YouTube Stars!

As part of YouTube's Five Year celebration, YouTube created a new channel named FiveYear. Today we will see videos from some of the early YouTubeStars as they talk about their years on YouTube.

But first, The News!

We have our WINNERS!

Thanks to everyone who entered OUR CONTEST to win a copy of Mike Lombard's latest release, "Songs For A New Day"! We had 21 comments on our interview with Mike, and each commenter was entered in the contest. The contest ended Midnight Eastern time on June 20th. Here are the two winners: Danielaf555 and leenybella - Congrats to both of you!



Now, here are stories from some original YouTubeStars!


Lonelygirl15

Jessica Rose played the part of Bree on the Lonelygirl15 channel. Originally, people thought she was just another vlogger making videos in her room and uploading them to YouTube. Soon it was revealed that there was a small production company behind the channel. LG15 became the Most Subscribed YouTube channel on the Top 100 Weekly Chart of September 18, 2006. Geriatric1927 had been number one. Before that, Brookers and FilthyWhore spent time at the top spot.

Read more about LonelyGirl15.

Subscriber History for Lonelygirl15.

Original YouTube Profile information:
THANKS for all the nice comments! :) What can I say? Hmmm. My friend Daniel helped me set up this account and he helps me out with the videos (he's kinda a computer genius). I'm homeschooled so I guess that makes me a freak. Not! I don't care about a lot of the same things people talk about on YouTube but I'm trying to learn :) I do know about lots of random things (since I read ALOT)... so if you want to talk about quantum physics I just read "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman?" He's a complete nutjob but BRILLIANT! What else... uh okay I also know a lot about photography. I LOVE Dan Eldon. He was this war photographer who took tons of pictures of Africa and was killed by an angry mob when he was only 23. Crazy huh? I'd like to be like him someday (except for the dying part :). So anyways I'm on here a lot so talk to you soon!





Geriatric1927

Peter Oakley is known on YouTube as Geriatric1927. He was 79 when he first uploaded to YouTube. His charming style soon won over the community and he became the Most Subscribed member in the fall of 2006. Peter is affectionately known as "The Internet Grandad."

Read more about Geriatric1927.

Subscriber History for Geriatric1927.

Original YouTube Profile information:
I am a widower living alone in the county in the middle of England Uk. My life has been very varied but my love of motorcycles has remained with me all of my life (no I don't have piercings or tattoos).I am a bit of a recluse I suppose as partying and such do not appeal. I have a degree in fine art which I got at the age of 60+ so have interests there.Blues music is essential to my well being and have been addicted since a child. I have a background in mechanical engineering. I guess that's enough. Ask me if you want to know more.




Renetto

Paul Robinett is Renetto on YouTube. He started out in mid 2006 by doing "Renetto Reviews" videos. These were a series of funny commentaries on videos made by popular YouTubers, notably the highly subscribed LittleLoca. Paul used a goofy voice which was reminiscent of Bill Murry's "CaddyShack" character. We wore black thick-framed glasses, donned iPod earphones and stuck a toothpick in his upper lip to look like the part he was playing. Eventually he dropped the act and made many different kinds of videos, from comedy to vlogging to lifestreaming to community boosting. Paul still vlogs and can also be found on his site, Vloggerheads.

Read more about Renetto.

Subscriber History for Renetto.

Original YouTube Profile information:
I am an Artist Inventor Musician Entrepreneuer. I like to say that I am "Self Unemployed". When you get to do the things that I do and make money doing them it's hard to call it "Work" or even think of them as a "Job".

Labels: contest, Geriatric1927, Lonelygirl15, Mike Lombardo, MikeLombardoMusic, renetto

posted by KennyCrane at 6/21/2010 02:39:00 AM 0 Comments

Here are Four Totally Unrelated Man Vids for your enjoyment, videos featuring the males of YouTube - but first -
Happy Birthday, YouTube!


YouTube is 5 years old! Although the URL was registered on 2/14/2005, it didn't really get going right away. YouTube offered the public a beta test of the site in May 2005, six months before the official launch in November 2005.

We had our first Top 100 Weekly Chart on 11/19/2006 and these were the Top 5 Most Subscribed YouTubers:

1 lonelygirl15 60099
2 smosh 31124
3 geriatric1927 30821
4 Brookers 27880
5 thewinekone 21335

This is when people really started to Subscribe to channels, and it happened because of all the publicity for the LonelyGirl15 channel.

The earliest data we recorded was on September 10th, 2006. YouTube had been around for a while and was starting to become well known. After being dominated by women such as LittleLoca, FilthyWhore and Brookers, a 79-year-old man from the UK hit the Most Subscribed spot with the Screen Name of Geriatric1927. Read more about the early days of YouTube at this article and in the early posts right here at YouTubeStars!

