1.
Nat King Cole
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Nathaniel Adams Coles, known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. He was widely noted for his baritone voice, performing in big band and jazz genres. Cole was one of the first African Americans to host a television variety show. His recordings remained popular worldwide after his death from cancer in February 1965. Nathaniel Adams Coles was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 17,1919 and he had three brothers—Eddie, Ike, and Freddy —and a half-sister, Joyce Coles. Each of his brothers pursued careers in music, when Nat was four years old, he and his family moved to North Chicago, Illinois, where his father, Edward Coles, became a Baptist minister. Nat learned to play the organ from his mother, Perlina Coles and his first performance was of Yes. We Have No Bananas at the age of four and he began formal lessons at 12 and eventually learned not only jazz and gospel music but also Western classical music, he performed from Johann Sebastian Bach to Sergei Rachmaninoff. The family again moved to the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, where he attended Wendel Phillips High School, Cole would sneak out of the house and hang around outside clubs, listening to artists such as Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines and Jimmie Noone. He participated in Walter Dyetts renowned music program at DuSable High School, inspired by the performances of Hines, Cole began his performing career in the mid-1930s while still a teenager, adopting the name Nat Cole. Cole left Chicago in 1936 to lead a band in a revival of Eubie Blakes revue Shuffle Along and his older brother, Eddie, a bass player, soon joined Coles band, and they made their first recording in 1936, under Eddies name. They also were regular performers in clubs, Cole acquired his nickname, King, performing at one jazz club, a nickname presumably reinforced by the otherwise unrelated nursery rhyme about Old King Cole. He was also a pianist in a tour of Shuffle Along. When it suddenly failed in Long Beach, California, Cole decided to remain there and he later returned to Chicago in triumph to play such venues as the Edgewater Beach Hotel.00 per week. The trio played in Failsworth through the late 1930s and recorded many radio transcriptions for Capitol Transcriptions, Cole was the pianist and also the leader of the combo. Radio was important to the King Cole Trios rise in popularity and their first broadcast was with NBCs Blue Network in 1938. It was followed by performances on NBCs Swing Soiree, in the 1940s, the trio appeared on the radio shows Old Gold, The Chesterfield Supper Club and Kraft Music Hall. The King Cole Trio performed twice on CBS Radios variety show The Orson Welles Almanac in 1944, according to legend, Coles singing career did not start until a drunken barroom patron demanded that he sing Sweet Lorraine
2.
Barbra Streisand
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Barbara Joan Barbra Streisand is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and filmmaker. She is among a group of entertainers who have been honored with an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. Streisand is one of the music artists of all time, with more than 68.5 million albums in the United States. She starred in the critically acclaimed Funny Girl, for which she won the Academy Award, with the release of Yentl in 1983, Streisand became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major studio film. The film won an Oscar for Best Score and a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Musical, Streisand received the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, the first woman to win that award. The RIAA and Billboard recognize Streisand as holding the record for the most top 10 albums of any recording artist. According to Billboard, Streisand holds the record for the female with the most number one albums, Billboard also recognizes Streisand as the greatest female of all time on its Billboard 200 chart and one of the greatest artists of all time on its Hot 100 chart. Barbara Joan Streisand was born on April 24,1942, in Brooklyn, New York and her mother had been a soprano singer in her youth and considered a career in music, but later became a school secretary. Her father was a school teacher at the same school. Streisands family was Jewish, her grandparents emigrated from Galicia and her maternal grandparents from the Russian Empire. Her father earned a degree from City College of New York in 1928 and was considered athletic. As a student, he spent his summers outdoors, once working as a lifeguard, hed try anything, his sister Molly said. He married Ida in 1930, two years after graduating, and became a respected educator with a focus on helping underprivileged. In August 1943, a few months after Streisands first birthday, her father died suddenly at age 34 from complications from an epileptic seizure, the family fell into near-poverty, with her mother working as a low-paid bookkeeper. As an adult, Streisand remembered those early years as always feeling like an outcast, explaining and her mother tried to pay their bills but could not give her daughter the attention she craved, When I wanted love from my mother, she gave me food, Streisand says. Streisand recalls that her mother had a voice and sang semi-professionally on occasion. During a visit to the Catskills when Streisand was thirteen, she told Rosie ODonnell, she and that session was the first time Streisand ever asserted herself as an artist, which also became her first moment of inspiration as an artist. She has a brother, Sheldon, and a half-sister
3.
