Garbage is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Madison, Wisconsin. The band's line-up—consisting of Scottish singer Shirley Manson (vocals) and American musicians Duke Erikson, Steve Marker, and Butch Vig —has remained unchanged since its inception. All four members are involved in the songwriting and production process. Garbage has sold over 17 million albums worldwide.
Sonia Evans, known mononymously as Sonia, is an English pop singer from Liverpool. She had a 1989 UK number one hit with "You'll Never Stop Me Loving You" and became the first female UK artist to achieve five top 20 hit singles from one album. She represented the United Kingdom in the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest, where she finished second with the song "Better the Devil You Know". Between 1989 and 1993, she had 11 UK top 30 hits, including "Listen to Your Heart" (1989), "Counting Every Minute" (1990) and "Only Fools " (1991). In 1994, she starred as Sandy in a West End revival of the musical Grease, while on television she appeared as Bunty in the 1998 BBC comedy series The Lily Savage Show.
Matthew Nicholas Hales is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer who has been performing professionally under the name Aqualung since the early 2000s. Aqualung is best known in the UK for his song "Strange and Beautiful", which was featured on a television advertisement for the new Volkswagen Beetle during the summer of 2002 and went on to become a top 10 hit on the UK Singles Chart later that year. In the United States, Aqualung is also known for the song "Brighter Than Sunshine", which had considerable airplay and was used in the film A Lot Like Love and various television spots. Hales has released seven albums as Aqualung. The most recent, Dead Letters, appeared in 2022.
Semisonic is an American rock band formed in Minneapolis in 1995, consisting of Dan Wilson, John Munson, and Jacob Slichter. They are best known in the U.S. for their 1998 single "Closing Time". They also had international success with the singles "Singing in My Sleep", "Secret Smile" and "Chemistry".
Busted are an English pop-punk band from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, consisting of James Bourne, Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson. Formed in 2000, the band had four UK number-one singles, won two Brit awards, released four studio albums and sold over 5 million records worldwide. The band released the albums Busted in 2002 and A Present for Everyone in 2003 before disbanding in January 2005. Following the split, all three members pursued separate musical careers: Simpson as the frontman for the post-hardcore band Fightstar, Bourne as the lead singer of pop-punk band Son of Dork and Willis as a solo artist. The band reunited in 2015, embarking on the Pigs Can Fly arena tour in May 2016 and released their third studio album, Night Driver, on 25 November 2016. On 26 October 2018, Busted announced their fourth album Half Way There, released on 1 February 2019, as well as a UK arena tour. At the end of 2019, the band embarked on a hiatus to pursue solo projects. In 2023, Busted announced their return for their 20 year anniversary, consisting of an upcoming album and tour.
Everything but the Girl are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer, songwriter, composer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer, producer and singer Ben Watt. The group's early works have been categorized as sophisti-pop with jazz influences before undergoing an electronic turn following the worldwide success of the 1994 hit single "Missing".
Melanie Ruth Blatt, also known as Mel Blatt, is an English singer. She rose to fame in 1997 as a member of the girl group All Saints. The group have gained five UK number-one singles, two multi-platinum albums and two BRIT Awards, and have sold over 10 million records worldwide.
Strange and Beautiful is Aqualung's first US album release: a compilation of tracks from Aqualung's first two albums: Aqualung and Still Life. This compilation making up his first US release includes "Strange and Beautiful," "Brighter Than Sunshine," and "Falling Out of Love."
Busted is the debut studio album by English pop punk band Busted. It was released in the UK in September 2002 and peaked at number 2 the following January after the success of second single "Year 3000", which reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. Five singles were released from the album: "What I Go to School For", "Year 3000", "You Said No", "Hurra, hurra, die Schule brennt" and "Sleeping with the Light On".
Halestorm is an American rock band from Red Lion, Pennsylvania, consisting of lead vocalist and guitarist Elizabeth "Lzzy" Hale, her drummer brother Arejay Hale, guitarist Joe Hottinger, and bassist Josh Smith.
"Anything Is Possible" is a song co-written by Chris Braide and Cathy Dennis for the winner of the first series of Pop Idol in the United Kingdom. Will Young won the competition and therefore released the song as his debut single, with production by Dennis and Oskar Paul. It debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, and has been certified 3× platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. It has since become the 14th best-selling single of all time in the UK, as well as the second best-selling UK single of the 21st century.
"You'll Never Stop Me Loving You" is the debut single of English pop singer Sonia. Written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman, the song was included on Sonia's debut album, Everybody Knows (1990). The single became Sonia's only number-one single on the UK Singles Chart and reached number 10 on the US Billboard Dance Club Play chart.
"Evergreen" is a song co-written by Jörgen Elofsson, Per Magnusson and David Kreuger, and originally recorded by Irish boy band Westlife. The song appears on their album World of Our Own (2001). It was composed in the traditional verse–chorus form in C major, with band members Shane Filan and Brian McFadden's vocal ranging from the chords of F#3 to B4.
Memory Man is the third studio album by Aqualung. The album was released on 13 March 2007 in the U.S. The first single from the album was "Pressure Suit". The album debuted at #88 on the Billboard 200 chart in its first week.
"Brighter Than Sunshine" is an indie pop ballad written and performed by Aqualung. First released on his 2003 album Still Life, it became the album's first single. It was later added to the 2005 compilation album Strange and Beautiful. "Brighter Than Sunshine" reached 32 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart in the U.S. and spent two weeks at 37 on the UK Singles Chart in 2003. The record was featured in the 2005 romantic comedy, A Lot like Love, as well as in episodes of the American drama series Cold Case and the Canadian sitcom Schitt's Creek.
The Strange Case Of... is the second studio album by American rock band Halestorm. It was released on April 10, 2012 by Atlantic. The album was produced by Howard Benson, who also produced the band's self-titled debut album. The first single and video from the album "Love Bites " won a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance. The song "Freak Like Me" was the band's first single to reach number one on the Mainstream Rock chart. The song "Here's to Us" was performed on the US television show, Glee, with clean lyrics. Four of the album's songs were previously released on the sneak-preview EP Hello, It's Mz. Hyde. A deluxe edition of the album was also released containing three bonus tracks. A different version of the song "Here's to Us" featuring multiple guests including Slash was included as a bonus track on the reissue version of the standard and deluxe version of the album in 2013. In interviews about the album, Hale noted that the album was heavier than their previous album, but was significantly closer to the sound of them live.
The 1975 are an English pop rock band formed in 2002 in Wilmslow, Cheshire. The band consists of lead vocalist, principal songwriter and guitarist Matty Healy, lead guitarist Adam Hann, bassist Ross MacDonald, and drummer and primary producer George Daniel. The name of the band was inspired by a page of scribblings found in Healy's copy of On the Road by Jack Kerouac that was dated "1 June, The 1975".
The Bride is the fourth studio album by English singer-songwriter Natasha Khan, professionally known as Bat for Lashes. It was released on 1 July 2016 by Parlophone. The album was produced by Khan, with co-production from Ben Christophers, Simone Felice, David Baron, Dan Carey, Jacknife Lee and Matt "Aqualung" Hales. The Bride was preceded by the digital promotional single "I Do", followed by the singles "In God's House", "Sunday Love", "Joe's Dream", and the double A-side release of "If I Knew" and "In Your Bed".
Strange and Beautiful may refer to:
