http://www.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&category=genre&genreId=458&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rssTop Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody OnlineSinger-Songwriteren720Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:50:38 -0800 http://static.realone.com/rotw/images/logo_rhapsody_113x22.gif http://www.rhapsody.com/charts?cat=artist&category=genre&genreId=458&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.48637&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Alternative Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:05 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.48637 art.48637 Jack Johnson art.48637 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.48637&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.48637&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss 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]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.39520&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Alternative Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:01 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.39520 art.39520 John Mayer art.39520 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.39520&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.39520&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss
The middle son of two teachers who grew up in Fairfield, CT, John Mayer began playing guitar at age 13, and was soon playing local clubs in blues and cover bands. At 17, he was rushed to the hospital with cardiac arrhythmia, spending a week in bed; it was there, Mayer has said, that he began songwriting in earnest. A year after graduating high school, Mayer enrolled at Boston's Berklee College of Music; he soon skipped that to head to Atlanta to play coffeehouses with his friend Clay Cook as LoFi Masters. Shortly afterward, Mayer left to go solo, and by 1999 had cut an eight-song mini album he released and distributed himself, Inside Wants Out, hitting the road for a tour of the region around Georgia. He caught a break after appearing at 2000’s South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, TX, and was signed to Aware, a Columbia subsidiary, and recorded Room for Squares (Number Eight, 2001), which was picked up for release by the senior label. Columbia worked Mayer steadily until, over the course of a year, he became ubiquitous, thanks to the singles “No Such Thing” (Number 13, 2002) and “Your Body Is a Wonderland” (Number 18, 2002). Columbia further cashed in by reissuing Inside Wants Out (Number 22, 2002).

After the stopgap live Any Given Thursday (Number 17, 2003), Mayer released his follow-up, Heavier Things (Number One, 2003), which yielded “Bigger Than My Body” (Number 33, 2003) and “Daughters” (Number 19, 2004). Another live disc, As/Is, followed in 2004. That year, Mayer began an improbable turnaround, edging his public image from strictly mama’s-boy to sly smart-aleck, thanks to his oft-sardonic blog posts, a column in Esquire magazine, and a memorable guest spot on The Chappelle Show, jamming in a Harlem barbershop with members of the Roots. He later guest-starred on “Go!” — the first single off rapper Common’s Be, produced by Kanye West.

In his own music, Mayer began to focus on meatier stuff, particularly the blues. He played shows with Buddy Guy and Herbie Hancock, and in November 2005 released Try! Live in Concert (Number 34), credited to the John Mayer Trio, with veteran sessionmen Steve Jordan on drums and Pino Palladino on bass; they opened for the Rolling Stones that October. Continuum (Number Two, 2006) followed a year later, and its quasi-protest number, “Waiting on the World to Change (Number 14, 2006), soon wormed its way into America’s collective ear much the way his earlier material had.

