Top Adult Contemporary Artists on Rhapsody Online

Jack Johnson

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:44 -0800

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 on a musical career, Johnson was a successful professional surfer. His popularity simmered with his first few albums, but with 2005's In Between Dreams Johnson's stock exploded, crossing over from the jam-rock crowd into the mainstream pop market. The record yielded hits in "Sitting, Waiting, Wishing" and "Better Together." Johnson's comfortable voice and sweet melodies translated naturally to children's songs with his 2006 release Sing-a-Longs & Lullabies for the Film Curious George. In 2008 he released a new studio album, Sleep Through the Static, and in 2009 he confirmed his live reputation with En Concert. - Mike McGuirk

Madonna

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:48 -0800

One of the few megastars only needing a single name, Madonna's brand of dance pop began as the purest of bubblegum but has become increasingly sophisticated during the course of a career now in its third decade. Her influence has lessened a bit since the multimedia dynasty she lorded over in the 1980s and early '90s, partly because she's been busy raising children and partly because the focus of dance-oriented music has radically shifted in the years between Bedtime Stories (1994) and Confessions On A Dance Floor (2005). However her clubbing antennae remain finely tuned, and each subsequent release serves less as an indication of her musical development and more her ability to latch onto producer/writers of the moment. This, and her constant image-massaging to remain relevant to the dance community, allows a mother in her early forties to get away with acting like a club kitten without too much dissent, even less so with her triumphant 2005 return to form. A ruthless careerist and tougher than most of us, she does tend to show weakness with her lyrics, which at their best are simple ditties and at their worst just plain embarrassing. A catchy tune is usually there to save the day, however, and perhaps this is why she has failed to make it in the acting world -- she needs the music to shield her inability to deliver a really good line. And what music -- hit after hit, some still working a dancefloor just as effectively 20 years after initial release. Few other artists in the dance pop and electronica world show such staying power, and few receive such goodwill from their fan base, no matter which upheavals she drags them through as she hops and skips from fad to fad, laughing all the way to the bank. - Nicholas Baker

Elton John

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:47 -0800

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 artistic problems began to take their toll around 1976, but he reclaimed a place on the charts in the 1980s with songs like "I'm Still Standing" and "Sad Songs (Say So Much)." His work during this era generally ranked a notch below the earlier glory days, but he continues to make his presence felt, filling concert halls, contributing to soundtracks and issuing a massively-selling rewrite of the perennial torch ballad "Candle in the Wind" on the occasion of Princess Diana's death in 1997. That same year, John was knighted Sir Elton John. In 1999, he collaborated on an adaptation of Verdi's opera Aida. With the coming of the 2000s, John became as much a humanitarian as a pop figure, raising millions for various charities and forming the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In 2005, he married longtime boyfriend David Furnish. - Mike McGuirk

Mariah Carey

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:52 -0800

Say what you may about her fashion sense or "diva-tude," but there is no doubt that Mariah Carey defined 1990s urban pop music. Carey ruled the charts during the Clinton decade -- her 1990 self-titled debut album alone spawned four No. 1 hit singles, and she would have 11 more before the new millennium. Over the years, artists from Christina Aguilera to Ciara would name her as an influence. Her albums are always expertly crafted and performed, making her MTV Unplugged EP a surprisingly warm change of pace. Her dominance of the charts in the 1990s earned her the title of Billboard's Artist of the Decade. Despite heavily publicized personal trials in the early part of the new century, Carey returned to the forefront of modern music with The Emancipation of Mimi, which spawned her 16th and 17th No. 1 hits. In 2008, Mariah returned with the hit single "Touch My Body" and the subsequent album, E=MC2. The single pushed her past Elvis into second place (behind the Beatles) for the most No. 1 singles for an artist in the modern era. - Rachel Landy

Van Morrison

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:41 -0800

Part Celtic bard, part soulster, and part ecstatically scatting mystical visionary, Van Morrison is a painfully introverted figure who rarely gives interviews and is often at a loss to explain his own lyrics. In the studio, Van Morrison can sing like a soul man getting the spirit; onstage, however, his brilliance can be undercut by whim or temper, and he has upon occasion alienated audiences by rushing through songs and remaining aloof between them. Nonetheless, his influence among rock singer/songwriters is unrivaled by any living artist outside of that other prickly legend, Bob Dylan. Echoes of Morrison's rugged literateness and his gruff, feverishly emotive vocal style can be heard in latter-day icons ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Elvis Costello, while the Irish artist's own restless muse has kept him prolific and engaging through the '90s.

Morrison's mother sang at social gatherings, and his father collected classic blues and jazz records. He learned guitar, saxophone, and harmonica while in school, and was playing with Belfast blues, jazz, and rock bands by his mid-teens. At 15, he quit school, joined an R&B band called the Monarchs, and toured Europe with them as saxophonist. While in Germany, a film director offered Morrison a role in a movie as a jazz saxophonist. The project was dropped, and Morrison returned to Belfast and opened an R&B club in the Maritime Hotel. He recruited some friends to form Them, which became an immediate local sensation as the club's house band.

Them recorded two singles in late 1964: "Don't Start Crying Now" (a local hit) and Big Joe Williams' "Baby Please Don't Go" (which made the British Top 10 in early 1965). After the latter's success, the band moved to London and hooked up with producer Bert Berns. They recorded Berns' "Here Comes the Night," which went to Number Two in the U.K. and made the Top 30 in the U.S. Them's next two singles, "Gloria" (by Morrison) and "Mystic Eyes," were minor U.S. hits; "Gloria" was later covered by the Shadows of Knight (who took the song to Number 10 in 1966) and Patti Smith. Them's lineup underwent constant changes, and Berns brought in sessionmen, including Jimmy Page, for their albums. After a mostly unsuccessful U.S. tour in 1966, the group returned to England. Morrison disbanded Them, which soon re-formed with Ken McDowell as vocalist.

Morrison, meanwhile, grew frustrated by music-business manipulations (Them had wrongly been given a rough-kids image by their company), stopped performing, and moved back to Belfast. Meanwhile, Bert Berns (a.k.a. B. Russell) formed Bang Records in New York, and sent Morrison a plane ticket and an invitation to record four singles for his new label. One of them, "Brown Eyed Girl," reached Number 10 in the U.S. in 1967. Morrison toured America but was again disgruntled when Berns released the other singles &Number 8212; which Morrison considered demos &Number 8212; as Blowin' Your Mind. After Berns died of a sudden heart attack in December 1967, Morrison undertook an East Coast tour and wrote material for his next album. Warner Bros. president Joe Smith signed him in early 1968, and Morrison went into a New York studio that summer with numerous jazz musicians. In 48 hours he cut one of rock's least classifiable, most enduring albums, Astral Weeks, the first manifestation of Morrison's Irish-romantic mysticism. Though most of its cuts were meandering and impressionistic, with folky guitars over jazzy rhythms topped by Morrison's soul-styled vocals, critics raved; the album is still considered one of Morrison's richest, most powerful efforts.

His next album, Moondance (Number 29, 1970), traded the jazz-and-strings sound of Astral Weeks for a horn-section R&B bounce. The title tune and "Come Running" were chart singles, the latter in 1970 (Number 39), the former not until late 1977. The fittingly titled "Into the Mystic" became a minor hit for Johnny Rivers, while "Caravan" became an FM radio favorite. It was the first Morrison album to chart in the Top 100, and it eventually went platinum. His Band and the Street Choir (Number 32, 1970) yielded two uptempo R&B-flavored Top 40 hits in "Domino" (Number 9, 1970) and "Blue Money" (Number 23, 1971). By this time, Morrison had moved to Marin County, California, and married a woman who called herself Janet Planet.

Tupelo Honey (Number 27, 1971) reflected his new domestic contentment. It yielded a hit in "Wild Night" (Number 28) and went gold, thanks to progressive FM radio, which latched on to the lyrical title tune (featuring Modern Jazz Quartet drummer Connie Kay). St. Dominic's Preview (Number 15, 1972) included the minor hit single "Jackie Wilson Said" (Number 61) and contained two extended journeys into the mystic: "Listen to the Lion" and "Almost Independence Day." In 1972 Morrison guested on the John Lee Hooker–Charlie Musselwhite album Never Get Out of These Blues Alive.

By the time of Hard Nose the Highway (Number 27, 1973), Morrison had formed the 11-piece Caledonia Soul Orchestra, which was featured on the live LP It's Too Late to Stop Now. In 1973, though, Morrison suddenly divorced Janet Planet, disbanded the Caledonia Soul Orchestra, and returned to Belfast for the first time since 1966. There he began writing material for Veedon Fleece (Number 53, 1974).

Morrison took three years to produce a followup. He reportedly began sessions for an album four different times (one with jazz-funk band the Crusaders), but completed none. By 1976, he was living in California again. Late that year he appeared at the Band's farewell concert and in Martin Scorsese's film of the event, The Last Waltz. Finally, in 1977 came A Period of Transition (Number 43, 1977), which featured short jazz and R&B-oriented tunes and backup by pianist Mac "Dr. John" Rebennack. For Wavelength (Number 28, 1978), Morrison took on concert promoter Bill Graham as manager (they split in 1981); the album sold fairly well. Still, Morrison's chronic stage fright continued to plague him. At a 1979 show at New York's Palladium, he stormed off the stage midset without a word and didn't return.

The more serene Into the Music (Number 43, 1979) implied that Morrison had become a born-again Christian, and Common One (Number 73, 1980) delved more into extended mysticism. Beautiful Vision (Number 44, 1982) was more varied and concise, and it generated, as usual, sizable critical acclaim and respectable sales. It also included "Cleaning Windows," which contained references to such Morrison inspirations as Lead Belly, bluesmen Blind Lemon Jefferson, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, and Muddy Waters, as well as Beat author Jack Kerouac and country singer Jimmie Rodgers. Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (Number 116, 1983) offered "special thanks" to L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology.

With A Sense of Wonder (Number 61, 1985), Morrison continued on his spiritual journey and drew further on literary influences, incorporating the work of a favorite poet, William Blake, on the track "Let the Slave." Meanwhile, Morrison rediscovered his ethnic roots and wanderlust, leaving his California home to travel nomadlike through Dublin, Belfast, and London. On No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (Number 70, 1986), the singer shared this sense of rebirth, while the album's title sneered at critics who had tried to pigeonhole his religious beliefs.

Morrison delved deeper into Celtic imagery with Poetic Champions Compose (Number 90, 1987) and collaborated with Ireland's best-loved traditional band, the Chieftains, on Irish Heartbeat (Number 102, 1988). Avalon Sunset (Number 91, 1989) contained "Whenever God Shines His Light on Me," a duet with Cliff Richard that became Morrison's first British Top 20 single since his days with Them, and "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You," which in 1993 became a Number Five U.S. hit for Rod Stewart.