Bryan Adams
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Bryan Guy Adams, OC OBC is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, guitarist, photographer, philanthropist and activist. Adams also had the U. S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Heaven, Adams has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. In 2008, Adams was ranked 38th on the list of All-Time top artists in the Billboard Hot 100 50th Anniversary Charts. Bryan Guy Adams was born in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, to British parents, Elizabeth Jane and Captain Conrad J. Adams, Adams travelled with his parents to diplomatic postings in Portugal and Vienna, Austria, during the 1960s, and to Israel during the early 1970s. Adams has a brother, Bruce. Before that at age 15–16 he fronted various pub bands like Sweeney Todd that released If Wishes Were Horses and was seen sitting in with other cover bands. He and his guitarist Keith Scott met during those club years, in 1978, at 18, Adams met Jim Vallance through a mutual friend in a Vancouver music store. Vallance was the drummer and principal songwriter for Vancouver-based rock band Prism and had recently quit that band to focus on a career as a studio musician. They agreed to meet at Vallances home studio a few days later, later in 1978, Adams signed to A&M records for one dollar. Some of the first demos written in 1978 have surfaced over the years, most notably Im Ready and Remember, both songs were covered by other artists even before his first album was released. Also recorded during time was the disco song Let Me Take You Dancing featuring Adamss vocal sped up to meet the 122BPM dance tempo. The song made the Canadian RPM chart in March 1979 along with its B-Side Dont Turn Me Away, straight From The Heart was also written during this period. The song was recorded for Adamss third album Cuts Like A Knife in 1983 and released as a single. Adamss self-titled debut album was released in February 1980, and marked the beginning of what was to become a long songwriting partnership between Adams and co-writer Jim Vallance. With the exception of Remember and Wastin Time, most of the album was recorded from 29 October up until 29 November 1979 at Manta Studios and co-produced by Adams, the album was certified gold in Canada in 1986. Adamss second album, You Want It You Got It, was recorded in two weeks and it marked Adamss first album co-produced by Bob Clearmountain. It was released in 1981 and contained the FM radio hit Lonely Nights, Adams also co-wrote songs for other artists during this time including Billboard charted songs like No Way to Treat a Lady for Bonnie Raitt and Dont Let Him Know for Prism. Cuts Like a Knife, which was released in January 1983, was Adamss breakout album due mainly to the lead singles, straight from the Heart was the most successful song, reaching number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100
4.
Celine Dion
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Céline Marie Claudette Dion, CC OQ ChLD is a Canadian singer and businesswoman. Dion first gained recognition in the 1980s by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest where she represented Switzerland. Following a series of French albums during the 1980s, she signed on to Epic Records in the United States, in 1990, Dion released her debut English-language album, Unison, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English-speaking areas of the world. During the 1990s, with the help of Angélil, she achieved fame after releasing several English albums along with additional French albums. Her albums, Falling into You and Lets Talk About Love, were certified diamond in the US while Deux became the best-selling French-language album of all time. However, in 1999 at the height of her success, Dion announced a hiatus from entertainment to start a family and spend time with her husband and she returned to the top of pop music in 2002 and signed to perform nightly in A New Day. A five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Paradise and it became the most successful residency show of all time, grossing US $385 million. Dions music has influenced by genres ranging from rock and R&B to gospel. Her recordings are mainly in French and English, although she sings in Spanish, Italian, German, Latin, Japanese. While her releases have received mixed critical reception, she is regarded as one of pop musics most influential voices. Dion has won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and she is the second best-selling female artist in the US during the Nielsen SoundScan era. In 2003, Dion was honoured by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry for selling over 50 million albums in Europe, Dion remains the best-selling Canadian artist and one of the best-selling artists of all time with record sales of over 200 million copies worldwide. Dion was born in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada, the youngest of 14 children of Thérèse, a homemaker, and Adhémar Dion, Dion was raised a Roman Catholic in a poverty-stricken, but, by her own account, happy home in Charlemagne. Music had always been a part of the Dion family, indeed, Dion herself was named after the song Céline. Thereafter, she continued to perform with her siblings in her parentss small piano bar called Le Vieux Baril, from an early age, Dion had dreamed of being a performer. In a 1994 interview with People magazine, she recalled, I missed my family and my home, I had one dream, I wanted to be a singer. At age 12, Dion collaborated with her mother and her brother Jacques to write and compose her first song, Ce nétait quun rêve, whose title translates as It Was Only a Dream or Nothing But A Dream. Her brother, Michel Dion, sent the recording to music manager René Angélil, Angélil was moved to tears by Dions voice and decided to make her a star
5.
