Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Her success garnered her several titles including the "Queen of Country Pop". Billboard named her as the leader of the '90s country-pop crossover stars.
Whitney Elizabeth Houston was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with over 200 million records sold worldwide. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked her second on their list of the greatest singers of all time. Houston influenced many singers in popular music, and was known for her powerful, soulful vocals and vocal improvisation skills. She is the only artist to have had seven consecutive number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, from "Saving All My Love for You" in 1985 to "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" in 1988. Houston also enhanced her popularity upon entering the movie industry. Throughout her career and posthumously, she has received numerous accolades, including two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards, and 28 Guinness World Records. Houston has also been inducted into the Grammy, Rhythm and Blues Music, and Rock and Roll halls of fame.
Alicia Augello Cook, known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Columbia Records. After disputes with the label, she signed with Arista Records and later released her debut album, Songs in A Minor, with J Records in 2001. The album was critically and commercially successful, selling over 12 million copies worldwide. It spawned the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Fallin'", and earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002. Her second album, The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003), was also a critical and commercial success, selling eight million copies worldwide, and producing the singles "You Don't Know My Name", "If I Ain't Got You", and "Diary". The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards.
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. A songwriter who mainly writes the lyrics for a song is referred to as a lyricist. The pressure from the music industry to produce popular hits means that song writing is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with the task of creating original melodies. Pop songs may be composed by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own music publishers, while others have external publishers.
Leigh Anne Bingham Nash is an American singer and songwriter who was the lead vocalist for the Christian alternative rock band Sixpence None the Richer and was also a member of Fauxliage. Her debut solo album, Blue on Blue, was released on August 15, 2006, by the One Son/Nettwerk record labels. Nash has released two other solo albums in 2011 and 2015. Nash has two Grammy nominations: Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal in 1999 and Best Rock Gospel Album in 1998.
Stevland Hardaway Morris, known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, soul, gospel, funk, and jazz. A virtual one-man band, Wonder's use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of R&B. He also helped drive such genres into the album era, crafting his LPs as cohesive and consistent, in addition to socially conscious statements with complex compositions. Blind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy who signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11, where he was given the professional name Little Stevie Wonder.
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien, better known by her stage name Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dramatic ballads, with French chanson, country, and jazz also in her repertoire. During her 1960s peak, she ranked among the most successful British female performers on both sides of the Atlantic. Her image – marked by a peroxide blonde bouffant/beehive hairstyle, heavy makeup and evening gowns, as well as stylised, gestural performances – made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties.
Michelle Jacquet DeSevren Branch is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. During the early 2000s, she released two top-selling albums: The Spirit Room and Hotel Paper. She won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals with Santana for their 2002 single, "The Game of Love".
Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of country musician Johnny Cash and Vivian Liberto Cash Distin, Johnny Cash's first wife. Although she is often classified as a country artist, her music draws on many genres, including folk, pop, rock, blues, and most notably Americana. In the 1980s, she had a string of genre-crossing singles that entered both the country and pop charts, the most commercially successful being her 1981 breakthrough hit "Seven Year Ache", which topped the U.S. country singles chart and reached the Top 30 on the U.S. pop chart.
Harlan Perry Howard was an American songwriter, principally in country music. In a career spanning six decades, Howard wrote many popular and enduring songs, recorded by a variety of different artists.
"Three Times a Lady" is a 1978 song by American soul group the Commodores for their album Natural High, written by lead singer Lionel Richie. It was produced by James Anthony Carmichael and the Commodores.
Shirley Murdock is an American R&B singer-songwriter, who is best known for her 1986 R&B hit single "As We Lay" and for her vocals on Zapp and Roger's hit single "Computer Love". Her lead vocal special guest appearance with Smooth Jazz artist Ben Tankard, climbed to #1 Gospel and #20 on Billboard Top 200 on WOW Gospel 2006 and is certified Gold. Their collaboration of the Lionel Richie song "Jesus Is Love" is one of the most played songs on Sirius XM Radio gospel channel for eight years since its initial release.
Beth Nielsen Chapman is an American singer and songwriter who has written hits for country and pop music performers. She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016. Nielsen Chapman is two-time Grammy Award and ACM Award nominee and won the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year in 1999 for writing Faith Hill's "This Kiss".
Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Her genre-spanning discography, artistic reinventions and songwriting have received critical praise and wide media coverage. Born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville at age 14 to become a country artist. She signed a songwriting deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2004 and a recording contract with Big Machine Records in 2005. Her 2006 self-titled debut album made her the first female country singer to write a U.S. platinum-certified album.
"1234" is a song from Feist's third studio album, The Reminder. The song was co-written by Feist and Sally Seltmann, an Australian singer-songwriter who also recorded under the stage name New Buffalo. It remains Feist's biggest hit single in the US to date, and her only song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Top 40.
Stargate is a record producing and songwriting team composed of Tor E. Hermansen and Mikkel S. Eriksen, based in Los Angeles. The team's genres include R&B, pop and hip hop. Stargate was established in Trondheim, Norway.
"Cry" is a song by American singer and songwriter Kelly Clarkson, taken from her fourth studio album, All I Ever Wanted (2009). It was written by Clarkson, Jason Halbert and Mark Townsend, with production being done by Howard Benson. It was released as the album's fourth single only in Australia and Germany; it was released as a digital download on March 12, 2010 in Germany and added to Australian radio stations on March 15, 2010.
Madeline Merlo is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. She signed to Open Road Recordings in 2013 and released her debut album, Free Soul, three years later. In 2015, Merlo received the "Rising Star" award from the Canadian Country Music Association. In 2021, she signed with the Nashville-based BBR Music Group, joining their imprint Wheelhouse Records.
Rhonda Kye Fleming is an American singer/songwriter and music publisher working in Nashville, Tennessee. She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2009 and has won more than 42 BMI Awards, including BMI Songwriter of the Year for 3 consecutive years (1981–83). Fifteen of her compositions have achieved over one million performances each. Some of the most successful songs Fleming has written or co-written include: "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool", "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed", "Smoky Mountain Rain", "Roll On Mississippi", "Years", "I Wouldn't Have Missed It for the World", "Nobody","All Roads Lead to You", "Kansas City Lights", and "Give Me Wings". In 2012, she was an honoree of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's Poets and Prophets series which honors songwriters deemed to have made a significant contribution to country music. The series featured an extended interview with Fleming before an audience at the Country Music Hall of Fame, and film clips, recordings, and photos of Fleming's life work and awards. Some of the artists who have recorded Fleming's songs are: Barbara Mandrell, Ronnie Milsap, The Judds, Sylvia, Steve Wariner, Wynonna Judd, Joe Cocker, Charley Pride, Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Janis Ian, Michael Johnson, Tina Turner, Amy Grant, and Bette Midler.
Maren Larae Morris is an American singer-songwriter. While rooted in the country genre, her music also blends elements of pop, R&B, and hip-hop. Born and raised in Arlington, Texas, Morris enjoyed singing as a child. She started publicly performing in her preteen years and toured throughout Texas. In her late teens and early twenties, she released three studio albums on independent record labels. She relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in country music during this same time period. Morris signed a publishing contract and later a recording contract following the streaming success of her 2015 self-titled EP.