Morrison entered the '90s with the nostalgia-drenched Enlightenment (Number 62, 1990), on which he recalled first becoming acquainted with rock & roll and continued to explore the links between spiritual and romantic love. These themes carried over onto the similarly acclaimed double album Hymns to the Silence (Number 99, 1991), while on Too Long in Exile (Number 29, 1993), the singer brought things full circle, covering songs by some of his heroes &Number 8212; including Ray Charles and Sonny Boy Williamson &Number 8212; and duetting with John Lee Hooker on Them's "Gloria," with enough ardor to dispel any suspicions that age had mellowed him. Hooker, in fact, turned up as a surprise guest at some of Morrison's concerts in the early '90s, and Morrison would produce two of Hooker's albums in the late '90s. Morrison's spirited 1993 performances in San Francisco, documented on A Night in San Francisco (recorded December 18), were indicative of his renewed vigor onstage. That same year, Morrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A couple of years later, How Long Has This Been Going On (1996), a live jazz show recorded with Georgie Fame and Friends at Ronnie Scott's Club in London in 1995 also attested to his renewed energy. Nevertheless, Days Like This (Number 33, 1995) and The Healing Game (Number 32, 1997) were railed by critics as predictable, lackluster performances, especially Morrison's vocals; the former, however, included two duets with his daughter, Shana. Morrison took on an elder-statesman role when the song "Days Like This" was adopted as a peace anthem in Northern Ireland, and he received an Order of the British Empire title in 1996. A prolific artist, he continued his extraordinary output of an album nearly every year, and released The Philosopher's Stone, a two-disc set of previously unreleased material, in 1998. Back on Top, an album of new material, followed the next year. In 2000 Morrison was inspired by working with other musicians, and he released a concert recording of skiffle tunes performed with Lonnie Donegan, The Skiffle Sessions: Live in Belfast, 1998, and You Win Again, an album of country, rockabilly, and blues covers performed with singer/pianist Linda Gail Lewis, the sister of Jerry Lee Lewis.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

Billy Joel

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 13:20:24 -0800

Owner of more hit singles than there are strip malls in his native Long Island, N.Y., Billy Joel has fashioned the quintessential pop career from unparalleled songcraft, a penchant for genre-bouncing from one album to the next, and over-the-top stage performances. A child of 1950s R&B and 1960s British Invasion, Joel has always maintained an extraordinary knack for coming up with songs that sound just as good (if not better) on the AM radio of your uncle's '73 Pinto as they do on the living room hi-fi. This devotion to the pop aesthetic over the course of twelve studio albums and innumerable radio hits -- beginning with the autobiographical "Piano Man" in 1973 on through "The River of Dreams" 20 years later -- has won Joel a fan base ranging from 20-somethings raised on his late '70s/early '80s classics ("My Life," "Only The Good Die Young," and "Pressure" among them) to the parents of those same 20-somethings who hear a bit of the Beatles, Dylan, and Smokey Robinson in those same classics. Although Joel removed himself from the pop fold following River of Dreams, his mighty back catalog continues to sell in hefty chunks. - Charles Hodgkins

Fleetwood Mac

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:50 -0800

Whoever named Fleetwood Mac was either lucky or prescient. The only thing about the group that hasn't changed since it formed in 1967 is the rhythm section of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. Through the '70s, the band's personnel and style shifted with nearly every recording as Fleetwood Mac metamorphosed from a traditionalist British blues band to the maker of one of the best-selling pop albums ever, Rumours. From that album's release in 1977 into the present, Fleetwood Mac has survived additional, theoretically key, personnel changes and remained through the mid-'90s a dominant commercial force.

Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac was formed by ex–John Mayall's Bluesbreakers Green, McVie, and Fleetwood along with Elmore James enthusiast Jeremy Spencer. McVie had been a charter member of the Bluesbreakers in 1963, Fleetwood had joined in 1965, and Green had replaced Eric Clapton in 1966. With its repertoire of blues classics and Green's blues-style originals, the group's debut at the British Jazz and Blues Festival in August 1967 netted it a record contract. Fleetwood Mac was popular in Britain immediately, and its debut album stayed near the top of the British chart for 13 months. The quartet had hits in the U.K. through 1970, including "Black Magic Woman" and the instrumental "Albatross" (which was Number One in 1968 and reached Number Four when rereleased in 1973). America, however, largely ignored Fleetwood Mac; its first U.S. tour had the group third-billed behind Jethro Tull and Joe Cocker, neither of whom was as popular in Britain.

Green and Spencer recorded Fleetwood Mac in Chicago with Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, and other blues patriarchs in 1969 (the LP wasn't released until 1971), yet the group was already moving away from the all-blues format. In May 1970 Green abruptly left the group to follow his ascetic religious beliefs. He stayed out of the music business until the mid-'70s, when he made two solo LPs. His departure put an end to Fleetwood Mac's blues leanings; Danny Kirwan and Christine Perfect moved the band toward leaner, more melodic rock. Perfect, who had sung with Spencer Davis in folk and jazz outfits before joining British blues-rockers Chicken Shack in 1968, had performed uncredited on parts of Then Play On, but contractual obligations to Chicken Shack kept her from joining Fleetwood Mac officially until 1971; by then she had married McVie.

Early in 1971 Spencer disappeared in L.A. and turned up as a member of a religious cult, the Children of God (later the title of a Spencer solo effort). Fleetwood Mac went through a confused period. Bob Welch joined, supplementing Kirwan's and Christine McVie's songwriting. Next Kirwan was fired and replaced by Bob Weston and Dave Walker, both of whom soon departed. Manager Clifford Davis then formed a group around Weston and Walker, called it Fleetwood Mac, and sent it on a U.S. tour. An injunction filed by the real Fleetwood Mac forced the bogus band to desist (they then formed the group Stretch), but protracted legal complications kept Fleetwood Mac from touring for most of 1974. From then until around the time of the Tusk tour in 1979–80, the band managed itself, with Mick Fleetwood taking most of the responsibility.

The group relocated to California in 1974. After Welch left to form the power trio Paris in 1975, Fleetwood Mac finally found its best-selling lineup. Producer Keith Olsen played an album he'd engineered, Buckingham-Nicks (Polydor), for Fleetwood and the McVies as a demo for his studio; Fleetwood Mac hired not only Olsen but the duo of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who had played together in the Bay Area acid-rock group Fritz from 1968 until 1972, before recording with Olsen. Fleetwood Mac now had three songwriters, Buckingham's studio craft, and an onstage focal point in Nicks, who became a late-'70s sex symbol as Fleetwood Mac (Number One, 1975) racked up 5 million in sales. The McVies divorced in 1976, and Buckingham and Nicks separated soon after, but the tensions of the two years between albums helped shape the songs on Rumours (Number One, 1977), which would sell over 17 million copies, win the Grammy for Album of the Year, and contained the 1977 hits "Go Your Own Way" (Number 10), "Dreams" (Number One), "Don't Stop" (Number Three), and "You Make Loving Fun" (Number Nine).

After touring the biggest venues around the world — with Nicks, who was prone to throat nodes, always in danger of losing her voice — Fleetwood Mac took another two years and approximately $1 million to make Tusk (Number Four, 1979), an ambitious, frequently experimental project that couldn't match its predecessors' popularity, although it still turned a modest profit and spun off a couple of hits: "Tusk" (Number Eight, 1979) and "Sara" (Number Seven, 1979). Buckingham and Mac engineer Richard Dashut also produced hit singles for John Stewart and Bob Welch. As with many bands that have overspent in the studio, Fleetwood Mac's next effort was a live double album (Number 14, 1980).

In 1980 Fleetwood and Dashut visited Ghana to record The Visitor with African musicians, and Nicks began work on her first solo LP, Bella Donna, which hit Number One and went quadruple platinum with three Top 20 singles: "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (a duet with Tom Petty), "Leather and Lace" (a duet with Don Henley), and "Edge of Seventeen (Just Like the White Winged Dove)." Late 1981 saw the release of Buckingham's solo LP, Law and Order (Number 32, 1981) and his Top 10 single "Trouble."

Fleetwood Mac's first collection of new material in three years, Mirage (Number One), was less overtly experimental and featured the 1982 hit singles "Hold Me" (written by Christine McVie about her relationship with Beach Boy Dennis Wilson) (Number Four), "Gypsy" (Number 12), and "Love in Store" (Number 22). The following year Nicks released her second solo effort, The Wild Heart, which contained "Stand Back" (Number Five). Unlike Buckingham's critically lauded but only moderately popular solo releases, Nicks' were hugely popular, with her third release, Rock a Little ("Talk to Me"), charting at Number 12. In 1984 Christine McVie released two hit singles, "Got a Hold on Me" (Number 10) and "Love Will Show Us How" (Number 30), and Buckingham released his critically acclaimed Go Insane. Under the stress of several factors — among them each member having his or her own management team, Buckingham's increasing authority in the studio, Nicks' ascent to solo stardom and chemical dependency (treated during a 1987 stint at the Betty Ford Clinic), Fleetwood's bankruptcy — the group took a hiatus, not coming back together again until 1985, when it began work on Tango in the Night. Long dissatisfied with his position in the group, Buckingham officially left the group after deciding not to tour with it to support the album. His replacements, Billy Burnette [see entry], who was a member of Fleetwood's informal side group Zoo, and Rick Vito, toured instead. While the group was at work on Tango, Nicks was also recording, working, and touring behind Rock a Little. Released in the spring in 1987, Tango quickly moved into the Top 10, bolstered by the Top 20 hits "Little Lies," "Seven Wonders," and "Everywhere."

Behind the Mask (Number 18, 1990), Fleetwood Mac's first studio album not to go platinum since 1975, came out in 1990, around which time Christine McVie and Nicks both announced they would remain in the group but no longer tour. Later that year the drummer's best-selling memoirs, Fleetwood: My Life and Adventures in Fleetwood Mac, was published.

In early 1991 Vito left the group, followed two years later by Burnette. In January 1993 Buckingham joined Fleetwood, the McVies, and Nicks to perform Bill Clinton's campaign anthem, "Don't Stop," at his presidential inaugural gala. The next month Nicks announced her departure from the group; in 1994 she released Street Angel (Number 45, 1994), her first album of new material in four years.

Two new members joined Fleetwood Mac in fall 1993: Dave Mason [see entry] and Bekka Bramlett (the daughter of Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, with whom Mason had toured before Bekka was born). Bramlett had also sung with the Zoo. After releasing Time (1995) to disappointing response, the group dissolved.

A year later, the Rumours edition of Fleetwood Mac reunited to record The Dance (Number One, 1997), a live document of an MTV concert that featured the band's greatest hits as well as four new songs. The album's release coincided with a worldwide tour — its first in 15 years — that found Fleetwood Mac's popularity undiminished as it marked the 20th anniversary of Rumours. In 1998 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where it played an acoustic set that Buckingham insisted would be its swan song. Ironically, founding member Peter Green performed as well — but with fellow inductees Santana. Taking stock of Nicks' solo highlights, Enchanted, a three-disc box set, was also released. Her 2001 release, Trouble in Shangri-La, returned her to the Top 10. Even Green enjoyed a comeback, forming the Peter Green Splinter Group and releasing a series of late-'90s albums devoted to the blues. By 2000, Fleetwood Mac had sold more than 100 million copies of its albums — including 25 million for Rumours alone — making it one of the most popular rock bands in history.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

James Taylor

Wed, 2 Dec 2009 11:07:01 -0800

A folkie with a dark past, upbeat sound and clear pop inclinations, James Taylor was the poster boy for the '70s singer-songwriter movement. He had personal or professional ties to almost all of the era's stars, including Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon -- his wife of more than a decade -- and several of his hits, including "Fire and Rain" and his cover of King's "You've Got a Friend," are definitive. Taylor came from a musical family -- three siblings were professional musicians -- and got his first break when Paul McCartney signed him to the Beatles' Apple Records in 1968. By then, he had already endured a 10-month stay in a psychiatric hospital for depression and was battling heroin addiction. That back-story colored his music. The collision of confessional songwriting and bright, catchy acoustic pop on Taylor's early records established the model for legions of folk-poppers. He continued racking up hits throughout the '70s with a combination of breezy originals and rootsy covers. The template has hardly changed in the ensuing decades, though hints of jazz and the classic pop songbook shine through on later albums. - Eric Shea

Eric Clapton

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:50 -0800

The weight of becoming a guitar god in the '60s never seemed to slow Clapton's creativity, though he has had some close calls while overcoming addiction and other tragedies. Originally lauded for his lightning-fast guitar licks, it's arguably Clapton's soulful blues playing that merits the "Clapton is God" refrain. After performing in a slew of influential and certifiably Classic Rock bands in the '60s -- and chumming around with guitar greats like Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and John McLaughlin -- Clapton launched a successful, provocative solo career, quickly finding his own voice as a singer and ballad writer. Borrowing heavily from Freddie King, Clapton's playing continues to find new styles worthy of a blues injection: he's recorded R&B crossover hits, unplugged singer-songwriter fare, and even incognito trip-hop projects (as x-sample). - Jessy Terry

Enya

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 10:13:39 -0800

After leaving her siblings' outfit Clannad, Enya (born Eithne Ni Bhraonain) enjoyed a short stint of television and film score appearances before embarking on a solo career. Produced by Nicky Ryan to accentuate her angelic, atmospheric vocal style, lush, swelling synths and minimal rhythms accompany ever so delicately as her voice crests upon lush, tearful soundscapes with astounding grace. Not necessarily pop, nor decidedly its antithesis, Enya's intensely melodic, ethereal music is downright chilling. - Kelly Bauman

