Patsy Cline

One of the greatest singers in the history of country music, Patsy Cline also helped blaze a trail for female singers to assert themselves as an integral part of the Nashville-dominated country music industry. She was not alone in this regard; Kitty Wells had become a star several years before Cline's big hits in the early '60s. Brenda Lee, who shared Cline's producer, did just as much to create a country-pop crossover during the same era; Skeeter Davis briefly enjoyed similar success. Cline has the most legendary aura of any female country singer, however, perhaps due to an early death that cut her off just after she had entered her prime.

Cline began recording in the mid-'50s, and although she recorded quite a bit of material between 1955 and 1960 (17 singles in all), only one of them was a hit. That song, "Walkin' After Midnight," was both a classic and a Top 20 pop smash. Those who are accustomed to Cline's famous early-'60s hits are in for a bit of a shock when surveying her '50s sessions (which have been reissued on several Rhino compilations). At times she sang flat-out rockabilly; she also tried some churchy tear-weepers. She couldn't follow up "Walkin' After Midnight," however, in part because of an exploitative deal that limited her to songs from one publishing company.

Circumstances were not wholly to blame for Cline's commercial failures. She would have never made it as a rockabilly singer, lacking the conviction of Wanda Jackson or the spunk of Brenda Lee. In fact, in comparison with her best work, she sounds rather stiff and ill-at-ease on most of her early singles. Things took a radical turn for the better on all fronts in 1960, when her initial contract expired. With the help of producer Owen Bradley (who had worked on her sessions all along), Cline began selecting material that was both more suitable and of a higher quality than her previous outings.

"I Fall to Pieces," cut at the very first session where Cline was at liberty to record what she wanted, was the turning point in her career. Reaching number one in the country charts and number 12 pop, it was the first of several country-pop crossovers she was to enjoy over the next couple of years. More important, it set a prototype for commercial Nashville country at its best. Owen Bradley crafted lush orchestral arrangements, with weeping strings and backup vocals by the Jordanaires, that owed more to pop (in the best sense) than country.

The country elements were provided by the cream of Nashville's session musicians, including guitarist Hank Garland, pianist Floyd Cramer, and drummer Buddy Harmon. Cline's voice sounded richer, more confident, and more mature, with ageless wise and vulnerable qualities that have enabled her records to maintain their appeal with subsequent generations. When k.d. lang recorded her 1988 album Shadowland with Owen Bradley, it was this phase of Cline's career that she was specifically attempting to emulate.

It's arguable that too much has been made of Cline's crossover appeal to the pop market. Brenda Lee, whose records were graced with similar Bradley productions, was actually more successful in this area (although her records were likely targeted toward a younger audience). Cline's appeal was undeniably more adult, but she was always more successful with country listeners. Her final four Top Ten country singles, in fact, didn't make the pop Top 40.

Despite a severe auto accident in 1961, Cline remained hot through 1961 and 1962, with "Crazy" and "She's Got You" both becoming big country and pop hits. Much of her achingly romantic material was supplied by fresh talent like Hank Cochran, Harlan Howard, and Willie Nelson (who penned "Crazy"). Although her commercial momentum had faded slightly, she was still at the top of her game when she died in a plane crash in March of 1963, at the age of 30. She was only a big star for a couple of years, but her influence was and remains huge. While the standards of professionalism on her recordings have been emulated ever since, they've rarely been complemented by as much palpable, at times heartbreaking emotion in the performances. For those who could do without some of more elaborate arrangements of her later years, many of her relatively unadorned appearances on radio broadcasts have been thankfully preserved and issued. ~

Peggy Lee

Peggy Lee's alluring tone, distinctive delivery, breadth of material, and ability to write many of her own songs made her one of the most captivating artists of the vocal era, from her breakthrough on the Benny Goodman hit "Why Don't You Do Right" to her many solo successes, singles including "Mañana," "Lover" and "Fever" that showed her bewitching vocal power, a balance between sultry swing and impeccable musicianship.

Born Norma Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, she suffered the death of her mother at the age of four and endured a difficult stepmother after her father remarried. Given her sense of swing by listening to Count Basie on the radio, she taught herself to sing and made her radio debut at the age of 14. She made the jump to Fargo (where she was christened Peggy Lee), then to Minneapolis and St. Louis to sing with a regional band. Lee twice journeyed to Hollywood to make her fortune, but returned unsuccessful from both trips.

She finally got her big break in 1941, when a vocal group she worked with began appearing at a club in Chicago. While there, she was heard by Benny Goodman, whose regular vocalist Helen Forrest was about to leave his band. Lee recorded with Goodman just a few days later, debuting with the popular "Elmer's Tune" despite a good deal of nerves. That same year, several songs became commercial successes including "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)" and "Winter Weather." In 1943, "Why Don't You Do Right" became her first major hit, but she left the Goodman band (and the music industry altogether) later that year after marrying Goodman's guitarist, Dave Barbour.

After just over a year of domestic life, Peggy Lee returned to music, first as part of an all-star jazz album. Then, in late 1945, Capitol signed her to a solo contract and she hit the charts with her first shot, "Waitin' for the Train to Come In." Lee continued to score during the late '40s, with over two dozen chart entries before the end of the decade, including "It's a Good Day," "Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me)" -- the most popular song of 1948 -- and "I Don't Know Enough About You." Many of her singles were done in conjunction with Barbour, her frequent writing and recording partner.

After moving to Decca in 1952, Peggy Lee scored with the single "Lover" and an LP, Songs From Pete Kelly's Blues recorded with Ella Fitzgerald (both singers also made appearances in the film). She spent only five years at Decca however, before moving back to Capitol. There, she distinguished herself through recording a wide variety of material, including songs -- and occasionally, entire LPs -- influenced by the blues, Latin and cabaret as well as pop. Lee also used many different settings, like an orchestra conducted by none other than Frank Sinatra for 1957's The Man I Love, the George Shearing Quintet for 1959's live appearance Beauty and the Beat, Quincey Jones as arranger and conductor for 1961's If You Go, and arrangements by Benny Carter on 1963's Mink Jazz. Barbour's problems with alcoholism ended their marriage, though they remained good friends until his death in 1965.

