Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, model and actress. She was first discovered as a teenager and later signed to Murder Inc. in 2002. That year, she was featured on Fat Joe's "What's Luv?" and Ja Rule's "Always on Time", both of which became two of the biggest hit songs of 2002; Ashanti became the first female artist to occupy the top two positions on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart simultaneously when "Foolish" and "What's Luv?" were at numbers one and two, respectively.
Toni Michele Braxton is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, actress, and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide as of 2020, including 41 million albums, and is one of the highest-selling female R&B artists in history. Braxton has won seven Grammy Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, seven American Music Awards, and numerous other accolades. In 2011, Braxton was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. In 2017 she was honored with the Legend Award at the Soul Train Music Awards.
Christine Flores, better known as Christina Milian, is an American actress, singer and songwriter. Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, but raised in Maryland, Milian signed a contract with Murder Inc. Records at the age of 19. In 2001, Milian released her self-titled debut album, which featured the singles "AM to PM" and "When You Look at Me"; "AM to PM" charted within the Top 40 of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and both peaked in the top three on the UK Singles Chart. In 2004, Milian released her second studio album It's About Time, which provided her first major U.S. hit, "Dip It Low", which reached number five on the U.S. Billboard chart. "Whatever U Want" was released as the album's second single. Both singles charted within the Top 10 of the UK chart.
Taalib Johnson, professionally known as Musiq Soulchild or simply Musiq is an American singer and songwriter whose style blends R&B, funk, blues, jazz, gospel influences fused with hip hop.
Sarah Connor is a German singer and songwriter. Raised in Delmenhorst, she became part of a church choir at the age of six. Connor rose to prominence after she signed with X-Cell Records in 2000 and released her debut album Green Eyed Soul (2001) the following year. She followed it with a series of successful albums, including Unbelievable (2002), Key to My Soul (2003), Naughty but Nice (2005), Christmas in My Heart (2005), Soulicious (2007), Sexy as Hell (2008) and Real Love (2010). Several songs from these albums became hit singles on the pop record charts, including the number-one hits "From Sarah with Love", "Music is the Key", "Just One Last Dance", "Living to Love You" and "From Zero to Hero". In 2015, Connor's first German language project Muttersprache became her second chart topper after a decade.
3LW was an American girl group that enjoyed a number of modest hits during the early 2000s. Its founding members were Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams, and Naturi Naughton. Jessica Benson later replaced Naughton after she left the group in 2002. 3LW was signed to the label Epic Records, and later moved to So So Def. They are best known for their hit singles "No More ", "Playas Gon' Play" and "I Do ".
Angie Stone is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. She rose to fame in the late 1970s as member of the hip hop trio The Sequence. Soon after, Stone began working with futuristic rap group Mantronix and singer Lenny Kravitz. In the early 1990s, she became a member of the R&B trio Vertical Hold. In 1999, Stone released her solo debut Black Diamond on Arista Records, which was certified gold and spawned the R&B number-one hit "No More Rain ". After transitioning to J Records, she released another gold-seller, Mahogany Soul (2001), which included the hit single "Wish I Didn't Miss You", followed by Stone Love (2004) and The Art of Love & War (2007), her first number-one album on the US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.
Johntá Austin is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, producer, vocalist and rapper, signed to Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Recordings. He is known for collaborating with producers Bryan-Michael Cox, Jermaine Dupri and the production duo StarGate. He was awarded two Grammy Awards for his work on the songs "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey and "Be Without You" by Mary J. Blige.
Shaffer Chimere Smith, better known by his stage name Ne-Yo, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, actor, dancer and television judge. He gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned his 2004 hit "Let Me Love You" for singer Mario. The single's successful release in the United States prompted an informal meeting between Ne-Yo and Def Jam's label head and the signing of a recording contract.
Case Woodard, known mononymously as Case, is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. A two-time Grammy Award nominee, he is best known for his late 1990s hits including "Touch Me, Tease Me", "Happily Ever After", "The Best Man", the early 2000's R&B number-one and top five pop hit, "Missing You", and "Livin' It Up" with rapper Ja Rule. The latter two earning him two Grammy Award nominations.