Mayer, who also dabbles in stand-up comedy, has been the subject of much tabloid fodder and romantically linked to pop singer Jessica Simpson and actress Jennifer Aniston. In the summer of 2008 Mayer released a live DVD/CD entitled Where the Light Is recorded at a December 2007 concert in Los Angeles. ]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3231&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Contemporary Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:03 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.3231 art.3231 Elton John art.3231 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3231&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3231&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss 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]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.831&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:24:59 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.831 art.831 Bob Dylan art.831 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.831&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.831&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan catapulted the artist to stardom but he was already burning to get away from acoustic backing and match his unique vision to rock, country and blues. Dylan's music influenced a whole new generation of musicians -- such as the Beatles and Stevie Wonder -- to start crafting songs about what was important to them. While Dylan kick-started folk and country rock in his '60s studio work, the ragged home recordings he made with the Band showed that not even poorly placed microphones could stifle brilliance. Dylan still tours these days and records less often then he used to, but as albums such as 1997's Time Out of Mind and 2006's Modern Times prove, the man still has a lot to say and continues to do it in a way that no one else can. - Nick Dedina]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.17622&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Alternative Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:37 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.17622 art.17622 David Gray art.17622 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.17622&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.17622&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss A Century Ends in 1992 and Flesh in 1994. Despite strong reviews and some astonishing live performances, his music oddly failed to ignite and he was dropped by his label. He continued to play out live, and a performer-audience connection was forged in Ireland, where the crowds appreciated the singer's stark, emotional style. EMI snapped Gray up and in 1996, Sell, Sell, Sell was released. Again, the musician hit the road, this time in support of Radiohead and the Dave Matthews Band. But although the audiences were larger, sales stayed flat and he was dropped. Again. Thoroughly deflated, he went on a writing spree and with a "glass is half full" sort of optimisim, began recording his fourth album, White Ladder in his London studio apartment. The self-financed project was released on Gray's own IHT Records in 1998, and almost overnight found itself firmly lodged in the Irish Top-40, where it remained for quite some time. Dave Matthews, whom had befriended Gray on their earlier tour, signed him to his imprint label, ATO Records and released White Ladder stateside in 2000. American audiences warmed to the stirring single, "Babylon," and White Ladder went gold by the end of the year, and platinum a mere two months later. There was a glut of David Gray reissues in 2001 as well as The EPs 92-94, which consisted of three singles from A Century Ends, his very first single, "Birds Without Wings" and various other musical tidbits. This was quickly followed by 2002's A New Day at Midnight, which went gold for the singer-songwriter, despite the fact there wasn't another "Babylon" on the album. In 2005, Gray branched out from "bedroom recordings" and entered a proper recording studio with Marius De Vries (Rufus Wainwright, Madonna, U2, etc) producing. The resulting album, Life In Slow Motion, spills over with low-key but radio-friendly songs and an expansive aesthetic. - Linda Ryan]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4678&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:06 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4678 art.4678 Billy Joel art.4678 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4678&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4678&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss River of Dreams, his mighty back catalog continues to sell in hefty chunks. - Charles Hodgkins]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.55136&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:24:59 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.55136 art.55136 Jimmy Buffett art.55136 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.55136&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.55136&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude cemented his image as a beachcombing sage. Although he hit his creative peak during this period, Key West, Fla.'s favorite son has continued to write amusing, often intelligent tunes. A wise businessman, he has become the hero of "parrot heads" -- blue and white-collar working stiffs who would love to lead the life about which he writes (music, novels, plays) and sings. Jimmy Buffett is indeed a genre of one. - Eric Shea]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.67&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Classic Rock Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:00 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.67 art.67 Van Morrison art.67 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.67&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.67&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss
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) ]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.298&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Classic Rock Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:37 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.298 art.298 Bruce Springsteen art.298 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.298&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.298&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Darkness on the Edge of Town and Nebraska are American Gothics haunted by star-crossed lovers and noble souls hag-ridden by fate into crime, depression, and worst of all, ordinariness. But lest we forget, the original denim rocker has also written some of the most uplifting songs in AOR: every line of "Born to Run" and "Glory Days" offers an ideal place to hang your troubles out to dry. Springsteen plays the perfect tailor for the damaged lives that populate his lyrics, recognizing the tiny flaws and the holes that gape in the human fabric, and doing his best to mend them -- sometimes with simple compassion, sometimes with joy. Just about everything the Boss has done has an air of permanence about it. You just know that when generations hence try to grasp what life meant to us, his music will offer an important clue. But despite his many accomplishments and incredible fame, something has kept the Boss down to earth. He generously handed out hit songs to Patti Smith and Robert Gordon in the 1970s, and even today continues to promote the careers of lesser luminaries such as duet partner Elliot Murphy. - Henry B.]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44068&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Classic Rock Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:03 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.44068 art.44068 Neil Young art.44068 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44068&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44068&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Time Fades Away, the spatial On The Beach and the liquid Tonight's The Night, Neil inadvertently presented his so-called doom trilogy -- three records that beautifully capture throwing in the towel. 1975's Zuma signaled a return from the darkness to the sunny, rural rock he first explored on Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Comes A Time found him hip deep in a fermentation of 1970s canyon and country rock, while Rust Never Sleeps unfolded his career multi-dimensionally as he unleashed his acoustic/electric duality to a receptive commercial and critical audience. With Freedom and Ragged Glory, Young made a valiant return to form in the late '80s and early '90s before recapturing acoustic peace with Harvest Moon, his 1992 release that many view as the sequel to his heroically pastoral 1972 album Harvest. The Canadian transplant's high, watery tenor emotes with an elasticity that can effortlessly traverse into falsetto with natural warmth and heavenly tremolo. You'll find the real Young singing the hazy guitar epics "Like A Hurricane" and "Cortez the Killer," or when songs such as the gentle "Birds" and "Motion Pictures" seem to weep from your speakers. True to form, Neil Young is one of the only songwriters in the world who can approximate the sound of a heart breaking with his voice. - Eric Shea]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5822&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Alternative Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:52 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.5822 art.5822 Sarah McLachlan art.5822 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5822&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5822&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6421&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:03 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.6421 art.6421 James Taylor art.6421 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6421&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6421&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.240&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:07 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.240 art.240 Paul Simon art.240 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.240&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.240&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss
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. ]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1505&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Contemporary Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:22:59 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.1505 art.1505 Neil Diamond art.1505 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1505&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1505&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6479139&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Alternative Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:05:58 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.6479139 art.6479139 Ray LaMontagne art.6479139 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6479139&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6479139&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss A Hard Day's Night, that he suddenly knew that the magic sounding, jangly chime was gong to be his trademark sound. For Ray LaMontagne, the calling came over the speakers of a shoe factory he was working in. More specifically, it was "Tree Top Flyer" by Stephen Stills that stopped him dead in his tracks when he knew that he had to leave his job and pursue a singing/songwriting career. Having grown up in a nomadic family, it wasn't too unfamiliar for LaMontagne to suddenly pick up and start over, which is exactly what he did. Ten recorded demo songs later, he was inking a deal with Chrysalis Music Publishing before teaming up with Hollywood producer Ethan Johns to cut his debut album Trouble which was almost instantly nabbed by RCA Records in 2004. Although LaMontagne is often compared to Tim Buckley, his voice sounds not unlike a young Van Morrison or even Ryan Adams. - Eric Shea]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1921&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Alternative Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:52:06 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.1921 art.1921 Sheryl Crow art.1921 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1921&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1921&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Tuesday Night Music Club, which painted vivid images of working class bars and early morning nightcaps. The public immediately latched on to her blend of singsong vocals and laid back blues rock delivered with a confident, disarming wink. Though she's since abandoned her bottle of Bud persona in favor of a more glamorous pop image, she's still someone you can't help but imagine running into at a small town dive. - Doug Russell]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.42555&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Country Pop/Cosmopolitan Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:03 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.42555 art.42555 John Denver art.42555 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.42555&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.42555&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3496&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:56 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.3496 art.3496 Cat Stevens art.3496 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3496&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3496&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss
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. ]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5016&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:24:33 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.5016 art.5016 Iron and Wine art.5016 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5016&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5016&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss The Creek Drank the Cradle, released in 2002. A hi-fi studio recording (2004's Our Endless Numbered Days) and a few EPs (including 2005's In the Rein, a joint effort with Calexico) followed. For 2007's The Shepherd's Dog, Beam beefed up the musicianship, filling songs with eccentric worldly nuances, making it one of his most upbeat and cohesive albums to date. - Rachel Devitt]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5694&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Alternative Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:50:51 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.5694 art.5694 Tori Amos art.5694 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5694&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5694&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2310&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss AOR Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:24:57 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2310 art.2310 John Mellencamp art.2310 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2310&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2310&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Uh-huh, building with Scarecrow and then becoming fully realized with 1987's The Lonesome Jubilee, Mellencamp told stories of those on the fringes. While perhaps not as subtle as others, Mellencamp's message that all was not well in Regan's America powered him to the top of the charts and into political consciousness. In 1985, along with Willie Nelson and Neil Young, Mellencamp helped found the Farm Aid concert series that provides financial assistance to struggling farmers.]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2899&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:56 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2899 art.2899 Leonard Cohen art.2899 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2899&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2899&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss 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 outré 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]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4519&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:07 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4519 art.4519 Tom Waits art.4519 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4519&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4519&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.35794&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Pop Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:51 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.35794 art.35794 Nelly Furtado art.35794 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.35794&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.35794&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Whoa, Nelly!. Three years later, she issued the more reflective album, Folklore. Three years after that (and after giving birth to her daughter), Furtado took off in a completely different direction with Loose, a collection of sleek, sexy, hip-hop-infused dance pop (much of it, including the huge hit "Promiscuous," produced by Timbaland) aimed at conquering the top 40 -- which she certainly did. Another three years went by and it was time for -- you guessed it -- another new direction, this time with Mi Plan, a collection of Spanish-language pop. - Linda Ryan]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.39587&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Indie Pop Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:24:37 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.39587 art.39587 Imogen Heap art.39587 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.39587&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.39587&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss i Megaphone that are simply dazzling. Song arrangements display a keen awareness of what is now -- drumbeats and basslines are consistently danceable while electronic noises swoop and swirl with a refreshingly understated gracefulness. As a vocalist, Heap brings a slinky, sexy toughness that's never riddled with melodrama. Even when she's at her most vulnerable, one can't help but think she's a born survivor who can weather any emotional storm. Heap and her co-conspirators do justice to her distinctive, honest vocal delivery and lyrics and her superb musicianship. - Will Lerner]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.710&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:14 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.710 art.710 John Lennon art.710 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.710&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.710&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss
Like the other three Beatles, Lennon was born to a working-class family in Liverpool. His parents, Julia and Fred, separated before he was two (Lennon saw his father only twice in the next 20 years), and Lennon went to live with his mother's sister Mimi Smith; when Lennon was 17 his mother was killed by a bus. He attended Liverpool's Dovedale Primary School and later the Quarry Bank High School, which supplied the name for his first band, a skiffle group called the Quarrymen, which he started in 1955. In the summer of 1956 he met Paul McCartney, and they began writing songs together and forming groups, the last of which was the Beatles. In 1994 a tape of John and the Quarrymen performing two songs, made July 6, 1957, the day he met McCartney, came to light. Recorded by Bob Molyneux, then a member of the church's youth club, it was auctioned at Sotheby's in September 1994, fetching $122,900 from EMI. On the tape, Lennon sings "Puttin' on the Style," then a Number One hit for skiffle king Lonnie Donegan, and "Baby Let's Play House," the Arthur "Hard Rock" Gunter song that had been recorded by Elvis Presley and a line of which ("I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man") Lennon later used in the Beatles' "Run for Your Life."