Peggy Lee was an early advocate of rock and made a quick transition into rock-oriented material. Given her depth and open mind for great songs no matter the source, it wasn't much of a surprise that she sounded quite comfortable covering the more song-oriented end of late-'60s rock, including great choices by Jimmy Webb, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Burt Bacharach, Randy Newman, Goffin & King and John Sebastian. She nearly brushed the Top Ten in 1969 with Leiber & Stoller's "Is That All There Is?" She continued recording contemporary material until 1972's Norma Deloris Egstrom From Jamestown, North Dakota brought her back to her roots. It was her last LP for Capitol, however. Lee recorded single LPs for Atlantic, A&M, Polydor UK and DRG before effectively retiring at the beginning of the 1980s. She returned in 1988 with two LPs for Music Masters that revisited her earlier successes. Her last album, Moments Like This, was recorded in 1992 for Chesky. Her voice was effectively silenced after a 1998 stroke, and she died of a heart attack at her Bel Air home in early 2002. ~

Ice T

Ice-T (born Tracy Morrow) has proven to be one of hip-hop's most articulate and intelligent stars, as well as one of its most frustrating. At his best, the rapper has written some of the best portraits of ghetto life and gangsters, as well as some of the best social commentary hip-hop has produced. Just as often, he can slip into sexism and gratuitous violence, and even then his rhymes are clever and biting. Ice-T's best recordings have always been made in conjunction with strong collaborators, whether it's the Bomb Squad or Jello Biafra. With his music, Ice-T has made a conscious effort to win the vast audience of white male adolescents, as his frequent excursions with his heavy metal band Body Count show. All the while, he has withstood a constant barrage of criticism and controversy to become a respected figure not only in the music press, but the mainstream media as well.

Although he was one of the leading figures of Californian hip-hop in the '80s, Ice-T was born in Newark, NJ. When he was a child, he moved from his native Newark to California after his parents died in an auto accident. While he was in high school, he became obsessed with rap while he went to Crenshaw High School in South Central Los Angeles. Ice-T took his name from Iceberg Slim, a pimp who wrote novels and poetry. Ice-T used to memorize lines of Iceberg Slim's poetry, reciting them for friends and classmates. After he left high school, he recorded several undistinguished 12" singles in the early '80s. He also appeared in the low-budget hip-hop films Rappin', Breakin', and Breakin' II: Electric Boogaloo as he was trying to establish a career.

Ice-T finally landed a major-label record deal with Sire Records in 1987, releasing his debut album, Rhyme Pays. On the record, he is supported by DJ Aladdin and producer Afrika Islam, who helped create the rolling, spare beats and samples that provided a backdrop for the rapper's charismatic rhymes, which were mainly party-oriented; the record wound up going gold. That same year, he recorded the theme song for Dennis Hopper's Colors, a film about inner-city life in Los Angeles. The song -- also called "Colors" -- was stronger, both lyrically and musically, with more incisive lyrics, than anything he had previously released. Ice-T formed his own record label, Rhyme Syndicate (which was distributed through Sire/Warner) in 1988, and released Power. Power was a more assured and impressive record, earning him strong reviews and his second gold record. Released in 1989, The Iceberg/Freedom of Speech...Just Watch What You Say established him as a true hip-hop superstar by matching excellent abrasive music with fierce, intelligent narratives, and political commentaries, especially about hip-hop censorship.

Two years later, Ice-T began an acting career, starring in the updated blaxploitation film New Jack City; he also recorded "New Jack Hustler" for the film. "New Jack Hustler" became one of the centerpieces of 1991's O.G.: Original Gangster, which became his most successful album to date. O.G. also featured a metal track called "Body Count" recorded with Ice-T's band of the same name. Ice-T took the band out on tour that summer, as he performed on the first Lollapalooza tour. The tour set-up increased his appeal with both alternative music fans and middle-class teenagers. The following year, the rapper decided to released an entire album with the band, also called Body Count.

Body Count proved to be a major turning point in Ice-T's career. On the basis of the track "Cop Killer" -- where he sang from the point-of-view of a police murderer -- the record ignited a national controversy; it was protested by the NRA and police activist groups. Time Warner Records initially supported Ice-T, yet they refused to release his new rap album, Home Invasion, on the basis of the record cover. Ice-T and the label parted ways by the end of the year. Home Invasion was released on Priority Records in the spring of 1993 to lukewarm reviews and sales. Somewhere along the way, Ice-T had begun to lose most of his original hip-hop audience; now he appealed primarily to suburban white teens. In 1994, he wrote a book and released the second Body Count album, Born Dead, which failed to stir up the same controversy as the first record -- indeed, it failed to gain much attention of any sort. Nevertheless, Body Count was successful in clubs and Ice-T continued to tour with the band.

In the summer of 1996, Ice-T released his first rap album since 1993, Return of the Real. The album was greeted by mixed reviews and it failed to live up to commercial expectations. 7th Deadly Sin followed in 1999. Ice-T then returned to acting, taking a role on NBC's Law & Order : Special Victims Unit playing, ironically, a police officer. ~

Isyss

syss is an all-female hip-hop group whose name stands for Intelligent Sexy Young Soul Sisters. The quartet, which is featured on the theme of the Oh Drama television program broadcast by B.E.T., consists of LeTiecia Harrison, Ardena Clark, LaMyia Good, and Quierra Davis-Martin. Originally the group also included Paulette Maxwell, who previously had performed with a group named Gyrl. Harrison, who was raised in Los Angeles, is the youngest member of Isyss. In addition to singing with the group, she is also a print and runway model whose photo has graced the pages of Vibe and a few other magazines. Good is an actress who has appeared on the television shows Judging Amy, Popular, and The Parkers. Davis-Martin spent three years as a student at the Baltimore School for the Arts and finished her final year of school on the opposite coast in the Los Angeles School for the Arts. Clark, a native of Los Angeles, attended another of the city's schools, the Alexander Hamilton Performing Arts High School. ~

Dorris Day

Doris Day was born on April 3, 1924 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She changed her last name to Day when she began performing on radio. She sang with several big bands before going solo in 1947. In the 1950s, she made a series of popular film musicals, including Calamity Jane (1953), and The Pajama Game (1957). Day is an advocate for animal rights and founded several organizations devoted to the cause.
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Profile

(born April 3, 1924, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.) American singer and motion-picture actress whose performances in movie musicals of the 1950s and sex comedies of the early '60s made her a leading Hollywood star.

While still a teenager, she changed her last name to Day when she began singing on radio. She worked as a vocalist in the bands of Barney Rapp and Bob Crosby before joining Les Brown's band in 1940 and making several popular recordings, among them “Sentimental Journey.” Day went solo in 1947 and achieved great success as a recording artist. Her singing was distinguished by crystal-clear tone and the ability to convey great emotion without histrionics.

Day's first major film role was in Romance on the High Seas (1948). From there she made a long series of musicals, including Calamity Jane (1953), Young at Heart (1955), Love Me or Leave Me (1955), and The Pajama Game (1957). Her screen persona, that of an intelligent, wholesome woman of unfailing optimism and understated strength of character, came to epitomize the ideal American woman of the 1950s. Day went on to star in a string of sophisticated sex comedies, notably Teacher's Pet (1958), Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1962), That Touch of Mink (1962), The Thrill of It All (1963), and Send Me No Flowers (1964). These comedies made her Hollywood's leading box-office attraction. From 1968 to 1973 she starred in The Doris Day Show, a weekly television series.

