Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
All Music Guide:
Singer/songwriter George Ducas was born on August 1, 1971, in Texas City, TX, but was raised in San Diego, where he received his first guitar at the age of ten. Growing up on a steady diet of Willie Nelson records, Ducas spent much of his high school years privately writing songs for his girlfriends and did not perform professionally until he attended college at Nashville's Vanderbilt University. After graduation, he accepted a banking job in Atlanta but returned to Nashville in 1990 to pursue music on a full-time basis. There a mutual friend introduced him to Radney Foster, and a songwriting partnership was forged; Ducas eventually co-wrote Foster's first solo hit, "Just Call Me Lonesome." A growing reputation as a live performer helped earn Ducas his own recording contract, and in 1994 he issued his self-titled debut LP, which generated the Top Ten hit "Lipstick Promises." In 1997, he released his second effort, Where I Stand.
Wikipedia:
Voivode George Ducas (Greek: Γεώργιος Δούκας, Romanian: Gheorghe Duca) (d. 1685) was three times Prince of Moldavia (September 1665 – May 1666, November 1668 – 20 August 1672, November 1678 – January 1684) and one time Prince of Wallachia (1673 – 29 November 1678).
He was married to Anastasia, the daughter of Eustratie Dabija, and later to Dafina Doamna; George Ducas fathered Constantine Ducas.
First two rules in Moldavia
A Greek, George Ducas had been kept in Vasile Lupu's retinue and slowly overcame the obstacles set by his modest social origin.
Supported by Dafina Doamna and some of the boyars, he came to the throne in Iaşi after Dabija's death, but was soon ousted after his opponents appealed to the Ottomans, unjustly claiming Duca's rule was corrupt.
He contracted large debts in order to reclaim the throne, which he managed to following Alexandru Iliaş' rule. The policy of increased taxation led to the uprising of Mihalcea Hâncu in October 1671, crushed the next year after Ducas received Ottoman help. But, as Ducas failed to provide supplies needed for the War against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with the Sultan Mehmed Dördüncü's life placed in peril at the attack of Kamianets-Podilskyi, the Turks swiftly replaced him with Ştefan Petriceicu.
Rule in Wallachia
In 1674, through the intervention of the Cantacuzino boyars, he was awarded the throne in Bucharest; soon however, the alliance between the Cantacuzinos and Ducas crumbled, the Prince being replaced by Şerban Cantacuzino.
Last rule in Moldavia and rule in Right-bank Ukraine
He was soon back on the Moldavian throne, following Antonie Ruset's reign.
George Ducas had plans of extending his rule over Right-bank Ukraine, where Ottoman gains had started with the acquisition of Podolia in 1672. His overlord appointed him Hetman over the newly-gained regions, in 1680 or 1681, after much bribery strained the Moldavian treasury as much as the request that Ducas had placed on the taxed categories that they contribute to his daughter's dowry.
In 1683, Ducas joined the Ottomans in their march and the Battle of Vienna. Helped by his absence and aware of the complete failure of the Ottoman plans, boyars throughout the land rebelled, following Ştefan Petriceicu's command, and welcomed the invading Poles and Cossacks.
On his way back, Ducas was captured on December 25 and sent to a prison in Poland, where he died in the following year.