"Sound of the Underground" is the debut single by British pop group Girls Aloud, later featured on their debut album of the same name. The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, and Niara Scarlett, and produced by Higgins and his production team Xenomania. Following Girls Aloud's formation on the ITV1 reality television show Popstars: The Rivals, "Sound of the Underground" was released just sixteen days later on 16 December 2002. Commercially, the song was an immediate success. It became the year's Christmas number one in the UK, spending four consecutive weeks atop of the charts in total. The song also reached number one in Ireland and peaked within the top forty in Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.
Bobby Marcel Wilson, better known by his stage name Bobby V, is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He has charted three No. 1 albums on Billboard's U.S. Top R&B Chart since 2006. Bobby V's first major single, "Slow Down", produced by Tim & Bob, charted No. 1 on Billboard's U.S. Top R&B Chart and peaked at No. 8 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. The single was certified gold by the RIAA. His second single, "Anonymous", was produced by and featured a guest appearance from producer Timbaland.
Keri Lynn Hilson is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, vocal arranger and actress. She was born and raised in Decatur, Georgia and spent most of her youth working with producer Anthony Dent as a songwriter and background vocalist for several R&B and hip hop artists. By the age of 14, Hilson had secured a record deal with the girl group D'Signe, which later disbanded. She attended Oxford College of Emory University in Georgia while she continued writing songs for artists including Britney Spears, The Pussycat Dolls, and Mary J. Blige, with the production and songwriting team The Clutch. In 2006, Hilson signed with American rapper and producer Timbaland's record label Mosley Music. Her breakthrough came in 2007 after appearing on Timbaland's single "The Way I Are", which topped charts around the world.
Jhené Aiko Efuru Chilombo is an American singer and songwriter, who embarked on her music career contributing vocals and appearing in several music videos for R&B group B2K. At the time, she was known as B2K member Lil' Fizz's "cousin", though she is not actually related to him. It was used as a marketing tool, suggested by Sony and Epic Records to promote Aiko through group and cultivate her own following. In 2003, Aiko was set to release her debut album, My Name Is Jhené, through her labels Sony, The Ultimate Group and Epic; however, the album was never released, with Aiko eventually asking to be released from the label in order to continue her education.
Popstars: The Rivals is a British television talent show series that was broadcast on ITV in late 2002. It was the second UK series of the international Popstars franchise. Unlike Popstars, which resulted in the formation of one winning group, Hear'Say, Popstars: The Rivals created two rival groups, Girls Aloud and One True Voice, who competed against each other for the Christmas number one spot on the UK Singles Chart. Girls Aloud were runners up but would go on to achieve twenty consecutive top ten hits, four number ones and six top ten albums, two of which reached number one and from that, former member Cheryl Cole would achieve five number-ones and two number one albums.
Popstars (UK) is a British reality television show produced for ITV that aired for two series. The first series, Popstars, aimed to find five singers to form a new pop group. During the second series, Popstars: The Rivals, two music groups were formed to compete for the Christmas number-one single in the United Kingdom.
Popular music of the United Kingdom in the 21st century continued to expand and develop new subgenres and fusions. While talent show contestants were one of the major forces in pop music, British soul maintained and even extended its high-profile with figures like Joss Stone, Estelle, Duffy and Adele, while a new group of singer-songwriters led by Amy Winehouse and Westlife achieved international success. New forms of dance music emerged, including grime and dubstep. There was also a revival of garage rock and post-punk, which when mixed with electronic music produced new rave.
Popstars was a short-lived reality music talent show that was broadcast on ITV in early 2001. It was the first UK series of the international Popstars franchise, and was billed as a documentary on the formation of a modern pop group. The programme began with audition rounds of aspiring singers performing covers of classic songs before a panel of judges. The best performers were selected to come to London for further rounds of auditions. Over the weeks, the judges eliminated various singers from the auditions until just a few singers were left in contention. In the final weeks, five contestants were chosen by the judges to form the new pop group Hear'Say. The programme then showed the group recording and promoting their first single, documenting their first ventures into the music industry.
Warren Stacey is a British singer from London who came into prominence on the UK television show Popstars, the reality programme that created the pop band Hear'Say. Despite not making it into the group, Stacey went on to be signed by Def Jam Recordings and released his debut single "My Girl, My Girl" in March 2002, which made number 26 on the UK Singles Chart.
Jessica Ellen Cornish, better known by her stage name Jessie J, is an English singer-songwriter. Born and raised in London, she began her career on stage, aged 11, with a role in the West End musical Whistle Down the Wind. She studied at the BRIT School before signing with Gut Records and striking a songwriting deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing.
