Whitney Elizabeth Houston was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "the Voice", she is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of music. Houston is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 220 million records sold worldwide. She influenced many singers in the recording industry, and was known for her powerful, soulful vocals, vocal improvisation skills, use of gospel singing techniques in pop music, and live performances. Houston had 11 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and is the only artist to have seven consecutive number-one singles on the chart. Her accolades include six Grammy Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards, two Emmy Awards, and 30 Guinness World Records. Houston's inductions include the Grammy Hall of Fame (twice), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the New Jersey Hall of Fame, and the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.
Tracy Chapman is an American singer-songwriter. Chapman is best known for her hit singles "Fast Car" (1988) and "Give Me One Reason" (1995).
Monica Denise Arnold is an American singer, rapper and actress. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, she began performing as a child and became part of a traveling gospel choir at the age of ten. Monica signed with record producer Dallas Austin through his label Rowdy Records in 1993, and gained prominence following the release of her debut studio album, Miss Thang (1995). Her follow up releases were met with further commercial success; her second, The Boy Is Mine (1998) remains her best-selling album and spawned three singles that peaked the Billboard Hot 100: "The Boy Is Mine", "The First Night", "Angel of Mine".
Martine Kimberley Sherrie McCutcheon is an English actress and singer. She began appearing in television commercials at an early age and made her television debut in the children's television drama Bluebirds in 1989. In the early 1990s, she had minor success as one third of the pop group Milan, but it was her role as Tiffany Mitchell in the BBC's soap opera EastEnders and her role in the 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually that brought her stardom. For the former she won the National Television Award, while the latter earned her the Empire and MTV Movie awards. She was written out of EastEnders at the end of 1998 and then embarked on a pop career, this time as a solo artist.
Lee Ann Womack Liddell is an American country music singer. Her 2000 single, "I Hope You Dance" was a major crossover music hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her signature song.
Stacie Joy Orrico is an American singer and songwriter. After signing to ForeFront Records, Orrico recorded her first album, Genuine (2000), which sold 13,000 units in its first week of release.
SWV is an American R&B vocal trio from New York City whose members are Cheryl (Coko) Gamble, Tamara (Taj) George, and Leanne (Lelee) Lyons. Formed in 1988 as a gospel group, SWV became one of the most successful R&B groups of the 1990s. They had a series of hits, including "Weak", "Right Here ", "I'm So into You", and "You're the One". The group disbanded in 1998 to pursue solo projects and reunited in 2005. SWV has sold more than 25 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling girl groups of all time.
Karl Martin Sandberg, known professionally as Max Martin, is a Swedish songwriter, record producer, and singer. He rose to prominence in the late 1990s with production credits on a string of hit singles—Britney Spears's "...Baby One More Time" (1998), the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way" (1999), Céline Dion's "That's the Way It Is" (1999) and NSYNC's "It's Gonna Be Me" (2000).
Tamia Marilyn Washington Hill is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Tamia performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. In 1994, after signing a development deal with Warner Bros. Records, she was asked by veteran producer Quincy Jones to appear on his album Q's Jook Joint (1995), earning her Grammy Award nominations for their collaboration on "You Put a Move on My Heart" and "Slow Jams". Her self-titled debut album was released in 1998 and followed by a series of successful albums with Elektra Records, including A Nu Day (2000) and More (2004). Several songs from these albums became hit singles on the pop and R&B record charts, including "So Into You", "Stranger in My House", and "Imagination", as well as her collaborations "Into You", "Missing You", and "Spend My Life with You".
Louise Gabrielle Bobb, known professionally as Gabrielle, is a British singer and songwriter. Bobb was born in Hackney, London. She released her debut single, "Dreams", in 1993, and it topped the UK Singles Chart the same year. Her other singles include "Going Nowhere", "Give Me a Little More Time", "Walk On By", and "If You Ever" – a duet with East 17.
Jo Dee Marie Messina is an American country music artist. She has charted six number-one singles on the Billboard country music charts. She has been honored by the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, and has been nominated for two Grammy Awards. She was the first female country artist to score three multiple-week number-one songs from the same album. To date, she has two platinum and three gold-certified albums by the RIAA.
Kelly Marie is a Scottish singer, best known for the song "Feels Like I'm in Love", a No. 1 hit in the UK in 1980.
Sharleen Eugene Spiteri is a Scottish singer and guitarist, best known as the lead singer of the rock band Texas. She has a contralto vocal range. In 2013, Texas's worldwide album sales were counted at 40 million records.
Ilse Annoeska de Lange, better known as Ilse DeLange, is a Dutch country and pop rock singer-songwriter. In 1998, she gained fame with her single 'I'm Not So Tough', which later became multiple platinum in The Netherlands. Other hits were "Miracle", "So Incredible" and "The Great Escape".
Stacey Chanelle Clare Solomon-Swash is an English television personality and singer. She was a contestant on the sixth series of the ITV singing competition show The X Factor in 2009, which she finished in third place. The following year, Solomon appeared on the tenth series of the ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! which she won.
Kimberly Michelle Pate is an American singer and television personality. She is best known for appearing as a regular cast member on the VH1 reality television series Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta during its first two seasons, later returning to the show during its fifth season. Michelle subsequently signed with Atlantic Records. Her debut studio album, Rebellious Soul, debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, and number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Her second studio album Anybody Wanna Buy a Heart? was released on December 9, 2014. The album debuted at number six in the US and spawned three singles "Love 'Em All", "Maybe I Should Call" and "Hard to Do". The album sold 87,000 copies in its first week in sales.
Devin Star Tailes, known professionally as Dev, is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, model and radio host. She was discovered by the Cataracs and record label Indie-Pop via Myspace after Dev's friend posted a video of her singing. Dev's song "Booty Bounce" was sampled in Far East Movement's hit single "Like a G6", which reached number one in the US and sold over four million downloads in the country.
Karise Eden is an Australian singer and songwriter. In 2012, she became the winner of the first series of The Voice Australia. Eden subsequently signed with Universal Music Australia and released her debut single "You Won't Let Me". It was one of the four songs recorded by Eden that entered the ARIA Singles Chart top five during the week of 25 June 2012. She became the first artist to achieve this feat since The Beatles, who held the top six positions of the chart in 1964. Eden's debut studio album My Journey was released on 26 June 2012, which contained songs she performed on The Voice, as well as newly recorded covers. The album debuted at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart and was certified double platinum.
"You Don't Know What to Do" is a song by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey included on her fourteenth studio album, Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse (2014), and features rapper Wale. The track was released on June 30, 2014, as the third single from the album. It was written by Wale, Carey, Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox, with production helmed by the latter two. The song contains an interpolation of "I'm Caught Up in a One Night Affair" written by Patrick Adams and Terri Gonzalez, both of whom received songwriting credits as a result. The single's artwork caused controversy when the media criticised Carey for photoshopping and re-using images of herself. Carey herself later expressed her discontent on the matter, stating that she had no knowledge of the single's artwork until it was released.
"I'm Not the Only One" is a song recorded by English singer Sam Smith from their debut studio album, In the Lonely Hour (2014). It was written by Smith with Jimmy Napes, who also produced the song along with Steve Fitzmaurice. Capitol Records released it to digital download on 31 August 2014 as the album's third single in the United Kingdom and on 24 September 2014 as the album's second single in the United States; an alternative version with American rapper A$AP Rocky was also released.
