abroad, which led to her nickname, "the Forces’ Sweetheart."

Ayaan Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born Dutch-American activist, writer, and politician best known for her contention that Islam is fundamentally incompatible with Western democratic values, especially those upholding the rights of women.

Amy Schumer

American comedian and actress whose pointed, self-deprecating humor brought her success on stage and screen. Perhaps the most frequent topics of her often raunchy comedy were relationship issues, body image, and the challenges faced by professional women in the 21st century.

Seyyed Nasr

Seyyed Hossein Nasr is an Iranian educator, philosopher, and author of scholarly books and articles. He is one of the most important and foremost scholars of Islamic, Religious, and Comparative Studies in the world today. He is the only Muslim to be included in the Library of Living Philosophers and has written over 50 books and over 500 articles.

Rob Zombie

Rob Zombie is an American musician and filmmaker who rose to fame as a founding member of the heavy metal band White Zombie, releasing four studio albums with the band.

Ansel Elgort

Ansel Elgort is an American actor and singer, who is best known for his role as Augustus Waters in the 2014 movie The Fault in Our Stars. He is often referred to by his stage name Ansolo. After beginning his acting career with the 2013 American horror movie Carrie which was directed with Kimberley Peirce, Elgort slowly and steadily started gaining fame in the industry.

John Knox

John Knox was a Scottish Protestant Reformer and was the cause of major transformation in the faith of the people. He is mentioned to be the founder of Presbyterian denomination in Scotland.

Ulysses Grant

Ulysses Simpson Grant, having led the Northern armies to victory in the Civil War, was elected eighteenth president of the United States.

Michael Bolton

Michael Bolotin, known professionally as Michael Bolton, is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton originally performed in the hard rock and heavy metal genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, both on his early solo albums and those he recorded as the frontman of the band Blackjack. He became better known for his series of pop rock ballads, recorded after a stylistic change in the late 198...