Sade

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 13:20:21 -0800

Sade hit the Day-Glo mid-1980s like a cool, monochromatic breeze. The singer updated the classic continental style of Audrey Hepburn and married it with a vocal approach that was more whisper than growl. It's always worked, though, since Sade's icy vocal style brings out the stoic yet emotionally scarred nature of her well-crafted torch songs. Much of the credit goes to her ever-tight, streamlined band, who have a knack for seamlessly mixing smooth jazz and soul styles. After a fine debut and the excellent Promise (1985), her approach shifted as she began to mix overly repetitive light funk workouts with darker mood pieces; so while Stronger Than Pride and Love Deluxe each contain a bit of filler, strong tracks abound. Lover's Rock (2000) is her best since Promise, and it proves that Sade doesn't have to compete with changing fashion or styles. She is a genre of one. - Nick Dedina

Neil Diamond

Thu, 3 Dec 2009 22:54:13 -0800

OK, Neil Diamond is an easy target for parody -- voice straight outta Brooklyn, bespangled shirt straight outta Vegas. But this ex-Brill Building tunesmith crafted a batch of excellent songs during the 1960s (hits such as "Solitary Man" for himself and "I'm a Believer" for the Monkees) before emerging as a stadium superstar. His bombastic, ubermelodramatic work from the 1970s has earned him an enormous, if aging, female following who feel that Diamond tells them what their tight-lipped, big-bellied husbands never will. Today, a new generation of ironic hipster fans have swelled their ranks. Both these groups know that underneath the florid orchestrations and over-the-top emotion lies the truth. Who doesn't feel that love can go on the rocks? Who hasn't experienced a great September morning? Be it a longtime fan in too-snug polyester trousers or a smug 25-year-old in his dad's leisure suit -- both pump their fists in unison during "America." Neil Diamond, an undeserving nation thanks you for trying to put some feeling (however unsubtle) into our bored, numbed lives. - Nick Dedina

Bee Gees

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:38:30 -0800

The Bee Gees made whiney falsetto hip, wide polyester collars the height of high-rolling fashion, and defined cool for an entire generation. A '70s supergroup who actually began as a brothers act in 1959, the Bee Gees have proven remarkably versatile throughout their long career, unafraid to experiment with everything from country to R&B to straight pop balladry. They scored a number of hits during the 1960s and early '70s with shimmering hits like "I've Got to Get a Message to You" and "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart." Some of the Bee Gees' most memorable tracks stemmed from the height of the disco era, culminating in 1977's Saturday Night Fever soundtrack with tunes like "Night Fever," "How Deep is Your Love," and of course, "Stayin' Alive." Lush harmonies, symphonic arrangements, and a tendency to reinvent themselves when the going gets tough have made this band one of the longest-running pop acts around. - Sarah Bardeen

Steely Dan

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:44 -0800

In the early 1970s, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen began an extremely influential collaboration, adding jazzy harmonies and complex changes to memorable pop hooks, creating a slew of Jazz Rock classics in the process. "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," "Kid Charlemagne," and "Peg" proved their prowess as hit songwriters that defied traditional means of songwriting, adding their biting humor and subtle lyrical style. Their sound reached its crux as the pair hired top session and jazz musicians to add a polished touch. With horns by jazz veterans like Phil Woods and Wayne Shorter covering the upper ranges, guitarists Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter and Larry Carlton added pristine, jazzy guitar solos over the crisp rhythms of drummers Jeff Porcaro and Steve Gadd. Over the years Steely Dan has attracted diverse listeners, from hip-hop samplers to fans of a musically exciting, finely crafted melody - Jessy Terry

Paul McCartney

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:49 -0800

Paul McCartney's gift for light-pop songwriting has made him the most commercially successful ex-Beatle and one of the most successful songwriters of the century. He answered his critics in 1976 with the single "Silly Love Songs," one of many post-Beatles hits. If, as some critics maintain, his solo work hasn't measured up to the standards of his collaborations with John Lennon, McCartney has still shown a consistent talent for writing songs that are tuneful and popular. McCartney was also the only ex-Beatle to form a permanent working band; Wings, which he led from 1971 to 1981, recorded for more years than the Beatles. Sir Paul is the only ex-Beatle to date to have been knighted.

Paul McCartney grew up in working-class Liverpool. His father, James, led the Jim Mac Jazz Band in the 1920s. A few months after his mother, Mary, died of breast cancer in 1956, Paul bought his first guitar and learned to play. In June 1956 he met Lennon and asked to join his band, the Quarrymen; McCartney's rendition of Eddie Cochran's "Twenty Flight Rock" at a subsequent audition won him entry.

In 1963 McCartney met Jane Asher, to whom he addressed many of his best-known love songs, and on Christmas Day 1967, at a McCartney family party, he announced their engagement. But by July 1968 the engagement was off. Soon after, he met American photographer Linda Eastman, whom he married on March 12, 1969.

In April 1970, only two weeks before the scheduled release of the Beatles' Let It Be, McCartney released his first nonsoundtrack solo album — a one-man-studio-band LP recorded in Campbelltown, England, in late 1969. The double-platinum McCartney (Number One, 1970) had a pronounced homemade quality; it was spare and sounded almost unfinished, but it also contained "Maybe I'm Amazed," which became an international hit and McCartney's first post-Beatles pop standard (the Beatles had only recently disbanded as the tune became a hit). The winsome, homespun-ditty motif continued with Ram (Number Two, 1971), credited to Paul and Linda McCartney. It also inspired Lennon's "How Do You Sleep?"— a vicious, thinly veiled attack on McCartney. Meanwhile, Ram yielded two major hits in "Another Day" (Number Five, 1971) and "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey," which made Number One in America.

Later in 1971 McCartney formed Wings, which was intended as a recording and touring outfit. Along with Linda, Wings featured American session drummer Denny Seiwell and ex-Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. Wings' Wild Life, with Linda on keyboards and backup vocals, sold only moderately, failing to yield a hit single. In 1972, ex-Grease Band guitarist Henry McCullough joined. McCartney spent 1972 releasing several singles, including "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" (Number 16 U.K.) (rush-released after the January 1972 "Bloody Sunday" incident in which British soldiers killed 13 Irish civilians in Londonderry, Ireland; the song was banned by the BBC), "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (Number Nine U.K.; Number 28 U.S.) (yes, the nursery rhyme), and the hard-rocking, mildly salacious "Hi Hi Hi." Only the latter was a major U.S. hit, going to Number Ten in 1973.

Red Rose Speedway (Number One, 1973), the next Wings album, yielded a Number One hit single in the U.S. with the heavily orchestrated ballad "My Love." Also in 1973, McCartney was arrested and then released on a drug charge, and he did his own television special, which received mixed reviews in both the U.S. and the U.K. Later Wings made its first major tour of Britain and recorded the title theme song for the James Bond film Live and Let Die, which went to Number Two in the U.S. Laine released a solo album, Ahh Laine.

After Wings' U.K. tour, Seiwell and McCullough left the group. Denny Laine accompanied Paul and Linda to Nigeria to record Band on the Run. While each of the previous Wings albums had ended up going gold, Band on the Run (Number One, 1974) went triple platinum in short order and yielded two Top 10 hit singles--"Helen Wheels (Number Ten, 1974) and "Jet" (Number 7, 1974)--and the bouncy title track minisuite (Number 11, 1974). It also included McCartney's answer to Lennon's "How Do You Sleep?" in "Let Me Roll It," and featured a over photo of McCartney accompanied by such celebrities as film actors James Coburn and Christopher Lee.

McCartney formed a new Wings, recruiting guitarist Jimmy McCulloch from Thunderclap Newman and Stone the Crows, and drummer Geoff Britton, a British karate expert. They recorded "Junior's Farm" (Number Three, 1974) in Nashville in 1974 and later that year went to New Orleans (where they found new drummer Joe English) to record Venus and Mars, which yielded the Number One "Listen to What the Man Said," among other hits, and went platinum. Wings at the Speed of Sound found McCartney giving his band members a chance to compose and sing much of the material, but McCartney's own contributions were almost all hits. Two went gold: "Silly Love Songs" (Number One, 1976) and "Let 'Em In" (Number Three, 1976). Shortly after the album's release, Wings completed a world tour that had begun in Britain on September 9, 1975, and ended on October 21, 1976. The Wings Over America triple-LP live album was recorded on that tour.

In 1977 McCartney, under the pseudonym Percy Thrillington, recorded an obscure, all-instrumental version of Ram and produced Denny Laine's Holly Days, a solo album of Buddy Holly songs. A live "Maybe I'm Amazed" hit Number Ten in 1977. That year saw the release of the McCartney-Laine "Mull of Kintyre," based on a Scottish folk song, which became the first single ever to sell two million copies in Britain and was a minor hit in the U.S. as well. It was McCartney's first Britsh Number One single since he'd left the Beatles. Later that year, under the name Susie and the Red Stripes, McCartney and Wings had another minor hit single in the reggae-inflected "Seaside Woman."

After 1978's London Town, which yielded another Number One, "With a Little Luck," Jimmy McCulloch departed for the re-formed Small Faces. Back to the Egg failed to yield a hit and sold unspectacularly. In January 1979 McCartney was arrested for possession of marijuana in Tokyo at the beginning of a Japanese tour, jailed for 10 days, then freed and not prosecuted. Soon after, he and Wings embarked on a British tour, after which drummer English left. McCartney then organized the all-star benefit concerts for the people of Kampuchea and released McCartney II (Number Three, 1980), his first one-man-band album since his solo debut. It contained the Number One hit "Coming Up."

In April 1981 Denny Laine announced he was leaving Wings, the reason being McCartney's reluctance to tour because of the death threats he was receiving in the wake of John Lennon's murder. McCartney continued with the well-received Tug of War, a solo album featuring a host of guest performers (Laine, ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, Beatles producer George Martin), most notably Stevie Wonder, who sang with McCartney on the Number One hit single "Ebony and Ivory." Tug also yielded a Number 10 hit in "Take It Away." McCartney sang on Michael Jackson's "The Girl Is Mine," a Top 10 hit in 1983. Jackson returned the favor by singing on Pipes of Peace's "Say Say Say," which topped the chart later the same year.

Embittered by the 1967 sale of publishing rights to his and John Lennon's Beatles songs to British film producer Lew Grade---a sale made while the Beatles were in India with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi---McCartney has invested extensively in pop-song copyrights over the years. Among his holdings are the entire Buddy Holly catalogue, "On Wisconsin," and "Autumn Leaves." However, shortly after "Say Say Say" was a hit, McCartney advised Michael Jackson to invest in music publishing--and Jackson later bought the Northern Songs catalogue, which included all the Beatles songs McCartney had written with Lennon. McCartney never hid his anger at the move, especially when Jackson began licensing Beatles tunes for television commercials (such as "Revolution," used in a late-'80s Nike sneaker ad). McCartney later told Musician magazine that "complications with Yoko" (whose son Sean was a friend of Jackson's) had prevented him from making a competitive bid for his own songs.

In 1984 McCartney made a dramatic feature film, Give My Regards to Broad Street, set within London's music industry, which was roundly panned by critics. Its soundtrack (Number 21, 1984) consisted largely of rerecorded Beatles and McCartney hits; the album went gold, and one new track, the ballad "No More Lonely Nights," became a Number 6 pop hit. He scored a Number 7 pop hit in 1985 with the theme song to the comedy film Spies Like Us. Press to Play (Number 30, 1986) found McCartney collaborating with ex-10cc Eric Stewart; the album's only hit was "Press" (Number 21, 1986). In 1988, as a sort glasnost gesture, McCartney released an album of rock oldies exclusively on the Soviet Melodiya label under the name CHOBA B CCCP ("Back in the USSR," roughly translated). For Flowers in the Dirt (Number 21, 1989), McCartney collaborated on some songs with Elvis Costello (McCartney also cowrote and played on a couple tracks on Costello's Spike, including the hit "Veronica"). The album yielded a hit in "My Brave Face" (Number 25, 1989), but McCartney was reportedly quite disappointed that the album failed to chart higher, despite a 1989 world tour (with a band featuring ex-Pretenders guitarist Robbie McIntosh and ex-Average White Band bassist Hamish Stuart) that was documented on Tripping the Live Fantastic (Number 26, 1990).

