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Eminem crashed the mainstream in the late '90s. With super-producer Dr. Dre behind the boards, the Detroit emcee quickly became a cultural touchstone. Combining cartoonish rage, ear-tickling beats, a distinct flow and gushing rhyme skills, he drew the praise of critics and the scorn of rap-hating political interests. His second album was darker, loaded with moody singles "Stan" and "The Way I Am." Eminem's private life soon mirrored his bad-boy image, and he found himself getting divorced, sued ...
Raised on a musical diet of Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, Lady Gaga brings a sense of theatrical fashion and attitude to her dance-inspired, electro-rock performances. Named after Queen's "Radio Gaga," the pop fashionista took the fast lane to success, starting at age four when she learned to play piano by ear. At 14, she began performing at open-mic nights in and around New York City's Lower East Side. After graduating from Convent of the Sacred Heart school...
Like G. Love, Jack Johnson plays groovy acoustic funk. The difference is that where G. Love relies on hip-hop, Johnson's points of reference are a bit more eclectic, incorporating lite jazz and classic singer-songwriter motifs (including interesting vocal experiments a la Joni Mitchell and Tim Buckley). It's all held together by earthy rock backing and topped off with a voice that at times sounds enough like Mose Allison to convince listeners that Johnson really has the goods. Before embarking o...
Initially viewed as a younger take on the music of Dave Matthews, John Mayer's earnest and earthy pop has grown in popularity and reputation since his 1999 debut. Mayer sings mellow pop songs in an expressive tenor voice, and is an assured, harmonically astute acoustic guitarist whose jazzy phrasing fills out his songs nicely. His 2001 sophomore album Room For Squares was a pleasant, non-abrasive pop album that launched him to major label success. While maintaining his commercial appeal, ...
A biracial, half-Canadian, half-American heartthrob offspring of a multigenerationally musical family who first shot to fame in the early '00s playing an injured high school basketballer on TV's Degrassi: The Next Generation, the rapper born Aubrey Drake Graham is an unlikely candidate to serve as hip-hop's latest great hope. But that's what he's been shaking out as, ever since his self-released 2007 mix tape, Comeback Season, brought him to the attention of Lil Wayne, the first of...
Avenged Sevenfold are a Huntington Beach, CA phenomenon. They apply soaring, pop-punk harmonies to raging power metal licks with chugging hardcore breakdowns. At the start of their career in 1999, it seemed fans of Bad Religion and Iron Maiden finally had something to agree on, but these metalcore stalwarts-turned-mainstream-rock-stars upped the ante on their signature sound, combining a more eclectic range of influences in the hard rock arena, and flipping the ratio of guttural growls to clean ...
Have you ever been listening to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" and thought, "You know what would sound really freaking awesome? This song, performed in multi-part choreography by a high school glee club"? Well, friend, 2009 was your lucky year, then. Fox premiered Glee, its musical-comedy about a high school glee club full of underdogs and misfits with fabulous voices and their plucky Spanish teacher leader (played by musical theater actor Matthew Morrison). Then, the network qui...
By the time he entered puberty, Usher had a record deal and a gold album. By the time he graduated high school, he was one of the most visible artists in R&B. Between 1994 and 2004, he released six albums, appeared in several films and earned multiple platinum records. However, 2004 was the year he reached the upper echelons of superstardom, thanks to the chart-topping, Lil Jon-produced "Yeah!" His subsequent album, Confessions, netted him three Grammys and sold 11 million copies. In the ...
Hailing from Los Angeles, the Black Eyed Peas date back to the early 1990s,
when group founders Will.I.Am and Apl de Ap parlayed their breakdancing
skills into a band called Atban Klann. Eazy-E eventually signed them to
Ruthless Records, although the label didn't really know how to market their
non-violent sound, and their album was shelved. After Eazy passed away,
they picked up a third member, Taboo, and began performing around L.A. as
Black Eyed Peas. Known for their positive lyrics and livel...
This Singer-Songwriter from rural Missouri burst onto the music scene in 1994 with her solo debut, Tuesday Night Music Club, which painted vivid images of working class bars and early morning nightcaps. The public immediately latched on to her blend of singsong vocals and laid back blues rock delivered with a confident, disarming wink. Though she's since abandoned her bottle of Bud persona in favor of a more glamorous pop image, she's still someone you can't help but imagine running into ...