As her acting career neared its end, Day focused her attention on animals, cofounding Actors and Others for Animals. In 1977 she founded the Doris Day Pet Foundation, and ten years later she became a founding member and president of the Doris Day Animal League, a lobbying organization for laws regulating the treatment of animals.

Macy Gray

Macy Gray parlayed an utterly unique voice and an outlandish sense of style into R&B stardom at the turn of the millennium, appealing to audiences of all colors in search of a fresh alternative to mainstream soul. Gray was actually born Natalie McIntyre in Canton, OH, and grew up a shy, awkward youngster who was frequently teased about her odd-sounding voice. She studied classical piano for seven years, but also soaked up the music of soul legends like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Aretha Franklin, not to mention old-school hip-hop; at boarding school as a teenager, she was exposed to a variety of white rock & roll as well. She moved to Los Angeles to enroll in USC's screenwriting program, where one day she agreed to write lyrics for a musician friend's original songs. A demo session was scheduled to get the songs on tape, and when the singer failed to show up, Gray -- having adopted the full name of an elderly neighbor in Canton as her creative alias -- wound up singing on the recordings herself, in spite of her distaste for her own voice. One of the songs was never overdubbed with another vocal, and when the tapes started making the rounds of the local music scene, Gray's raspy growl attracted a lot of attention, much to her surprise. She was offered a job singing jazz and pop standards with a band that performed in hotels around Los Angeles, and her continued work as a demo singer created a buzz around the unlikely diva.

Gray organized an after-hours club called the We Ours, which took place in a small coffeehouse; in addition to welcoming open-mic acts, Gray and her jazz group performed there regularly. She signed with Atlantic Records, who declined to release the album she recorded for them; devastated by this rejection and the breakup of her marriage (her third child was on the way at the time), Gray retreated to Canton. However, her demo tape continued to make the rounds, and she returned to L.A. to accept a publishing deal with Zomba. This in turn helped lead to a new record contract with Epic in April 1998, and Gray spent the next year recording what was to become her debut album, On How Life Is. Released in the summer of 1999, On How Life Is won glowing reviews and great word-of-mouth, but in spite of all that -- plus a moderate hit single in "Do Something" -- the record was slow to catch on at first. That all changed early the next year, when Gray received two Grammy nominations (for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal), and the single "I Try" started to take off on radio. "I Try" proved to be an enormous hit, and On How Life Is suddenly sold like hotcakes, entering the Top Ten and going triple platinum by the end of 2000. Gray scored a smaller follow-up hit with "Why Don't You Call Me," and also raised eyebrows with the album track "I've Committed Murder," in which the protagonist gets away with her crime. Although Gray lost out her first time at the Grammys, she was nominated again the following year for Best Female Pop Vocal thanks to "I Try," and this time won (although the song lost out on Record of the Year and Song of the Year honors).

In late 2000, Gray contributed two vocal tracks to Fatboy Slim's Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars album; she subsequently recorded with the Black Eyed Peas, cut a duet with rap legend Slick Rick for the Rush Hour 2 soundtrack ("The World Is Yours"), and made her screen acting debut in the Denzel Washington police drama Training Day. By the time she had begun work on her second album, Gray was developing a reputation for surreal public appearances and interviews, culminating in an August 2001 incident in which she was booed for apparently stumbling over the lyrics to the national anthem. Released the following month, The Id was a determined effort to play up the crazy side of Gray's image; it entered the charts at number 11 and quickly went gold on the strength of lead single "Sweet Baby." However, in spite of guest appearances by Erykah Badu and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante, among others, its sales stalled much sooner than expected. During 2002, Gray appeared as herself in the blockbuster film Spider-Man and also guested on Santana's Shaman. One year later, her third album -- The Trouble with Being Myself -- arrived on the shelves, although it was also a flop in commercial terms (it just barely missed the Top 40). With a new production team, including will.i.am from Black Eyed Peas and his confederate Ron Fair, Gray returned with a slicker, Tom Joyner-approved version of soul on 2007's Big, featuring collaborations with Natalie Cole and BEP's Fergie. ~

Cassie

Cassandra Ventura (born on August 26, 1986) is an American model, R&B singer, and occasional actress. She is best known for her single Me & U, which became a hit in the summer of 2006.

Cassie was born in New London, Connecticut, United States and moved to New York City and continued modeling; she attended classes at the Broadway Dance Center. Meanwhile, music producer Ryan Leslie spotted her at clubs and parties in late 2004.

Shortly after a formal introduction to Ryan Leslie, Cassie became the focus of Next Selection. The two wrote a duet called “Kiss Me” and after recording the track, Next Selection made a management move to play the song for music executive Tommy Mottola. Leslie also co-wrote and produced Cassie’s first single, “Me & U”. Cassie was introduced to Sean “Diddy” Combs by a make-up artist from one of her modeling assignments, which also helped her to get a shot at a music career.

Before signing with the Bad Boy label, Cassie’s first single “Me & U” had already hit the airwaves and was a major hit in clubs. On its official release, “Me & U” proved to be a hit song. It reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the Billboard Pop 100.

Her follow up single, “Long Way 2 Go” was far less successful, peaking at ninety-seven on the Billboard Hot 100. Cassie’s debut album, Cassie, was released on August 8, 2006 and sold 321,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen Sound Scan. In contrast to her album sales, Cassie’s hit single, “Me & U”, sold over 1 million digital downloads.

Girls Aloud

Despite their fabricated formation through a television program called Popstars: The Rivals, Girls Aloud achieved both mainstream success and widespread critical acclaim in their native England. Through Popstars' process of elimination, Girls Aloud's membership amounted to Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts, Cheryl Tweedy, and Kimberley Walsh. The group took shape in November 2002, and soon began a streak of Top Ten singles that broke a record for girl groups and remained unbroken through the end of 2006, when the compilation The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits was issued. Their first three proper albums -- 2003's Sound of the Underground, 2004's What Will the Neighbors Say?, and 2005's Chemistry -- were similarly successful, though the latter stalled at number 11 on the album chart. ~

