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Farley Flex | |
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| Born | Farley Fridal August 9, 1962 London, England |
| Occupation(s) | Music promoter, artist manager |
| Notable credit | Canadian Idol |
Farley Flex (born Farley Fridal, August 9, 1962) is a Media Consultant, music promoter, artist manager, and motivational speaker. He is best known for being a judge on the reality television series Canadian Idol .
Flex was instrumental in founding FLOW 93.5 in Toronto, the first urban music-format radio station in Canada when it first went on the air in 2001, [2] and where he was the station's first Music Director and Vice President of Business Development. His success as an artist manager, radio personality and executive along with the success of the station prompted Canadian Idol's producers to select him as a judge before its 2003 launch. He is the recipient of the Bob Marley Day Award (2009), [3] a Harry Jerome Award (2007), the Urban Music Association of Canada's Special Achievement and Media Personality of the Year Awards, and was inducted into the Scarborough Walk of Fame. [2] Flex is the founder of R.E.A.L. School - Reality Education & Applied Life Skills a not for profit organization that engages primarily youth from inner city and marginalized communities worldwide. "What celebrity does is that it creates an umbrella under which you can do all those things with a higher level of impact." [4]
Flex was the original manager of Maestro Fresh Wes, Canada's first mainstream rapper, [5] and has also taken several former Idol contestants under his wing to promote their albums, such as Gary Beals and Toya Alexis. [6]
Flex currently operates FUSE Restaurant Entertainment Emporium, a restaurant in the historic district of Corktown in specializing in global cuisine and live entertainment.[ citation needed ]
Canadian Idol is a Canadian reality television competition show which aired on CTV, based on the British show Pop Idol. The show was a competition to find the most talented young singer in Canada, and was hosted by Ben Mulroney. Jon Dore was the "roving reporter" for the first three seasons. Elena Juatco assumed the role for season four, Dave Kerr had the role in season five and Jully Black in season six.
Centennial College of Applied Arts and Technology is a diploma- and degree-granting college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the oldest publicly funded college in Ontario. Its campuses are situated on the east side of the city, particularly in Scarborough, with an aerospace centre at Downsview Park in North York.
Wesley "Wes" Williams is a Canadian rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and author. He is known professionally by his stage names Maestro Fresh Wes or Maestro as a musician, and is credited by his birth name as an actor. One of the earliest Canadian rappers to achieve mainstream success, he is credited as the "Godfather of Canadian hip hop". His debut album, Symphony in Effect (1989), was the first certified platinum album by a Black Canadian artist.
Jake Gold is an American-born Canadian music manager. He was a judge on the Canadian Idol television program. In addition to Idol participants, he has managed Canadian artists The Tragically Hip, The Watchmen, The Cliks, and Sass Jordan.
The Canadian hip hop scene was established in the 1980s. Through a variety of factors, it developed much slower than Canada's popular rock music scene, and apart from a short-lived burst of mainstream popularity from 1989 to 1991, it remained largely an underground phenomenon until the early 2000s.
Toya Alexis is a Canadian vocalist and actress from Ajax, Ontario.
Scarborough Town Centre (STC) is a shopping mall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Central to the Scarborough City Centre district, it is adjacent to Scarborough Centre station, the Scarborough Centre Bus Terminal and the CTV Toronto studios (9 Channel Nine Court). Opened in 1973, the mall is the fourth largest shopping mall in Canada and third in Toronto by retail space.
Lester B. Pearson Collegiate Institute, also known as Lester B. Pearson CI, LBPCI, or simply Pearson, is a public high school in the Malvern neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The fourth season of Canadian Idol began in February 2006 ran until September 2006. Zack Werner, Jake Gold, Sass Jordan, and Farley Flex returned to judge, and Ben Mulroney returned to host, with Elena Juatco as the new roving reporter. The season premiered on May 29, five days after the finale of American Idol Season 5. The Canadian Idol title was awarded to competitor Eva Avila on September 17, 2006.
The One: Making a Music Star is an American reality television series that aired in July 2006 on ABC in the United States, and CBC Television in Canada. The show was hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos, the host of CBC's The Hour. It was advertised as being superior to American Idol and Rock Star with the twist that contestants "live together in a fully functioning music academy", with their actions documented similar to the Big Brother format.
Stephanie Marie Toscano DiDomenicantonio, also known as Steffi D, is a Canadian singer and actress, who first rose to prominence as a fifth-place finalist on the fourth season of Canadian Idol.
The fifth season of Canadian Idol is the fifth installation of the Idol series in Canada. It was again hosted by Ben Mulroney, with Farley Flex, Jake Gold, Sass Jordan and Zack Werner all returning as judges. The show premiered on June 5, 2007, with a 90-minute episode. Voting began during the fourth week. New events introduced that season included the Help Idols build a house and the Kraft Confidential with David Kerr. The elimination song for this year was Walk on Home by Kalan Porter. The final episode of the season was broadcast on September 11, 2007, when Brian Melo was crowned Canadian Idol.
Ashley Coulter is a Canadian singer and the sixth-place finalist in the 2006 season of Canadian Idol. She was born and raised in Emeryville, Ontario, but lives in Toronto, Ontario.
The sixth and final season of Canadian Idol is the sixth and final installation of the Idol series in Canada and premiered on June 3, 2008, on the CTV Television Network. It is again hosted by Ben Mulroney, with the addition of Jully Black as a special correspondent and general mentor to the contestants. Farley Flex, Jake Gold, Sass Jordan and Zack Werner all returned as judges. This season saw a number of major and minor show format changes in an effort to keep the franchise fresh and innovative. The final episode of the season, in which the Canadian Idol was crowned, aired on September 10, 2008. The winner of the sixth season was Theo Tams. The sixth season became the final season of Canadian Idol following its cancellation in 2009.
Symphony in Effect is the debut album of Canadian rapper Maestro Fresh-Wes, released in 1989 on Attic/LMR Records. In Canada, the album was certified platinum and was the second-best selling Cancon album in Canada of 1990. It remains one of the best-selling Canadian hip hop albums of all time. The first single "Let Your Backbone Slide" became the first hit single in Canadian hip hop history, and appeared on Billboard's Hot Rap Singles chart. A second single, "Drop the Needle", was released in 1990.
Christine Bentley is Canadian journalist and former news anchor on Toronto, Ontario, Canada television station CTV Toronto. She was an employee of the CTV News since 1977.
Luther Brown is a Canadian choreographer/artistic director. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, and raised in Toronto, Ontario, he is best known as a hip hop dance choreographer for movies, television and commercials. Brown is a regular choreographer for the television dance competition So You Think You Can Dance and So You Think You Can Dance Canada, for which he was a choreographer and a judge. Brown is a co-founder of Do Dat Entertainment.
Traci Melchor is a Canadian television personality. She is known for her role as an entertainment reporter for CTV's series etalk and as a judge of the reality competition series Canada's Drag Race. Melchor is also the former co-host of CTV's The Social.
Daniel Panetta, also known as Danny Payne is a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician and producer. In addition to his solo career, he is also the vocalist for the alternative rock band St.Yesterday. He was born in Angus, Ontario.
Richard Flohil is a Canadian music promoter, publicist, former Mariposa Folk Festival artistic director and journalist based in Toronto. Flohil now runs a public relations company, Richard Flohil and Associates.