George Michael was an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist who rose to fame as a member of the music duo Wham! and later embarked on a solo career. Michael sold over 80 million records worldwide making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He achieved seven number one songs on the UK Singles Chart and eight number one songs on the US Billboard Hot 100. Michael won various music awards including two Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, three American Music Awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards and six Ivor Novello Awards. In 2008, he was ranked 40th on Billboard's list of the Greatest Hot 100 Artists of All Time.
The Bee Gees were a music group formed in 1958. Their lineup consisted of brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful as a popular music act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid-to-late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies; Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid-to-late 1970s and 1980s. The Bee Gees wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists. The Bee Gees are widely referred to by many critics, media outlets and fellow artists as the "Kings of Disco".
In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download, or video release. In other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album.
Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and fashion designer. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include "Just a Girl", "Spiderwebs", and "Don't Speak", from their 1995 breakthrough studio album Tragic Kingdom, as well as "Hey Baby" and "It's My Life" from later albums.
Black Eyed Peas is an American musical group, consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo and J. Rey Soul. Originally an alternative hip hop group, they subsequently refashioned themselves as a more marketable pop-rap act. Although the group was founded in Los Angeles in 1995, it was not until the release of their third album, Elephunk, in 2003, that they achieved high record sales.
Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler is a Spanish singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer who is known as the King of Latin Pop. He began his career during the mid-1990s on American Spanish-language record label Fonovisa Records under the stage name Enrique Martinez, before switching to his notable surname Iglesias. His father Julio Iglesias was a very successful singer and Iglesias wanted to make it on his own without receiving benefits from his family name. By the turn of the millennium, after becoming one of the biggest stars in Latin America and the Hispanic market in the United States, he made a successful crossover into the US mainstream market. He signed a multi-album deal with Universal Music Group for US$68 million with Universal Music Latino to release his Spanish albums and Interscope Records to release English albums.
Fergie Duhamel, best professionally known by her stage name Fergie, is an American singer and songwriter. She first achieved chart success as part of the hip hop group the Black Eyed Peas. Her debut solo album, The Dutchess (2006), saw commercial success and spawned three Billboard Hot 100 number one singles: "London Bridge", "Glamorous", and "Big Girls Don't Cry". Although she vocally incorporates rapping into her performances, she does not consider herself a rapper.
A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally or online over the internet. Multiplayer games usually require players to share the resources of a single game system or use networking technology to play together over a greater distance; players may compete against one or more human contestants, work cooperatively with a human partner to achieve a common goal, or supervise other players' activity. Multiplayer games allow players interaction with other individuals in partnership, competition or rivalry, providing them with social communication absent from single-player games.
A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usually a game mode designed to be played by a single player, though the game also contains multi-player modes.
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in reaction to television reports of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded in a single day on 25 November 1984 by Band Aid, a supergroup put together by Geldof and Ure and consisting mainly of the biggest British and Irish musical acts at the time. The single was released in the United Kingdom on 3 December 1984 and aided by considerable publicity it entered the UK Singles Chart at number one and stayed there for five weeks, becoming the Christmas number one of 1984. The record became the fastest selling single in UK chart history, selling a million copies in the first week alone and passing three million sales on the last day of 1984, on the way to displacing Wings's "Mull of Kintyre" as the biggest-selling single of all time in the UK. It held this title until 1997 when it was overtaken by Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997", released in tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales following her death. The original version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" has sold 3.8 million copies in the UK to date. In a UK-wide poll in December 2012, it was voted sixth on the ITV television special The Nation's Favourite Christmas Song.
"Last Christmas" is a song by English pop duo Wham!, released on Epic Records, and internationally on MCA Records in December 1984, on a double A-side with "Everything She Wants". It was written and produced by George Michael, and has been covered by many artists since its original release.
Armando Christian Pérez, known professionally by his stage name Pitbull, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, brand ambassador, and philanthropist. Pérez began his career in the early 2000s, recording reggaeton, Latin hip hop, and crunk music under a multitude of labels. In 2004, he released his debut album M.I.A.M.I. under TVT Records and the executive production of Lil Jon. Pitbull later released his second album El Mariel, in 2006 and his third, The Boatlift, in 2007. His fourth album, Rebelution (2009), included his breakthrough hit single "I Know You Want Me ", which peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the UK Singles Chart.
Blake Tollison Shelton is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The now Platinum-certified debut album also produced two more top 20 entries.
Keith Lionel Urban is an Australian singer, songwriter and record producer. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album, charting four singles in Australia before moving to the United States the following year. He found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Nashville and charted two singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Discovered at age 13 by talent manager Scooter Braun after he had watched his YouTube cover song videos, Bieber was signed to RBMG Records in 2008. With Bieber's debut EP My World, released in late 2009, Bieber became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut record chart on the Billboard Hot 100.
Ariana Grande-Butera is an American singer and actress. Born in Boca Raton, Florida, Grande began her career at age 15 in the 2008 Broadway musical 13. She rose to fame for her role as Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon television series Victorious (2010–2013) and Sam & Cat (2013–2014). She subsequently signed with Republic Records in 2011 after the label's executives discovered YouTube videos of her covering songs. Her 1950s doo-wop-influenced pop and R&B debut album, Yours Truly (2013), topped the US Billboard 200 chart, while its lead single, "The Way", charted in the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100. Upon release, critics compared Grande to Mariah Carey for her wide vocal range and whistle register.
Little Mix are a British girl group formed in 2011 during the eighth series of the British version of The X Factor. The group is composed of Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards and Leigh-Anne Pinnock; former member Jesy Nelson left the group in 2020 due to mental health issues. The first group to win The X Factor, they signed with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Music and released a cover of Damien Rice's "Cannonball" as their winner's single, which debuted atop the UK Singles Chart upon release. The group are known for their strong vocals and signature harmonies, as well as their representative songs about female empowerment and unity.
Samuel Frederick Smith is an English singer and songwriter. They rose to prominence in October 2012 after being featured on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart. Smith was subsequently featured on Naughty Boy's "La La La", which became a number one single in May 2013. In December 2013, they were nominated for the 2014 Brit Critics' Choice Award and the BBC's Sound of 2014 poll, winning both.
Shawn Peter Raul Mendes is a Canadian singer and songwriter. He gained a following in 2013, posting song covers on the video-sharing application Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manager Andrew Gertler and Island Records A&R Ziggy Chareton, which led to him signing a deal with the record label. He has since released three studio albums, headlined three world tours, and received several awards.