Mutya Buena

Mutya Buena (born 21 May 1985) is a British recording artist who rose to fame in the early 2000s as a member of girl group, Sugababes until her departure in December 2005. She released a solo album, Real Girl in 2007, which contained a number of hit singles. In October 2010 she announced that she would not be pursuing her career in music any further and would be concentrating on becoming a child psychologist. In January 2011, her record label comfirms that shes back. Fresh and excited after taking time out to look after her daughter. The original line-up of the group featured a group of friends Keisha Buchanan, Siobhán Donaghy and Buena. Buena and Buchanan were friends from school and met Donaghy at a music recording studio in 1998. Since gaining a record deal, the band have gone on to become one of the most successful U.K. girl groups in the history of British music, second only to the Spice Girls in terms of record sales. They have had four platinum selling albums, six number one singles and a BRIT-Award as well as a platinum-selling greatest hits album. Following an apparent illness that prevented Buena from promoting the follow-up single Ugly, it was announced on 21 December 2005 that Buena had left Sugababes. According to an announcement on their site, “Buena’s decision was based purely on personal reasons and she will continue to remain the best of friends with both”. It was found that Buchanan wanted to stay friends with Buena but found it hard as she never sees her. The last remaining original member, Buchanan, said upon Buena’s departure, “…we will all miss Mutya, but we also knew there was still a place for bringing in somebody new who could help us carry on taking the Sugababes brand of music forward”…” Amelle Berrabah joined the group just 48 hours after Buena’s departure. Berrabah was chosen by the group’s management and “instantly knew she was the only person to share the rest of the journey with us.” Since her departure from the Sugababes, Buena has worked with a range of record producers, singers and musicians, including Amy Winehouse, George Michael and dance music writers Groove Armada. Buena began working on her debut album in early 2006, after signing with her previous label Universal Island Records. The first single to be released in the U.K. featuring Buena was that of a ballad duet with George Michael, entitled This Is Not Real Love. Released in November 2006, it was a U.K. Top 20 hit after reaching number 15. It also appeared on Michael’s Greatest Hits album Twenty Five. Following this, Buena toured with Michael on the London and Manchester leg of his 2006 25 Live tour. The duet between Michael and Buena is also included on Buena’s debut album Real Girl. Preceding the album, the title track Real Girl was released in early 2007. It was a big hit in the UK, making it to Number 2 in the charts, as well as having a BRIT Award nomination for “Best Single”. The song samples Lenny Kravitz’s hit It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over, and was produced by London-based production company Full Phat. Real Girl was also featured on the Sex and the City, Vol 2: More Music Soundtrack. Following this, Buena’s debut album Real Girl was released, and made Number 10 in the UK amid mixed reviews from critics and fans alike. The album only held a place in the U.K. Top 40 Albums for three weeks, quickly dropping off the chart. Buena performed at V Festival on 18 and 19 August 2007 at Hylands Park, Chelmsford and Western Park, Staffordshire. She also appeared at T4 On The Beach 2007 on Sunday 22 July 2007. Buena also covered Tracy Chapman’s classic “Fast Car” in 2007 for BBC Radio 1 as part of the “Radio 1 Established 1967” 40-year anniversary. The third song to be released from the album was “Song 4 Mutya (Out of Control)” , her collaboration with dance duo Groove Armada. The song received rave reviews from Popjustice reached position 8 in the U.K. charts. The fourth release from the album was “Just a Little Bit” which reached number 65. Buena then collaborated with Amy Winehouse, on a re-working of the track “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes, entitled “B Boy Baby” which reached number 73 in the UK top 75. Mutya’s debut solo album Real Girl, was certified to Gold. On 1 October 2007, Buena was nominated for the 2007 British “Music of Black Origin” (MOBO) awards at the O2 Arena in London. On 14 December 2007, she stood in at the last minute for the ill Jill Scott on the BBC Two program Later… with Jools Holland, fronting Scott’s band singing Real Girl and Just A Little Bit. On 12 February 2008, Mutya was dropped by her record label due to poor sales and charting positions from Real Girl and her last two singles, Just a Little Bit and B Boy Baby.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Sophie Michelle Ellis-Bextor (born 10 April 1979) is an English singer, songwriter and model. She first came to prominence in the late 1990s, as the lead singer of the indie rock band theaudience. After the group disbanded, Ellis-Bextor went solo, achieving widespread success in the early 2000s. Her music is a mixture of mainstream pop, disco, nu-disco, and 1980s electronic influences.
Ellis-Bextor has released three solo albums: Read My Lips, Shoot from the Hip, and Trip the Light Fantastic. She is due to release her fourth solo album, Make a Scene, on April 18, 2011.

Lelia Broussard

Lelia Broussard is described as a sultry, soulful pop artist. Lelia’s music is rooted in her South Louisiana heritage, but has taken influences from the Philly soul sound since she was transplanted to Philadelphia seven years ago. Lelia made her mark on the Philadelphia scene with time spent on the “open mic” circuit that led to a loyal fan base as diverse as her music Through several appearances and extensive airplay on University of Pennsylvania’s 88.5 WXPN and concerts at venues such as Sellersville Theater, The Point, Tin Angel, and World Cafe’ Live, Broussard further branched out to the general public with amazing results. Her debut EP, “Louisiana Soul”, written and recorded when Lelia was just 15, created excitement amongst the staff and listeners at WXPN, whose morning host Michaela Majoun says of Lelia, “Her voice and sensibility are so beyond her years. Lelia has that unique ability to genuinely connect with and captivate her audience in a way that really bonds them to her.” Ultimately, two of Lelia’s songs, “Secrets” and “Should Have Known”, from that first EP, were featured on two episodes of “Joan of Arcadia” on CBS-TV.

After this initial success with this first EP, Lelia began work on the new project (lil-yah) (also the proper pronunciation of her first name) which shows Lelia’s versatility as a vocalist, diverse songwriter, and producer. At the same time, she made her first appearance at the legendary Bitter End in NYC (where she is a regular featured artist), and was immediately embraced and continues to be strongly supported by owner Kenny Gorka. “I knew right away there was something very special about Lelia.” From her most recent appearance in NYC: “It was apparent once again that Lelia does not perform; she inhabits her music. Each song emerges from her as if she is suddenly compelled to tell its story or release its feelings. No movement seems calculated; no gesture planned. The result is an exhibition of musical integrity that would make any venue, large or small, feel intimate.” says Robbie Merkin, critically acclaimed composer.

(lil-yah) shows the diverse spectrum of Broussard’s writing styles. Influenced by the music of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Aretha Franklin, and others in that genre, Lelia knew she wanted her album to have an old soulful vibe, but with a new pop flair. Moving from jazz to soul, and even hip-hop, Broussard shows a mature understanding of her many influences without ever sounding forced. Recorded with an unrivaled group of musicians, this first rate group of seasoned pros quickly discovered that this would not be “another recording session” as they came to learn and appreciate Lelia’s music. “It’s scary how talented the young lady is. I couldn’t believe the sound coming from this petite little thing. We were all blown away by her,” says Jef Lee Johnson (Mariah Carey, Billy Joel). “Lelia is a creative genius” says Joel Bryant, (Harry Connick Jr, Aretha Franklin). Chico Huff (James Taylor) says, “Lelia seems to already have a strong musical vision and great love for music that comes across tenfold. Her singing and writing are very fresh and contemporary to my ears without being derivative.