In early 1991 McCartney became one of the first major artists to release an album from his appearance on MTV's Unplugged acoustic showcase; Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) hit Number 14. Later that year McCartney released CHOBA B CCCP in the U.S. (it reached Number 109) and unveiled his first classical work, Liverpool Oratorio (Number 177, 1991), which failed to impress classical critics. McCartney returned to pop with Off the Ground; the album entered the chart at Number 17 but dropped quickly and failed to yield a hit single. His New World tour fared better and resulted in the album Paul Is Live (Number 78, 1993). In April 1993 McCartney was joined onstage by Starr for "Hey Jude" at an all-star Earth Day concert in Los Angeles.

In 1994 McCartney quietly assumed the pseudonym the Fireman and released Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest, a techno-dance collaboration with ambient producer Youth (a second Fireman album, Rushes, came out in 1998). Executed with far less stealth was the massive Beatles Anthology project, in which he reunited with George Harrison and Ringo Starr for a documentary miniseries and three double albums of demos and live rarities (all three topped the U.S. chart). Anthology 1 and 2 each included a "new" Beatles song ("Free as a Bird," Number Six, 1995, and "Real Love," Number 11, 1996, respectively, which were built upon John Lennon demo recordings.

McCartney was knighted by the Queen of England in 1997. Later that year he released Flaming Pie (Number Two) (the title a reference to a joke Lennon told about how the Beatles got their name), which featured guest appearances by Starr, George Martin, Steve Miller, Jeff Lynne, and McCartney's son, James, on guitar. He closed out the year by releasing his second classical piece, Standing Stone (Number 194).

On April 17, 1998, McCartney lost the love of his life when Linda succumbed to breast cancer. Except for the 10 days he spent in jail in Japan, the couple had never been apart. Though her musical talent was often questioned by critics, Linda found great success as an animal-rights activist, photographer, vegetarian cookbook author, and vegan frozen-foods entrepreneur. The couple had four children: Heather (from Linda's previous marriage), Mary, Stella (who in the 2000s would become a major name in fashion design), and James. After a year of mourning, McCartney went back into Abbey Road studios with a band including Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Deep Purple's Ian Paice and recorded a number of vintage rock and roll covers. Along with three new originals, those covers made up Run Devil Run (Number 27, 1999). He celebrated its release with a one-off gig at Liverpool's Cavern Club on December 14, 1999, which was broadcast over the Internet to an audience of more than 3 million. Earlier that year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. The year 2000 saw the release of A Garland for Linda (Number Seven Classical), a benefit of modern classical pieces, including McCartney's own "Nova."

In 2001, McCartney released Driving Rain (Number 26), an often moving meditation on life as a widower dealing with new love and old memories. The new love in question was the much younger model Heather Mills, whose relationship with McCartney had gone public in 2000. They married in 2002. Also in 2001, McCartney recorded the Oscar-nominated title song from Cameron Crowe's film Vanilla Sky. He also helped organize a major benefit concert for New York victims of the September 11th attacks. McCartney, whose father was a fireman, was especially shaken by the attacks. He also played at the Concert for George in late 2002, on the anniversary of George Harrison's passing. He toured through much of 2002 and played the Super Bowl pre-game that year (and performed the halftime show in 2005). He also headlined the Glastonbury Festival in 2004.

Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (Number Six, 2005) found McCartney working with producer Nigel Godrich (Pavement, Beck, Radiohead), while 2007's Memory Almost Full (Number Three) was McCartney's first album on Hear Music, the house label of the chain coffeehouse giant Starbucks; that was followed by The McCartney Years, a triple DVD set of live performances, videos, and unreleased footage. Between albums, McCartney began acrimonious divorce proceedings with Mills, which dragged out in public for over two years.

John Denver

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 09:55:42 -0800
If thrift store record bins are any sort of barometer, it would seem that every person in America at one time owned a John Denver record. By this same logic, you can also guess to say that they all tossed them out at the same time. At some point, John Denver went from being America's most loved singer-songwriter to being the punchline on late-night talk shows. Blame it on overexposure or his constant mugging with Muppets, George Burns, and other bloodless creatures. Eventually, his humanitarian concerns took precedence over his folk/pop. The author of such heart-on-a-sleeve snapshots as "Sunshine On My Shoulder" and "Rocky Mountain High" died in a plane crash in 1997. John Denver's real name was Henry John Deutschendorf. He was raised on many Air Force bases, but always loved and championed the outdoors. - Eric Shea

Rod Stewart

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 10:13:43 -0800
Rod Stewart once sat at the right hand of nearly every critic, enjoying the fulsome praise due a rock 'n' roll wunderkind. Then came commercial success, and the critics dismissed their former fave as a trendy sellout. After an incredibly productive stint from 1960 to 1975, in which Stewart matched Faces releases with solo albums (with the Faces backing him), he left the band to explore new currents in the mainstream. From the slick soft rock of "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" to the polyester pop of "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?," Stewart openly pandered to public tastes; but to goof on "Rod the Bod" without acknowledging his important early work with the Jeff Beck Group and Faces is unfair. Recent box-set anthologies sample moments from Stewart's lengthy career, bringing them together in a convincing argument for his election into rock's elite. They remind listeners that from the down-home Folk-Rock of "Handbags and Gladrags" to the Zeppelin-esque "(I Know) I'm Losing You" and wistful pop of "Downtown Train," there is little Stewart hasn't done and done well -- with or without critics' blessings. Then, in 2002, he changed course again and cut a standards collection that became one of the biggest sellers, prompting him to release a string of "American Songbook" collections. - Chad Driscoll

Celine Dion

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:49 -0800
On the off chance you've been living in a self-dug hole since before the new millennium due to Armageddon-related jitters, Celine Dion is not just a diva -- she seems to have emerged as a Titan among divas. Since releasing her first English language recording in 1990, she's managed to give Whitney and Mariah a good scare with her remarkable vocal capabilities, while making everyone all wistful and nostalgic for a ship that sunk eons ago and becoming the first (and only) "New Streisand" to do a duet with the "Old, Original Streisand." With so many achievements under her belt in so little time, it seems likely that when the day is done, Dion may very well emerge atop the diva heap. - Kali Holloway

Phil Collins

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 09:55:35 -0800
In 1970, Phil Collins answered a "drummer wanted" ad in the back of Melody Maker magazine, auditioned at the home of Peter Gabriel's parents and joined a band called Genesis just as they emerged as one of the world's best progressive rock bands. When Gabriel quit the band in 1975, Collins became the singer, a tenure that spanned 21 years and produced many chart-topping songs, such as "Invisible Touch" and "Land of Confusion." His 1980 first solo album, Face Value, was a huge commercial success due in part to the FM radio staple "In the Air Tonight." His Grammy-winning "Against All Odds" and 1985's No Jacket Required made him a darling of the emerging MTV generation. Collins was seemingly everywhere during the 1980s.

He performed at two Live Aid concerts on the same day in 1985: London's Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia's JFK Stadium, where he drummed with a reunited Led Zeppelin. Shortly after disbanding Genesis in 1996 he formed the Phil Collins Big Band and released one record, A Hot Night in Paris. He won an Oscar in 1999 for "You'll Be in My Heart" from the Disney film Tarzan. That year, Collins appeared as himself in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. - Nate Baker

Chicago

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:50 -0800
Not to be confused with Boston or Kansas, Chicago forged a driving, horn-filled, white jazz-rock-soul sound before staggering into their later romantic ballad era, which eventually led to grizzled-geezer casino tours. Their many platinum-selling hits were catchy enough to stay in your head after just a glance at their title ("25 or 6 to 4," "Saturday in the Park," "You're the Inspiration"). - Jessy Terry

Paul Simon

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 13:21:18 -0800
After the 1970 breakup of Simon and Garfunkel [see entry], Paul Simon went on confirm his stature as a first-rate songwriter and performer. His terse, exquisitely crafted songs have drawn on early rock & roll (particularly doo-wop), reggae, salsa, jazz, gospel, blues, New Orleans, and African and South American music, in some cases presaging the conscious blending of world music into mainstream pop by over a decade. He stands apart from most folk-based singer/songwriters of his generation in that he has created a wide-ranging body of work in which the purely musical vocabulary — of style, instrumentation, and sounds — is as evocative and as expressive as his lyrics and voice.

Simon had recorded solo in England between Simon and Garfunkel's first and second albums. On his first album after their breakup, Paul Simon (Number 4, 1972), he began working from a broader stylistic palette and playing with such celebrated artists as jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli; the first single, "Mother and Child Reunion" (Number 4, 1972) was cut in Jamaica; and "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" (Number 22, 1972) showed a clear urban Latin influence. Although Simon had ventured outside the classic folk-rock idioms with Garfunkel ("Cecilia," "El Condor Paso"), as a solo artist he pursued these new directions in earnest while returning to such American genres as gospel on There Goes Rhymin' Simon (Number Two, 1973); "Loves Me Like a Rock" (Number Two) featured the venerable Dixie Hummingbirds on backup. That album also included "Kodachrome" (Number Two, 1973) and went on to sell two million copies. The next year's Live Rhymin' (Number 33, 1974) featured the Dixie Hummingbirds and the Peruvian folk group Urubama.

Despite their sometimes rocky relationship, Simon and Garfunkel never completely severed ties. They performed at a George McGovern fund-raiser in 1972 and Garfunkel was a frequent guest at Simon's concerts. In 1975 they collaborated on their first record since 1970's Bridge Over Troubled Water, the single "My Little Town" (Number Nine), which turned up on both Garfunkel's Breakaway and Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years (Number One, 1975). The latter, purportedly about the dissolution of Simon's first marriage, generated the hits "Gone at Last" (Number 23) (a duet with Phoebe Snow) and "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (Number One), and won a Grammy for Best Album of 1975.

Next Simon played a small nonsinging part in Woody Allen's Annie Hall in 1977, and started working in television, hosting Saturday Night Live and his own special. His Greatest Hits (Number 18, 1977) yielded the 1977 Number Five hit "Slip Slidin' Away." In 1980 Simon starred in One Trick Pony, for which he wrote the screenplay and soundtrack. The story of a journeyman rock & roller, Pony received mixed reviews and flopped at the box office, although the salsa-influenced "Late in the Evening" became a Number Six hit. In 1981 Simon reunited with Garfunkel again in Central Park; the concert was documented on a live album.

A year later, the pair toured together, intending to collaborate in the studio. When those plans fell through, Simon released Hearts and Bones (Number 35, 1983), the least commercially and critically successful work of his career to date. Including a collaboration with composer Philip Glass, the album failed commercially; and with the end of his second marriage, to actress Carrie Fisher, Simon reached a personal and professional low point.

Seeking inspiration, Simon traveled to South Africa in 1985 to explore its indigenous music, which he had been studying. After participating in the recording of "We Are the World," the all-star anthem for the USA for Africa hunger relief project, he began recording in Johannesburg. He emerged with Graceland, a dazzling collection influenced by South African dance music and featuring the vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo (for whom he'd later produce two albums), the Everly Brothers, and Los Lobos. Graceland scored Number Three in 1987 — a whimsical single, "You Can Call Me Al," reached Number 44 (and Number 23 in rerelease in 1987) — and won a 1988 Grammy for Album of the Year.

Recording in South Africa caused Simon to be blacklisted by the United Nations and the African National Congress (ANC) and to be picketed in concert by antiapartheid protestors. To his credit, Simon spoke at public gatherings, where he addressed his critics face to face and defended his actions, insisting that his motives in breaking the boycott on recording in South Africa were musical, not political. The UN and the ANC dropped their bans in early 1987 after Simon wrote the UN pledging to abide by the terms of their South African boycott. Simon then released a best-selling home video of the Graceland concert in Zimbabwe.

In 1990 The Rhythm of the Saints, incorporating strains of West African, Brazilian, and zydeco music, reached Number Four, and Simon and Garfunkel were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The next year, Simon hosted a free Central Park concert (at which Garfunkel was pointedly asked not to appear) that drew an estimated 750,000 people. In 1992 Simon married Edie Brickell [see entry], then the lead singer for the New Bohemians; he coproduced his wife's first solo album in 1994.

