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Q&A: Half a million a 1 percenter makes

 
Published Jan. 2, 2012

Top 1 percent earn $500K, more

How much would a person have to make a year to be in the top 1 percent in the United States?

The Internal Revenue Service reported that a person would need an adjusted gross income of $343,927 a year to be in the top 1 percent of earners according to 2009 tax returns, several media outlets reported. The 2009 data was the latest year available to the IRS.

The Tax Policy Center, which "aims to provide independent analyses of current and longer-term tax issues and to communicate its analyses to the public and to policymakers in a timely and accessible manner," used income figures that take a broader and comprehensive look at income, not adjusted gross income. It said the cutoff for the top 1 percent made $503,086 in 2009 and $516,633 in 2010.

The center's figures project to $532,613 in 2011, according to Bankrate.com.

Chevy's catchy tune a cover

What is the song that the young woman playing the guitar is singing on the new Chevrolet commercial?

The song is Billionaire, and it was originally recorded by Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars and released in March 2010. It was the lead single on McCoy's debut album, Lazarus. The song also was recorded by the cast of the TV show Glee and performed in the first episode of the second season.

Chelsea Williams, a Los Angeles-based musician, sings Billionaire in Chevrolet's commercial for the Cruze.

Nissan taps familiar voice

Who is the individual singing The Most Wonderful Time of the Year on the Nissan television commercials? He really is good, and sounds like Andy Williams, who made the song famous.

Dante Marchi's voice has been heard on many TV and radio commercials, including ones for Nissan, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Intel and McDonald's, Steve Parrett, a Nissan spokesman, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Marchi, who is from New York and lives in Los Angeles, also has performed with Slash, Avril Lavigne, Lenny Kravitz, Chaka Khan, Andy Summers of The Police, Vanessa Carlton and Poncho Sanchez, and he was the musical director on Comedy Central's The Man Show. Marchi also is in the band Dizzy X.

Get back inside 'Actors Studio'

What happened to Inside the Actors Studio on Bravo? It was an interesting show and we learned a lot of the personal life of many actors.

Bravo has morphed from arts-oriented programming to reality shows like Real Housewives. But sometime this month, Inside the Actors Studio with host James Lipton will be back for an 18th season, starting with an episode with the cast of Glee.