GloZell

Not to be confused with Glozel.
GloZell Green

GloZell in 2014
Born GloZell Lyneette Green
(1972-07-30) July 30, 1972[1][2]
Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Residence Los Angeles
Nationality American
Occupation YouTube personality, comedian
Years active 2003–present
Known for Comedy, Internet challenges, Crocs promoter
Spouse(s) Kevin "S.K." Simon (m. 2013)
Website glozelllovesjayleno.blogspot.com www.glozell.com

Internet information

Web alias(es) GloZell1 (Changed to Glozell Green)
Web hosting service(s) YouTube
Signature phrase "Is you okay? Is you good? 'cause I want to know"[3]
"Over 'n' Out. [Kisses and winks at the camera]"

GloZell Lyneette Simon[4] (née Green, born July 30, 1972 [1][2]) is an American comedian[5] and YouTube personality[6] based in Hollywood, California.

Green established her YouTube channel in 2008, with video interviews, comedy about her life and song parodies. As of February 2015, the channel has accumulated more than four million subscribers and more than 700 million total views.[7] By the same month, six of her individual videos had each been viewed more than 10 million times, such as her "My Push up Bra will help me get my man" video (23 million views)[8] and her cinnamon challenge video (40 million views).[6] She gained wide notice when her vlog about meeting Elijah Wood was mentioned by the actor during a 2011 interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. In 2012, she appeared in the web series Dr. Fubalous. In January 2015 GloZell interviewed Barack Obama in a YouTube livestream hosted at The White House.[9]

Early life

GloZell was born to Gloria and Ozell Green, her name being a portmanteau of the names of her parents.[10] She has one sister, DeOnzell, who is an opera singer.[11] In 1997, Green graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in musical theatre.[6][8]

Career

In 2003, GloZell moved to Hollywood, California, to pursue a career in acting and comedy. She joined The Groundlings[3] and studied her favorite comedian, Jay Leno, by attending 600 consecutive tapings of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.[8][12] She began a blog that included a series of interviews with other audience members at Leno's show,[10] but she soon began using YouTube as a video host for the interviews.[8] She began to create and post original comedy videos when people she met at Leno tapings told her that she was funny on her own.[10] Her first viral YouTube video, in 2008, was "My Push up Bra will help me get my man"; by 2013, it had gained over 20 million views.[6][8] She began to make more frequent YouTube comedy videos focusing on her daily life, celebrity impersonations, song parodies, and Internet fads.[6]

Some of her most popular early videos are her "translations" of pop songs, such as Kesha's "Tik Tok" and Rihanna's "Rude Boy", earning her the tile of "Internet Meme of the Week" by The Dartmouth.[10][13] She also parodies popular music videos, working improvisationally.[8] Her 2012 cinnamon challenge video became quickly popular[6] and was ranked fourth on The Guardian's "Viral Video Chart" in February 2012.[14] As of August 2014, it had amassed more than 39 million views, becoming her most popular video.

In 2011, GloZell gained wider notice when her vlog about meeting Elijah Wood was mentioned by the actor during an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.[15] In June 2012, she was featured in the video Beauty and the Beat, with former American Idol contestants and other YouTube stars, that reimagined the opening song of the film Disney's Beauty and the Beast, in which the character Belle lives in an urban African-American neighborhood, instead of in a provincial French town.[16] During the summer of 2012, GloZell was featured alongside Danny Trejo and Flavor Flav and fellow YouTube personalities Antoine Dodson and Colleen Ballinger in the 2012 musical web series Dr. Fubalous, where GloZell played the titular doctor's "ranch dressing-loving secretary", Maude "Ma" Cakes.[6][17]

In addition to her YouTube fame, GloZell has performed her stand-up act in various comedy venues. These include The Comedy Store, The Improv, the Laugh Factory, Showtime at the Apollo, Steve Harvey Talent Show, and the J. Anthony Brown's J Spot Comedy Club.[18] She has also been featured often on Perez Hilton's blog.[3] In October 2013 and October 2014, GloZell hosted a free live variety show at an Orlando, Florida mall, called GloZell Fest, with celebrity and YouTube guests including Sisaundra Lewis, Meghan Tonjes, Frankie Grande, Miranda Sings and Far Young.[19] She has also published a book of inspirational poems called Wait! Let Me Tell You.[20]

GloZell (left) with her talent manager and husband Kevin "SK" Simon, in 2009.