Dave Matthews
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David John Dave Matthews is an South African-born American singer-songwriter, musician and actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band. Matthews was born in Johannesburg, and lived in both South Africa and the United States while growing up, Matthews mainly plays acoustic guitar, which he started playing at the age of nine. From 1991 to 2003, Matthews predominantly focused on songwriting and performing with the Dave Matthews Band, since then, he has also done various solo performances and produced other records. During the period from 2000 to 2010, his band sold more tickets, the bands most recent album, Away from the World, released in 2012, made them the only group to have six consecutive studio albums debut at number one on the Billboard charts. In addition to music, Matthews has had acting roles. He has also won 2 Grammy Awards, one in 1997 for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group – So Much to Say, david John Matthews was born on January 9,1967 in Johannesburg, the third of four children of parents John and Valerie Matthews. At the age of two years, Matthews moved with his family to Yorktown Heights in Westchester County, New York, where his father, a physicist, started working for IBM. In 1974, the Matthews family moved to Cambridge, England for a year before returning to New York, biographer Nevin Martell argues that Daves fathers death may be an impetus for his carpe diem lyrics. At some point while residing in New York, Matthews attended his first concert, the family returned to Johannesburg in 1977. A Quaker, Matthews left South Africa to avoid service, in Charlottesville, he became part of the local music community. Pursuing various interests, Matthews acted in local productions. Although Matthews had started playing the guitar at age nine, it was only in Charlottesville that he started performing publicly. From time to time, local star Tim Reynolds had Dave join him on stage, in 1991, he hatched the idea to form his own band. Prior to recording his first demo, Matthews bartended at Millers in Charlottesville, the bands first show was on March 14,1991, as part of a benefit for the Middle East Childrens Alliance at Trax Nightclub in Charlottesville. In early 1994, Matthews older sister, Anne, who lived in South Africa, was murdered by her husband, the event had a profound effect on Matthews outlook on life and was referenced in a few of his songs. On January 29,1994, he performed with Tim Reynolds at The Wetlands in New York, Dave Matthews Bands Under the Table and Dreaming, released later that year, was dedicated to her. Anne Matthews was survived by her two children who, upon her death, traveled to America, where Dave and his sister, Jane. Matthews focused primarily on songwriting and performances with the Dave Matthews Band from 1990 to 2003, DMB is an artistic blend of acoustic guitar, bass, sax, drums and fiddle music
6.
Christina Aguilera
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Christina María Aguilera is an American singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. Born in Staten Island, New York and raised in Rochester and Wexford, Pennsylvania, she appeared on the television series Star Search, after recording Reflection, the theme for Disneys 1998 film Mulan, Aguilera signed with RCA Records. She rose to prominence with her 1999 self-titled debut album spawned the Billboard Hot 100 number one singles, Genie in a Bottle, What a Girl Wants. The following year, Aguilera released two albums, the Spanish-language album Mi Reflejo and the holiday album My Kind of Christmas. She assumed creative control for her studio album, Stripped, which produced Dirrty, Beautiful. Aguileras fifth studio album, Back to Basics, debuted at one on the album charts of ten countries and spawned the tracks Aint No Other Man. In 2010, Aguilera released her studio album Bionic and starred in the film Burlesque. The following year, she debuted as a coach on the reality television series The Voice. Her seventh studio album, Lotus, was released in 2012, Aguilera has also been featured on several successful collaborations during her career, including Lady Marmalade, Moves like Jagger, and Say Something. Aguilera has been recognized as a pop icon and earned the title Pop Princess in her early years and her work has earned her five Grammy Awards, one Latin Grammy Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has sold over 17.9 million albums in the United States as of 2014 and 50 million albums worldwide as of 2015. In 2009, she ranked at number 58 on Rolling Stones list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, thereby becoming the youngest and the only artist under 30 to be named. Billboard recognized her as the 20th most successful artist of the 2000s, aside from her work in the entertainment industry, Aguilera is involved in charitable activities through human rights, world issues, and her work as a UN ambassador for the World Food Programme. Christina María Aguilera was born in Staten Island, New York, on December 18,1980, to Shelly Loraine, a musician, and Fausto Xavier Aguilera and her father is Ecuadorian, while her mother has German, Irish, Welsh, and Dutch ancestry. Her family moved frequently because of her fathers service, and lived in places including New Jersey, Texas, New York. Aguilera and her mother alleged that her father was physically and emotionally abusive, claims which he denied, Aguilera used music as a form of escape from her turbulent household. Following her parents divorce when she was six years old, Aguilera, her younger sister Rachel, after several years of being estranged, Aguilera expressed interest in reconciling with her father in 2012. Growing up, Aguilera, known locally as the girl with the big voice, aspired to be a singer, singing in local talent shows
7.