Just before the Beatles' official breakup in 1970 (Lennon had wanted to quit the band earlier), Lennon began his solo career, more than half of which consisted of collaborations with Ono.

Ono was raised in Tokyo in a wealthy Japanese banking family. She was an excellent student (in 1952 she became the first woman admitted to study philosophy at Japan's Gakushuin University) and moved to the U.S. in 1953 to study at Sarah Lawrence College. After dropping out, she became involved in the Fluxus movement, led by New York conceptual artists including George Maciunas, La Monte Young, Diane Wakoski, and Walter De Maria. During the early '60s Ono's works (many of which were conceptual pieces, some involving audience participation) were exhibited and/or performed at the Village Gate, Carnegie Recital Hall, and numerous New York galleries. In the mid-'60s she lectured at Wesleyan College and had exhibitions in Japan and London, where she met Lennon in 1966 at the Indica Gallery.

The two began corresponding, and in September 1967 Lennon sponsored Ono's "Half Wind Show" at London's Lisson Gallery. In May 1968 Ono visited Lennon at his home in Weybridge, and that night they recorded the tapes that would later be released as Two Virgins. (The nude cover shots, taken by Lennon with an automatic camera, were photographed then as well.) Lennon soon separated from his wife, Cynthia (with whom he had one child, Julian, in 1964); they were divorced that November. Lennon and Ono became constant companions.

Frustrated by his role with the Beatles, Lennon, with Ono, explored avant-garde art, music, and film. While he regarded his relationship with Ono as the most important thing in his life, the couple's inseparability and Ono's influence over Lennon would be a source of great tension among the Beatles, then in their last days.

Three days after Lennon's divorce, he and Ono released Two Virgins, which, because of the full-frontal nude photos of the couple on the jacket, was the subject of much controversy; the LP was shipped in a plain brown wrapper. On March 20, 1969, Lennon and Ono were married in Gibraltar; for their honeymoon, they held their first "Bed-in for Peace," in the presidential suite of the Amsterdam Hilton. The peace movement was the first of several political causes the couple would take up over the years, but it was the one that generated the most publicity. On April 22, Lennon changed his middle name from Winston to Ono. In May they attempted to continue their bed-in in the United States, but when U.S. authorities forbade them to enter the country because of their arrest on drug charges in October 1968, the bed-in resumed in Montreal. That May, in their suite at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, they recorded "Give Peace a Chance"; background chanters included Timothy Leary, Tommy Smothers, and numerous Hare Krishnas. Soon afterward, "The Ballad of John and Yoko" (Number Eight, 1969) was released under the Beatles' name, though only Lennon and McCartney appear on the record.

In September 1969, Lennon, Ono, Eric Clapton, Alan White, and Klaus Voormann performed live as the Plastic Ono Band in Toronto at a Rock 'n' Roll Revival show. The appearance, released as Live Peace in Toronto, 1969, was Lennon's first performance before a live concert audience in three years. Less than a month later he announced to the Beatles that he was quitting the group, but it was agreed among them that no public announcement would be made until after the pending lawsuits involving Apple and manager Allen Klein were resolved. In October the Plastic Ono Band released "Cold Turkey" (Number 30, 1969), which the Beatles had declined to record, and the next month Lennon returned his M.B.E. medal to the Queen. In a letter to the Queen, Lennon cited Britain's involvement in Biafra and support of the U.S. in Vietnam and--jokingly--the poor chart showing of "Cold Turkey" as reasons for the return.

The Lennons continued their peace campaign with speeches to the press; "War Is Over! If You Want It" billboards erected on December 15 in 12 cities around the world, including Hollywood, New York, London, and Toronto; and plans for a peace festival in Toronto. When the festival plans deteriorated, Lennon turned his attention to recording "Instant Karma!" which was produced by Phil Spector, then also editing hours of tapes into the album that would be the Beatles' last official release, Let It Be. In late February 1970 Lennon disavowed any connection with the peace festival, and the event was abandoned. In April, McCartney--in a move that Lennon saw as an act of betrayal--announced his departure from the Beatles and released a solo LP. From that point on (if not earlier), Ono replaced McCartney as Lennon's main collaborator. The Beatles were no more.

At the time, much attention was focused on Ono's alleged role in the band's end. An Esquire magazine piece with the racist title "John Rennon's Excrusive Gloupie" was an extreme example of the decidedly antiwoman, anti-Asian backlash against Ono that she and Lennon endured for years to come. As Ono told Lennon biographer Jon Wiener in a late 1983 interview for his book Come Together: John Lennon in His Time, "When John and I were first together he got lots of threatening letters: 'That Oriental will slit your throat while you're sleeping.' The Western hero had been seized by an Eastern demon."

In late 1970 Lennon and Ono released their twin Plastic Ono Band solo LPs. Generally, Ono's '70s LPs were regarded as highly adventurous works and were thus never as popular as Lennon's. Lennon's contained some of his most personal and, some felt, disturbing work--the direct result of his and Ono's primal scream therapy with Dr. Arthur Janov. In March 1971 the non-album "Power to the People" hit Number 11, and that September, Lennon's solo LP Imagine was released; it went to Number One a month later. In late 1971 Lennon and Ono had resumed their political activities, drawn to leftist political figures like Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Their involvement was reflected on Some Time in New York City (recorded with New York band Elephant's Memory), which included Lennon's most overtly political releases (his and Ono's "Woman Is the Nigger of the World," Ono's "Sisters, O Sisters"). The album sold poorly, only reaching Number 48.

Over the next two years Lennon released Mind Games (Number Nine) and Walls and Bridges (Number One), which yielded his only solo Number One hit, "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night," recorded with Elton John. On November 28, 1974, Lennon made his last public appearance, at John's Madison Square Garden concert. The two performed three songs, "Whatever Gets You Thru the Night," "I Saw Her Standing There," and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," released on an EP after Lennon's death. Next came Rock 'n' Roll, a collection of Lennon's versions of '50s and early-'60s rock classics like "Be-Bop-a-Lula." The release was preceded by a bootleg copy, produced by Morris Levy, over which Lennon successfully sued Levy. Rock 'n' Roll (Number Six, 1975) would be Lennon's last solo release except for Shaved Fish, a greatest-hits compilation.

