The Magnetic Fields are an American band founded and led by Stephin Merritt. Merritt is the group's primary songwriter, producer, and vocalist, as well as frequent multi-instrumentalist. Merritt's lyrics are often about love and feature atypical or neutral gender roles, and are by turns ironic, tongue-in-cheek, bitter, and humorous.
Laurence Joseph Mullen Jr. is an Irish musician, best known as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band U2. A member of the band since its inception, he has recorded 15 studio albums with U2. Mullen's distinctive, almost military drumming style developed from his playing martial beats in childhood marching bands.
Blood, Sweat & Tears is an American jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. BS&T has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and has encompassed a wide range of musical styles. Their sound has merged rock, pop and R&B/soul music with big band jazz.
Martha Elenor Maguire is an American musician who is a founding member of both the all-female alternative country band The Chicks that previously went by the name “The Dixie Chicks” and country bluegrass duo Court Yard Hounds. She won awards in national fiddle championships while still a teenager. Maguire is accomplished on several other instruments, including the mandolin, viola, double bass and guitar. She has written and co-written a number of the band's songs, some of which have become chart-topping hits. She also contributes her skills in vocal harmony and backing vocals, as well as orchestrating string arrangements for the band.
The Association is an American pop rock band from California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts and were the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival. They are known for intricate vocal harmonies by the band's multiple singers.
Alabama 3 are a British musical group founded in Brixton, London, in 1995. They are best known for their track "Woke Up This Morning", which was used for the opening credits of the TV series The Sopranos. In the United States, the band is known as A3, to avoid legal conflict with the country music band Alabama.
The Statler Brothers were an American country music, gospel, and vocal group from Staunton, Virginia. The quartet was formed in 1955 performing locally, and from 1964 to 1972, they sang as opening act and backup singers for Johnny Cash.
C+C Music Factory was an American musical group formed in 1989 by David Cole and Robert Clivillés. The group is best known for their five hit singles: "Gonna Make You Sweat ", "Here We Go ", "Things That Make You Go Hmmm...", "Just a Touch of Love", and "Keep It Comin'". The band stopped recording in 1996, following Cole's death. In 2010, C+C Music Factory reformed with Eric Kupper replacing Cole. Original member Freedom Williams acquired trademark rights to the name in 2003 and still tours under that moniker.
Sonia Dada was an American rock, soul, and rhythm and blues band, formed in Chicago in 1990. Founding member Daniel Pritzker enlisted Michael Scott, Paris Delane, and Sam Hogan after hearing the latter three sing in a subway station. Sonia Dada has become a mainstay of the Chicago musical scene in the years since, incorporating elements of rock, soul, gospel, and funk.
Soil is an American rock band that was formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1997. After some independent releases, the band was the first rock group signed to J Records and achieved mainstream success with their major label debut, Scars, in 2001. The J Records second album, Redefine, was released in 2004 and the band embarked upon a worldwide tour to follow. In late 2004, frontman Ryan McCombs left the group. He would go on to become the new vocalist of Drowning Pool the following year.
Madeleine Peyroux is an American jazz singer and songwriter who began her career as a teenager on the streets of Paris. She sang vintage jazz and blues songs before finding mainstream success in 2004 when her album Careless Love sold half a million copies.
Defiance, Ohio is a folk punk band from Columbus, Ohio, named after the town of Defiance, Ohio, in far northwest Ohio, near Toledo. The band features a violin, cello, and double bass. They have released four full-length LPs, as well as a handful of split recordings. Their music has typically been released through smaller independent labels. They are known for their association with Plan-It-X Records, as well as anti-capitalist themes.
Jude Anthony Cole is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and talent manager. After signing to Reprise Records, Cole's solo career began with his eponymous debut studio album in 1987, which was followed up with four subsequent releases until 2000. From then on, he outsourced his talent onto managing, producing, and co-writing for the alternative rock band Lifehouse. This led to Cole having production credits on many of their singles throughout the 2000s including "You and Me", "First Time", "Whatever It Takes" and "Halfway Gone", all of which became hits on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Top 40, Adult Top 40, and Adult Contemporary charts.
Lawrence Dale Bell High School is an American high school located in the cities of Hurst and Bedford, Texas and part of the Hurst-Euless-Bedford Independent School District. The school is named for Lawrence Dale Bell, the founder of nearby Bell Helicopter Textron, and was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School for 1994–96.
Jennifer Odessa Nettles is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer.
The first season of the American talent show competition series America's Got Talent was broadcast on NBC from June 21 to August 17, 2006. The season went into production a year earlier than planned by Got Talent creator Simon Cowell. Cowell intended for Britain's Got Talent to debut before AGT in 2006. However, production was suspended due to internal conflicts within its British television network. David Hasselhoff, Brandy Norwood and Piers Morgan were the show's first judges, with Regis Philbin as host. This season originally had an early format for live round judging and Wildcard acts, which would be changed after the season's conclusion.
Manualism is the art of playing music by squeezing air through the hands. Because the sound produced has a distinctly flatulent tone, such music is usually presented as a form of musical comedy or parody. The musical performer is called a manualist, who may perform a cappella or with instrumental accompaniment.
Giancarlo "Gian" Alzate Magdangal, is a Filipino singer, performer, theater and television actor. He is a former boy band member of 17:28. he rose to prominence as one of the runners-up of Philippine Idol in 2006.
Maceo Pinkard was an American composer, lyricist, and music publisher. Among his compositions is "Sweet Georgia Brown", a popular standard for decades after its composition and famous as the theme of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.
Nikki Leonti-Edgar is an American singer-songwriter. Prior to her work in urban, R&B, and electronic dance music, Leonti recorded contemporary Christian music albums. She lent her vocals to over 250 songs during 4 seasons of the musical comedy-drama television series Glee.