Katy Perry may or may not actually be gay, but she's certainly made her young career with coy, playful references to sexuality -- her own and her paramours'. The young Californian singer-songwriter first generated a heaping helping of online buzz in 2007 with "Ur So Gay," in which she accuses a disappointing boyfriend who "doesn't even like boys" of being, well, take a guess. Then, in 2008, she shot up the charts with the Sapphic sweet-talker "I Kissed a Girl." Kind of a surprising turn o...
Coldplay create sparse, emotional soundscapes, dripping with melancholy. The London-based quartet is singer Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion. Their debut album, Parachutes, was released in late 2000 in the U.S., and they quickly became a sensation. The record went No. 1 in the U.K. charts and won Best Alternative Music Album at the 2002 Grammys. Marked by Martin's falsetto-happy vocals, songs like "Yellow" and "Shiver" employ stop/star...
Allegedly, the real Rick Ross worked with the CIA-backed Contra rebels to secure the cheapest cocaine in America. "Freeway Rick" then turned the powder into rock -- the first time anyone had done this on a massive scale -- and kick-started a crack epidemic that spawned a generation of zombies and corpses. Rapper Rick Ross has spent his career projecting the sort of devil-may-care persona that his namesake would appreciate. First under the tutelage of Trick Daddy, and then on his own, the Miami r...
Atlanta's B.o.B. is a one man band man. He sings, raps, produces and mixes his music. A disciple of musically forward groups like Outkast and Goodie Mob, he quickly built up a reputation for being adventurous in the studio. Others have begun recognizing his many talents: Danity Kane featured him on "Showstopper (Remix)," and his singles "Haterz Everywhere" and "Cloud Nine" have been buzzin'. B.o.B. is currently working on his debut album The Adventures of B.o.B..
- Toshitaka Kondo...
Are you, do you have, or have you recently been around an eight-year-old girl? Then you know who Miley Cyrus is. In fact, we'd bet the young star of the Disney Channel's Hannah Montana has been an omnipresent part of your life since 2006, when her series about a regular girl who leads a secret double life as a pop star named Hannah Montana premiered, and Cyrus became tween America's biggest star. She has talent in spades: she sings, she dances, she wears couture. On top of all that, she's...
With her homespun charm, curly golden locks, and prodigious gift for songwriting, Taylor Swift is one of the youngest Nashville newcomers to capture a national audience in years. When she was just 16, Swift's first big single, "Tim McGraw," peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard country chart and held a spot in the top 10 for months. On the single's success, Swift joined the ranks of teenage country queens like Tanya Tucker, Marie Osmond and LeAnn Rimes, who all charted as teenagers. Unlike those youn...
Tender-aged YouTube pop sensation Justin Bieber is an inspiration to 15-year-olds the world over as his first single, "One Time," has gotten his face all over MTV and his music on the airwaves of the U.S. and his native country of Canada. Bieber instigated a bidding war between Justin Timberlake and Usher when YouTube clips of him performing Ne-Yo, Stevie Wonder, Timberlake and Usher covers made the rounds in 2006; Bieber was just 12. He eventually signed with Usher's label, Island Records, and ...
What sets the Dave Matthews Band apart from other jam-inclined festival veterans is the solid foundation of catchy songs upon which all their instrumental explorations lie. Fans appreciate the way Matthews' songs change from one performance to another, as he always infuses the hook-packed structure of their favorite songs with fresh improvisational jams. His heartfelt singing layers unpredictable (but memorable) melodies on top of bouncy chords that seem to fit together effortlessly - sort of li...
Few partnerships in rock 'n' roll have been as productive as the collaboration between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and of course having wunderkind Brian Jones along did nothing to hinder the Rolling Stones' popularity. From the get-go, the band played the raunchy, gritty doppelganger to the Beatles' dandified Merseybeat pop. They ventured a heavier, bluesier sound than their British Invasion counterparts, taking their cues from Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. The band's greatest strength, bes...
Georgia trio Lady Antebellum incorporate elements of Southern rock and roots-inspired pop for a twanging, radio-friendly sound rich with boy-girl harmonies.
Formed in 2006, Lady Antebellum have gone from obscurity to playing with country legends such as Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, Carrie Underwood -- you get the picture. The roots of the group took hold when Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley became friends in junior high school. Bonded by a love of music, their friendship continued ev...