Meanwhile, Lennon's energies were increasingly directed toward his legal battle with the U.S. Immigration Department, which sought his deportation on the grounds of his previous drug arrest and involvement with the American radical left. On October 7, 1975, the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the deportation order; in 1976 Lennon received permanent resident status. On October 9, 1975, Lennon's 35th birthday, Ono gave birth to Sean Ono Lennon. Beginning in 1975, Lennon devoted his full attention to his new son and his marriage, which had survived an 18-month separation from October 1973 to March 1975. For the next five years, he lived at home in nearly total seclusion, taking care of Sean while Ono ran the couple's financial affairs. Not until the publication of a full-page newspaper ad in May 1979 explaining his and Ono's activities did Lennon even hint at a possible return to recording.

In September 1980 Lennon and Ono signed a contract with the newly formed Geffen Records, and on November 15 they released Double Fantasy (Number One, 1980). A series of revealing interviews were published, "(Just Like) Starting Over" hit Number One, and there was talk of a possible world tour.

But on December 8, 1980, Lennon, returning with Ono to their Dakota apartment on New York City's Upper West Side, was shot seven times by Mark David Chapman, a 25-year-old drifter and Beatles fan to whom Lennon had given an autograph a few hours earlier. Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival at Roosevelt Hospital. At Ono's request, on December 14 a 10-minute silent vigil was held at 2 p.m. EST in which millions around the world participated. Lennon's remains were cremated in Hartsdale, New York. At the time of his death, Lennon was holding in his hand a tape of Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice."

Two other singles from Double Fantasy were hits: "Woman" (Number Two, 1981) and "Watching the Wheels" (Number 10, 1981). Double Fantasy won the Grammy for Album of the Year (1981). Three months after Lennon's murder, Ono released Season of Glass, an LP that deals with Lennon's death (his cracked and bloodstained glasses are shown on the front jacket), although many of the songs were written before his shooting. Season of Glass is the best known of Ono's solo LPs; it was the first to receive attention outside avant-garde and critical circles.

In 1982 Ono left Geffen for Polydor, where she released It's Alright, Milk and Honey (featuring six songs apiece by Lennon and Ono), and Starpeace. During the Starpeace Tour, Ono performed behind the Iron Curtain, in Budapest, Hungary, but the tour was not as warmly received elsewhere. None of these albums was particularly successful commercially, but in the wake of renewed appreciation for Ono's work, Rykodisc issued the six-CD box set Onobox in 1992 and five years later reissued on CD the entire Ono catalogue. In 1984 a number of artists, including Rosanne Cash, Harry Nilsson, Elvis Costello, Roberta Flack, and the nine-year-old Sean Lennon participated in Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him, a collection of Ono songs. Following a 1989 retrospective at New York's Whitney Museum, Ono's artwork found a new audience and has since been shown continuously throughout the world. In 1994 she wrote a rock opera entitled New York Rock, which ran off-Broadway for two weeks to largely positive reviews. Clearly autobiographical, the play was a love story featuring songs from every phase of her recording career.

In addition to pursuing her own projects, Ono has maintained careful watch over the Lennon legacy. In the mid-'80s she opened the Lennon archives to Andrew Solt and David Wolper for their 1988 film biography Imagine (Ono and Solt's documentary on the making of Imagine, Gimme Some Truth, was released in 2000). Coming as it did just a few months after the publication of Albert Goldman's scurrilous The Lives of John Lennon, some observers saw Imagine as a piece of spin control. In fact, however, it had been in the works for more than five years by then. Ono's decision not to sue Goldman (she stated that her lawyers warned that legal action would only bring more attention to the discredited tome) was itself controversial. Paul McCartney urged a public boycott of Goldman's book, which was almost universally reviled. Shortly after its publication, Sean asked to study abroad, and Ono accompanied him to Geneva, where they took up residence for a few years. On September 30, 1988, a week before Imagine's release, John Lennon received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is located near the Capitol Records building.