In May 2013, GloZell released her first single, titled "Pick Up After Your Dog", on the iTunes Store,[21] and the music video was soon released on YouTube.[22] She released her second single, "Glozell's Cinnamon Challenge", later in May.[23] By November 2013, GloZell's YouTube channel had received more than 400 million total views, with 2.7 million subscribers, and was ranked the 25th most viewed comedy channel on YouTube.[24] By August 2014, the channel had surpassed 500 million views and 3 million subscribers.[7]

On January 22, 2015 GloZell interviewed Barack Obama in a YouTube livestream hosted at The White House.[9] She talked to him about, among other issues, racial profiling and officer involved shootings, relations with Cuba and cybersecurity. At the end of the interview she handed Obama green lipstick to give to the first lady and their children, but misspoke saying, "One for your first wife…" resulting in some laughs from the audience in the room.[25][26] She made a guest appearance in the Nickelodeon sitcom, Game Shakers. On 6 January 2016, it was announced that GloZell would be part of the voice cast for Dreamworks' upcoming animated film, Trolls, as Grandma Rosiepuff.[27]

Personal life

GloZell lives in Los Angeles with her manager and husband Kevin "S.K." Simon.[28] The two announced their engagement on her channel on August 13, 2012.[29] They were married on August 9, 2013.[30] In December 2015, the couple announced they are expecting their first child, via surrogate.[31]

References

  1. 1 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u8Qvtx0XCI
  2. 1 2 Chindamo, Frank; Chindamo, Lynn. "GloZell Uses Age, Experience, and #Green To Ascend YouTube". tubefilter. Tubefilter, Inc. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Vigil-Romero, Andrae (June 20, 2011). "YouTube Sensation GloZell Green Takes On The World". UCLAradio.com. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
  4. ↑ https://twitter.com/GloZell/status/212399058785013762
  5. ↑ Kitchener, Shaun (March 17, 2012). "YouTube Sensation GloZell: 'If I Meet One Direction I'm Going To Jail!'". Entertainmentwise. Giant Digital. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Holcomb, Alyssa (February 23, 2012). "GloZell talks YouTube, Gator dreams and cinnamon battles". The Independent Florida Alligator. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Glozell Green: About", YouTube, accessed August 27, 2014
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Champ, Sarah (March 10, 2011). "Q & A: Glozell Green". University Daily Kansan. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
  9. 1 2 Kelly, Amita. "5 Surprises From President Obama's YouTube Interviews", NPR, January 23, 2015
  10. 1 2 3 4 Venerable, Dana (June 1, 2010). "Internet Meme of the Week: GloZell Green Revisited". The Dartmouth. Retrieved March 28, 2012.
  11. ↑ GloZell on YouTube
  12. ↑ "L.A. woman is a repeat Jay-watcher". Chicago Tribune. May 16, 2007. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Internet Meme of the Week: GloZell Green". The Dartmouth. April 26, 2012. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Guardian Viral Video Chart: George Alagiah, Adele, and a mad monkey". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. February 24, 2012. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  15. ↑ "Elijah Wood on Jimmy Kimmel Live PART 2". Jimmy Kimmel Live!. September 7, 2011. Retrieved March 28, 2012.
  16. ↑ Hall, Todrick. "Beauty and the Beat", June 2012, accessed January 14, 2013
  17. ↑ Maude Cakes, Dr. Fubalous, YouTube, accessed August 12, 2012
  18. ↑ GloZell (2012-06-08). "LIVE GREEN... Google GloZell1 on You Tube". Glozelllovesjayleno.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  19. ↑ Kelly, Rock. GloZell Fest 2014 rolls into Orlando", Orlando Weekly, October 10, 2014
  20. ↑ Green, GloZell. Wait! Let Me Tell You, Certa Publishing (2014) ISBN 1939748445
  21. ↑ "iTunes - Music - Pick up After Your Dog - Single by GloZell Green". Itunes.apple.com. 2013-05-05. Retrieved 2013-05-26.
  22. ↑ "Pick Up After Your Dog (Official Music Video) GloZell". YouTube. Retrieved 2013-05-27.
  23. ↑ "iTunes - Music - GloZell's Cinnamon Challenge - Single by GloZell Green". Itunes.apple.com. Retrieved 2013-05-29.
  24. ↑ "YouTube Top 100 Most Viewed Comedy Video Producers", VidStatsX.com, accessed November 26, 3013
  25. ↑ The White House. "The YouTube Interview with President Obama". YouTube. Google Inc. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  26. ↑ Bruce, Mary. "YouTube Star GloZell Green Accidentally Called Out Obama’s ‘First Wife’". ABC News. ABC News Internet Ventures. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  27. ↑ GloZell (January 6, 2016). "HAIR we Go! Meet Grandma Rosiepuff! So glad to voice one of the #DreamWorksTolls xoxo - GloZell ( I'm @JustinTimberlake 's Grandma!!!! )". Facebook. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  28. ↑ "Internet Meme of the Week: GloZell Green". TheDartmouth.com. 2010-04-26. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
  29. ↑ "Kevin " SK" Simon & GloZell are Engaged". YouTube. 2012-08-13. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
  30. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/glozell/timeline/story?ut=32&wstart=1375340400&wend=1378018799&hash=4755473898474&pagefilter=3&ustart=1
  31. ↑ http://www.people.com/article/glozell-green-pregnant-via-surrogate

External links

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