The definition of famous was blurred when Rebecca Black emerged as one of them. Black is an American pop singer born on June 21, 1997 who gained attention through the negative responses to "Friday". As of the end of March 2011, "Friday", which contains simple and rather silly lyrics, received over 62 million hits on YouTube.
Black was an Orange County, California native and is the daughter of veterinarians John Black and Georgina Marquez Kelly. She has made showbiz her goal when she studied dance, auditioned for school shows, performed in musical theater and enrolled in summer camps. In 2008, she joined the patriotic group Celebration USA.
A friend of Black then told her about a small L.A. record label called Ark Music Factory. After an audition, Black was invited to record a song pre-written by Ark executives, "Friday". Her mom then paid $2,000 to help produce the video which was uploaded on YouTube in February and received 1,000 views in the first month. After it went viral in March, the video became the most-talked-bout topic on twitter, mainly because of its inane lyrics.
Black was then invited for TV interviews including "Good Morning America" where she said she felt being cyber-bullied. "When I first saw all these nasty comments, I did cry," she said. But everything ended in goodness. "Friday" debuted on Billboard Hot 100 at number 72 and on the U.K. singles chart at number 61. Simon Cowell defended her, saying she "hasn't done anything wrong" while Lady GaGa called her a "genius".
But Black was looking forward beyond her "Friday" fame. On March 25, 2011, she hired a publicist and a manager who confirmed that a lot of songwriters and record labels have been throwing her offers when they found out that she can sing. Without a record deal, Black said she was recording a single called "LOL" and a debut album at the Flying Pig Productions studio in Los Angeles.