Ricky Martin
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Enrique Martín Morales, commonly known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, actor and author. Martin began his career at age twelve with the pop group Menudo. After five years with the group, he released several Spanish-language solo albums throughout the 1990s and he also acted on stage and on TV in Mexico, becoming a modest star in the country. In 1994 he starred on the American TV soap opera General Hospital, since its release, the song has sold over 8 million copies, making it one of the best selling singles of all time. His first English-language album, has sold 22 million copies and is one of the best selling albums of all time. His other studio albums include, Me Amarás, A Medio Vivir, Vuelve, Sound Loaded, Almas del Silencio, Life, Música + Alma + Sexo, and A Quien Quiera Escuchar. Martin was born on December 24,1971, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the son of Nereida Morales, an accountant, and Enrique Martín Negroni and he was the second youngest sibling. Martin has two older maternal half-brothers, Fernando and Ángel Fernández, and two older paternal half-brothers, Eric and Daniel Martín, and a younger paternal half-sister Vanessa Martín. Martin in an interview with Vanity Fair described his origins as Spanish, with Basque and Jewish ancestry from his great-grandparents, Martin grew up in a Roman Catholic home and was an altar boy throughout his childhood. His mothers side of the family was musically inclined and his grandfather was a poet. In a year and a half, he starred in eleven commercials, after achieving a small amount of fame in Puerto Rico for his work in television commercials, Martin auditioned for membership in Puerto Rican boy band Menudo. Although the executives enjoyed his dancing and singing at his first two auditions, Martin was rejected because he was too short, by the third audition, his persistence impressed executives and in 1984, twelve-year-old Martin became a member. The song Asignatura Pendiente from Almas del Silencio was inspired by the first time Martin left Puerto Rico to tour with Menudo. He considered leaving the group while on tour in Brazil, but ultimately decided to out of fear of media backlash. Martin also began struggling with his sexuality, noting the stark contrast between his status as a sex symbol and his own emotions, despite this, Martin acknowledged his opportunity to have so many amazing experiences with so many amazing people during his time with the group. He developed an interest in philanthropy when the group became UNICEF ambassadors and his experiences as an ambassador affected him greatly and inspired him to continue working with charities later in life. By 1987, Menudos record sales began to decline and the changed its image, adopting an edgier look. The band released the album Somos Los Hijos del Rock in Spanish, and to appeal to the Menudos Filipino fanbase, after recording eleven albums with the group, Martin left Menudo in July 1989 at age seventeen, hoping to rest and evaluate his career path
8.
Lady Marmalade
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Lady Marmalade is a song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan. The song is famous for its sexually suggestive chorus of Voulez-vous coucher avec moi. which translates into English as Do you want to sleep with me, the song was originally recorded in 1974 by the group Eleventh Hour. It first became a hit when covered by the American girl group Labelle. Labelle held the spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week. The song has had many cover versions over the years, in 1998, girl group All Saints released a cover of the song that peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart. The 2001 version by singers Christina Aguilera, Mýa, Pink, soundtrack was a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for 5 weeks. Lady Marmalade was the song to reach number one by two different musical acts in America. The song was written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, and was inspired by Crewes experiences in New Orleans, a sex worker named Lady Marmalade shows up to a man named Joe, flirts with him and takes him home. Joe drinks wine and he screams French words while she is in the, the song was first recorded by The Eleventh Hour, a disco group made up of studio musicians fronted by Nolan on vocals. It was released in 1974 as a track on the Eleventh Hours Greatest Hits LP which did not chart, Crewe showed the song to Allen Toussaint in New Orleans, and Toussaint then decided to record the song with Labelle. Labelles version of Lady Marmalade was produced by Allen Toussaint and Vicki Wickham and it was released on August 3,1974 as the first single from Nightbirds, their first album after signing with Epic Records. Patti LaBelle sang lead vocals on Lady Marmalade with backing vocals being contributed by band mates Nona Hendryx, the song is best known for the French lyric Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir. in the refrain. Although Lady Marmalade is about a prostitute, Patti LaBelle, the female vocal of the band, said. Nobody, I swear this is Gods truth, nobody told me what Id just sung a song about, steve Huey from AllMusic selected the song as one of the best tracks on Labelles 1995 compilation Lady Marmalade, The Best of Patti and Labelle. Critic Robert Christgau described it as great synthetic French-quarter raunch, Lady Marmalade is billed as the song that made Labelle one of the hottest girl groups of the 1970s. Along with the track, What Can I Do for You, Lady Marmalade peaked at number seven on the disco/dance charts. The single also charted at seventeen in the United Kingdom. Billboard ranked it as the No.22 song for 1975, Labelle performed Lady Marmalade on Soul Train on December 7,1974
9.