On March 21, 1994, Ono, Sean Lennon, an Julian Lennon were present as New York City Mayor Ed Koch officially opened Strawberry Fields, a triangular section of Central Park dedicated to John's memory and filled with plants, rocks, and other objects that Ono had solicited from heads of state around the world. In 2000 there were a number of events commemorating Lennon's 60th birthday and the 20th anniversary of his death, including a major exhibition on Lennon and his work at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum. In 2002, Lennon's hometown renamed its airport Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Ono sporadically released new music in the '90s and '00s, most notably 1995's Rising, a critically successful rock album on which Ono was backed by Ima, a trio led by Sean Lennon. 2001's Blueprint for a Sunrise was less acclaimed. In the early '00s, Ono's earlier work received a number of dance-oriented remixes by club DJs like Felix da Housecat, Basement Jaxx, Peter Rauhofer, Pet Shop Boys, and Danny Tenaglia, among others; these were collected on 2007's Open Your Box. The same year, Ono issued Yes, I'm a Witch, another, less dance-oriented remix/covers disc featuring reworkings by Peaches, Le Tigre, Cat Power, the Apples in Stereo, and Spiritualized's Jason Pierce, to name a few. ]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.418&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Cosmic American Music Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:28:26 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.418 art.418 Emmylou Harris art.418 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.418&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.418&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7435752&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Alternative Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:42:34 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.7435752 art.7435752 James Blunt art.7435752 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7435752&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7435752&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss did join the military, and in 1999 he served as a peacekeeper in Kosovo. Armed with a gun and his guitar, James did his best to keep an even keel in a place that just experienced one of the bloodiest civil wars on record. Writing was an escape for the singer-songwriter, a way to process the horrors of what he was witnessing, as songs like "No Bravery" attest. When his military time was up, Blunt focused on making music his career, got a band together and recorded some demos. Within months he landed both a publishing deal and a manager. After his performance at 2003's SXSW, Blunt met producer Linda Perry (Pink, Christina Aguilera), who offered the singer a deal on her very own label, Custard Records. James Blunt's debut, Back to Bedlam, was released in the U.K. in January 2005 and in United States later that year, in July. - Linda Ryan]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.18670694&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:24:33 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.18670694 art.18670694 Bon Iver art.18670694 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.18670694&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.18670694&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss For Emma, Forever Ago, was recorded while Vernon spent four months locked away in a cabin in rural Wisconsin, which is reflected in its bleak, barren sound. - Dan Shumate]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6617&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:28:40 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.6617 art.6617 Joni Mitchell art.6617 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6617&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6617&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Clouds, followed in 1970 by the successful Ladies of the Canyon, which featured the chart-topping "Big Yellow Taxi." But it was the moody and cathartic Blue (1971) that put her on the map of musical genius: the album even inspired Bob Dylan to write "Tangled Up In Blue." Mitchell dialed up the jazz on Court and Spark (1974), which spawned three major hit singles -- "Free Man in Paris," "Raised on Robbery" and "Help Me." Throughout her career, Joni Mitchell has experimented and taken risks with her music. To this day, she continues to explore new ground and hark back to the old folkie ways that gave her snowball its first push. - Eric Shea]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4825&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Baroque Pop Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:27:54 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4825 art.4825 Elliott Smith art.4825 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4825&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4825&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss From A Basement On A Hill, Smith took his own life on October 21, 2003. His nearly completed posthumous album was self-tracked on Smith's home recording devices, as well as with the infamous Hollywood producer Jon Brion. Collaborator David McConnell, explained that the CD was originally intended by Smith to sound lo-fi and dusty in its final production. However, since Smith's family had legal say as to how the album was to be sequenced and mixed, they handed the project over to engineer/producer Rob Schnapf and Joanna Bolme (an ex girlfriend of Smith's and member of Stephen Malkmus' band the Jicks) to make what they believed were necessary changes. It has since been re-mixed and released to a much-deserved overwhelming critical acclaim as well as a bit of controversy regarding the author's intent. - Eric Shea]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3462&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:28:40 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.3462 art.3462 Carly Simon art.3462 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3462&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3462&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Tapestry. A singer-songwriter whose star shone brightest in the 1970s -- she was among the most prominent of the confessional bunch during the genre's heyday -- Simon's music was both pleasantly undaunting and mildly shocking in its frankness, and her light piano playing and run-of-the-mill vocals contrasted with her uninhibited lyrics. In the face of increasingly emotional songwriting that's emerged over the years, the sharp-pointed phrases that filled Simon's music seem to have become relatively blunt, and her music now fits perfectly in the tame playlists of Lite Rock radio. But a night spent dusting off her records and listening to her sing of life's trials, tribulations and excesses can revive some of the emotion still contained therein. - Nick Dedina]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44126&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Alternative Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:03:36 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.44126 art.44126 Damien Rice art.44126 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44126&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44126&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss O, was released in 2002 and contains the breakout track, "The Blower's Daughter." Rice followed up his initial success with the profound, brooding 9 in late '06. - Jon Pruett]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.653&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:53 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.653 art.653 Carole King art.653 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.653&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.653&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Tapestry, a mondo hit that did for female singer-songwriters what Paul Simon did for the guys. One of the main consequences of this key album was that the public got clued into all the great songs King had written -- often with Jerry Goffin -- for other artists when the Brill Building ruled '60s pop. Such wonders as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" and "You've Got a Friend" are ultra-catchy, yet have a depth that is sorely missing in today's market of disposable singles. King's career was the inspiration behind the movie Grace of My Heart. - Nick Dedina]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3801&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:06:26 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.3801 art.3801 Gordon Lightfoot art.3801 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3801&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.3801&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss 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]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2668&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:43:12 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2668 art.2668 Dan Fogelberg art.2668 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2668&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2668&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Full Circle. He quit performing after being diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2004 and he passed away in December of 2007 at the age of 56. - Mike McGuirk]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7606549&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Alternative Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:39:06 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.7606549 art.7606549 KT Tunstall art.7606549 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7606549&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7606549&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss
Now everyone agrees. Teaming up with noted producer Steve Osborne, who has been behind the boards with such notable talents as U2, Suede, New Order and Shaun Ryder, she crafted an album, Eye to the Telescope, that was both introspective and feral; a love letter to her physics professor father and a deconstruction of the small, telling moments in human relationships. "My lyrics look closely at relationships, what goes on when to people are sitting close together when no one is watching," she explains. But now everyone seems to be watching. Prominent fans like Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne and the Cure's Robert Smith extol her talents and regularly attend her shows. She has been nominated for Britain's coveted Mercury Prize and a Brit Award for Best Female Solo Artist, but the real accolade is how a song like "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" sticks in the listener's mind. "Our producer Steve Osborne said he didn't get much sleep making this record -- not because we worked such long hours, but because he said he couldn't get my songs out of his head," she says. Now that's a real barometer. - Jaan Uhelszki]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.13347&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Indie/Alternative Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:14:43 -0700 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.13347 art.13347 M. Ward art.13347 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.13347&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.13347&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Duet for Guitars #2, was released in 1999, eventually finding an audience beyond Portland through a handful of rereleases. With his sophomore record, 2001's End of Amnesia, and 2003's Transfiguration of Vincent (whose title is a nod to a record by one of Ward's primary influences, John Fahey), his elegant songwriting won international acclaim. His next pair of releases, Transistor Radio (2005) and Post-War (2006), followed in form but examined more robust production aesthetics. He began collaborating with actress Zooey Deschanel in 2006, and after releasing a 2008 record with her as She & Him, titled Volume One, he returned to his solo career with 2009's Hold Time. - Nate Cavalieri]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.12440&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Post-Modern Pop Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:25:37 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.12440 art.12440 Andrew Bird art.12440 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.12440&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.12440&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Music of Hair, was self-released in 1996. In 1997, he joined the Squirrel Nut Zippers just in time to release their blockbuster Hot releases, though he left the band shortly after. His work with the Zippers and countless other cameos didn't distract from his solo career though, and he released four more records -- 1998's Thrills, 1999's Oh! The Grandeur, 2001's The Swimming Hour, and 2003's Weather Systems -- before the minor commercial breakthrough of 2005's The Mysterious Production of Eggs. In 2007, Bird's eclectic chamber pop became the black sheep of blues label Fat Possum records, when the label released Armchair Apocrypha. - Nate Cavalieri]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.12298&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Alternative Tue, 3 Nov 2009 11:25:02 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.12298 art.12298 Pete Yorn art.12298 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.12298&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.12298&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Me, Myself & Irene soundtrack, PY is born to win, but don't let that stop you success-hating hipsters from enjoying these delicate, wounded tunes. - Eric Shea]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2356&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Texas Country Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:52:06 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.2356 art.2356 Lyle Lovett art.2356 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2356&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.2356&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1174&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Urban Folk Tue, 6 Oct 2009 09:54:02 -0700 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.1174 art.1174 Ani DiFranco art.1174 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1174&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.1174&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss
Her first two albums were just girl with a guitar, and possibly the most arresting piece on them was "Not So Soft," where she laid the guitar down and just spoke her poem. But she already had all the mouth she would ever need, and she exuded enough presence to make you hang on her every word. A few years later, on Like I Said, she returned to those early songs, fleshing them out with newfound musical skills, but the improvement is minor. However, on Imperfectly, she starts working with other musicians, most notably drummer Andy Stochansky. This adds powder to the explosive "What If No One's Watching." But Di-Franco's own musicianship had also made a great leap forward, as on "If It Isn't Her," with just Ani playing quirky guitar and singing, "I have been playing/Too many of them boy-girl games/She says honey you are safe here/This is a girl-girl thing.