Simon performed a series of 16 concerts at the Paramount in New York City in the fall of 1993. A retrospective of his career, the concert event also included a reunion with Garfunkel. Over the years, Simon's charitable and social work has involved fundraising for Amazonian rain forest preservation, New York's homeless, and South African children. For his humanitarian efforts, the United Negro College Fund accorded him its highest honor in 1989. In 1997 Simon won an Emmy for a televised concert special (Paul Simon Special), received critical praise for the three-CD Simon and Garfunkel retrospective, Old Friends, and collaborated with Nobel Prize–winning author Derek Walcott on a Broadway musical. The show, The Capeman, based on the true-life story of a young Puerto Rican immigrant sent to jail for the murders of two Manhattan teens, failed financially. However, it received a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score written for Theater, and its accompanying CD was warmly received.

In 1999 Simon toured with Bob Dylan; the former rivals were recognized as the premier American songwriters to have emerged from the 1960s. The following year, Simon released You're the One, a solid set of songs with no overarching conceptual framework. In 2001 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist.

He penned "Father and Daughter," the Oscar-nominated theme song for The Wild Thornberrys Movie in 2002, and was one of five recipients of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors that year. In 2003, he and Garfunkel appeared together at the Grammys performing "The Sounds of Silence." The reunion was followed by a tour that fall. Two years later, all of Simon's solo albums, with extra tracks, were reissued individually and as a limited-edition boxed set. In 2006, a full six years after his previous solo album, Simon issued the aptly named Surprise, his collaboration with ambient-pop pioneer Brian Eno, followed by a solo tour. In 2007, Simon won the first Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. For the event he reunited with Garfunkel yet again, this time performing "Bridge over Troubled Water." In 2008 The Brooklyn Academy of Music presented a live retrospective of Simon's muisic entitled Hard Times: The Music of Paul Simon, a live three separate engagements with Simon and a wide-array of musicians including Hugh Masekela, Milton Nascimento, David Byrne, Grizzly Bear, and many others.

Whitney Houston

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:53 -0800
As the daughter of renowned gospel and soul singer Cissy Houston, and the cousin of Dionne Warwick, Whitney Houston was better connected than most young vocalists when she embarked on a recording career in the mid-1980s. But neither genes nor industry contacts can account for the level of superstardom to which Houston quickly ascended. Blessed with a sublimely creamy, agile voice and picture-perfect looks, she delivered the sort of buoyant dance tunes and smooth, hummable ballads that are equally at home on the pop, R&B, and Adult Contemporary charts. For years critics carped that her supple singing would be better served by more soulful, less commercially ingratiating material; when she finally did emerge with a more urban sound, the media homed in on her increasingly irresponsible personal behavior. But where America's record-buying public was concerned, Houston became a star of the highest order, one whose appeal crossed races, cultures, and generations.

As a child, Houston sang in her family's church choir. At 15 she began performing in her mother's nightclub act. While attending a Catholic high school, the lithe beauty signed with a modeling agency and posed for magazines including Glamour and Vogue. After graduating, she continued to model and sing, backing up Lou Rawls and Chaka Khan, then at 19 was spotted by Arista president Clive Davis &Number 8212; who had previously steered the careers of Warwick and Houston family friend Aretha Franklin &Number 8212; while giving a showcase in Manhattan. Davis signed Houston, and started choosing songs for her debut album, which featured duets with established stars Teddy Pendergrass (her first hit, "Hold Me") and Jermaine Jackson, and cost Arista an extraordinarily hefty sum of $250,000.

Released in 1985, Whitney Houston proved a worthwhile investment, shooting to Number One and generating the smash singles "You Give Good Love" (Number Three pop, Number One R&B, 1985), "Saving All My Love for You" (Number One pop, Number One R&B, 1985), "How Will I Know" (Number One pop, Number One R&B, 1985), and "Greatest Love of All" (Number One pop, Number Three R&B, 1986). Whitney solidified Houston's success, reaching Number One and spawning "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" (Number One pop, Number Two R&B, 1987), "Didn't We Almost Have It All" (Number One pop, Number Two R&B, 1987), "So Emotional" (Number One pop, Number Five R&B, 1987), "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" (Number One pop, Number Two R&B, 1988), and "Love Will Save the Day" (Number Nine pop, Number Five R&B, 1988). Also in 1988, Houston recorded "One Moment in Time," NBC-TV's theme song for the Summer Olympics (Number Five pop). In 1989 she teamed up with Aretha Franklin on the Number Five R&B hit "It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be."

In 1990 I'm Your Baby Tonight's title track topped the pop and R&B charts, as did "All the Man That I Need." There were more hits in 1991 — "Miracle" (Number Nine pop, Number Two R&B), "My Name Is Not Susan" (Number 20 pop, Number Eight R&B), and "I Belong to You" (Number 10 R&B) — but, peaking at Number Three, Baby proved disappointing after its predecessors. Houston bounced back in a big way, though, with the 1992 film The Bodyguard, in which she made her acting debut (as a singing star, opposite Kevin Costner), to mixed reviews and huge box office success. The movie's soundtrack — with six tracks sung by Houston — proved even more successful, hitting Number One and producing a monster single, Houston's cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" (1992), which remained at the top of the chart for an unprecedented 14 weeks, as well as a cover of Chaka Khan's 1978 hit "I'm Every Woman" (Number Four pop, Number Five R&B, 1993) and "I Have Nothing" (Number Four pop, Number Four R&B, 1993). In 1992 Houston married singer Bobby Brown; their first child, Bobbi Kristina, was born the next year.

Houston's next career move was to attempt to duplicate the success of the movie/soundtrack combination of The Bodyguard with 1995's black-female friendship film Waiting to Exhale, in which the singer costarred alongside Angela Bassett. The movie was popular with audiences, and resulted in a few more hit singles for Houston, most notably "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" (Number One pop and R&B) and a duet with CeCe Winans, "Count on Me" (Number Eight pop, Number Seven R&B, 1996). In 1996 Houston starred with Denzel Washington and Courtney B. Vance in The Preacher's Wife, a box-office disappointment whose soundtrack nevertheless gave her another charting ballad, "I Believe in You and Me" (Number Four pop, Number Four R&B).

She tried the small screen in 1997, producing and playing the Fairy Godmother to Brandy's Cinderella in a Wonderful World of Disney remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. In 1998 Houston released her first studio album since 1990, the uncharacteristic My Love Is Your Love (Number 13 pop, Number Seven R&B). Aside from a handful of ballads, including her Oscar-winning duet with fellow diva Mariah Carey, "When You Believe" (Number 15 pop, Number 33 R&B, 1998–99), from The Prince of Egypt, and the Diane Warren–penned torch song "I Learned From the Best" (Number 13 R&B, 1999), the album showcased a new, savvy street credibility that had previously come through only in Houston's later interviews and her private life with Brown. Hip-hop personalities and producers such as Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, Rodney Jerkins, Missy Elliott, and Faith Evans collaborated with the vocalist on various tracks. The public still loved the new Whitney, giving her hits with the sultry "Heartbreak Hotel" (Number Two pop, Number One R&B), the kick-him-out anthem "It's Not Right But It's Okay" (Number Four pop, Number Seven R&B, 1999), and the reggae-inflected title track (Number Four pop, Number Two R&B, 1999).

While Houston was back in the spotlight, reports of her already notorious prima donna behavior became more prevalent in 1999 and 2000: She was often hours late for interviews, photo shoots, and rehearsals; canceled concerts and talk-show appearances; and in what would be the start of a string of tabloid stories questioning her state of mind, dodged arrest for marijuana possession at a Hawaii airport in January 2000 (charges were later dismissed). In the months that followed that incident, Houston was a surprising no-show at her mentor Clive Davis' induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was allegedly booted out of Academy Awards rehearsals for an all-star tribute to Burt Bacharach. Rumors about her tumultuous marriage to Brown resurfaced, particularly when he was briefly imprisoned in mid-2000 for a parole violation. Yet Houston attempted to have the last laugh with a powerful performance at an Arista Records anniversary party that also served as a tribute to Davis, plus the release of a two-disc greatest-hits collection that equally highlighted her ballads and dance-club remixes and featured four new songs, three of which were duets with Deborah Cox, Enrique Iglesias, and George Michael

It turned out Houston had been struggling with a drug problem. After renewing her Arista contract with the biggest record deal in history ($100 million for a promise of six new albums), she performed on Michael Jackson's Thirtieth Anniversary television special looking thin and frail. The following year, Houston spoke frankly about her drug problems in a special edition of ABC's Primetime with Diane Sawyer that coincided with the release of her comeback album, Just Whitney (Number Three R&B/Hip-Hop, Number Nine pop, 2002). The album — which included production work by her husband, Missy Elliott and Babyface — was Houston's first work without the involvement of Davis. Just Whitney was not well received: critics bashed it, the singles failed to reach the Top Forty and sales of the album were lower than any of her previous works. She followed up with a holiday disc, One Wish: The Holiday Album (Number 14 R&B/Hip-Hop, Number 49 pop, 2002), which sold even fewer copies. In spring of 2004 Houston entered rehab for the first time; later that year, she toured as part of the Soul Divas along with her cousin Dionne Warwick and Natalie Cole. That September, Houston received a standing ovation when she sang a tribute to Davis at the World Music Awards. She and Davis subsequently announced they would be working together on a new album, although as of 2008 their plans had not yet materialized. Houston returned to rehab in 2005 and the following year filed for divorce from Brown (after some of the couple's trails and travails were aired on the MTV reality show "Being Bobby Brown" in 2005). In 2007 Davis reiterated that the two were working on a new album and had lined up a string of hip producers including John Legend and will.i.am. That April Houston's divorce from Brown was finalized with her winning sole custody of the couple's daughter. In December 2007 an apparently sober Houston performed an entire show before a crowd of 10,000 at the Live and Loud Festival in Malaysia.

Cat Stevens

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 09:47:17 -0800
For the balance of the 1970s Cat Stevens was a trans-Atlantic superstar whose soft, romantic, hooky, and often-mystical singles were Top Ten mainstays. After eight gold albums in a row, the commercially and critically lauder singer/songwriter's star began to fade. By the late-1970s, following a near-drowning experience, Stevens converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusef Islam dropping out of music throughout the 1980s and most of the 1990s. By the turn of the millennium, however, he began to make a comeback albeit under a different persona.

The son of a Greek father and Swedish mother, Stevens (b. Steven Demetri Georgiou, Jul 21, 1947, London, Eng.) spent his early youth developing a love of Greek folk songs and dances. By the time he entered secondary school, he had also taken an interest in rock and roll and English and American folk music. While attending Hammersmith College in the mid-1960s, he began writing his own songs and performing solo.

In 1966 independent producer Mike Hurst (formerly with the Springfields) produced Stevens' first U.K. hit single, "I Love My Dog." In 1967 "Matthew and Son" went to Number Two on the British chart. Meanwhile, Stevens' tunes were British hits for other performers as well. P.P. Arnold hit with "The First Cut Is the Deepest" (later covered by Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow), the Tremeloes with "Here Comes My Baby." Stevens toured England and Europe, becoming something of a teen idol, and shared bills with Jimi Hendrix and Engelbert Humperdinck, among others.

But Stevens became disenchanted with what he considered the shallowness of his ventures. After his 1968 hit "I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun" (Number Six U.K.), he tried to work ambitious classical arrangements into his tunes, to his producers' chagrin. Stevens' career then came to a standstill when he contracted a near-fatal case of tuberculosis in late 1968 and was confined to a hospital for a year. He took that time to work on his new material, which was unveiled in Mona Bone Jakon, a critical success that yielded a British hit single in "Lady D'Arbanville" (Number Eight U.K., 1970) (purportedly about the actress Patti D'Arbanville). The muted accompaniment was by flutist Peter Gabriel (who would soon find his own fame in Genesis), percussionist Harvey Burns, and perennial Stevens collaborator guitarist Alun Davies.

Stevens' next album, Tea for the Tillerman, hit the U.S. Top Ten and stayed on the charts for well over a year, yielding the hit "Wild World." Stevens was now a highly successful concert performer as well. The next album was another hit; Teaser and the Firecat went to Number Three, then gold, and contained the hits "Morning Has Broken" (Number Six), "Peace Train" (Number Seven), and "Moon Shadow" (Number 30). Though Catch Bull at Four and Foreigner were also certified gold, they yielded no big hits. At that time, unbeknownst to many of his fans, Stevens was living in Brazil, donating much of his earnings to charities such as UNESCO. With Buddah and the Chocolate Box, featuring "Oh Very Young" (Number 10), and Numbers, Stevens' sales dropped off.

