Rihanna established her dance-pop credentials in summer 2005 with her debut smash hit, "Pon de Replay," and continued to demonstrate such hit potential in subsequent years (e.g., "S.O.S." in 2006; "Umbrella" in 2007; "Disturbia" in 2008). However, it was the singer's third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, that made her a full-fledged international pop star with a regular presence atop the charts. Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael,...
With his knack for infectious hooks and by uncovering new angles to tried-and-true R&B tricks of the late-2000s, Florida vocalist Jason Derulo exploded into stardom while still in his teens. Born to Haitian parents in Miramar, FL, Derulo built his reputation as a prolific soul and rap songwriter, scribing tracks for artists ranging from Lil Wayne to Pitbull to Pleasure P. Signed to a subsidiary of Warner Brothers Records, Derulo scored a surprise late-summer 2009 jam as a singer when he...
Originally called Cascade until legal conflicts forced them to change their name, Cascada is the slick, uplifting Euro-dance trio featuring producers DJ Manian and Yanou along with vocalist Natalie Horler, although Horler is sometimes presented as Cascada herself. Horler was born in Bonn, Germany, to English parents and grew up loving all sorts of music. At age 18 she was doing studio work for various producers when she met DJ Manian and Yanou, the latter of whom had worked with DJ Sammy on the...
Since his days as a member of the Beatnigs while in his early twenties, Michael Franti grew from an angry young hip-hopper with a political, socially conscious bent (the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Spearhead) to a man who channeled his seriousness, social unease, and desire for change and merged them with his love for music, particularly old-school R&B, soul, and hip-hop. What he left behind in brash, make-some-noise aesthetic, he gained in compassion. And through his use of his own...
After serving as DJ for his hometown chum Kid Rock, Uncle Kracker (born Matthew Shafer) stepped out from behind the turntables to release his debut solo album, Double Wide, in 2001. Uncle Kracker had performed alongside Rock since 1994, and both favored a combination of funky, post-grunge rock with a hip-hop aesthetic. Double Wide also sported a polished pop single entitled "Follow Me," and the album went double platinum on the strength of that Top 10 hit...
Out of all the post-Nirvana alternative bands to break into the pop mainstream, Green Day were second only to Pearl Jam in terms of influence. At their core, Green Day were simply punk revivalists who recharged the energy of speedy, catchy three-chord punk-pop songs. Though their music wasn't particularly innovative, they brought the sound of late-'70s punk to a new, younger generation with Dookie, their 1994 major-label debut. Dookie sold over ten million copies, paving the way for a string of...
As the lead singer and principal songwriter for Matchbox Twenty, Rob Thomas found success with a blend of '70s rock influences, slick hooks, and 1990s post-grunge crunch. The Florida-based band broke through in 1996 with "Push" and never looked back, issuing single after single, scoring hits in various radio formats, and watching their debut LP, Yourself or Someone Like You, go platinum 12 times over in the U.S. Thomas himself won numerous songwriting awards as the scribe of such...
Parachute took root in Charlottesville, VA, where the group honed its pop/rock sound — equal parts Maroon 5 and the Fray, with an emphasis on acoustic guitar, piano, and affable vocals — under the original name Sparky's Flaw. Comprised of members William Anderson (vocals, guitar, keyboard), John Stubblefield (drums), Christopher "Kit" French (saxophone. keyboard), Alex Hargrave (bass), and Nate McFarland (guitar), the quintet initially formed during the members' high...
After achieving superstardom throughout Latin America, Colombian-born Shakira became Latin pop's biggest female crossover artist since Jennifer Lopez broke down the doors to English-language success. Noted for her aggressive, rock-influenced approach, Shakira maintained an extraordinary degree of creative control over her music, especially for a female artist; she wrote or co-wrote nearly all of her own material, and in the process gained a reputation as one of Latin music's most ambitiously...
As the legend of Cobra Starship would have it, frontman Gabe Saporta fled into the deserts of Arizona one day to find the true meaning of his existence away from his emo-rock band, Midtown. Saporta spent days and nights pondering life, mysterious lights constantly plaguing the nighttime sky above him. One distinct night, the lights became so mesmerizing that Gabe became catatonic and started levitating into the air. A snake suddenly came out of nowhere, bit his neck, and he awoke to find a...