On putting (lil-yah) into a genre, Lelia says it best when she explains, “People are hearing the CD and saying, ‘wow, you have all these different types of music on one CD- jazz, pop, rock, blues, rap, R&B, how do you even classify yourself? My answer is not any one genre is more me than the other. My goal is to be a diverse artist and performer that does many styles equally well.”

Lelia recently went back into the studio to make some improvements on the CD and will re-release it in the Spring of 2007 re-titled as “Rise”. This remixed and re-mastered CD has the addition of a couple of new tracks, and new vocals and arrangements on others. The title song, “Rise” has already been picked up by the MTV show “The Hills”. Lelia recently completed a national tour for the Heinz Corporation’s TGIFriday/Wal Mart Tour where she headlined along with major label artists.

What’s next for Lelia? “Well, I am continuing to grow my fan base by touring in and around the Philadelphia and New York areas, where I recently moved and back home in Louisiana. I’ve also recently started doing some co-writing with Rob Fusari, and I love the direction my songs are taking. And I’m going to be in LA early this year doing some co-writing with various songwriters, so it’s a busy time for me. I’ve remained an independent artist by choice, because I always felt it would be better for the longevity of my career if I stayed independent while I was so young. I think I have proven that I am a serious musician and songwriter, not a flavor of the month, but someone with musical integrity, at least that’s my goal . . . now that I’m a little older, I’m ready to move on to the next level of my career.”

Philadelphia Magazine, in a feature article on Lelia, speculated about her being “the next big thing”. Is she? Listen and we think you just might agree.

Erykah Badu

She grew up listening to '70s soul and '80s hip-hop, but Erykah Badu drew more comparisons to Billie Holiday upon her breakout in 1997, after the release of her first album, Baduizm. The grooves and production on the album are bass-heavy R&B, but Badu's langurous, occasionally tortured vocals and delicate phrasing immediately removed her from the legion of cookie-cutter female R&B singers. A singer/songwriter responsible for all but one of the songs on Baduizm, she found a number 12 hit with her first single "On & On," which pushed the album to number two on the charts.

Born Erica Wright in Dallas in 1971, Badu attended a school of the arts and was working as a teacher and part-time singer in her hometown when she opened for D'Angelo at a 1994 show. D'Angelo's manager, Kedar Massenburg, was impressed with the performance and hooked her up with the singer to record a cover of the Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell duet "Precious Love." He also signed Badu to his recently formed Kedar Entertainment label, and served as producer for Baduizm, which also starred bassist Ron Carter and members of hip-hop avatars the Roots on several tracks. The first single, "On & On," became a number one R&B hit in early 1997, and Baduizm followed it to the top of the R&B album charts by March. Opening for R&B acts as well as rap's Wu-Tang Clan, Erykah Badu stopped just short of number one on the pop album charts in April. Her Live album followed later in the year. In 2000 she returned with her highly anticipated second studio album, Mama's Gun, which was co-produced by Badu, James Poyser, Bilal and Jay Dee and contained the hit single, "Bag Lady".~ John Bush, All Music Guide

Maroon 5

Adam Levine (vocals/guitar), Jesse Carmichael (keyboards), Mickey Madden (bass), and Ryan Dusick (drums) spent the latter half of the '90s playing in the modern rock foursome Kara's Flowers. The Fourth World was their proper debut for Reprise, a favorite in the college market, but a change of direction loomed ahead. They left Reprise in 1999 and renamed themselves Maroon 5 with the addition of guitarist James Valentine. Levine and his junior-high pals spent the next years tweaking their style and playing various music showcases in and around New York City and Los Angeles. The independent label Octone Records caught one those shows and offered Maroon 5 a deal. Songs About Jane emerged from those sessions, finally appearing in June 2002, but it wasn't until the next summer that things started happening for Maroon 5. "Harder to Breathe" and "This Love" were Top Ten singles and by January 2004 Songs About Jane was certified platinum, reaching number six on the Billboard 200. A third single, "She Will Be Loved," appeared later that August, and the buzz continued to swirl around Maroon 5. (They somewhat ironically won the Best New Artist Grammy in 2005.) As the success of Songs About Jane was slow to develop (or rather, it was the rare 21st century album given time to develop), Maroon 5 had to issue some stopgap live recordings while they supported Jane and tried to think about new material. 1.22.03.Acoustic appeared in 2004, and Live Friday the 13th in September 2005. The band also supported the Rolling Stones for a string of dates in August and September 2005. One year later, Dusick was replaced by Matt Flynn. In 2007, the band released its sophomore effort, It Won't Be Soon Before Long. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide

Morrissey

As the lead singer of the Smiths, arguably the most important indie band in Britain during the '80s, Morrissey's theatrical crooning and literate, poetic lyrics -- filled with romantic angst, social alienation, and cutting wit -- connected powerfully with a legion of similarly sensitive, disaffected youth. These fans turned The Smiths into stars in Britain, exerting tremendous pull over much of the country's guitar-based music for many years after their breakup, and even if the group remained underground cult artists in the States, they had a fanbase that slowly, steadily grew larger over the years. Indeed, a few years after The Smiths's breakup in 1987, Morrissey's American cult had grown to the point where he became more popular in the U.S. than in his homeland, where he neverthless was never far from the music press headlines. After a quiet period around the turn of the millennium, Morrissey launched a comeback in 2004 with You Are the Quarry, an album whose success proved that he remained one of the most beloved figures in alternative rock.

Stephen Patrick Morrissey was born May 22, 1959, in Manchester, England; not surprisingly a shy, awkward youth, he became obsessed with music and film as a teenager and devoted his writing talents to penning a New York Dolls fanzine (he was the president of their U.K. fan club), as well as a tribute to James Dean and numerous opinionated letters to the weekly music paper Melody Maker. During the explosion of punk in the late '70s, Morrissey unsuccessfully auditioned for Slaughter & the Dogs and sang for a brief period with a band called the Nosebleeds. He met guitarist Johnny Marr in 1982 and the two began writing songs together, forging one of the most productive partnerships British pop had seen in quite some time. The Smiths' 1983 debut single, "Hand in Glove," a love song filled with oblique references to homosexuality, made them an underground sensation in the U.K. and as Morrissey attracted more attention, he demonstrated a flair for manipulating the media. His interviews were filled with blunt, unpredictable opinions and intentionally outrageous statements and his notoriety wasn't hurt by his stage presence (he performed wearing a hearing aid with flowers sticking out of his back pockets) or his self-proclaimed celibacy in the wake of much speculation about his sexuality.