In 1975 Stevens began studying the Koran and later converted to the Muslim religion. In late 1981 the rechristened Stevens announced, "I'm no longer seeking applause and fame," and auctioned off all his material possessions, including his gold records. By then he had married Fouzia Ali; as of the late 1980s, they had five children, and he was running a Muslim school outside London. In 1987 10,000 Maniacs covered "Peace Train," and the following year Maxi Priest hit the U.K. Top Ten with a version of "Wild World." What might have grown into a Stevens revival, however, was nipped in 1989, when the media reported that the singer allegedly supported Iran's death-sentence condemnation of Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie, whose book had supposedly blasphemed the Muslim faith (Stevens claims he was misinterpreted). American radio stations observed an airplay boycott of Stevens' material; 10,000 Maniacs removed "Peace Train" from later pressings of the album on which it appeared.

In the mid-'90s Yusef Islam founded his own label, Mountain of Light, on which he released spoken-word albums. The albums A Is for Allah (2000) and I Look, I See (2003) contain songs for children in addition to spoken pieces. He followed those with the concert disc A Night of Remembrance: Live at the Royal Albert Hall. In 2000 Islam, who has supported humanitarian efforts in Bosnia, oversaw the release of a Stevens retrospective and began to resurface in the music press, claiming to have been unfairly vilified and misquoted about the Rushdie incident. Twenty-eight years after he left the major-label pop world as Cat Stevens, he returned on Atlantic Records as Yusef Islam with An Other Cup (Number 52, 2006), a set of folk-pop songs that hearkened back to his pop-star days but with clear religious messages. He continues to release religious albums and music for children independently.

Sara Bareilles

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:05:22 -0800
Sara Bareilles (pronounced bar-rell-is) is a singer and songwriter from Eureka, Calif., who grew up singing in the high school choir and playing piano. After gigging around Los Angeles' open mic circuit as a student at UCLA, she caught the eye of Epic and signed her first major record contract in April 2005. Bareilles spent the next year working out a set of piano-based rockers that might sound at home filed next to Regina Spektor. These would make their way to Bareilles' 2007 debut Little Voice, produced by Eric Rosse (best known for his long association with Tori Amos). The album enjoyed wide distribution, in part because it was as a song-of-the-day selection for Starbucks, a Seattle-based coffee franchise. - Nate Cavalieri

Adele

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 09:55:40 -0800
British soul-pop chanteuse Adele (nee Adele Laurie Blue Adkins) is a stunning young talent with a huge voice. After she recorded a few songs, a friend set up a MySpace page for her in early 2005; record execs discovered her there in their hunt for the "next Lily Allen." After signing to XL, she suffered from a terribly ill-timed case of writer's block -- that is until she fell in and out of love. A breakup opened the floodgates of emotion and creativity, resulting in her debut album 19. Inspired by great soul dames like Etta James and Billie Holiday and other singers such as Bjork, Jeff Buckley, Dusty Springfield and Jill Scott, Adele's sense of staggering, heartbreaking honesty and artistry are evidence of her superwoman resilience and everywoman experiences. - Angela Bruno

Leonard Cohen

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:56 -0800
It's hard to think of another artist who cares so little for or about pop music yet who has changed it, and influenced its practitioners, so profoundly as Leonard Cohen. One of the most original, compelling, and covered songwriters of the rock era, Leonard Cohen has slowly transitioned from a singer of elegantly spare folk dirges to a whisky-voiced smooth talker on elegantly spare electro-acoustic percolations. From the beginning, the smartly tailored Montreal native has seemed like an outsider and an elder statesman in the music world. A teenage flirtation with the beatnik jazz/folk scene led Cohen to a highly successful (but oddly forgotten) career as a countercultural poet and fiction writer. At the same time, singers started taking notice of Cohen's bohemian (but decidedly non-youth revolution) tunes and his most heralded composition, "Suzanne" was widely known before he even had a recording contract. In 1968, his striking debut album Songs of Leonard Cohen showcased "Suzanne" and nine other of his world-weary and bleak, yet highly romantic songs. The album wasn't a huge success but -- as with the Velvet Underground's debut record or Van Morrison's Astral Weeks -- a new cadre of rain-coated skeptics kept purchasing the album every year until it finally reached gold sales status. Each of the excellent collections leading up to 1975's Best of Leonard Cohen are filled with the tunesmith's circular guitar patterns and nicotine-stained tales of small hopes and shell-shocked heartbreaks. Songs such as "Bird On A Wire," "Famous Blue Raincoat" and "Chelsea Hotel" would've made his reputation for the rest of his life but Cohen was slowly moving away from his stark, "just the facts, Ma'am" studio sound. In 1977, he teamed up with the wild-eyed production guru Phil Spector for Death of a Ladies Man, an uneasy listening concept album about the sexual revolution turning into a war of the sexes. It bombed yet somehow only gets more disturbing and more realized as the years pass. Cohen slowed down after this, taking big breaks between projects, then oddly began embracing synthesizers and Greek chorus-style backing vocalists on 1985's lovely Various Positions. As fresh and different as this album was, 1988's more outrÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ© I'm Your Man turned out to be a career rebirth and reintroduced the artist to the public. From here on out, Cohen no longer lived in the trenches, choosing to alternate his song guises between being an older, but wiser fool for love and an Old Testament God who forgoes fury and punishment for dispensations of charity and understanding. Cohen greeted the 1990s with a new fan base, the stunning actress Rebecca De Mornay on his arm, and a lingering bout of depression. In a plot twist that sounds like something out of a Leonard Cohen tune, the songwriter left the good life, spent most of the decade in hard labor at a Buddhist monastery and then came down from the mountain because he still craved female companionship. Cohen's Ten New Songs (2001) greeted the new millennium with typical understatement. The album lets anyone who cares to listen know that all the epic follies and romantic glories of the past century would be repeated in the new one. - Nick Dedina

Hall & Oates

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 13:21:21 -0800
There was a time in the early 1980s when the breezy pop of Hall and Oates was inescapable. Next to The Righteous Brothers, the duo is probably the most famous Blue-Eyed Soul group in the world. They hold the record for most Top-40 hits as a duo with twenty-nine -- as many as the number of years the group has been around. The band started in the late 1960s in Philadelphia with a sound that drew from folk and rock, but especially from Soul, particularly from the sounds of Gamble and Huff's Philly International Records. Based around Daryl Hall's sweet expressive tenor and John Oates' backup vocals and guitar work, their early hits "She's Gone" and "Sarah Smile" didn't give any real indication of the chart dominance the band would have begin in 1980 when their album Voices started a string of hits that didn't diminish for another five years. - Tom Heyman

Lionel Richie

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:24:59 -0800
Whether singing solo or with the Commodores, Lionel Richie has a warm and instantly recognizable voice that's known mostly for romantic ballads along the lines of "Truly," "Endless Love" and "Hello." His consecutive string of hits (nine years straight authoring at least one No. 1 single) remains a pop phenomenon challenged only by songwriter Irving Berlin and singer Mariah Carey. After releasing several hugely successful solo albums in the 1980s, Richie kept a low profile for most of the '90s before attempting a comeback of sorts with the '98 album Time, and again with Renaissance in '01, though neither album ignited much interest from the public. - Linda Ryan

Genesis

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:46 -0800
The continual evolution of Genesis helps distinguish them from their Prog Rock contemporaries. Love them or hate them, this band is nothing if not multi-faceted. Original vocalist Peter Gabriel began to innovatively flex his lyrical and performance muscle on such early '70s albums as Foxtrot and Selling England by the Pound. In concert, allegedly to combat shyness, he would wear masks and make-up, use props, and tell stories. Gabriel ended his relationship with the band in 1975, following the release of the incredibly ambitious double album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. When drummer Phil Collins took over vocal duties, Genesis grew to be one of the biggest-selling acts of the '80s, slowly shifting away from art rock and toward highly-produced, pop-oriented fare designed for mass consumption. Genesis still march on today with another singer in tow (Ray Wilson) and compilation releases of rarities and previously unavailable material. - Will Lerner

George Michael

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 09:55:35 -0800
Few could have guessed the transition from teenybopper idol to serious singer/songwriter would go as smoothly as it did for George Michael, who became famous as half of the British pop duo Wham! before ascending to pop superstardom with his solo debut, Faith. Whereas in Wham! Michael used his cherubic good looks and uncanny knack for a melodic hook to create ingratiating but disposable pop, his solo work reveals an earnest effort to achieve deeper musical and emotional resonance. His radiant ballads, insidious dance tracks, and blue-eyed soul singing established him as a top international artist.

Michael's popularity never waned in the U.K. — all of his albums have reached either Number One or Number Two on the album charts there — but subsequent efforts have been able to match his early solo successes in the U.S. Michael's first post-Wham! outing was "I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)," a duet with Aretha Franklin that hit Number One in 1987 and earned Michael a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo. Shortly afterward, Michael released the funky first single off Faith, "I Want Your Sex," which, bolstered by a sexy video, quickly soared to Number Two. The album would eventually spin off four Number One hits: "Faith" (1987), the shimmering "Father Figure" (1988), the romantic ballad "One More Try" (1988), and "Monkey" (1988). "Kissing a Fool" hit Number Five, further boosting the 14 million–selling Faith. 1988's smash album and Grammy winner for Album of the Year.

In his videos and media appearances, Michael cultivated a sex-symbol image, albeit a more rugged — leather, chin stubble, sneer — and mature one than he had nurtured in Wham! But with the release of his second solo effort, Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1, in 1990, Michael surprised fans and industry insiders by shunning the press and saying that he wouldn't make videos. The album peaked at Number Two nonetheless, and there was a chart-topping hit, the somber "Praying for Time" (Number One, 1990). The danceable second single, "Freedom 90" — whose lyrics spelled out Michael's decision to abandon his rock-star persona — went to Number Eight (1990) and was made into a video, albeit without Michael's presence. (Instead, a bevy of supermodels lip-synched his vocals.) In late 1991 Michael was back on the charts with a Number One version of Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," recorded live with John.

A year later, Michael announced that he would take legal action to terminate his contract with Sony Music, the corporation that took over his label, Columbia Records. He charged that Sony, still wishing to package Michael as a sex symbol, lacked respect for his artistic expression and that it only halfheartedly supported his projects benefiting AIDS research and prevention, among them his duet with Elton John and his three-track contribution to a compilation album called Red Hot + Dance. In 1993, Sony grudgingly granted Hollywood Records permission to release Five Live, an EP of two cover songs performed by Michael on his 1991–92 tour and three from his appearance at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert in 1992, during which he sang Queen songs with surviving members of that band. All proceeds from the record went to the Phoenix Trust, an AIDS charity set up in Mercury's memory.

In June 1994 a London court rejected Michael's claim that his contract with Sony amounted to "restraint of trade" and upheld the $12 million contract the singer had signed with the company in 1988. At the time, Michael owed the label six more albums on a contract that could run to 2003. Two months later, Michael filed an appeal of the verdict. As the legal battle continued, Michael was unable to release new product. Under a special arrangement, however, Michael performed his song "Jesus to a Child" on television as part of an annual appeal to raise funds for needy children. After hearing the six-minute song, listeners pledged $32,000 to the charity.

In 1995, though Michael lost the appeal he filed, he signed new contracts with DreamWorks in the U.S. and Virgin in the rest of the world. He released his first album of new material in six years, Older, in 1996 (Number Six), featuring "Jesus to a Child" (Number Seven) and the dance track "Fastlove" (Number Eight), but the release sold just 900,000 copies in the U.S.

Michael's profile was heightened again in 1998, but for a more notorious reason: In April of that year, he was arrested for lewd conduct in the men's room of a public park in Beverly Hills. Michael subsequently outted himself on CNN, and though the court fined him and ordered him to perform community service, he seemed somewhat relieved to reveal the truth to the media and his fans. That fall, he even set the scene for his video for "Outside" (one of two new songs from Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael) in a public restroom; it featured dancing men dressed in leather and male actors portraying police officers kissing. Unfortunately, this was no joke to Michael's real-life arresting officer, who filed a lawsuit against him, claiming slander; the judge dismissed the case.

