Initial reviews of the song were
mixed, with many believing it to be a good song on its own but poorly done when
considered a 007 theme. According to the
2008 Popjustice Reader’s Poll, the song was voted as the second “Worst Single”
of the year. The US Billboard Hot 100 debut reached only 81, where it spent only one
week on the chart. However, the song did
fare better overseas, where it charted inside the top ten in the UK, Austria,
Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, and Denmark, where it was certified gold.
In 2008, “Another Way to Die” won
Best Original Song at the Satellite Awards and received a nomination for the
same category at the Critics’ Choice Awards.
The music video was nominated at the Grammy Awards for Best Short Form
Music Video.
Prior to White and Keys being
officially announced as the performers, singers Leona Lewis and Amy Winehouse
were rumored to be selected. Winehouse
had even recorded a demo track with producer Mark Ronson, but it was later
explained that due to Winehouse’s well-publicized legal issues she was not prepared
to record any music at that time.
Jack White, born July 9, 1975, as
John Anthony Gillis, is the frontman for the White Stripes, but his
collaborations with other artists and bands are varied, including Loretta Lynn,
Bob Dylan, Beck, the Rolling Stones, and Danger Mouse. He is the youngest of 10 children and was
raised Catholic. White began playing
drums at the age of 6 and in elementary school was influenced by the Doors,
Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin. In his
teenage years he began listening to blues and 1960s rock, which would become
the influence that led to the White Stripes.
White’s first recorded album was
with a family friend when the two were working together at upholstery. White played guitar and the band was named
the Upholsterers. Eventually meeting
Megan White, the two were wed and formed the White Stripes, although they did
not present themselves as husband and wife, but as siblings. The band released six albums and a live album,
with their biggest hit being “Seven Nation Army,” which spent three weeks at
number one on the Billboard Modern
Rock Tracks chart and won a Grammy for Best Rock Song. It has even become an international sporting
and protest anthem.
Along with the White Stripes,
White has also been a founding member of the Raconteurs and the Dead
Weather. Along with producing all of his
own work through his label, Third Man Records, he has also produced for
numerous artists. His two solo albums
have received eight Grammy nominations and both albums have reached the top spot
on the Billboard charts.
White has won eight Grammy
Awards. In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked White at 70 on its list of the 100 Greatest
Guitarists of All Time and David Fricke’s 2011 list ranked him at number
17. White is a board member of the
Library of Congress’ National Recording Preservation Foundation.
Along with his work on Quantum of Solace he has also
contributed to Cold Mountain, where
he was also featured in an acting role, The
Great Gatsby, and It Might Get Loud,
a documentary about the electric guitar.
White has married and divorced
twice, once to bandmate Meg White, where he took her last name, and again to
model Karen Elson. White has a son and
daughter with Elson. He currently
resides in Nashville, Tennessee.
Alicia Augello Cook, known
professionally as Alicia Keys, was born January 25, 1981. Keys studied music and dance at an early age,
learning classical piano beginning at the age of 7. She was enrolled in the Professional
Performing Arts School at 12, where she majored in choir and began writing
songs, and graduated at 16 as valedictorian.
Although accepted to Columbia University, Keys was unable to handle both
recording music and attending classes and dropped out of college after a month.
It wasn’t until signing with her
third record label that she released her debut album, Songs in a Minor, which sold more than 12 million copies worldwide
and was certified six times platinum. Her
debut single Fallin’ spent six weeks
atop the Billboard Hot 100. Keys became the most successful new artist of
the year and won five Grammy Awards for her work on the album, including Best
New Artist and Song of the Year. The
achievement made her only the second American recording artist to win five
Grammys in a single night. Fallin’ was also nominated for Record of
the Year.
Keys’ second and third albums
were also successes, earning her another seven Grammies. Her live album, Unplugged, debuted at number one in the United States, making her
the first female to have an MTV Unplugged
album debut at number one. It was the
highest debut since Nirvana’s release in 1994.
In total, Keys has released five
studio and two live albums and sold more than 35 million albums and 30 million
singles worldwide. She has won 15 Grammy
Awards, five American Music Awards, 17 Billboard Music Awards (including Latin
and R&B/Hip-Hop ceremonies), seven BET Awards, 16 NAACP Image Awards, two
People’s Choice Awards, and numerous other accolades. Billboard
magazine named her the top R&B artist of the 2000s and placed her number 10
on their list of the Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years. In 2010, VH1 included Keys on its list of the
100 Greatest Artists of All Time and two years later ranked her 14 on its 100 Greatest Women in Music.
Contributions to soundtracks
other than Quantum of Solace include Men in Black, Shaft, Dr. Dolittle 2, Ali,
Sex and the City 2, 12 Years a Slave, and The Amazing Spider-man 2.
Keys has appeared in television cameos
on The Cosby Show, Charmed, and American Dreams, as well as film work in Smokin’ Aces, The Secret Life
of Bees, and The Nanny Diaries.
Having given birth to her second
child late last year with husband Swiss Beatz, a hip-hop recording artist and
producer, Keys plans to release a series of children’s books.
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