Possessed of a darkly cynical bent as a lyricist, he was often misinterpreted as advocating some of the more disturbing things he sang about, which only added to the furor surrounding the band. The Smiths' eponymous 1984 debut was a smash in the U.K. and in its wake, Morrissey began promoting his political views, heavily criticizing Margaret Thatcher, and advocating vegetarianism (hence the title of the follow-up LP, Meat Is Murder). The Queen Is Dead (1986) was acclaimed as a masterpiece, but friction between Morrissey and Marr was growing. Marr departed after 1987's Strangeways, Here We Come and Morrissey broke up the rest of the band to begin a solo career.

Feeling betrayed by Marr's defection, Morrissey channeled his frustration into creating new material with producer Stephen Street. His first two solo singles, "Suedehead" and the gorgeous "Everyday Is Like Sunday," were significant British hits in 1988 and his first album, Viva Hate (its title a reference to the Smiths' breakup), was commercially and critically well received. He released several more high-quality singles, including "The Last of the International Playboys" and "Interesting Drug," but spent an inordinate amount of time laboring on the follow-up album, issuing the stopgap compilation Bona Drag in 1990. In the meantime, the Madchester fad was sweeping British indie music and when the lackluster Kill Uncle was finally released in 1991, it only magnified the disappointment. U.K. reviewers took Morrissey to task, suggesting that the record marked the end of his glory days and that he would never be able to match the songs he'd written in tandem with Marr.

A misperceived flirtation with British nationalism (not helped by a couple of seemingly racial caricatures in recent songs) tarnished his image even more in the U.K. press during 1992, this coming amid even more frequent reports of feuds with his managers, business associates, and ex-bandmates. All the controversy overshadowed the fact that 1992's Mick Ronson-produced Your Arsenal was a smashing return to form; Morrissey used his new guitar tandem of Alain Whyte (who co-wrote much of the material) and Boz Boorer (formerly of rockabilly revivalists the Polecats) to full advantage in crafting a crunchy, glammed-up record. It easily ranked as the hardest-rocking of his career. Meanwhile, over in the U.S., tickets for his upcoming tour were selling like hotcakes and he managed to sell out L.A.'s Hollywood Bowl even faster than the Beatles had.

His confidence renewed by his American success (to the point where he permanently moved to Los Angeles), Morrissey delivered an equally strong follow-up in 1994's calmer Vauxhall and I, which even got him his first Top 50 singles chart entry in the U.S. with the MTV-supported "The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get." A hit-and-miss compilation, The World of Morrissey, followed in 1995, after which he switched labels (from Sire to RCA) for the first time since the Smiths' debut album. Also issued in 1995 was the prog rock-informed Southpaw Grammar, which confounded many and perhaps prevented him from expanding his American audience past a now-sizable group of longtime listeners. In 1996, he moved to another new label, this time Island, and released Maladjusted the following year. It failed to sell well outside of his most fanatical followers and his relationship with Island ended in 1998.

In the years that followed, Morrissey remained a massively popular touring attraction on the strength of his singular identity, despite the fact that he had yet to land another record deal. Finally, he signed his Attack label to Sanctuary, and released his first studio album in seven years, 2004's You Are the Quarry. The concert recording Live at Earls Court followed one year later. His second full-length for Sanctuary, Ringleader of the Tormentors was produced by Tony Visconti (T. Rex, David Bowie) and released in spring 2006. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Morphine

Morphine is a rarity -- bluesy, bare-bones rock & roll without any guitars. Instead of guitar riffs, the trio relies on sliding two-string basslines, raucous saxophones, and wry, ironically detached vocals. During the mid-'90s, Morphine gained a sizable cult following in America, primarily due to good word of mouth, heavy college airplay, and positive reviews.

Morphine was formed in 1990 by bassist/vocalist Mark Sandman, who had previously played with the bluesy alternative rock band Treat Her Right, and Dana Colley (tenor and baritone saxophone), a former member of the local Boston group Three Colors. Sandman and Colley added drummer Jerome Dupree to complete the lineup. The group released its debut album, Good, on the independent Accurate/Distortion label in 1991; it was reissued on Rykodisc Records in 1992. Good received substantial airplay on American college radio stations, as well as favorable reviews in alternative publications across the country. After the release of Good, Dupree left the band and was replaced by Billy Conway, who had previously played with Sandman in Treat Her Right.

The positive reception to Good set the stage for 1993's Cure for Pain, which received good reviews from a variety of music and mainstream publications upon its spring release. Morphine supported Cure for Pain with an extensive American and European tour that lasted throughout 1994, which helped the album sell over 300,000 copies -- an impressive feat for an independent release. In 1995, Morphine released their third album, Yes, which also received favorable reviews and helped the band sustain its large cult following.

The success of Cure for Pain and Yes also attracted the attention of major record labels, and in late 1996, Dreamworks bought out the majority share of Morphine's contract from Rykodisc. Like Swimming, the group's debut for Dreamworks, was released in the spring of 1997 to generally favorable reviews, yet it failed to break Morphine out of cult status. On July 3, 1999, Sandman collapsed on-stage during a performance in Rome, dying of a heart attack at the age of 47. The Night was posthumously issued early the following year and the live disc Bootleg Detroit appeared in fall 2000. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Muse

The English rock trio Muse consists of guitarist/vocalist Matthew Bellamy, bassist Chris Wolstenholme, and drummer Dominic Howard. Bored by the sleepy life provided by their hometown of Teignmouth, Devon, the three friends began playing music together. They started the first incarnation of their band when they were all 13, changing the name of the group from Gothic Plague to Fixed Penalty to Rocket Baby Dolls as time passed. By 1997, the band settled on the name Muse and released their self-titled debut EP on Dangerous Records, followed by the Muscle Museum EP in 1998. The group's emotive, passionate sound and live dates drew critical acclaim and industry buzz, and after a trip to New York's CMJ festival, Muse signed a deal with Maverick Records. The singles "Cave" and "Uno" preceded their debut full-length album, Showbiz, which was released toward the end of 1999. Two years later, Muse issued The Origin of Symmetry and had a major hit with "Hyper Music." In 2002, fans were treated to a combination rarities/live set, the double-disc Hullabaloo Soundtrack. Muse's fourth album, Absolution, got the usual royal treatment upon its late 2003 release, and stateside fans finally got a taste when it was released on Warner Bros. the following March. A short North American tour in the spring of 2004 coincided with Muse's spot on the fifth annual Coachella Music and Arts Festival. Their fifth effort, 2006's Black Holes and Revelations, marked the band's brightest, most dynamic set of material to date. Within a week of its release, the band topped the U.K. album charts, earning their second consecutive number one album. In America, Black Holes and Revelations broke into the Top Ten. Muse have also won multiple awards (and multiple times) for Best Live Act, including the NME Awards, the Q Awards, and the Vodafone Live Music Awards. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam rose from the ashes of Mother Love Bone to become the most popular American rock & roll band of the '90s. After vocalist Andrew Wood overdosed on heroin in 1990, guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament assembled a new band, bringing in Mike McCready on lead guitar and recording a demo with Soundgarden's Matt Cameron on drums. Thanks to future Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons, the demo found its way to a 25-year-old San Diego surfer named Eddie Vedder, who overdubbed vocals and original lyrics and was subsequently invited to join the band (then christened Mookie Blaylock after the NBA player). Dave Krusen was hired as the full-time drummer shortly thereafter, completing the original lineup. Renaming themselves Pearl Jam, the band recorded their debut album, Ten, in the beginning of 1991, although it wasn't released until August; in the meantime, the majority of the band appeared on the Andrew Wood tribute project Temple of the Dog. Krusen left the band shortly after the release of Ten; he was replaced by Dave Abbruzzese.

