“My father was a jazz tenor sax player. He played in a lot of big bands. So I had that sound around me all the time. The first record that really caught my ear was Clifford Brown's 'Brownie Eyes.' I grew up listening to John Coltrane and Illinois Jacquet. This is where I come from... I love improvisational music.” FirstsBigsEyeFatherSoundRecordsPlayerListeningGrewBandGrew UpEarsJazzCaughtBrownIllinoisTenorsColtraneBrownies Author:Meshell Ndegeocello
“I grew up in the Alps and France, and Barbie was my first exposure to the American woman. For me she was blonde, she was free and she was fun.” FirstsFunGrewGrew UpFranceExposureBlondeAmerican WomanBarbieAlps Author:Catherine Malandrino
“I grew up on the crime stuff. Spillane, Chandler, Jim Thompson, and noir movies like Fuller, Orson Welles, Fritz Lang. When I first showed up in New York to write comics back in the late 1970s, I came with a bunch of crime stories but everybody just wanted men in tights.” MenWritingFirstsStoriesWantedStuffCrimeNew YorkGrewLateGrew UpBunchNoirTightsFritz Lang Author:Frank Miller
“I'm a first generation American. My mother is Italian and Russian and a lot of other things, and my father is Uruguayan. In fact, my mother's been married twice, and both men were Uruguayan. So I grew up in a very European/Latin American-influenced home.” MenFirstsFactsHomeMotherFatherGenerationsGrewMarriedGrew UpLatinItalianLatin AmericaLatin American Author:Sebastian Arcelus
“Everything I was being shown was ABT, so I grew up watching these videos of [Mikhail] Baryshnikov, Gelsey [Kirkland] and Paloma [Herrera]. Paloma and Angel [Corella] were the first people I ever saw dance live.” PeopleFirstsSawsGrewGrew UpAngelVideo Author:Misty Copeland