Kenny Ray Rogers was an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, record producer, and entrepreneur. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted more than 120 hit singles across various genres, topping the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His fame and career spanned multiple genres: jazz, folk, pop, rock, and country. He remade his career and was one of the most successful cross-over artists of all time.
Westlife are an Irish boy band, formed in 1998 in Sligo, Ireland. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Markus Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne; one of its original members, Brian McFadden, departed the band in 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reunited in 2018.
Steps are a British dance-pop group consisting of Lee Latchford-Evans, Claire Richards, Lisa Scott-Lee, Faye Tozer and Ian "H" Watkins. Steps were formed in May 1997 and have released seven studio albums, three compilation albums and 27 singles. Their music has a 1990s dance-pop sound. Their name was based on a marketing premise: that each of their music videos were to be choreographed, and the dance steps were included in the sleeve with most of their singles.
James Roderick "Jim" Moir, better known by his stage name Vic Reeves, is an English comedian, artist, surrealist, musician, actor and television presenter, best known for his double act with Bob Mortimer as Reeves & Mortimer. He is known for his surreal sense of humour.
Louise Elizabeth Redknapp is an English singer, songwriter and media personality. She was a member of Eternal, an R&B girl group which debuted in 1993 with their quadruple-platinum studio album Always & Forever. In 1995, she departed from the group for a solo career, in which she released the platinum-selling albums Naked (1996), Woman in Me (1997) and Elbow Beach (2000). Redknapp has sold over five million records in the UK, and 15 million records worldwide.
Craig Ashley David is a British singer, songwriter, rapper, DJ and record producer who rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single "Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, Born to Do It, was released in 2000, after which he has released a further five studio albums and worked with a variety of artists such as Sting, Tinchy Stryder, Big Narstie, Kano and Jay Sean. David has 20 UK Top 40 singles, and seven UK Top 40 albums, selling over 15,000,000 records worldwide as a solo artist.
Kenneth Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, musician, and record producer. He has recorded more than 20 albums and has produced more than 40 Top 10 singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, 32 of which have reached number one. Many of these have also charted within the Top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100, making him one of the most successful crossover country artists. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.
A1 are a Anglo-Norwegian boy band formed in 1998. The original line-up consisted of Paul Marazzi, Christian Ingebrigtsen, Mark Read and Ben Adams. Ingebrigtsen is originally from Oslo, Norway, while the other members originate from London.
Blue are an English boy band consisting of members Antony Costa, Duncan James, Lee Ryan and Simon Webbe. The group formed in 2000 and has released three studio albums, All Rise (2001), One Love (2002) and Guilty (2003) that all peaked at number one in the United Kingdom alongside releasing 16 singles, over a four-year period. The group also worked alongside artists such as Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Lil' Kim. In late 2004, the group announced a hiatus and released their first compilation album, Best of Blue, on 15 November 2004.
Cecilia Veronica "CeCe" Peniston is an American singer and former beauty queen. In the early 1990s, she scored five number one hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play. Her signature song "Finally" reached the number 5 spot on the Hot 100 and number 2 in the UK Top 75.
Mark Wills is an American country music artist. Signed to Mercury Records between 1996 and 2003, he released five studio albums for the label – Mark Wills, Wish You Were Here, Permanently, Loving Every Minute, and And the Crowd Goes Wild – as well as a greatest hits package. In that same timespan, he charted sixteen singles on the Billboard country charts, all of which made the top 40. After leaving Mercury in 2003, he signed to Equity Music Group and charted three more singles. Two of these were later included on his sixth studio album, Familiar Stranger, which was released on the Tenacity label in 2008.
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on Fridays. It is broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and found on the OCC website as a Top 100 or on UKChartsPlus as a Top 200, with positions continuing until all sales have been tracked in data only available to industry insiders. However, even though number 100 was classed as a hit album in the 1980s until January 1989, since the compilations were removed this definition was changed to Top 75 with follow-up books such as The Virgin Book of British Hit Albums book only including this data. As of 2021, the OCC still only tracks how many UK Top 75s album hits and how many weeks in Top 75 albums chart each artist has achieved.
Restless Heart is an American country music band established in 1984. The band's longest-lasting lineup has consisted of Larry Stewart, John Dittrich, Paul Gregg, Dave Innis, and Greg Jennings. Record producer Tim DuBois assembled the band to record demos and chose Verlon Thompson as the original lead singer, but he was replaced by Stewart in this role before the band had recorded any material. Between 1984 and 1998, Restless Heart recorded for RCA Records Nashville, releasing the albums Restless Heart, Wheels, Big Dreams in a Small Town, Fast Movin' Train, Big Iron Horses, and Matters of the Heart. Stewart left for a solo career before Big Iron Horses, which resulted in Dittrich, Innis, and Gregg alternating as lead vocalists; Innis also departed before Matters of the Heart, and the band ultimately went on hiatus from 1994 to 1998. During this time, Jennings became a member of Vince Gill's road band, and Dittrich recorded one album in The Buffalo Club. Outside a brief reunion for new tracks on a Greatest Hits album in 1998, the band remained inactive until 2002, when Dittrich, Gregg, Innis, Jennings, and Stewart resumed touring. Two years later, they issued Still Restless on Audium Entertainment.
Hits - also commonly known as The Hits Album - is a long-running compilation album series containing contemporary chart music. It originally ran in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe for over twenty years from 1984 until 2006. It was compiled as a joint venture, variously between the compilation arms of the Sony Music, RCA/BMG, and Warner Music groups to rival the Now That's What I Call Music series that had launched a year earlier in 1983, compiled by rival companies EMI and Virgin. Initially, the Hits brand was arguably as popular as its main rival and all of the first eight volumes achieved at least a platinum BPI award, with several of the very early albums going multi-platinum.
Now That's What I Call Music is the first album from the popular Now! series that was released in the United Kingdom on 28 November 1983. Initial pressings were released on vinyl and audio cassette. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the album and series, the album was re-released on CD for the first time in 2009. Alternative longer mixes of "Only for Love", "Double Dutch" and "Candy Girl" were included in place of the original shorter single mixes from 1983. A double vinyl re-release followed for Record Store Day on 18 April 2015. In July 2018, the album was newly remastered and re-released on CD, vinyl and cassette to commemorate the release of the 100th volume of the series.
The Hits & Beyond is a compilation album by Australian singer-songwriter Dannii Minogue. It was released by All Around the World Records on 16 June 2006 in Ireland and the United Kingdom on 19 June 2006. The album was then released by Central Station Records in New Zealand on 4 August 2006 and Australia on 7 August 2006.
The Hit Factory: Pete Waterman's Greatest Hits is a compilation album featuring music produced by Pete Waterman. It was released by Universal Music in 2000 and reached #3 in the UK compilation Top 20 chart, achieving a Gold BPI award.
Stock Aitken Waterman Gold is a compilation album released in 2005 by Sony BMG, PWL Records and EBUL.
Big Hits is a compilation album released in 1997. As a part of the Hits compilation series, it contains UK hit singles from throughout 1997. The album reached number four in the UK Compilations Chart.
Hits 96 is a compilation album released in 1995. Part of the Hits compilation series, it contains UK hit singles from the second half of 1995. The album reached number 1 on the UK compilations chart and was at number 1 for a total of five weeks.
