Robert Peter Williams is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, Life thru a Lens, was released in 1997, and included his best-selling single "Angels". His second album, I've Been Expecting You, featured the songs "Millennium" and "She's the One", his first number one singles. His discography includes seven UK No. 1 singles, and all but one of his 14 studio albums have reached No. 1 in the UK. Six of his albums are among the top 100 biggest-selling albums in the UK, with two of them in the top 60, and he gained a Guinness World Record in 2006 for selling 1.6 million tickets in a single day during his Close Encounters Tour.
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970 by Freddie Mercury, Brian May, and Roger Taylor, later joined by John Deacon (bass). Their earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works by incorporating further styles, such as arena rock and pop rock.
"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was written primarily by John Lennon with assistance from Paul McCartney, and credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. Lennon's son Julian inspired the song with a nursery school drawing that he called "Lucy – in the sky with diamonds". Shortly before the album's release, speculation arose that the first letter of each of the nouns in the title intentionally spelled "LSD", the initialism commonly used for the hallucinogenic drug lysergic acid diethylamide. Lennon repeatedly denied that he had intended it as a drug song, and attributed the song's fantastical imagery to his reading of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland books.
Sigur Rós is an Icelandic post-rock band that formed in 1994 in Reykjavík. It comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal sound, frontman Jónsi's falsetto vocals, and their use of bowed guitar, Sigur Rós incorporate classical and minimal aesthetic elements. Jónsi's vocals are sung in Icelandic and non-linguistic vocalisations the band terms Vonlenska. They have released eight studio albums, and attracted critical and commercial attention with their second album Ágætis byrjun.
William Nathan Boyd is a Scottish actor and musician. He played Peregrin "Pippin" Took in Peter Jackson's epic film trilogy The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003), Barret Bonden in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) and Glen and Glenda in the Child's Play film Seed of Chucky (2004) and second season of the television series Chucky (2022).
Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer and primary songwriter, with Owen and Williams initially providing backing vocals, and Donald and Orange serving primarily as dancers.
Mystery Jets are an English indie rock band, formed on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, London. The founding members still part of the band consist of Blaine Harrison, Henry Harrison (lyrics), and Kapil Trivedi (drums).
Bombay Bicycle Club is an English indie rock band from Crouch End, London, consisting of Jack Steadman, Jamie MacColl, Suren de Saram, and Ed Nash. They are guitar-fronted and have experimented with different genres, including folk, electronica, world music and indie rock.
SPC ECO are a British shoegaze band formed in 2007.
Two Door Cinema Club are a band formed in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland in 2007. The band is composed of three members: Alex Trimble, Sam Halliday, and Kevin Baird.
Young Kato were a British six-piece indie pop band from Cheltenham, England. Formed in 2011, the band consisted of Tommy Wright, Jack Edwards, Joe Green, Joe Lever, Harry Steele and Sam Henderson.
Busker Busker is a South Korean indie band who rose to fame through their runner-up performance in the South Korean music audition television program Superstar K3 on Mnet. The band consists of guitarist and vocalist Jang Beom-june, bassist Kim Hyung-tae and drummer Brad Moore.
Hugo Pierre Leclercq, better known by his stage name Madeon, is a French musician, DJ, songwriter, singer and music producer from Nantes, based in Los Angeles. He initially came to widespread public attention at age 17 through a YouTube video, "Pop Culture", where he performed a mash-up of 39 different popular songs in real-time using a Novation Launchpad. It received millions of hits in its first few days of release. Madeon has cited the Beatles and Daft Punk as his greatest musical influences.
Bastille are an English indie pop band formed in 2010. The group began as a solo project by lead vocalist Dan Smith, but later expanded to include keyboardist Kyle Simmons, bassist and guitarist Will Farquarson and drummer Chris "Woody" Wood.
Keaton Henson is an English musician, composer, visual artist, and poet. He has released six studio albums, a wordless graphic novel titled Gloaming, published by Pocko, and a book of poetry called Idiot Verse. Henson suffers from anxiety, and as a result, he rarely plays concerts.
London Grammar are an English indie pop band formed in Nottingham in 2009. The band consists of Hannah Reid, Dan Rothman, and Dominic "Dot" Major. Their debut extended play, Metal & Dust, was released in 2013 by Metal & Dust Recordings; their debut album, If You Wait (2013), reached No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart and was certified Double Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). The band's next two studio albums, Truth Is a Beautiful Thing (2017) and Californian Soil (2021), both reached number 1 on the UK Albums Chart.
The Vamps are a British pop band consisting of Bradley Simpson, James Brittain-McVey, Connor Ball and Tristan Evans. They formed in 2012 and signed to Mercury Records in the November of the same year.
George Mpanga, better known by his stage name George the Poet, is an African spoken-word artist, poet, rapper, and podcast host with an interest in social and political issues. Mpanga came to prominence as a poet, before progressing to spoken word and hip hop. This led to him being signed by Island Records, culminating in the release of his debut EP The Chicken and the Egg to critical acclaim. However, Mpanga felt constrained by the art form, quit rapping, and left his record label prior to the release of his debut album. He moved on to performing poetry and created a podcast entitled Have You Heard George's Podcast?
Royal Blood are an English rock duo formed in Littlehampton in 2011. The current lineup consists of Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher (drums). Their signature sound is built around Kerr's bass playing style, which sees him using various effects pedals and amps to make his bass guitar sound like an electric guitar and bass guitar at the same time. The duo were signed by Warner Chappell Music in 2013 and have since released four studio albums: Royal Blood (2014), How Did We Get So Dark? (2017), Typhoons (2021), and Back to the Water Below (2023).
Lauren Eve Mayberry is a Scottish musician who is the vocalist and percussionist of the pop band Chvrches. In Chvrches, Mayberry co-writes and co-produces the songs with Iain Cook and Martin Doherty, and sings as the lead vocalist. She also plays drums and keyboards. Mayberry is a soprano. She is also an active feminist and philanthropist.