It doesn't really matter if Michael Jackson bullied the world's media into calling him the King of Pop in the early 1990s or if they just started using that sobriquet on their own. Either way, he earned it. Whether singing "I Want You Back" as the 11-year-old frontman of the Jackson 5, breaking the MTV color line with the explosive "Billie Jean" or defending the world's downtrodden and misunderstood (himself, that is), Jackson set the standard for pop singing, songwriting, dancing and, let's fac...
Taio Cruz burst onto the pop scene in early 2010 with a No. 1 debut single, "Break Your Heart." Before that, the R&B singer debuted in his native U.K. with the 2008 album Departure. The gold-certified disc included his first major hit, "Come On Girl." His next album, 2009's Rokstarr, added two more hits, "Break Your Heart" and "Take Me Back" (with British rapper Tinchy Stryder). Rokstarr was issued in the U.S. the following year.
- Mosi Reeves...
Since the mid-'90s, Alberta's Nickelback (singer/guitarist Chad Kroeger, bassist Mike Kroeger, guitarist Ryan Peake and Daniel Adair, replacing original drummer Brandon Kroeger) have evolved from sounding like a Pearl Jam tribute band to becoming icons of radio-friendly, post-grunge modern rock. Nickelback's popularity first gathered steam with the single "Leader of Men" off their second self-released album, 1998's The State. The song was in heavy rotation on Canadian radio, and soon Amer...
One of hip-hop's biggest superstars, Brooklyn's Jay-Z is among the few artists who have garnered praise from underground heads and fans of the pop charts alike. His ultra-danceable tracks, complex yet casual flow, and penchant for the high life have influenced countless others (for better and for worse) while maintaining the East Coast club thug sound. Jigga (one of his many nicknames) is practically synonymous with success, releasing back to back multiplatinum albums and flashing more diamonds ...
Michael Buble, the Canadian retro crooner, grew up listening to such influences as Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin and Ella Fitzgerald. Egged on by his grandfather, Buble became a showbiz kid who loved performing and at age 17 he won the top prize in the Canadian Youth Talent Search. After releasing a number of independent albums, Buble went stateside and joined the touring company of the much-praised Broadway show Swing. After being featured as a nightclub singer in the movie <...
Don't judge Ke$ha by her first single. Sure, the hip-pop hit "Tik Tok" positively wallows in the concept of guilty pleasure: Ke$ha extols the virtues of partying 'til the "po-po shut us down" and brushing her teeth with a bottle of Jack and winds up sounding like something born of a one-night stand between Lady Gaga, Paris Hilton and the Black Eyed Peas. But the brash singer-songwriter is more than just a ton of fun or a one-trick party girl. Raised in Nashville by her semi-famous but often stru...
San Francisco Roots rockers Train are infamous for bionic live jams, backstage brattitude, and brash band relations. But their pseudo-twangy, Hootie-esque vocal harmonies seem to seep into almost every one of their songs. Train's first album was a trust-funded endeavor that landed the band a deal with Aware/Columbia Records. Those who enjoy the simplicity of songwriting as well as festival-friendly songwriting are sure to find home in the sound of Train's soul searching soundtrack.
- Eric Shea...
Zac Brown entertained audiences for years as a solo artist, winning people over with his deft flat-picking and original songs. Eventually, Brown added band members John Hopkins (bass) and Jimmy De Martini (fiddle) to form the Zac Brown Band; the trio expanded to a five-piece when Chris Fryar (drums) and Coy Bowles (guitar/organ) joined. The quintet employs an aggressive tour philosophy (often playing upwards of 200 shows a year) and has opened for the Allman Brothers, Willie Nelson, Travis Tritt...
As the son of Julio Iglesias -- perhaps the most famous singer in the Spanish-speaking world -- Enrique was born to stardom. He recorded his demo tape under a false name, not wanting to be seen as the son of Julio, but the relationship was ultimately a factor in the blockbuster success of his first record in 1995. Possessing a strong natural voice that is well suited to both romantic and dance material, he sings confidently in Spanish and English. His first monster hit, the power ballad "Experie...
Talent and a dose of good luck got Barbados-born Rihanna signed to Def Jam when she was 16 years old. She was discovered by producer Evan Rogers during his island visit in 2003, and went on to impress Def Jam CEO Jay-Z so much that he grabbed her for a multi-album contract. The singer's first single, "Pon de Replay," was released in June 2005, with the full album Music of the Sun dropping a month later. But her big break came in 2006 with the release of the single "S.O.S." and the subsequ...