The albums that followed -- Puddle Dive, Out of Range, Not a Pretty Girl, Dilate -- are full of sharply observed lyrics and increasingly innovative music; it's a remarkable series of albums. Meanwhile, DiFranco's intense fan base grew large enough to put her self-released albums on the charts, leading to the inevitable two-CD Living in Clip, an extraordinary career summation selected from various concerts with her trio (Stochansky on drums, Sara Lee on bass). The set works both as a greatest-hits and as a performance showcase -- DiFranco's guitar, especially on "Out of Range," has the same urgency and definition that she's long demonstrated with her voice.

The next series of albums might be considered her progressive period: While the lyrics continue to reflect her political concerns, they are less clearly anchored in her personal life (or perhaps her personal life as a record-company exec just isn't interesting enough), but her expanding musical skills often make for compelling listening. Little Plastic Castle starts out with horns and a Latin beat, and winds up with the meditative "Pulse," with Jon Hassell on trumpet. Up Up Up Up Up Up is looser and jazzier, while To the Teeth meanders into rap ("Swing") and ska-punk ("Freakshow") and hard to say what else. The sprawling two-CD Revelling/Reckoning is less successful, its lyrics hiding behind the music instead of jumping out. The second live double, So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter, is a lot more fun, partly because it recycles a familiar songbook under the guise of documenting her new band with all the snazzy horns. But the set also restores some bite to her political songs, especially "Self-Evident," though even there she seems to have outgrown her early, intense fusion of the personal and the political, relegating her political impulses to the more conventional realm of protest songs. Another long protest-song poem, "Serpentine," adds topical relevancy to Evolve, but for once, the fancy music gets the best of the muted messages.