In late 1999 Michael put the embarrassing events of the previous year behind him with the release of Songs From the Last Century, an album of cover songs co-produced by Phil Ramone that ran the gamut from the Depression-era "Brother Can You Spare a Dime" to the Police's "Roxanne." In 2000 Michael participated in Equality Rocks, a concert in Washington, DC, organized by the Human Rights Campaign that highlighted the issue of gay rights.

Michael's next studio album, Patience (Number 12, 2004), achieved mild chart success overseas, but achieved its greatest notoriety in the U.S. with the inclusion of "Shoot the Dog," a tepid dance track whose video poked fun at Tony Blair and George H.W. Bush. A double-disc best-of, Twenty Five, followed in 2006. That same year, Michael launched an extensive European tour, his first in fifteen years. In September of 2008 Michael was again arrested in a public lavatory in London's Hampstead Heath area for drug possession. In a statement, an embarrassed Michael said: "I want to apologize to my fans for screwing up again, and to promise them I'll sort myself out. And to say sorry to everybody else, just for boring them."

Barbra Streisand

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 09:55:36 -0800
Want to start a heated debate at any party? Just mention the name Barbra Streisand. An amazingly gifted vocalist who doesn't always know when to quit, "Babs" is one of the few classic pop singers to come of age in the post-Elvis era. Already a great singer, Broadway propelled her to stardom and a highly successful recording career. Alas, the girl who dazzled the nation with her heartbreakingly sad take on "Happy Days Are Here Again" (from her 1963 debut) grew up to be the hurricane that spawned such bombastic storms as Celine Dion and Mariah Carey. Meanwhile, the streetwise Brooklynite who flirtatiously ate a carrot like Bugs Bunny in What's Up Doc aged into the auteur who gave a supporting role to her fingernails in The Prince of Tides. If the cool mod chick with the purest pipes since Ella Fitzgerald evolved into an "artiste" with a questionable perm, at least Babs has always followed her own path. She remains an American institution who has won Oscars, Grammies, and countless Emmys and has also become a subcultural icon. Streisand was championed in the 1960s as the first female sex symbol with a shnozola and is now feted by the gay community. - Nick Dedina

Luther Vandross

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:44 -0800
The 1980s were a period of unchecked greed and decadence, when the world donned rose-colored glasses that filtered out the homeless and made the hole in the ozone layer seem patched. All those good feelings and denial of social woes meant that romance was back in style, and while the glasses clinked and millionaires' bankrolls flourished, so too did music to love by. Luther Vandross was the primary voice who provided the soundtrack for romantic rendezvous in the Reagan era, and by the mid-1980s, merely mentioning his name conjured up images of happy couples sipping Merlot in dimly lit rooms and chuckling at inside jokes -- and, alternately, jilted lovers consoling themselves. Blessed with a voice that was warm and soulful, Vandross' songs dripped with romance, promised love on the horizon, or turned a teary eye towards duos fading into solitude. When things came crashing in and bleak reality reared its ugly head in the mid-1990s, florid R&B gave way to less sentimental music . Even so, Vandross could always be counted on as the perfect complement to a night spent with a "friend" or the first few nights spent sleeping alone. He passed away on July 2, 2005, at the age of 54.

Bryan Adams

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 09:55:43 -0800
With his sandy vocals and blue-collar songwriting skills, crafty Canadian hitmaker Bryan Adams' pop-friendly take on rock 'n' roll basics found a niche that lasted through much of the 1980s and into the early '90s. Just about anyone who turned on a radio during those years will remember songs like "Cuts Like a Knife," "Summer of '69," and "Run to You." He remains active today, working the ballad territory that yielded the 1991 mega-hit "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You." - Will York

Faith Hill

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:48 -0800
The other half of new country's First Family (she's married to Tim McGraw), Faith Hill has been a star in her own right since the million-selling smash "Wild One" in 1993. She is a direct descendant of the Reba McEntire school of blending traditional styles with pop-oriented hooks and backing. With big-budget production and an angelic voice, she sings crossover-prone new country with the poise and assurance of a bona-fide star with staying power. - Eric Shea

Shania Twain

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 09:55:41 -0800
In the mid-1990s, Shania Twain put the whammy on the country music industry with a string of chart-busting hits -- which sounded more like stadium rock than Country Pop -- and a brazenly sexy image. Much to the chagrin of more traditional-minded critics, Twain broke sales records and paved the way for such stars as Jo Dee Messina and the Dixie Chicks. She remains a major figure on the scene, with a second CMA award-winning album and a reworking of her red hot image, which de-emphasizes sex appeal and focuses on female empowerment in a male-dominated industry. Retaining the loud guitars and anthemic quality of The Woman in Me (1997), Shania's more recent work still appeals to the crossover market she tore open, but she sometimes still makes concessions to the naysayers of yesterday with a stronger twang in her voice and more overtly countrified melodies. - Eric Shea

Joe Cocker

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 09:47:22 -0800
British white-soul singer Joe Cocker parlayed Ray Charles–ish vocals and an eccentric stage presence into a string of late-'60s hits only to suffer from his excesses in drugs and alcohol by the mid-'70s. In the '80s and '90s, however, he went from tragic figure to well-respected interpreter, and his gritty, powerful voice remains one of the most distinctive in rock & roll.

Cocker attended Sheffield Central Technical School and worked as a gas fitter for the East Midlands Gas Board. In 1959 he joined his first group, the Cavaliers, playing drums and harmonica. He moved to lead vocals in 1961, and the band changed its name to Vance Arnold (Cocker) and the Avengers. They released regional singles and toured locally with the Hollies and the Rolling Stones. Decca offered Cocker a contract in 1964, and he took a six-month leave of absence from the gas company. Cocker's version of the Beatles' "I'll Cry Instead" (which he hated so much that he refused to sing it onstage) and an English tour opening for Manfred Mann were ignored, and he went back to his day job.

The following year Cocker and keyboardist Chris Stainton assembled the Grease Band with guitarists Henry McCullough and Alan Spenner and two other musicians. They played Motown covers in northern England pubs until 1967, when producer Denny Cordell became Cocker's manager and persuaded him and the band to move to London. A Cocker-Stainton song, "Marjorine," became a minor British hit, and after some exposure in London, Cocker and the Grease Band recorded With a Little Help From My Friends in 1968 with guests Jimmy Page, Steve Winwood, and others. The title track, one of many cover versions Cocker would record over his career, went to Number One in En¬gland and Number 68 in the U.S. His explosive performance of the song at Woodstock was a festival highlight, and his habit of wildly flailing his arms as he sang became as much a rock archetype as Pete Townshend's windmill. When Cocker sang Traffic's "Feelin' Alright" on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969, the program's producer hid him behind a group of dancers—shades of Elvis Presley and his wiggling hips.

During the U.S. tour, Cocker met Leon Russell, who wrote "Delta Lady" and coproduced Joe Cocker!, the Grease Band's swan song. Russell also pulled together the assemblage of musicians, hangers-on, and animals for the boisterous Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour Cocker made in 1970, resulting in a Number Two live double album that yielded a pair of hits — "The Letter" (Number Seven, 1970) and "Cry Me a River" (Number 11, 1970) — and a film. But the tour left Cocker broke and ill. On a 1972 tour, with Stainton again leading the band, Cocker was often too drunk to remember lyrics and to hold down food, although material from that tour was released in 1976 as Live in L.A. Cocker toured Britain and then Australia, where he was arrested for possession of marijuana.

At the height of his troubles, Cocker had one of the biggest hits of his career, the achingly tender modern standard "You Are So Beautiful" (Number Five, 1975), written by Billy Preston. He recorded regularly throughout the '70s, but without much success. In 1976 he sang on TV's Saturday Night Live, with comedian John Belushi doing a deadly accurate parody behind him. Given Cocker's state at the time, it seemed more cruel than funny.

Cocker's career turned around in 1982. A duet with Jennifer Warnes, "Up Where We Belong," from the movie An Officer and a Gentleman, hit Number One. Since then, several other Cocker songs have graced films, including his version of Randy Newman's "You Can Leave Your Hat On" (9 1⁄2 Weeks, 1986) and "When the Night Comes" (An Innocent Man, 1990). The latter, a dramatic hard-rock ballad cowritten by Bryan Adams, hit Number 11 in 1990.

Cocker, who moved to Colorado in 1991, continues to record and tour — sometimes accompanied by old friend Chris Stainton — and remains a popular live attraction in Europe. His 1994 album, Have a Little Faith, hit the U.K. Top 10, and at the request of his German label he revisited several songs from his own catalogue, including "You Are So Beautiful" and "Delta Lady," on 1996's Don Was–produced Organic.

Paolo Nutini

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:50 -0800
Judging by his name, he should be from Italy. Judging by his sound, he should be from Southern California. Judging by his looks, he should be from North Hottieland. But blue-eyed soul sensation Paolo Nutini came from humble origins in Paisley, Scotland. The former fry cook got his start in the biz as a roadie for a friend's band. His break came in early '03 when he won a pop quiz and the chance to open for TV-approved singer/songwriter David Sneddon. Nutini -- only 17 at the time -- quickly picked up a manager, garnered buzz from local press, and moved to London to get serious with his music. He singed to Atlantic and released a debut album, These Streets, which hit UK charts at No. 3 and was released to great hype in the US in early '07. Around the same time, Nutini was nominated for a Brit Award for Best British Male Performer. - Jonathan Zwickel

Matt Nathanson

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:52:06 -0800
Too aggressive to be lumped in with today's folk-inflected singer-songwriter scene, Matt Nathanson is a maverick performer/songwriter whose material runs the gamut from arresting solo confessionals to full-band acoustic assaults. Nathanson's expressive voice competes for attention with his omnipresent 12-string guitar, while his most intense work has pioneered a new human emotion informally called "craffing" -- a swirling combination of crying and laughing which often leaves the listener exhausted yet, ultimately, rewarded. - Charles Hodgkins

Linda Ronstadt

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 09:47:08 -0800
Though she started out as part of the California Country Rock and Folk Rock movement, Linda Ronstadt is one of the few modern singers whose career has been closer to classic pop vocalists - she doesn't succeed at every style she attempts, but that hasn't stopped her from exploring new avenues. Full of top session players, her '70s albums slowly shifted from rootsy folk and slick country to '50s rock and R&B to New Wave. Once Ronstadt helped break Elvis Costello and Warren Zevon to the general public, she recorded three albums of standards with famed arranger Nelson Riddle. Though she has a beautiful voice, Ronstadt doesn't really have a natural feel for jazz influenced material and she is more suited to Mexican mariachi, American country, and upscale Adult Contemporary. While you await her Death Metal phase, check out her Trio recordings with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton; they are essential listening for fans of any kind of music. - Nick Dedina

Kenny Loggins

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:44 -0800
Long before he wrote songs for movies about an elite school of U.S. Naval Avation cadets, country club golfing hijinks or small towns that outlawed teenage dancing, Kenny Loggins was a full-blown country rocker. In fact, in the 1970s he wrote songs for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. These twangy ditties caught the ear of Poco's Jim Messina, and the two formed Loggins & Messina. They cranked out a few country-tinged soft rock albums before disbanding in 1976, leaving Loggins to a life of writing and recording songs for movies and his solo albums (which are admirable works in their own right). - Eric Shea

The Carpenters

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:49 -0800
A popular brother-and-sister team, the Carpenters sold millions of hit records in the early '70s. Richard started taking piano lessons at age 12 and studied classical piano at Yale before the family relocated to Downey, California, in 1963. Richard studied at USC and Cal State at Long Beach. He formed his first group in 1965, a jazz-pop instrumental trio that included younger sister Karen on drums and their friend Wes Jacobs (who later abandoned pop for a seat in the Detroit Symphony) on bass and tuba. The group won a battle of the bands at the Hollywood Bowl and subsequently signed with RCA. Four sides were recorded, but after label executives deemed them not commercially viable, they were never released. In late 1966 the trio broke up. Richard and Karen recruited four Cal State students into the vocal harmony-oriented band Spectrum. They played various Southern California venues to less than ecstatic response and disbanded.

