Alicia Augello Cook, known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. 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 soon released her debut album, Songs in A Minor with J Records in 2001. The album became a critical and commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide. It contained the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Fallin'", and earned Keys an unprecedented 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 spawning 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 Whole New World" is the signature song from Disney's 1992 animated feature film Aladdin, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Tim Rice. A duet originally recorded by singers Brad Kane and Lea Salonga in their respective roles as the singing voices of the main characters Aladdin and Jasmine, the ballad serves as both the film's love and theme song. Lyrically, "A Whole New World" describes Aladdin showing the confined princess a life of freedom and the pair's acknowledgment of their love for each other while riding on a magic carpet. The song garnered an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 65th Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 50th Golden Globe Awards. "A Whole New World" also won the Grammy Awards for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television at the 36th Annual Grammy Awards, as well as Song of the Year, the only Disney song to do so. In the same year, the version sung by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle was also nominated for Record of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals, winning the latter.
Music of the Sun is the debut studio album by Barbadian singer Rihanna. It was released on August 29, 2005, by Def Jam Recordings. Prior to signing with Def Jam, Rihanna was discovered by record producer Evan Rogers in Barbados, who helped Rihanna record demo tapes to send out to several record labels. Jay-Z, the former chief executive officer (CEO) and president of Def Jam, was given Rihanna's demo by Jay Brown, his A&R at Def Jam, and invited her to audition for the label after hearing the song that would become her first single, "Pon de Replay". She auditioned for Jay-Z and L.A. Reid, the former CEO and president of record label group The Island Def Jam Music Group, and was signed on the spot to prevent her from signing with another record label.
Christopher Chiyan Tin is an American composer of art music, often composed for film and video game soundtracks. His work is primarily orchestral and choral, often with a world music influence. He won two Grammy Awards for his classical crossover album Calling All Dawns.
Rodrigo y Gabriela are a Mexican acoustic guitar duo whose music is influenced by a number of genres including nuevo flamenco, rock, and heavy metal. The duo's recordings consist largely of instrumental duets on the flamenco guitar. Currently residing in Mexico City, they began their career in Dublin, Ireland, during an eight-year stay. They have toured internationally and in 2010, performed at The White House for President Barack Obama. In 2020, their fifth studio album Mettavolution won a Grammy Award for the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. Their most recent album, In Between Thoughts…A New World, was released in April 2023.
Hello, I'm Dolly is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. It was released on September 18, 1967, by Monument Records. The album was produced by Fred Foster. It peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. The album spawned two top 40 hits, "Dumb Blonde" and "Something Fishy", which peaked at numbers 24 and 17, respectively.
Angel City Chorale (ACC) is a Los Angeles choir conducted by founder and artistic director Sue Fink.
Nomi Jean Cater, better known as Nominjin, is a multi-lingual and multi-cultural singer and songwriter. She has performed in more than 15 countries as a solo singer in front of audiences of up to 70,000 people, on the prestigious stages such as Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall of Lincoln Center and Welsh National Opera Orchestra at Llangollen. She speaks four languages and sings in 15 languages
Alestorm are a Scottish heavy metal band formed in Perth, Scotland. Their music is characterised by a pirate theme, and as a result, they have been dubbed a "pirate metal" band by many critics and their fanbase. The group currently consists of lead vocalist/keytarist Christopher Bowes, bassist Gareth Murdock, drummer Peter Alcorn, keyboardist/harsh vocalist Elliot Vernon and guitarist Máté "Bobo" Bodor.
Two Steps from Hell is a production music company based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2006 by Thomas Bergersen and Nick Phoenix, a pair of composers born in Norway and England respectively. The two friends created the company to make trailer music demos to be circulated exclusively within the movie advertising industry for the purpose of licensing; they are partnered with Extreme Music who handle licensing arrangements. The duo are among the most successful in their field, having supplied background tracks for thousands of film trailers and TV commercials. They compose separately but release their creations together. Typically, their music is orchestral and choral based, but with modern complements and structured similar to pop songs. The stentorian nature of their works has led the frequent use of a contemporary label, "epic music", to define their style.
Jacqueline Marie Evancho is an American classical crossover singer who gained wide recognition at an early age. Since 2009, she has issued a platinum-selling EP and nine albums, including three Billboard 200 top 10 debuts. She has also presented three solo PBS concert specials.