While Denver's Flobots were crafting organic, conscious hip-hop, their state-mates in the duo 3OH!3 had a different inspiration in mind: crunk. You might never have suspected that the style reached all the way to Colorado, but the dudes in 3OH!3 -- Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte -- clearly have established a Dirty South outpost up in the Rockies. 3OH!3's name reps their 303 area code, but it might also reference the famous Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer. Overdriven analog gear abounds in their...
Since just about every human on the planet seems to own Legend, it's hardly necessary to describe the King of Reggae's music. Marley's style developed early under the tutelage of Lee Perry, who influenced Marley's phrasing. His voice graced early Ska, Rock Steady and Reggae recordings, but many believe that the time he spent backed by fellow Wailers Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingston was the most artistically satisfying of his career. The varied personal styles that the trio brought to recor...
One of Southern rap's most enduring and talented emcees, New Orleans' Lil Wayne began rapping at the tender age of 11. By the time he was 15, he'd linked up with Juvenile, Turk and B.G. and formed the immensely popular Hot Boys group on Cash Money Records. Though the emcees showed promise, many listeners focused on the post-Bounce production of Mannie Fresh, and regarded Wayne as a fresh-faced vehicle for the producer. But Wayne went solo in 1999 with Tha Block Is Hot. His raps focus on y...
Beyonce Knowles, the leader of Destiny's Child, always knew she wanted to be a star. She formed the first incarnation of Destiny's Child in 1990 -- when she was 9 years old. By 2001, the group began to dissolve. Knowles nabbed a lead role in Mike Myers' Austin Powers: Goldmember; an appearance in MTV's Carmen: A Hip Hopera cemented her reputation as a formidable entertainer. Her solo debut, Dangerously in Love, came out in 2003. The first single, "Crazy in Love," was a duet ...
Alicia Keys seemingly came out of nowhere in the summer of 2001, storming up the charts with her braids and heaping servings of soul. But Keys is no pre-fab diva; she's been studying music since age five and began writing songs at age 14. She wrote (or co-wrote) and produced most of the songs on her debut, Songs in a Minor, and subsequent singles have proven she's no one-hit wonder. She took home five Grammy Awards in 2002 (including Best New Artist and Song of the Year), and returned tri...
If cultivating an iconoclast status is a career, then Pink is one serious go-getter. Since her 2000 debut, the husky-voiced singer has overhauled her sound several times, changed her hair color even more, married motocross star Carey Hart and taken George Bush to task. Then there's "Stupid Girls," the 2006 single in which Pink skewered tabloid perennials like Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton. Born Alecia Moore, she started dancing and singing backup at club nights in Philadelphia at age 13 and e...
There's no denying that U2 has become one of the most iconic, loved and, yes, important rock bands in the world. And if they're not bigger than Jesus, Bono's attempt to turn his celebrity toward the greater good -- rubbing elbows with heads of state as he tackles climate change and African debt relief -- hasn't hurt his saintly stature. With an unchanging lineup of Bono (vocals), the Edge (guitar), Adam Clayton (bass) and Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums), the Dublin-born band established itself with a ...
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If Kenny Chesney's new traditional tinged country style leans toward hard rocking pop, blame it on the '70s FM radio and the country rock music coming out of the radio stations in his hometown of Luttrell, TN, a small place just outside Knoxville (also Chet Atkins' hometown). Chesney wasn't one of those kids who grew up with stage parents in Stetsons. He actually stumbled into the realm of country music by accident while studying marketing at East Tennessee State University. He found a guitar un...
With a handful of full-length albums, songs featured on soundtracks for Twilight and Superman Returns (among others), and multiple high-profile appearances on the Vans Warped Tour, Paramore seem like anything but the work of some kids from Tennessee. Singer Hayley Williams was 13 when she was enlisted by guitarist Josh Farro and his brother, drummer Zac Farro, to form the band. By 2007, Paramore were headlining the Warped Tour and had crashed into record-buyers' consciousnesses cou...
In an Ohio city renowned for its manufacturing of rubber and tires, it's fitting that one of Akron's greatest rock exports is a duo that plays bluesy bites of garage rock oozing with loads of blue-collar rawness. The Black Keys include singer and guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney, two college drop-outs who mowed lawns for a living before turning their love for Mississippi blues and noise rock into a lucrative music career. After Auerbach's band didn't show for a recording session...
In May of 2005, Carrie Underwood became the fourth winning contestant on the hugely popular TV show American Idol. Seemingly within seconds her first single was released, "Inside Your Heaven." Underwood has all the makings of a classic ballad belter, with an extremely powerful voice and a gift for emotiveness but her music seems geared towards the country crowd more than the teen crowd of fellow winner Kelly Clarkson or the contemporary R&B of Reuben Studdard, the show's second winner. Bu...
Although the media pretty much ensured that their music would have the shelf life of a banana by pegging them as the "Southern Strokes," the Kings of Leon's music really owes much more to the latter-day songs of Eddie Vedder than they do to any boogie-rhythmic Southern Rock. Sure, they sport John Fogerty-style bowl-haircuts, boot-cuts and beards, but the actual sound of their recorded music is truly more rooted in tasteful post-grunge pop (more Pearl Jam than Creed). Brothers Caleb, Nathan and J...
Naysayers predicted that this whole rap-rock thing would be dying a slow, silent death right about now, but it seems to be breathing just fine without needing to come up for air. Linkin Park are one of the most successful guitar-swinging, lyric-dropping scratch wizards to simultaneously glorify the big riff while bowing down at the altar of hip-hop. In the course of a single song they let their guitars run amok, push plodding rhythms and growl like angry dogs roused from sleep -- all while dexte...
This young singer and pianist has so much talent that she can't be
contained by one genre of music. The American-born, Texas-bred daughter of
Indian music legend Ravi Shankar has after-hours jazz, soul, country,
blues and folk music at her command, and combines each with natural,
dreamy ease. It's almost as if Rickie Lee Jones or Diana Krall were
recording for an absinthe-soaked 4AD label that specialized in Americana. Some of our greatest artists
-- from Frank Sinatra to Ray Charles, from Elvis...
Jason DeRulo earned his reputation as an in-demand songwriter, penning hits for the likes of Cassie, Lil Wayne and Betty Wright before pursuing his own performance career. Then again, this multitalented young artist has always been happy to wear a lot of hats. The Florida native attended a performing-arts high school in Fort Lauderdale and went on to find work as a dancer, choreographer, producer and actor -- and as a singer and songwriter. In 2009, he had his first hit as a singer with "Whatcha...
"The weak ones fall, the strong carry on." When Tom Petty offers those words on "Straight into Darkness," he may as well be singing about his career, which has produced a steady output of punchy power pop that's made him an impervious fixture in American music. Petty first made the scene in the '70s with his Heartbreakers, offering tales of blue-collar outsider love that employed the Byrds' sunny 12-sting sonance to achieve an indubitably apple pie aftertaste; it all began, appropriately, with t...
Although he made an initial splash with his flamboyant stage getups, it's Elton John's effortless way with simple, yet memorable melodies that have won him his ongoing popularity. With lyricist Bernie Taupin, the British pianist crafted a string of hits in the 1970s:
zoologically-themed numbers such as "Crocodile Rock"
and "Honky Cat" showed off his rock 'n' roll side, while "Rocket Man" and "Bennie and the Jets" proved he could slow things down just as effectively. A range of personal and artis...
Growing up in the quiet English town of Devon, the three members of Muse dreamed of being in a rock band. At the tender age of 13, they did just that by forming (ahem) Gothic Plague. A few years and name changes later, the trio chose the name Muse and settled into their dramatic, Queen and Radiohead-inspired style of Brit rock. In 1997, they released a self-titled EP, followed by the Muscle Museum EP a year later. "Muscle Museum" was highly touted in the British press and the buzz over Mu...
The key to Maroon 5's chart domination is an unvarying torrent of broadly palatable blue-eyed soul, but the band's story is ultimately one of chameleonic transformations. Members of the group first met at a private junior high in the L.A. 'burbs in the early '90s, where they formed a group called Kara's Flowers to emulate the grungy pop that then ruled the airwaves. Although they landed a major deal while most of the group was still in high school, by the late '90s the band was dropped. Two year...
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Love The Way You Lie featuring Rihanna - Eminem California Gurls (feat. Snoop Dogg) - Katy Perry Dynamite - Taio Cruz Not Afraid - Eminem OMG (feat. will.i.am) - Usher |