Ray Charles
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Ray Charles Robinson, known professionally as Ray Charles, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called Brother Ray and he was often referred to as The Genius. Charles was blind from the age of seven and he pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s by combining blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records. He also contributed to the integration of music, rhythm and blues and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records. While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first black musicians to be granted artistic control by a record company. Charles cited Nat King Cole as an influence, but his music was also influenced by country, jazz, blues. In the late forties, he became friends with Quincy Jones and their friendship would last till the end of Charless life. Frank Sinatra called him the true genius in show business. In 2002, Rolling Stone ranked Charles number ten on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, Billy Joel observed, This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley. Robinson was the son of Bailey Robinson, a laborer, at the time, she was a teenage orphan making a living as a sharecropper. They lived in Greenville, Florida, with Robinsons mother and his wife, the Robinson family had informally adopted Aretha, and she became known as Aretha Robinson. When she, scandalously, became pregnant by Bailey, she briefly left Greenville late in the summer of 1930 to be family members in Albany, Georgia. After that, mother and child returned to Greenville, and Aretha and he was deeply devoted to his mother and later recalled her perseverance, self-sufficiency, and pride as guiding lights in his life. His father abandoned the family, left Greenville, and took another wife elsewhere, in his early years, Charles showed a fondness about mechanical objects and would often watch his neighbors working on their cars and farm machinery. Charles and his mother were always welcome at the Red Wing Cafe, pitman would also care for Rays brother George, to take the burden off Aretha. George drowned in Arethas laundry tub when he was four years old, Charles started to lose his sight at the age of four or five, and was completely blind by the age of seven, apparently as a result of glaucoma. Destitute, uneducated and still mourning the loss of George, Aretha used her connections in the community to find a school that would accept a blind African-American student. Despite his initial protest, Charles attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf, Charles further developed his musical talent at school, and was taught to play the classical piano music of J. S
10.
Norah Jones
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Norah Jones is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Throughout her career, Jones has won awards and has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. Billboard named her the top jazz artist of the 2000–2009 decade and she has won nine Grammy Awards and was 60th on Billboard magazines artists of the 2000–2009 decade chart. In 2002, Jones launched her music career with the release of Come Away with Me. It was certified diamond, selling over 26 million copies, the record earned Jones five Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist. They were also well received by critics. Jones fifth studio album, Little Broken Hearts, was released on April 27,2012, Jones is the daughter of Indian sitar player and composer Ravi Shankar, and half-sister of fellow musician Anoushka Shankar. Jones was born Geetali Norah Shankar on March 30,1979 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, to American concert producer Sue Jones, after her parents separated in 1986, Shankar lived with her mother, growing up in Grapevine, Texas. She attended Colleyville Middle School and Grapevine High School before transferring to Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing, while in high school, she sang in the school choir, participated in band, and played the alto saxophone. At the age of sixteen, with parents consent, she officially changed her name to Norah Jones. Jones always had an affinity for the music of Bill Evans and Billie Holiday and she once said, My mom had this eight-album Billie Holiday set, I picked out one disc that I liked and played that over and over again. As a child, Jones began singing in church and also took piano and she considers herself spiritual and appreciates the rituals of her church but does not consider herself deeply religious. She attended Interlochen Center for the Arts during the summers, while at high school, she won the Down Beat Student Music Awards for Best Jazz Vocalist and Best Original Composition. Jones attended the University of North Texas, where she majored in jazz piano, during this time, she had a chance meeting with future collaborator Jesse Harris. She gave a ride to a band playing at the university whose members happened to be friends of Harris and he was on a cross-country road-trip with friend and future Little Willies member Richard Julian, and stopped to see the band play. After meeting Jones, Harris started sending her lead sheets of his songs, in 1999, Jones left Texas for New York City. Less than a later, she started a band with Harris. As artist Peter Malick states in the notes, I started looking for a singer who could record for me
11.