Ten didn't begin selling in significant numbers until early 1992, after Nirvana made mainstream rock radio receptive to alternative rock acts. Soon, Pearl Jam outsold Nirvana, which wasn't surprising -- Pearl Jam fused the riff-heavy stadium rock of the '70s with the grit and anger of '80s post-punk, without ever neglecting hooks and choruses; "Jeremy," "Evenflow," and "Alive" fit perfectly onto album rock radio stations looking for new blood. Pearl Jam's audience continued to grow during 1992, thanks to a series of radio and MTV hits, as well as successful appearances on the second Lollapalooza tour and the Singles soundtrack (Stone Gossard also embarked on a side project called Brad, which released the album Shame in early 1993).

Despite their status as rock & roll superstars, the band refused to succumb to the accepted conventions of the music industry. The group refused to release any videos or singles from their second album, 1993's Vs. Nevertheless, it was another multi-platinum success, debuting at number one and selling nearly a million copies in its first week of release. On their spring 1994 American tour, the band decided not to play the conventional stadiums, choosing to play smaller arenas, including several shows on college campuses. Pearl Jam canceled their 1994 summer tour, claiming they could not keep ticket prices below 20 dollars because Ticketmaster was pressuring promoters to charge a higher price. The band took Ticketmaster to the Justice Department for unfair business practices; while fighting Ticketmaster, they recorded a new album during the spring and summer of 1994. After the record was completed, the group fired Dave Abbruzzese, replacing him with former Red Hot Chili Peppers and Eleven drummer Jack Irons.

Vitalogy, the band's third album, appeared at the end of 1994. For the first two weeks, the album was only available as a limited vinyl release, but the record charted in the Top 60. Once Vitalogy was available on CD and cassette, the album shot to the top of the charts and quickly went multi-platinum. Pearl Jam continued to battle Ticketmaster in 1995, but the Justice Department eventually ruled in favor of the ticket agency. In early 1995, the band recorded an album with Neil Young. Meanwhile, Vedder toured with his wife Beth's experimental band Hovercraft in the spring of 1994 as Stone Gossard founded an independent record company; Mad Season, Mike McCready's side project with Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, released their first album, Above, in the spring of 1995. Comprised entirely of Neil Young songs, Mirror Ball appeared in the summer under Young's name; although the individual members of the band were credited, the name Pearl Jam did not appear on the cover due to legal complications. Pearl Jam released a single culled from the sessions, titled Merkinball and featuring the songs "I Got Id" and "Long Road," in the fall of 1995.

In late summer of 1996, Pearl Jam released their fourth album, No Code. Although the album was greeted with fairly positive reviews and debuted at number one, its weird amalgam of rock, worldbeat, and experimentalism dissatisfied a large portion of their fan base, and it quickly fell down the charts. The record's performance was also hurt by Pearl Jam's inability to launch a full-scale tour, due both to their battle with Ticketmaster and a reluctance to spend months on the road. The band spent most of 1997 out of the spotlight, working on new material; Gossard also released a second album with his side project Brad, titled Interiors. By the end of the year, Pearl Jam had completed a new, harder-rocking record entitled Yield. The album was greeted with enthusiastic reviews upon its February 1998 release, but its commercial fortunes weren't quite as clear cut. While their sizable cult embraced the album, sending it to number two its first week of release, Yield quickly slipped down the charts. Pearl Jam supported the record with a full-scale arena tour in the summer of 1998, issuing the concert LP Live on Two Legs at the end of the year; Jack Irons did not participate due to poor health, and was replaced by ex-Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron.

In 1999, Pearl Jam scored an unlikely pop radio smash with their cover of the J. Frank Wilson oldie "Last Kiss," originally released as the seventh in a series of fan club-only singles that had also featured several incongruous covers in the past. Demand from fans and radio programmers resulted in the nationwide release of "Last Kiss," and it eventually became the band's highest-charting pop hit to date, peaking at number two and going gold. The group returned in 2000 with the Tchad Blake-produced Binaural. In order to circumvent bootleggers, their subsequent European and American tours were recorded in full and released in an unprecedented series of double-CD sets, each of the 72 volumes featuring a complete concert. 2002 saw the release of Riot Act, a muscular -- and critically lauded -- collection of new songs that found the group dabbling in experimental art rock. Two anthologies arrived in 2003 and 2004, Lost Dogs: Rarities and B Sides and Rearviewmirror: Greatest Hits 1991-2003. They were followed in 2006 by the eponymous (and all-new) Pearl Jam, a number two hit on the album charts. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