The Carpenter siblings' densely layered, pop-oriented demo tapes eventually caught the attention of Herb Alpert, who signed them to A&M in 1969. They released their first album that November. Originally titled Offering, it was ignored until it was repackaged as Ticket to Ride, on the strength of the moderate success of their Beatles-cover single. Close to You's title track, a Burt Bacharach tune, sold more than a million copies and went to Number One in the U.S. and several other countries. Their hits continued: "We've Only Just Begun" (Number Two, 1970), "For All We Know" (Number Three, 1971; it won an Oscar for Best Song in 1970), "Rainy Days and Mondays" (Number Two, 1971), "Superstar" (Number Two, 1971; written by Leon Russell), "It's Going to Take Some Time" (Number 12, 1972), "Hurting Each Other" (Number Two, 1972), "Goodbye to Love" (Number Seven, 1972), "Sing" (Number Three, 1973), "Yesterday Once More" (Number Two, 1973), "Top of the World" (Number One, 1973), "Won't Last a Day Without You" (Number 11, 1974), "Please Mr. Postman" (Number One, 1975), and "Only Yesterday" (Number Four, 1975).

The 1973 LP The Singles 1969–1973 was a bestseller, and the Carpenters were three-time Grammy winners. They hosted a short-lived variety series, Make Your Own Kind of Music, on NBC in 1971. At the request of President Nixon, they performed at a White House state dinner honoring West German Chancellor Willy Brandt on May 1, 1973. They toured internationally through the mid-'70s. Their 1976 tour of Japan was, at the time, the biggest-grossing concert ever in that country. From 1976 to 1980 the pair hosted five ABC television specials. Through the late '70s the Carpenters were noticeably absent from the charts, but returned to the Top 20 in 1981 with "Touch Me When We're Dancing."

On February 4, 1983, Karen Carpenter died in her parents' home of cardiac arrest, resulting from her long struggle with anorexia nervosa. Her story was presented in the highly rated made-for-television movie The Karen Carpenter Story in 1988. The posthumous LP Lovelines drew critical notice for its inclusion of four tracks Karen had recorded for an unreleased 1980 solo album. Richard's solo effort, Time, featured duets with Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield yet failed to chart. The followup merely features easy-listening, instrumental revisions of various Carpenters songs.

With time, the duo's saccharine image has receded somewhat, and Karen Carpenter is acknowledged by women rock musicians, including Chrissie Hynde and Madonna, as a pioneer. Sonic Youth, Sheryl Crow, Matthew Sweet, Cracker, and the Cranberries were among the fourteen acts who contributed to the 1994 Carpenters tribute album If I Were a Carpenter. Around the same time that fall, the Karen and Richard Carpenter Performing Arts Center at Cal State University opened in Long Beach, California. Karen Carpenter's eponymous solo debut, recorded in 1979 and 1980 but unreleased until 1996, continued to keep her memory alive. The somewhat mature — but hardly edgy — album found her experimenting with disco and mildly suggestive lyrics.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

Boyz II Men

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:48 -0800
With their early 1990s hit "Motownphilly," Boyz II Men assured their status as big-time chart-toppers, able to control the No. 1 spot for weeks at a time (often only to be replaced by another one of their singles). Their tight harmonies give a nod to the Doo-Wop artists of the 1950s, while crisp production assures a distinctly modern sound. They've had success with smoking R&B dance tracks, but their true talent lies in their rendering of syrupy romantic ballads that can drive just about anyone to tears. Their perfect A Cappella songs can melt your heart like butter, moving through open chords with exacting precision. Scores of weak imitations later, Boyz II Men continue to sell millions of records as they work with hot producers like Babyface and superstar singers such as Mariah Carey. - Jessy Terry

Barry Manilow

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:56 -0800
Barry Manilow's recordings no longer top the charts the way they did throughout the 1970s but he still commands a large, loyal following. A low-key, honestly humble man who can transform into a dynamic performer, Manilow's ability to marry classic pop and Swing with Soft Rock while respecting each form is commendable. Manilow's fall in the pop charts made him take more artistic chances, and while he doesn't always succeed, his choices are never expected. Manilow started out as a behind-the-scenes jingle writer and one of his best moves was to pen a number of melodies to newly discovered Johnny Mercer songs. A true gentleman, he had jazz singer Nancy Wilson record them and the tune "When October Comes" (which Barry crooned on his album 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe) in 1984. - Nick Dedina

The Cranberries

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 12:47:31 -0800
The success of the Cranberries' 1993 single "Linger" was certainly the result of their near-flawless sound. One listen to Dolores O'Riordan's voice -- an intense, piercing wail that soars emotively or shifts, at note's end, to a keen yelp -- and anyone within earshot is transfixed. Combined with the band's shimmering, folk-influenced guitar pop and excellent studio production, the Cranberries' popularity and chart success seems only logical. The singles that followed "Linger," "Zombie" and "Ode to My Family," both soared up the American and U.K. charts, resulting in multiplatinum album sales. By the time of their third LP, To the Faithful Departed, the band were already a household name on both sides of the Atlantic.

America

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:38:24 -0800
With hits like "Ventura Highway" and "A Horse With No Name," America took the California sound to new plateaus in the 1970s and '80s. Even with the innovative and pristine production of Elliott Shiner (who also produced Randy Newman) and Phil Galdston (Jill Sobule, Vanessa Williams), the folk-rock band still made the kind of free and easy music that rocked dads' leather-craft night classes and your moms' latch-hook rug-making parties. Their albums' popularity trickled off as the '80s progressed, possibly owing to the band's shift from a rootsier, Neil Young-influenced sound to more polished soft rock (complete with synthesizers), but the tours, live albums and greatest-hits collections continued to flow. In 2007, with younger, hipper listeners finding a new appreciation for lite-FM sounds of the '70s and '80s, the band reasserted its relevance with Here & Now, a double album produced by Smashing Pumpkins' James Iha and Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger, featuring appearances by Bryan Adams and Ben Kweller, along with covers of songs by Nada Surf and My Morning Jacket. - Eric Shea

Gordon Lightfoot

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 09:55:42 -0800
Melancholy folk-rock minstrel Gordon Lightfoot is one of Canada's proudest exports, with a prodigious career spanning over six decades, including seven Grammy nominations, 17 Juno Awards, and a number of prestigious accolades, among them the Order of Canada in 1970 and the Governor's Performing Arts Award in 1997 - the highest official honor, conferred on the very few (Joni Mitchell is also a recipient). The singer began his long career at a remarkably early age, cutting his first record at the age of 10 in a single take, with his sister Bev as his accompanist. His first brush with fame occurred shortly after when the principal of his elementary school played the disc over the school's PA on Parent's Day. Lightfoot never looked back, forging his storied career first as choral performer and dancer on the CBC's Country Hoedown for two years, before drumming for a revue dubbed Up Tempo '61, under the unexpected pseudonym Charles Sullivan. But his anonymity didn't last long. "Remember Me (I'm The One)," which he recorded as a member of the folk duo Two Tones with partner Terry Whelan, climbed up the Canadian charts and reached a respectable No. 10, and in 1964, he was "discovered" by popular folk duo Ian & Sylvia at Steele's Tavern in Toronto. They were wowed by his weathered voice and sparse, striking arrangements, and recorded some of the young artist's songs, which led Bob Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman, to sign him. Lightfoot performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, that seminal day when Dylan -- a life-long friend who wrote in the liner notes to his own Biograph box set: "Gordon Lightfoot, every time I hear a song of his, it's like I wish it would last forever" -- went electric and set the folk community on its ear. By the mid-'60s, Lightfoot became a much sought-after songwriter, his ethereal compositions becoming hits for Peter Paul & Mary and Johnny Cash, while "Ribbon of Darkness," a song he penned for Marty Robbins, topped the country charts. Lightfoot's star really began to rise at the beginning of the next decade, when he entered the U.S. charts for the first time with "If You Could Read My Mind," which reached No. 5 on the singles chart. But his career didn't reach its commercial apex until 1974, when his album Sundown perched on top of the U.S. charts. The next year, "Rainy Day People" peaked at a still-respectable No. 26 on the singles charts, and two years later 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" soared to No. 1 -- but it was clear that commercial tides were changing. The musician continued to record his soft-focus, mature singer-songwriter-styled material, but it just wasn't as appealing to this new rock audience, who hungered for harder music. Nevertheless, Lightfoot's popularity has been sustained over the decades because an astonishing number of high wattage performers like Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand and Ron Sexsmith have covered his material. If that weren't reason enough, the iconic balladeer lives on in "Lightfoot," a rather serious-minded tribute by the Guess Who that references Lightfoot's own songs. The folk legend nearly died in 2002, after an artery ruptured in his abdomen during a performance. He was airlifted to a nearby hospital, and spent three months in recovery, including five weeks in a coma. He returned to performing in 2004. - Jaan Uhelszki

Indigo Girls

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:28:40 -0800
Throughout time, there have been classic duos: Lenny and Squiggy, Cagney and Lacey, Hall and Oates. The Indigo Girls are no exception. Their pristine and luminary vocal harmonies alone make crowds hoot and holler. Each song has a totally different energy and tension. With their more lighthearted and witty songs, Emily Saliers and Amy Ray play off each other like a comedic duo. Other times, their songwriting and arrangements are so clever, you would think that the two fight crime on the side. Their musical relationship takes on many turns, loops, and jumps. Saliers' musical roots dig deep into Joni Mitchell's gentle song soil, while Ray's influences stem from a much harder background of influences, including the Pretenders and the Husker Dude, Bob Mould. - Eric Shea

Toni Braxton

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:51 -0800
Few artists start off on such a good foot as Toni Braxton, whose eponymous first album stealthily climbed the charts after it was released in 1993, KO'ing more established acts along the way and reaching the uppermost rungs. Unlike those she left lying on the mat, Braxton's success couldn't be attributed to a catchy hook or groovy beat. Instead, her songs rely on her husky vocals, which take jazz's heated inflections and map them over sauntering RnB rhythms. With a voice that so convincingly conveys sadness, remorse and occasionally joy, Braxton became the soundtrack for couples rediscovering love and lonely listeners nursing broken hearts alike. Her vocal abilities led to top 10 hits (such as "Another Sad Love Song" and "Unbreak My Heart"), Grammies, a starring role in Broadway's Beauty and the Beast and a headlining gig in Vegas. At times, Braxton's career seems to have been fraught with almost as much struggle as success (she's battled with labels twice and has filed for bankruptcy). But this veteran performer (she got her start in 1989 with the Braxtons, a group she formed with her four sisters) has continuously prevailed over setbacks, thanks at least in part to her unique, evocative voice. - Rachel Devitt

UB40

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 13:21:22 -0800
Formed in a dole line in their native Birmingham, England, UB40 have become to reggae what Kenny G is to jazz, only without all the support from jazz-loving soccer moms. By digging up classic Soul hits (Al Green's "Here I Am [Come And Take Me]"), unearthing love ballads (Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love"), and rifling through pop gems (Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine"), they've been able to sustain mainstream success with a string of reggae-fied hits. But a true love for classic '70s roots reggae has always nestled behind the group's mainstream appeal, sparking two follow-ups to 1983's original Labour of Love release, inspiring collaborations with Jamaican artists and infusing their 2006 release Who You Fighting For?. - Kali Holloway

LeAnn Rimes

Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:16:52 -0800
LeAnn Rimes' almost eerie channeling of Patsy Cline on the 1996 smash single "Blue" is something that has somewhat confounded her career. While she has continued to have huge record sales, the elitism of the press has not been so kind. When she tried to break away from country music in 1997, with strange covers of "You Light Up My Life" and the National Anthem, she was attacked by critics. A well-sung, crossover-ambitious follow-up (Sittin' On Top of the World) met with equally lukewarm reviews. And then in 1999, she released a record of choice country covers and caught flack for not performing original material. It's an unfair amount of scrutiny foisted upon a girl with a remarkable voice who, at thirteen years old, became a sensation by the simple fact of that beautiful voice. Maybe so much is demanded of her because she is truly a gifted performer, not some novelty child act whose appeal wears off within a year or two. Certainly Rimes is a talented singer, and, as she grows into her art, an exciting performer to follow. She has yet to put out the record that lives up to her potential, but with each release, she gets a little close; and at eighteen years old, with four major releases under her belt, she seems to have plenty of time to do it. Judging from her obvious penchant for AAA balladry, however, don't be surprised if her defining moment has nothing to do with country music at all. Just expect to have your socks knocked off. - Eric Shea