O Holy Night is the official debut Christmas EP by American child singer Jackie Evancho. The album was released on November 16, 2010, only two months after Evancho rose to prominence as a finalist on the reality TV show America's Got Talent. Evancho was ten years old when this EP was released.
Dream with Me is the second full-length album by American singer Jackie Evancho. It was released on June 3, 2011 on digital download format, and on June 14, 2011 in the standard CD format. Evancho was eleven years old when this album was released, although she was still ten when it was recorded. The album was produced by 16-time Grammy award winner David Foster.
Loud is the fifth studio album by Barbadian singer Rihanna. It was released on November 12, 2010, by Def Jam Recordings and SRP Records. The album was recorded between February and August 2010, during the singer's Last Girl on Earth tour and the filming of her first feature film Battleship (2012). Rihanna and L.A. Reid were the executive producers of Loud and worked with various record producers, including Stargate, Sandy Vee, The Runners, Tricky Stewart and Alex da Kid. The album features several guest vocalists, including rappers Drake, Nicki Minaj and Eminem, who is featured on the sequel to "Love the Way You Lie", titled "Love the Way You Lie ".
Pentatonix is an American a cappella group from Arlington, Texas, consisting of vocalists Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Matt Sallee, and Kevin Olusola. Characterized by their pop-style arrangements with vocal harmonies, basslines, riffing, percussion, and beatboxing, they produce cover versions of modern pop works or Christmas songs, sometimes in the form of medleys, along with original material. Pentatonix was formed in 2011 and subsequently won the third season of NBC's The Sing-Off, receiving $200,000 and a recording contract with Sony Music. When Sony's Epic Records dropped the group after The Sing-Off, the group formed its YouTube channel, distributing its music through Madison Gate Records, a label owned by Sony Pictures. Their YouTube channel currently has 20 million subscribers and more than 5.6 billion views. The group's video version of Hallelujah has over 719 million views as of September 24, 2023.
Spring of a Twenty Year Old is a single album by South Korean singer-songwriter IU. It was released as a CD single. The single has a double A-side hit singles, "Peach" and "Every End of the Day" which was also released digitally, consists of three tracks in total, one of which was composed by IU. It is the singer's first Korean-language release since the full-length album, Last Fantasy, that was released six months prior.. The latter topped the Billboard K-pop Hot 100 for four consecutive weeks, making it IU's second number-one hit on the chart after "You and I". The single has sold over 34,400 copies in South Korea as of 2013.
Shatter Me is the second studio album by American violinist and solo artist Lindsey Stirling. It is Stirling's first album to include collaborations with other vocalists, featuring Lzzy Hale and Dia Frampton, and Stirling has said its musical style is more progressive than her first album. The album was released on iTunes on April 25, 2014, in most of the world, on April 29, 2014, in the United States, and on May 2 in Germany. The first single, "Beyond the Veil", was released on March 24, peaking at number 22 on Billboard Dance and Electronic Digital Songs. The video was posted the following day. The second single, "Shatter Me", was released on April 23, accumulating 1.3 million views after one day on YouTube.
To Shiver the Sky is the third studio album by the American composer Christopher Tin. Released in 2020, it features texts about the history of flight ranging from Leonardo da Vinci's writings on flight to John F. Kennedy's "We choose to go to the Moon" speech.
JackBoys is a collaborative compilation album by American record label Cactus Jack Records, under the name JackBoys, led by American rapper and singer Travis Scott. It was released through the label alongside Epic Records on December 27, 2019. The album features guest appearances from Rosalía, Lil Baby, Sheck Wes, Don Toliver, Quavo, Offset, Young Thug, and Pop Smoke. JackBoys is a hip hop collective of rappers signed to Scott's Cactus Jack imprint, including Scott himself, Wes, Toliver, Luxury Tax 50, and Scott's DJ Chase B. Upon debut, JackBoys opened atop the US Billboard 200 on January 11, 2020, becoming the first number one album of the 2020s. It was Scott's third album to debut atop the chart after his third studio album, Astroworld (2018).
The Lost Birds: An Extinction Elegy is the fourth studio album by the American composer Christopher Tin. The music was performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with Voces8.