Real name Peter Oakley, Geriatric1927 went from his first video (on August 5th, 2006) to most subscribed in about a week! This brought lots of media coverage. Here's the data for 9/10/06 when Geriatric1927 was still at the top, but LG15 was about to overtake him, and did by the following week:

Member ProfileViews Subscribers
geriatric1927 902049 26255
lonelygirl15 2201892 25497
Brookers 2649706 19271
smosh 1507731 18326
thewinekone 555815 12685

Peter continues to make videos to this day. He is now 83! He has uploaded 228 videos, has 51,424 subscribers, 8,238,850 Total Video Views and his website is still going strong. Here is Peter's thoughts on YouTube's 5th Anniversary:





There are a lot of cool musicians on YouTube, but this new band is the grooviest on the planet! The LSD Enigma is Dave from The Riviera Playboys and Darren from McFadden's Parachute. Combining elements of 1960s Garage Rock, Psychedelic Tunes and Go-Go Dance Music - The LSD Enigma is part of the new wave of Garage Rockers getting airplay at radio stations around the world and on Little Steven's Underground Garage on Sirius 25. The LSD Enigma is on tour and if they come to your town, go see them!





Here is a super High Quality video of Tyler Ward singing a duet with Krista Nicole, who we have been writing about since she was 13. They do an excellent cover of Taylor Swift and Boys Like Girls' hit Two Is Better Than One. This video has about 40 thousand views in the last few weeks and it has a 5 star rating with over 1100 ratings counted so far. Don't miss this one - Tyler and Krista are both great singers and they sound awesome together!





Michael Boyce has been around YouTube for a while, interviewing a lot of the same musicians we have written about here, on his YouTraxTV YouTube channel and his YouTrax.tv website. Now Michael is doing comedy monologues on his YouTraxTVNews channel! He makes fun of all kinds of people in the News these days. He already has 12 News shows up in the last two months, which is pretty amazing, especially since Michael has been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Michael is a good guy and these comedy videos are extremely well made. Check this one out and you'll see what I mean!

Labels: dagwoodacid, Garage, Geriatric1927, KristaHeartzuz, youtraxtv

posted by KennyCrane at 2/17/2010 03:51:00 PM 2 Comments

This post will feature a few videos for some YouTube users that I typically don't write about - young children. Children do visit YouTube and parents should be aware of the fact that some perfectly innocent video pages are disgracefully defaced by rude and offensive comments. I'll present two videos here that children might be interested in viewing. Children can watch those videos here without being exposed to the possibility of inappropriate and disturbing comments.

We'll also see the video of a talented female singer and view a discussion on why people make videos and what can come of it, made by two intelligent and entertaining men of YouTube.

First, the news! Have a look at 3 interesting movements on the YouTube Top 100 Weekly Chart. Geriatric1927, who was number ONE right before Lonelygirl15 locked up that spot for months, just dropped out of the Top 10 - into spot 11. Boh3m3 was knocked out of the Top 20, by Linkin Park. Ysabellabrave, despite gaining 324 new subscribers this week, dropped one place - surpassed by My Chemical Romance.

This Week's Featured Video is an orignal song by Jeff Williams (capo420420) with an introduction by the attractive singer, Jennifer Newberry. Check it out!


I Want You Back (Jackson 5)... Sung By Me...

We'll start off with a really nice cover of this Jackson 5 oldie. It is sung by KazMills, a young lady who lives in London and is a Pop Singer. She has 23 videos which cover pop artists like JoJo, Mariah Carey, Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood. Check her out; she's quite a good singer!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


Geriatric1927 and Tom: A Couple of Amateurs

Tom (tlg847) has a video meeting with Peter (Geriatric1927) and records the split-screen result for us to see. They discuss the effect of videomaking on the pop culture and decide that there is great value in the new connections and friendships that have come about. This video is a great example of such a connection; Tom and Peter would not have met and had this conversation were it not for YouTube. Watch this important movie!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


Naked Brothers Band-Crazy car

This band of pre-teens is a favorite of my 6-year-old nephew! The Naked Brothers Band are "a tweener movie and TV series for Nickleodeon created, written and directed by actress Polly Draper ("thirtysomething") around her sons Nat and Alex Wolff. It's a mockumentary based around the fictional rock stardom of the (actually very musical) brothers. Dad - musician and former "Arsenio" bandleader Michael Wolff - also gets in on the fun as music supervisor and an actor in the show." according to toptensources.com. This song is actually quite catchy. It's been described as bubblegum music for the 21st century. My nephew and I like it! Watch it with your young ones right here rather than on YouTube where they might be exposed to rude comments.


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube. (But beware of nasty comments!)


LazyTown Bing Bang - The Single Version!

Here's another catchy tune that's popular with the little ones. It's Bing Bang from the Lazy Town TV show. Parents might like this one too; it's similar to 80s dance songs. Get up and dance, people! Watch it here, no nasty comments to deal with.


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube. (But beware of nasty comments!)

Labels: capo420420, Geriatric1927, JenniferNew21, KazMills, Lazy Town, Naked Brothers Band, tlg847

posted by KennyCrane at 6/25/2007 03:46:00 AM 0 Comments

If this is your first time here, welcome to YouTubeStars -- one of the best and longest running blogs about YouTube videos and videomakers. Usually KennyWrites the posts here, but one time Urgelt wrote a guest post. Today, Celestialsam writes about three videos she has enjoyed.

