On the pop side, Jay-Z is credited with discovering the top-selling pop act Rihanna, and as a performer he lent his skills to an array of Universal acts, even rapping on a version of "Rehab," the best-selling single from Amy Winehouse, the British retro-soul singer.
In her early years with the company, she did reception work, creative design, television production, and acted as a ring performer.
Jay Z is as charming a performer as America has.
But these performers can act as well as they can dance - and as they flip from steps to words, they do as much as is humanly possible to add verve and colour to the text.
But in Chicago his renown as a playwright came as the second act of an already established career as a performer.
He felt that after his return home from military service, he learned to act properly and began to mature as a performer.
For one thing, he was determined to find the right cast — performers who could act as well as they could dance and sing.
Commentators there and elsewhere noted that while Ms. Winfrey's contributions to American culture were significant, her impact had largely been as a talk show host, not as a performer who acted in "The Color Purple" and about 10 other films.
Beyond his work as a performer, Beck acted as the album's curator, bringing together a diverse collection of artists including Amon Tobin, Tyondai Braxton, Nosaj Thing, and Memory Tapes whose work had also been influenced by Glass.
A brainy showman whose sensitivity to lyrics is matched by his fearlessness as a performer, Mr. Holmes acted out songs with the ferocious, sweaty intensity of a man flirting with an emotional breakdown.