lenny Kravitz

There may have been other "retro" rock acts before him, but Lenny Kravitz was one of the first to not be pigeonholed to a single style as he's touched upon such genres as soul, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk, and ballads over the years. Born in New York on May 26, 1964 (his mother was actress Roxie Roker, best-known for her role as Helen Willis on the popular TV series The Jeffersons, and his father was a TV producer), Kravitz was raised in Los Angeles, where he found himself around countless musical giants as a youngster due to his parents friendships with the likes of Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Short, and Miles Davis, among others. Kravitz was a member of the California Boys Choir until his teenage years, when he decided to pursue rock & roll while in high school and under the heavily influence of funk rocker Prince. Kravitz's admiration of the Purple One was so great that he at first patterned his style and approach directly after Prince and became known as "Romeo Blue" (complete with blue contact lenses), but failed to land a recording contract. In the late '80s, Kravitz relocated back to New York City, where one of his roommates turned out to be actress Lisa Bonet (who played the part of Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show); they eventually got married. During this time, Kravitz wisely discarded his Prince-like approach and looked back to such '60s/'70s classic rockers as Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Bob Marley, and the Beatles for inspiration. Kravitz found a kindred spirit in engineer Henry Hirsch (who would stick by Kravitz throughout his career). With a back-to-basics approach, his style was quite refreshing in the humorously gaudy late '80s. He inked a recording contract with Virgin Records and issued his debut release, Let Love Rule, in 1989. Kravitz's debut proved to be a surprise hit due to the success of the title track, which became a hit single and oft-aired video. A few critics were quick to assume that Kravitz's retro look and sound were simply a shtick to get the public's attention, but come the '90s, it had become integrated into the mainstream (both musically and fashion-wise), proving that Kravitz was a bit of a trendsetter. It was around this time that Kravitz penned a major hit single, not for himself but for Madonna, who went to number one with the sultry track "Justify My Love." What should have been a time of happiness for Kravitz quickly turned sour as he and Bonet divorced by the early '90s. Kravitz's heartbreak was very evident in his sophomore effort, Mama Said, which was even stronger than its predecessor, highlighted by the Led Zep-like funk rocker "Always on the Run" (a collaboration with Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash), as well as the mega hit with the Curtis Mayfield-esque soul ballad "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over," which confirmed that Kravitz's success was no fluke. But the best was yet to come for Kravitz. His third release overall, 1993's Are You Gonna Go My Way, is often considered to be the finest album front to back of his entire career, and with good reason: Every single song was a winner, including the up-tempo anthemic title track, which turned out to be one of MTV's most played videos for that year. The album was a massive hit and Kravitz became an arena headliner stateside, as well as being featured on countless magazine covers. Despite an almost two-year gap between albums, Kravitz's fourth release, Circus, came off sounding unfocused and was a major letdown compared to his stellar previous few releases. Perhaps sensing that he needed to stir things up musically, Kravitz dabbled with electronics and trip-hop loops for his next album, 1998's 5. Although not a huge hit right off the bat, the album proved to have an incredibly long chart life, spawning the biggest hit of Kravitz's career, "Fly Away," almost a year after its original release. With the single's success, Virgin decided to cash in on the album's sudden rebirth by reissuing it around the same time with a pair of extra added bonus tracks, one of which became another sizeable hit single, a remake of the Guess Who's "American Woman" (which was used in the hit 1999 comedy movie Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me). Kravitz's first best-of set, the 15-track Greatest Hits, was issued as a stopgap release in 2000, while his sixh studio release overall, Lenny, was issued a year later. Baptism followed in 2004. In addition to his own albums, Kravitz continues to pen songs for other artists and his compositions have appeared on albums by such rock heavyweights as Aerosmith and Mick Jagger, while he produced and wrote the majority of Vanessa Paradis' obscure self-titled 1992 release. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide

Kula Shaker

By reviving the swirling, guitar-heavy sounds of late-'60s psychedelia and infusing it with George Harrison's Indian mysticism and spirituality, Kula Shaker became one of the most popular British bands of the immediate post-Britpop era. More musically adept and experimental than Cast, Kula Shaker nevertheless worked the same vaguely spiritual lyrical territory, but musically they brought the overpowering rush of Oasis to psychedelia, a genre that the Mancunians had previously avoided. The band's classicist approach to rock & roll earned them both critical praise and derision, as they quickly rocketed to the top of the British charts. Led by vocalist/guitarist Crispian Mills (born January 18, 1973; the son of '60s actress Hayley Mills and film director Roy Boulting), Kula Shaker was initially a psychedelic quartet called the Kays, which formed in 1993. In addition to Mills, the Kays featured his teenage friend Alonza Bevan. The two had previously played together in a band named Objects of Desire; during that time they also ran a psychedelic nightclub in the back of an ice rink. Following the dissolution of Objects of Desire, Mills made a spiritual pilgrimage to India, and upon returning he formed the Kays with bassist Bevan, drummer Paul Winter-Hart, and vocalist Saul Dimont. Within a year, Dimont had left and organistist Jay Darlington had joined the band; prior to joining the group, Darlington had played in several mod revival bands. After spending two years touring and recording, releasing two EPs on Gut Reaction Records, the group had not made any headway. According to Mills, the band changed their name and direction in the spring of 1995, when he had an epiphany that the group should be called Kula Shaker after a ninth century emperor and pursue a more spiritual direction. For the next three months, they performed as Kula Shaker, and they quickly received a record contract with Columbia, which was eager to sign another band that had the multi-platinum, crossover appeal of Oasis. "Grateful When You're Dead," Kula Shaker's debut single, was released in the spring of 1996 to moderate success, but it was the follow-up single, "Tattva," that established the band. Peaking at number four on the charts, "Tattva" had a chorus that was adapted from an ancient Sanskrit text and a colorful organ and guitar riff, which essentially encapsulated the band's sound. The single also set the stage for the band's debut, K, which appeared in September of 1996. Upon its release, K entered the charts at number one, becoming the fastest-selling British debut album since Oasis' Definitely Maybe. The album received reviews that ranged from enthusiastic to derisive, but the band continued to gain momentum, which eventually translated to a strong word of mouth in America. Kula Shaker wasn't able to replicate their British success in America, but "Tattva" became a Top Ten modern rock hit in late 1996, and the group received uniformly positive reviews. Peasants, Pigs & Astronauts followed in 1999. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Frida Hyvönen

Frida Hyvönen (born 1977) is a Swedish singer-songwriter. She grew up in Robertsfors, a small place just outside Umeå in the north of Sweden (which is also the hometown of the band Sahara Hotnights), and currently lives in the capital of Sweden, Stockholm. Her first record, Until Death Comes, was recorded at Stockholm’s Atlantis Studios and co-produced with Jari Haapalainen of The Bear Quartet. The record was released in the EU in 2005 on The Concretes record label Licking Fingers, in the United States in 2006 on Secretly Canadian and in Australia in 2007 on Chapter Music. Hyvönen received the 2005 Stockholmspriset (“The Stockholm Prize”) by the Swedish publication Nöjesguiden for her debut album.[1] Her first single, “I Drive My Friend”, climbed the hit-list in Sweden for a few weeks. Frida has been touring Scandinavia, Europe and the US with her piano since 2004. She also played in Shanghai. In the spring of 2006 she toured the United Kingdom with José González, and in the summer of 2006, she toured the US with fellow Swedish artist Jens Lekman. In the fall of 2005 Frida wrote music for dance performance PUDEL, by choreographer Dorte Olesen. She also performed the music live on stage. The music was recorded in 2006 and released in January 2007. In the fall of 2007 Frida recorded a cover of the R.E.M. song “Everybody Hurts”, released in digital form by Stereogum She also covered the song “Sista dan tillsammans” together with Mattias Alkberg on “Dubbel Trubbel”, a tribute to Olle Adolphson. Hyvönen’s next album, “Silence is Wild”, was released October 29, 2008 in Scandinavia and November 4, 2008 in North America and Australia. She is also working on a collaboration with photographer Elin Berge, in a project that will be out in 2009.