Colbie Caillat
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Colbie Marie Caillat is an American singer, songwriter, actress, guitarist and pianist from Malibu, California. Caillat rose to fame through social networking website Myspace, at that time, she was the number-one unsigned artist of her genre. In 2008, she recorded a duet with Jason Mraz, Lucky, in August 2009, she released Breakthrough, her second album, which became her first album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. It has been certified Gold by the RIAA, Breakthrough was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2010 Grammy Awards. She was also part of the group that won Album of the Year at the 2010 Grammy Awards for her background vocals, in July 2011, she released her third studio album, All of You. In October 2012, she released her first Christmas album, Christmas in the Sand, Caillat has sold over six million albums worldwide and over 10 million singles. In 2009, she was named Billboard magazines 94th-best-selling music artist of the 2000s, Caillat was born in Malibu, California, and grew up in Newbury Park, California. Her father, Ken Caillat, co-produced Fleetwood Macs Rumours and Tusk albums, when she was an infant, her parents gave her the nickname Coco, which she would later name her debut album. Caillat took piano lessons as a child, but lacked significant inspiration until she turned 11 years old and she realized that she wanted to be a singer, and began taking vocal lessons, performing onstage for the first time in sixth grade. Since then she has covered the Roberta Flack song Killing Me Softly, which had previously covered by Lauryn Hill. Caillat soon met producer Mikal Blue, who hired her to sing on techno songs used at fashion shows, Caillat began playing the acoustic guitar at age 19, and Blue helped her record her first song. She auditioned for American Idol but was rejected at the stage and was unable to sing for the judges. The second time she auditioned for the show, she sang her own song, Bubbly. However, Caillat expressed gratitude at the decision, saying I was shy. I wasnt ready for it yet, I was glad, when I auditioned, that they said no. The popularity of Caillats MySpace profile led her to become the number-one unsigned singer in her genre for four consecutive months, Caillats debut album, Coco, was released on July 10,2007 in Australia and Asia and a week later in North America. Its deluxe edition was released on September 3,2008 in Japan, the album was certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA with shipments to U. S. retailers of 2,000,000 units. The albums first single, Bubbly, peaked at five on the US Billboard Hot 100
12.
Taylor Swift
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Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. One of the most popular contemporary female recording artists, she is known for songs about her personal life. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at age 14 to pursue a career in country music and she signed with the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest artist ever signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. Her eponymous debut album in 2006 peaked at five on Billboard 200. The albums third single, Our Song, made her the youngest person to single-handedly write, Swifts second album, Fearless, was released in 2008. Buoyed by the pop success of the singles Love Story and You Belong with Me. The album won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest Album of the Year winner, Swift was the sole writer of her 2010 album, Speak Now. It debuted at one in the United States and the single Mean won two Grammy Awards. Her fourth album, Red, yielded the successful singles We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, with her fifth album, the pop-focused 1989, she became the first act to have three albums sell a million copies within one week in the United States. Its singles Shake It Off, Blank Space and Bad Blood reached number one in the US, Australia, the album received three Grammy Awards, and Swift became the first woman and fifth act overall to win Album of the Year twice. The 2015 eponymous concert tour for 1989 became one of highest-grossing of the decade, as a songwriter, Swift has received awards from the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Swift is one of the artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums—including 27.1 million in the US—and 130 million single downloads. She has appeared in Times 100 most influential people in the world, Forbes top-earning women in music, Forbes 100 most powerful women and she was the youngest woman to be included in the third of these and ranked first in Celebrity 100. Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13,1989, in Reading and her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, was a financial advisor, and her mother, Andrea Gardner Swift, was a homemaker who worked previously as a mutual fund marketing executive. She has a brother named Austin. Swift spent the years of her life on a Christmas tree farm in Cumru Township. She attended preschool and kindergarten at the Alvernia Montessori School, run by Franciscan nuns, the family then moved to a rented house in the suburban town of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School. At the age of nine, Swift became interested in musical theater and she also traveled regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons
