James Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Carrboro, North Carolina. He currently owns a home in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. A five time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2000. James Taylor achieved his major breakthrough in 1970 with the #3 single "Fire and Rain" and had his first #1 hit the following year with "You've Got a Friend", a cover of Carole King's classic song. His 1976 Greatest Hits album was certified Diamond and has sold nearly 12 million US copies. Following his classic 1977 album, JT, he has retained a large audience over the decades. His commercial achievements declined slightly until a big resurgence during the late 1990s and 2000s, when some of his best-selling and most-awarded albums (including Hourglass, October Road and Covers) were released.
Justin Bieber is a Canadian pop/R&B singer. He began his professional career on YouTube, where he was discovered by his future manager, Scooter Braun. Braun flew Bieber to Atlanta, Georgia, to consult with Usher and soon signed a record deal with Island. Bieber was named the hottest star of 2009 by J-14, newcomer of the year by MuchMusic, and listed by Celebuzz as one of the Top 10 YouTube stars of the decade. Four successful pre-album singles have been released: "One Time", "One Less Lonely Girl", "Love Me", and "Favorite Girl", which were Top 15 hits on the Canadian Hot 100 and Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. This accomplishment made Bieber the only artist in Billboard history to have four singles from a debut album chart in the Top 40 of the Hot 100 before the album's release....
Keith Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban began his career in Brisbane having moved to Caboolture, Australia at an early age. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album, and charted four singles in Australia before moving to the United States in 1992. Eventually, Urban found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Records and charted two singles on the Billboard country charts. Urban has released a total of eight studio albums (one of which was released only in the United Kingdom), as well as one album in The Ranch. He has charted more than fifteen singles on the U.S. country charts, including ten Number Ones. Urban plays acoustic and electric guitar, as well as ganjo, bass guitar, mandolin, piano, and bouzouki....
Sugarland is a Grammy Award-winning American country music duo composed of singer–songwriters Jennifer Nettles (lead vocals) and Kristian Bush (background vocals, lead vocals, mandolin, acoustic guitar, and harmonica). Signed to Mercury Nashville Records in 2004, Sugarland broke through that year with the release of their debut single "Baby Girl", the first single from their multi-platinum debut album Twice the Speed of Life. The trio became a duo in 2006, when they also released their second album, Enjoy the Ride. This album produced their first two #1 singles (in the U.S.), "Want To" and "Settlin'", and won the duo a Grammy for "Stay". In 2008 they released their third album, titled Love on the Inside. This album produced three more #1 singles with "All I Want to Do", "Already Gone", and "It Happens"....
Allman Brothers Band is an American band once based in Macon, Georgia. The band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman (slide guitar and lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, organ), who were supported by Dickey Betts (lead guitar, rhythm guitar, vocals), Berry Oakley (bass), Butch Trucks (drums), and Jai Johanny Johanson (drums). While the band have been called the "principal architects of Southern rock", they also incorporate elements of blues-rock and hard rock, and their live shows have jam band-style improvisation and instrumental songs. The band has been awarded eleven Gold and five Platinum albums between 1971 and 2005. Rolling Stone ranked them 52nd on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2004. The band continues to record and tour to the present day....
Alan Jackson is one of the most popular country singers of all-time, blending both honky tonk and mainstream country sounds and penning many of his own hits. In his career, he has recorded twelve studio albums and several compilations, all on the Arista Nashville label. More than fifty of his singles have reached Top 30 on the Billboard country charts, including twenty-five Number Ones. He is the recipient and nominee of multiple awards. Jackson is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2001....
Mark Knopfler is a British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. Mark Knopfler is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977 with his brother David. After Dire Straits disbanded in 1995, Knopfler continued to record and produce albums as a solo artist under his own name. His musical scores include Metroland, Local Hero, Cal, Last Exit to Brooklyn, Wag the Dog, and Rob Reiner's classic, The Princess Bride. He is one of the most respected fingerstyle guitarists of the modern rock era and was ranked #27 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits have sold in excess of 120 million albums to date....
Jimmy Buffett is a singer, songwriter, author, businessman, and recently a movie producer best known for his "island escapism" lifestyle and music including hits such as "Margaritaville" (No. 234 on RIAA's list of "Songs of the Century"), and "Come Monday". He has a devoted base of fans known as "Parrotheads". His band is called the Coral Reefer Band....
Timbaland is an American Grammy Award-winning record producer, singer and rapper. Timbaland's first full credit production work was in 1996 on Ginuwine the Bachelor for R&B singer Ginuwine. After further successful work on Aaliyah's 1996 album One in a Million and Missy Elliott's 1997 album Supa Dupa Fly, Timbaland became a prominent producer for R&B and hip-hop artists. Initially he released several albums with his partner and fellow rapper Magoo....
Kelly Clarkson is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Kelly Clarkson made her debut under RCA Records after she won the first season of the television series American Idol in 2002. Clarkson has released four albums to date: her debut album Thankful (2003), her multi-platinum second album Breakaway (2004) - won two Grammy Awards, My December (2007), and her latest album All I Ever Wanted (2009). Her first four albums have sold over 10.4 million copies in the United States. Kelly Clarkson was the highest-selling American Idol album in the United States until November 2009, when Carrie Underwood claimed that distinction by a narrow margin of 100,000 albums. Clarkson, however, remains the highest-selling American Idol alum overall, with over 23 million albums sold worldwide to Underwood's 14 million....