France's David Guetta belongs to the sparkling wave of DJs that combine Daft Punk's sleek house music with a pinch of electroclash's punch. Guetta had been DJing around France playing popular tunes, but his brain was particularly rewired in 1987 when he heard a Farley Jackmaster Funk track on French radio. He taped the track, brought a copy to a gig, and promptly cleared the floor with it during one of his own sets. Things loosened up a year later when acid house came to France and Guetta...
Initially embraced as "the Southern Strokes" for their resurrection and reinvention of Dixie-styled rock & roll, Kings of Leon steadily morphed themselves into an experimental rock outfit during the 2000s. The Tennessee-bred quartet debuted in 2003 with the Holy Roller Novocaine EP, whose blend of raw, unpolished boogie rock was further explored on their debut full-length, Youth & Young Manhood. Such revivalist music was matched by a similarly revivalist appearance —...
The Ting Tings — a scrappy, dance-oriented indie pop duo consisting of singer/guitarist Katie White and drummer Jules De Martino — formed in the Salford district of Manchester, England, in 2006. Quickly signed to the local indie label Switchflicker Records, the Ting Tings released their debut single, "That's Not My Name," in the spring of 2007. Following the limited-edition, tour-only single "Fruit Machine," the Ting Tings signed to major label Columbia Records...
Before she could utilize her talents for her own solo endeavors, R&B singer, vocal arranger, and songwriter Keri Hilson wrote a slew of songs, many of them chart-toppers, for several popular artists in the mid-2000s as part of the five-person production/songwriting team known as the Clutch. The dynamic songwriter was born in Decatur, GA, only a few miles outside of Atlanta. Addicted to TV talent shows like Star Search and Showtime at the Apollo, she was already plotting out her career in...
A major star on television (In Living Color, The Jamie Foxx Show), the big screen (Any Given Sunday, Collateral, Ray, Miami Vice, Dreamgirls), and radio (his second album, Unpredictable, featured two Top Ten R&B singles), Jamie Foxx — born Eric Morlon Bishop, Jr., in Terrell, TX — started out as a comedian and went through years of gradually escalating notoriety before winning an Oscar for his portrayal of Ray Charles in Ray. Though a 1994 album, Peep This, was something of an...
If a death from a cardiac arrest seems too small and sudden a death for Michael Jackson, the biggest superstar in the world, it’s because no death would seem appropriate for the self-proclaimed King of Pop. At his best and at his worst, Michael Jackson never quite seemed to belong to this world – his talent too enormous to comprehend, his self-imposed fantastical seclusion too odd to understand – so envisioning an end never quite seemed possible, although in many ways the...
When a 12-year-old Kristinia DeBarge told her father, James DeBarge (the youngest member of DeBarge), that she wanted to become a singer, the two wrote and recorded a song that had Kristinia in a studio until early morning — a test to see if she had the determination to follow through on her wish. Unfazed by the long hours and hard work, Kristinia soon gained some national exposure on the American Idol spinoff American Juniors, but she failed to make it to the Top Ten round. Performances...
Melodic hard rockers Shinedown hail from Jacksonville, FL, and originally featured vocalist Brent Smith, guitarist Jasin Todd, bassist Brad Stewart, and drummer Barry Kerch. Snapped up by Atlantic Records during the early-2000s flurry of post-Creed and Nickelback signings, the group released its debut album, Leave a Whisper, in 2003. Whisper ended up doing quite well for the band (eventually going platinum), aided by its single, "Fly from the Inside." Shinedown also supported it with...
Songwriter, arranger, and vocalist Ne-Yo was born Shaffer Smith in Arkansas and raised in Las Vegas, NV. His start in the music industry came as a songwriter. Prior to exiting his teenage years, he penned material for Youngstown and broke through in 2004 with Mario's "Let Me Love You," one of the most-played songs on urban radio stations across the U.S. In My Own Words, the second album he recorded but the first one to be released, came out in early 2006 and reached the top of the...
In the span of three short years, Kanye West went from hip-hop beatmaker to worldwide hitmaker, as his stellar production work for Jay-Z led to a major-label recording contract and, ultimately, a wildly successful solo career. West paired his beats with tongue-twisting raps and a self-assured, flamboyant personality. His dapper fashion sense set him apart from many of his rap peers, and his confidence often came across as boastful or even egotistic, albeit amusingly so. This flamboyance, of...
The story of Carolina Liar sounds like a Hollywood movie script about the music industry. At the center of the post-punk group is Charleston, SC native Chad Wolf. A singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Wolf fell under the spell of new wave through his older sister's record collection. He located to Los Angeles at the age of 22, earning a living doing whatever odd jobs he could (which included being an extra in a Celine Dion video) and eventually landing an internship with songwriter Diane Warren,...
Positive messages and breakdancing are integral parts of hip-hop culture, but by 1990 those elements had been temporarily eclipsed by the tough gangsta image and bleak but compelling lyrics of West Coast groups like N.W.A. However, despite sharing a zip code, Black Eyed Peas' vision goes beyond the cracked-sidewalk vignettes and sampled gunfire of Los Angeles' gangsta style. The socially conscious group's earliest connections go back to high school, when will.i.am and apl.de.ap were part of...
Vancouver, Canada's Theory of a Deadman became the first act to sign with Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger's 604 Records imprint in 2001. Tyler Connolly (vocals/guitar) reportedly slipped a copy of the band's demo to Kroeger at a post-concert party and the two were soon collaborating on songs together. One of these, "Invisible Man," was used as the B-side for 2002's wildly successful Spider-Man theme, "Hero" (a Kroeger collaboration with Saliva singer Josey Scott), and...
With her omnivorous musical tastes and cheeky attitude, London-based pop singer/songwriter Lily Allen made a name for herself almost as soon as she released her demos on the Internet. The daughter of comedian Keith Allen, Lily spent most of her childhood bouncing from one school to another — in fact, she attended 13 different schools between the ages of five and 15. This constant moving meant she didn't have much of a chance to make lasting friendships, so Allen entertained herself with...
Few stories underscore the radical changes experienced by the post-millennial music industry than that of Eric Hutchinson. Originally nurtured and then abandoned by an established label started by a pop superstar, Hutchinson then got discovered by a much larger audience while unsigned, thanks to an online plug by a notorious Hollywood gossip. Born and raised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., Hutchinson first began performing in public while attending Emerson College, a performing...
Young Miley Cyrus became an overnight sensation in 2006 as the star of the Disney Channel television series Hannah Montana, but fortunately her family has had some experience with that sort of thing — her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, went from obscurity to stardom in a few short months when the song "Achy Breaky Heart" hit the charts in 1992. The success of "Achy Breaky Heart" was hardly the only memorable event for Billy Ray that year — on November 23, 1992, he and...
Originally from New Zealand, Natasha Bedingfield grew up in southeast London, where she and her siblings were raised around music. By their teens, Natasha, brother Daniel, and sister Nikola had formed an R&B-based singing group. It didn't last, but the experience encouraged the Bedingfields to keep pursuing music. In 2001 and 2002 Daniel Bedingfield scored a hit with the single "Gotta Get Through This," and the following year it was Natasha's turn. Leaving university to sign with...
Taylor Swift became one of country-pop's brightest (and youngest) faces in 2006, when the 16-year-old vocalist released her first album. Although new to the American public, Swift had been performing since early childhood, taking inspiration and encouragement from her opera-singing grandmother. She sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a Philadelphia 76ers game at the age of 11; the following year, she began practicing her guitar skills for several hours each day, only stopping when...
Few bands did more than Nickelback to establish the force of slick, commercially minded post-grunge in the 2000s. Led by vocalist Chad Kroeger, the band initially emerged in the late '90s as Canada's answer to Creed, prizing a blend of gruff vocals and distorted (yet radio-friendly) guitars. After a handful of singles failed to gain much traction in Canada, "How You Remind Me" caught hold in 2001, eventually topping the charts in several countries while gathering four Grammy...
The winner of Fox TV's first American Idol competition during the summer of 2002, Kelly Clarkson went from an anonymous talent to a nationally known singer in a matter of months, performing for an audience of millions. One of the show's most naturally gifted singers, the affable Texan then went on to enjoy a successful pop career, with only Carrie Underwood rivaling her as American Idol's most commercial export.
Clarkson was born in Forth Worth and raised in Burleson, TX, and her...
More than any other single artist, Britney Spears was the driving force behind the return of teen pop in the late '90s. The blockbuster success of the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys certainly paved the way for her own commercial breakthrough, but Spears didn't just become a star — she was a bona fide pop phenomenon. Not only did she sell millions of records, she was a media fixture regardless of what she was (or wasn't) doing; among female singers of the era (many of whom followed in her...
Hailing from the suburbs of Chicago, the punk-pop outfit Plain White T's began taking shape in 1997, a full ten years before the acoustic ballad "Hey There Delilah" made them Grammy-nominated stars. Lead singer Tom Higgenson was originally fascinated with the drums, having served as the percussionist for various rock bands during high school. One such band was Harvey's Daughter, whose lineup also featured bass player Ken Fletcher. Although the group ultimately disbanded, the two...
Vocalist/bassist Tyson Ritter and guitarist Nick Wheeler both hail from Stillwater, OK, where the pair first embraced music as an appealing diversion from the ho-hum life of small-town America. Citing such influences as AC/DC, Def Leppard, and Bon Jovi, they formed the emo-pop group All-American Rejects in 2000, while both members were still in high school. Maintaining a full lineup proved to be difficult, however, so Ritter and Wheeler employed drum loops and pre-programmed rhythm tracks...
One of the most recognizable characters in modern-day R&B, Beyoncé first rose to fame as the siren-voiced centerpiece of Destiny's Child before embarking on a multi-platinum solo career in 2001. Booming record sales, Grammy awards, movie roles, and a romance with rapper/CEO Jay-Z combined to heighten her profile in the 2000s, making the singer a virtual mainstay in the entertainment world. While some media outlets derisively championed Paris Hilton as "the next Marilyn...
Lady GaGa is a theatrical dance-pop singer/songwriter/pianist who created a buzz for herself in the New York underground before making her major-label debut on Interscope Records in 2008. Influenced by flamboyant glam rockers such as David Bowie and Queen as well as '80s dance-pop such as Madonna and Michael Jackson, she grew up in Manhattan, where she attended private school at Convent of the Sacred Heart and later studied at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. At age 20 she began...
The winner of the seventh season of Fox's American Idol competition, David Cook is a rock-oriented vocalist with a bent toward a commercial post-grunge sound. Although born in Houston, TX in 1982, Cook grew up in Blue Springs, MO, where he first began singing in various elementary school concerts. The budding musician then participated in his high-school drama program and appeared in many musical productions. During his junior year of high school, Cook formed the band Axium along with a...
By pitching their music somewhere between the arena-friendly style of U2 and the mature pop/rock of bands like Better Than Ezra and Counting Crows, the Fray rose to commercial prominence with their 2005 debut, How to Save a Life. The Denver-based band had formed three years prior, when former schoolmates Isaac Slade (vocals, piano) and Joe King (guitar, vocals) unexpectedly bumped into each other at a local music store. The pair began a series of two-man jam sessions and soon expanded their...
After Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera was the most popular female singer of the late-'90s teen pop revival. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Aguilera was a technically skilled singer with a genuinely powerful voice, belting out her uptempo dance numbers and ballads with a diva's panache. Born Christina Maria Aguilera on December 18, 1980, on Staten Island, her parents were of Irish and Ecuadorian stock and her father's military career meant the family moved quite a bit during her...
Formed in 2004 by vocalist Jared Weeks and guitarist Jason Null, Saving Abel combine riff-heavy hard rock with sexually charged lyrics and Southern rock influences. The quintet took root in Corinth, MS, where Weeks and Null cut their teeth in different bands before merging their songwriting talents. In early 2005, the duo's music attracted attention from producer Skidd Mills, who invited Weeks and Null to record in his Memphis studio. Juggling day jobs and regional gigs, the two began driving...
A former Christian artist who ditched the sacred sounds of CCM for a secular mix of sass and spunk, Katy Perry combines the cheeky, club-ready pop music of Lily Allen with the commercial pop/rock of Avril Lavigne and Alanis Morissette. Born on October 25, 1984, in Santa Barbara, CA, she grew up in a Christian household as the daughter of two pastors. Though she was not allowed to listen to secular music as a child, Perry later found herself captivated by Alanis Morissette and Freddie Mercury,...
Much like Five for Fighting or Dashboard Confessional both musically and in theory, Secondhand Serenade is a project name for a solo artist, singer/songwriter John Vesely. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area in a musical family that included his professional jazz musician father, Vesely spent a number of dues-paying years in a variety of local bands before switching from bass to acoustic guitar and beginning to write his own songs. (In his official artist bio, Vesely claims that the...
A striking young woman with a strong vocal resemblance to the young Whitney Houston and a large mop of blonde corkscrew curls, Leona Lewis won the third series of the British reality talent show The X Factor in a landslide. (For non-Brits: The X Factor is the revamped follow-up to the original U.K. talent search, Pop Idol, of which American Idol is the massively successful U.S. version; AI's Simon Cowell is the show's lead judge and executive producer.) Born and raised in the Islington section...
Bo Bice proved that American Idol could have a rocker as a finalist, but Chris Daughtry proved that the show could generate a successful rocker outside the context of the show. Of course, it helped that Daughtry was the polar opposite of Bice, a shaggy retro-rocker soaked in the South: bold and bald, he was the picture of a modern rocker, living by the rulebook written by Live and Fuel. These were the qualities that helped make Chris Daughtry the most successful new rock & roll singer of...
Although grunge was primarily an American phenomenon, London native Gavin Rossdale left his mark on the genre by leading Bush to the forefront of modern rock radio in the mid-'90s. Bush enjoyed considerable popularity in the U.S., where the band's gravelly melodies and rhythmic crunch drove its debut album, Sixteen Stone, to multi-platinum status. Although Rossdale would never match that commercial peak again, he continued to create music throughout the subsequent decade, staying with Bush...
O.A.R. (an acronym for the band's full moniker, Of a Revolution) transformed themselves from local Ohio State University bandmates to Billboard chartbusters and headliners at venues across America. First, the band's two demo recordings were hawked at universities. Then, news spread about the band's roots rock and reggae-inflected songs, which owed much to the jam band genre. Before long, O.A.R.'s website had turned into a highly-trafficked internet destination, and the group gradually left the...
Singer/songwriter Jason Mraz hails from Mechanicsville, VA, where he grew up a fan of the Dave Matthews Band and local roots musicians the Agents of Good Roots. But it was Mraz's interest and participation in musical theater that was his first introduction to music. Mraz moved to New York following high school to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy but dropped out a year later when he took up the guitar and began to focus on songwriting. Nonetheless, Mraz's training as a vocalist...
Hailing from the small town of Escatawpa, MS, near Biloxi, 3 Doors Down forged a major-label contract using popular live shows and the reputation of a single song. Their hit, "Kryptonite," generated unprecedented buzz at local radio station WCPR in Biloxi, helping to make them hometown favorites and enabling them to draw relatively large crowds to their local live shows, which consequently, helped them extend their range beyond Mississippi and the deep south to internationally famous...
By age 21, Californian vocalist Colbie Caillat had evolved swiftly from an aspiring R&B/folk singer to a pop sensation with the marketing assistance of a little networking tool called Myspace. She grew up in Malibu and Ventura County and caught the music bug at an early age from her father Ken Caillat, an established audio engineer who helped produce Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and Tusk. Songs were often mixed at the console in her Malibu beach house, filling the corridors with the sounds of...
Although initially viewed as another face in the late-'90s crowd of teen pop acts, Pink quickly transcended and outgrew that label with her combination of pop songcraft and powerhouse, rock-influenced vocals. Born Alecia Moore on September 8, 1979, in Doylestown, PA (near Philadelphia), Pink received her nickname as a child, years before she dyed her hair accordingly. She grew up in a musical family and was a regular on the Philadelphia club scene by the age of 13, first as a dancer and then as...
After surfacing in 2000 with the breakthrough single "Yellow," Coldplay quickly became one of the biggest bands of the new millennium, honing a mix of introspective Brit-pop and anthemic rock that landed the British quartet a near-permanent residence on record charts world-wide. The group's emergence was perfectly timed; Radiohead had just released the overly cerebral Kid A, while Oasis had ditched two founding members and embraced psychedelic experimentation on Standing on the Shoulders of Giants. U.K. audiences were...
Before she discovered she could write songs, Gwen Stefani was looking forward to a life of marriage, children, and white picket fences. When her brother introduced her to ska and new wave music, it set off a chain of events that would eventually lead to millions of albums sold and a Madonna-sized public image that extended past music and into the worlds of film, fashion, and technology.Born and raised in Fullerton, CA, Stefani had a musical epiphany at the age of 17. She had fallen in love with...
Can u play Heartless? And say its 4 Kylie from Morgan?