On the other hand, her all-solo move, Educated Guess, contorts her elegant wordplay over a sharply stinging acoustic guitar, then tortures both with birdlike vocal overdubs. The only pleasure here is when she just recites, or just plays.

The two Utah Phillips albums comprise a fascinating side project. The Past Didn't Go Anywhere starts with Phillips saying, "What I do is I collect stories," but then you notice that he's been sampled and looped -- folk music as mix tape. The music is decidedly unfolkie synth drums and New Age guitar, which Phillips talks and lectures and hectors over. Fascinating stories, too, especially the ones about desert-ing from the Korean War and finding pacifism as a 12-step program. And he's observant enough to quote an old geezer on his wife's New Age bookstore: "No matter how New Age you get, old age's gonna kick your ass." Fellow Workers dispenses with the trip-hop for tales of Mother Jones and Joe Hill and some old-fashioned labor struggle sing-alongs. Which just serves to remind us that one of DiFranco's most important innovations has been to build her own record label -- a rare case of a worker who owns the means of production. (TOM HULL)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide

]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4174&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:52 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.4174 art.4174 Jim Croce art.4174 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4174&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.4174&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss You Don't Mess Around With Jim. The most popular song on the album "Time In A Bottle" hit No. 1 on the charts, allowing him to record another album entitled Life And Times which yielded another No. 1 hit with "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" in 1973. Croce died an untimely death that year in a plane crash, and though other recordings of his surfaced and were released posthumously, speculations of what he could have accomplished abound whenever anything is penned or produced about the man. He was survived by his wife Ingrid and son A.J. (who is a brilliant singer/songwriter in his own right). - Eric Shea]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7330891&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Singer-Songwriter Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:39:20 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.7330891 art.7330891 Brandi Carlile art.7330891 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7330891&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7330891&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss The Story. 2009's Give Up the Ghost featured a collaboration with Carlile's longtime idol, Elton John. - Rachel Devitt]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44070&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Soul Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:39:24 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.44070 art.44070 Bill Withers art.44070 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44070&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.44070&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7209954&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Adult Alternative Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:52:06 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.7209954 art.7209954 Joshua Radin art.7209954 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7209954&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.7209954&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Garden State pop music: an Elliott Smith/John Mayer hybrid, with a dash of Nick Drake thrown in for good measure. Born and raised in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Radin attended Chicago's Northwestern University. There he majored in painting and drawing. He also befriended hip dude Zach Braff. After graduation Radin explored a series of dead-end jobs before trying his hand at songwriting and recording. Braff took an instant liking to his pal's hushed brand of acoustic pop and featured a handful of his tunes, including the hit "Winter," on the actor's television series Scrubs. This, of course, led to the much-talked-about "Zach Braff effect," with more of Radin's work appearing on the shows Brothers and Sisters, Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill and more. Columbia Records then came knocking and quickly dropped his debut album, We Were Here, in 2006. Just two short years later, Radin found himself performing at Ellen DeGeneres' and Portia de Rossi's wedding. And a couple months after that, Radin dropped his sophomore effort, Simple Times. - Justin Farrar]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.57024&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Country-Folk Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:55 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.57024 art.57024 John Prine art.57024 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.57024&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.57024&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5386&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Folk Pop Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:07:29 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.5386 art.5386 Nanci Griffith art.5386 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5386&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.5386&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Other Voices, Other Rooms, a stunning document of overlooked songs.]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.58977&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Downtempo Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:51:38 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.58977 art.58977 SiA art.58977 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.58977&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.58977&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Healing Is Difficult, was championed by critics -- the lead single, "Taken For Granted," even made the U.K. Top 10 -- but sales were relatively poor. The record did, however, bring Sia to the attention of London studio assistants Henry Bins and Sam Hardaker, who invited her to record vocals for two tracks on a CD they were making in their spare time. The resulting recordings -- "Destiny" and "In The Waiting Line," on Zero 7's world-conquering Simple Things (2001) -- are two of downtempo's high water marks. After touring with Zero 7 (a process she credits with broadening her musical horizons), Sia stepped back from the scene to regroup. Her back-to-basics LP, Colour the Small One (2006), features "Breathe Me," a song used to powerful effect in the closing scene of the finale of TV series Six Feet Under, as well as "The Bully," a song cowritten with Beck. Sia's next major release came in early 2008 with Some People Have Real Problems. - Neil West]]> http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6426&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Americana Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:09:51 -0800 Top Singer-Songwriter Artists on Rhapsody Online art.6426 art.6426 Lucinda Williams art.6426 http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6426&variant=play&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss http://www.rhapsody.com/goto?rcid=art.6426&variant=data&rws=%2Frock-pop%2Fsinger-songwriter%2Fartist-chart.rss Ramblin' On My Mind (a collection of old country and blues standards). Although the majors tried to coerce Williams to crank out over-produced hit singles for mass quantity consumption by Wal-Mart shoppers, she has stuck to her guns through all these years. Her music is her own: rooted in crafted songs tinged with twang, slide, and the gritty soul of her ragged vocals. - Eric Shea]]>