But first, the news. VenetianPrincess has started an interactive period-style murder mystery video series. She sets up the story in her video and wants other videomakers to get involved. I think this sounds like a lot of fun! Check out the first video and see what YOU can do to continue the story.

The Zimmers, that geriatric singing group from the UK that includes Geriatric1927, is releasing its first song on Monday May 28th. As you may know by now, the song is The Who's anthem, "My Generation". You can see the video for the song on our YouTube Top 100 Weekly Chart.

Following this introductory text and video is the post by guest writer, Celestialsam. Sam is YouTube's queen of lipsync videos. She delights her fans regularly with her charming performances of an eclectic range of musical numbers. But Sam is a talented writer too. Have a look at poetry she recently posted on one of her websites; it's quite good! Here is one of Sam's most recent lipsync masterpieces:

Oh, Bunny


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Okay, let's see a few of Sam's recent video picks!



Star in our Eyes

Andreas a.k.a. AericWinter of Germany has just recently released a new tribute to his lovely girlfriend, Liv. His video "Star in our Eyes" is jam-packed with exquisite photos of Liv herself and a behind the scenes look at how each graceful pose was captured. Move over Gwyneth Paltrow, indeed! Liv's classic elegance is sweet eye-candy.


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


Yellow Coldplay Cover

patman2112 has done a remarkably tantalizing cover of Coldplay's "Yellow." Nichole's enticing gesticulations and soulful voice combined with Patrick's flawless strumming will hypnotize and mystify you. Be sure not to miss their video "Yellow Coldplay Cover".


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.


Lean On Me (Bill Withers Cover) feat. Aleisha & Lauri :-)

For the very first time, Kris Shred, Aleisha Russel, and her daughter, Lauri come together in Heidelberg, Germany and unite to perform a delightful cover of Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" that's sure to bring a smile to your face. Stay tuned to the very end for Lauri's special surprise ending of "Lean on Me (Bill Withers Cover) feat. Aleisha & Lauri :-)".


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Labels: AericWinter, Celestialsam, Geriatric1927, KrisShred, Patman2112, VenetianPrincess, Zimmers

posted by KennyCrane at 5/28/2007 03:11:00 AM 1 Comments

Tonight, I was watching a movie on TV called "Waxworks". While watching this 1988 horror-comedy, I noticed that one of the stars was Deborah Foreman, the co-star, along with Nicolas Cage, of 1983's "Valley Girl". I was a big fan of the movie because I saw it on cable shortly after I returned from California on an enjoyable business trip. It reminded me of the good times I had in the LA area. Also, the music in the film is pretty cool. My three faves are the theme song "Girls Like Me" by the Bonnie Hayes Combo, "The Fanatic" by Felony, and "Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime)" by The Flirts. I began to wonder where Debby Foreman is now and I found out, from her website, that she is teaching yoga at UCLA. Good for her!

What about the YouTubeStars of the past? Do you still follow their videos? Here's a chance to catch up with some of the big names from the earlier days of YouTube.

Loca's new Movie!

LittleLoca has been making movies on YouTube for almost a year now. She never really went away but she has been involved in other projects lately. One big thing in her world has been a half hour movie that she stars in! Check it out at http://www.bullfighterscafe.com/Loca/ticket.html. In early May, it will be one year since Stevie Ryan brought her LittleLoca to YouTube and she is still going strong!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

NOW IT CAN BE TOLD....THE SECRET IS OUT

Last summer, a 79 year old UK gentleman named Peter made a few videos for YouTube. Within a week, he was featured and began a lightning fast climb to the top of the Most Subscribed chart. We first wrote about Geriatric1927 in that first week. Peter is still in the top 10 (number 9) on the YouTube Top 100 Weekly Chart this week and people still love his videos. Even though he has been offered quite a lot of publicity from newspapers, radio and television - Peter prefers to keep a low profile. But he recently had the opportunity to work with the Zimmers, a group of over-60 people who got together and made a cover of The Who's "My Generation". Watch this video, then check out the song on the Zimmers Myspace page!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Communication Terminated

What could that title mean? It's the latest video from Lonelygirl15. I first noticed LG15 last summer when she first began to become controversial. I had seen her first few videos and she seemed like a lot of other teens who blog on YT. But it was her "My Parents Suck" video released on July 4th that really got her noticed. Read all about that video, here. LG15 is still the Most Subscribed YouTube channel and no one is even close. Her channel continues to put out a few vids each week and the story continues. But are we near the end? Watch the video and then read the comments!


If you can't see the video above, watch it on YouTube.

Labels: Deborah Foreman, Geriatric1927, Jessica Rose, LittleLoca, Lonelygirl15, Nicolas Cage, Peter Oakley, Stevie Ryan, Valley Girl, YouTube, YouTubeStars

posted by KennyCrane at 4/10/2007 12:31:00 AM 2 Comments