Cornell Iral Haynes Jr., better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, actor and entrepreneur. He embarked on his music career with the hip hop group St. Lunatics in 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Under Universal, Nelly began his solo career in the year 2000, with his debut album Country Grammar, of which the featured title track and the single "Ride wit Me" were top ten hits. The album peaked at number one the Billboard 200, and became Nelly's best-selling album to date, selling over 8.4 million copies in the United States. His following album Nellyville produced the number-one hits "Hot in Herre" and "Dilemma", along with the top five single "Air Force Ones".
Mary Jane Blige is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Awards, twelve NAACP Image Awards, and twelve Billboard Music Awards, including the Billboard Icon Award. She has been nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and two Academy Awards, including one for her supporting role in the film Mudbound (2017) and another for its original song "Mighty River", becoming the first person nominated for acting and songwriting in the same year.
Usher Raymond IV is an American R&B singer. He was born in Dallas, Texas, but raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, until moving to Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of 12, his mother put him in local singing competitions before catching the attention of a music A&R from LaFace Records. He released his self-titled debut album Usher (1994), and rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way (1997). It spawned his first U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Nice & Slow", and the top-two singles "You Make Me Wanna..." and "My Way". His third album, 8701 (2001), produced the number-one singles "U Remind Me" and "U Got It Bad", as well as the top-three single "U Don't Have to Call". It sold eight million copies worldwide and won his first two Grammy Awards as Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 2002 and 2003.
Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas is an American singer and songwriter. She was first discovered as a teenager and later signed to Murder Inc. Records 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. She became the first female artist to occupy the top two positions on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart simultaneously with "Foolish" and "What's Luv?" at numbers one and two, respectively.
Captain & Tennille were American recording artists whose primary success occurred in the 1970s. The husband-and-wife team were "Captain" Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille. They have five albums certified gold or platinum and scored numerous hits on the US singles charts, the most enduring of which included "Love Will Keep Us Together", "Do That to Me One More Time", and "Muskrat Love". They hosted their own television variety series on ABC in 1976–77.
Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam, known mononymously as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of "Locked Up", the first single from his debut album Trouble (2004), followed by the second single "Lonely".
"Love Will Keep Us Together" is a song written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. It was first recorded by Sedaka in 1973. American pop duo Captain & Tennille covered the song in 1975, with instrumental backing almost entirely by “Captain” Daryl Dragon, with the exception of drums played by Hal Blaine; their version became a worldwide hit.
"Do That to Me One More Time" is a song performed by the American pop duo Captain & Tennille. It was their 13th charting hit in the United States, and their second number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was included on the duo's 1979 studio album, Make Your Move, and was written by Toni Tennille. It features a Lyricon solo by saxophonist Tom Scott, though Captain mimed to this part on a descant recorder in the promotional video. Even though an edited version was released as a single, another version was used for their many TV performances promoting the song. This version contained a "natural" ending, opposed to the fade-out ending that was featured on the single and album versions. This version was mainly lip-synced by Tennille on such TV programs.
"Muskrat Love" is a soft rock song written by Willis Alan Ramsey. The song depicts a romantic liaison between two anthropomorphic muskrats named Susie and Sam. It was first recorded in 1972 by Ramsey for his sole album release Willis Alan Ramsey. The song was originally titled "Muskrat Candlelight" referencing the song's opening lyric.
Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel is the twelfth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. It was released on September 29, 2009, by Island Records. After promotion for her previous album, E=MC² (2008) ended, Carey began to work on a new album, producing songs with Terius "The-Dream" Nash and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, and revealed the album's title through Twitter. Carey said that Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel would have "big ballads", and that "each song is its own snapshot of a moment in a story".
Teenage Dream is the third studio album by American singer Katy Perry. It was released on August 24, 2010, through Capitol Records. Primarily a pop record, Teenage Dream also contains elements of disco, electronic, rock, funk, house, Hi-NRG, and hip hop, that revolve around young love, partying, self-empowerment, and personal growth. Perry co-wrote the album, and worked with a number of producers such as Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Benny Blanco, Stargate and Greg Wells.
Miguel Jontel Pimentel is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. Raised in San Pedro, California, he began pursuing a music career at age thirteen. After signing to Jive Records in 2007, Miguel released his debut studio album, All I Want Is You, in November 2010. Although it was underpromoted upon its release, the album became a sleeper hit and helped Miguel garner commercial standing.
R. City is a Virgin Islands musical duo formed in 2003, from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. The duo is composed of brothers Theron "Uptown AP" Thomas and Timothy "A.I." Thomas. Primarily known as a songwriting and record production team, the duo has also released various bodies of work as recording artists, including their debut album, What Dreams Are Made Of, released in November 2015. They are best known for the single "Locked Away" featuring American singer Adam Levine.
The Lumineers are an American alternative folk band based in Denver, Colorado. The founding members are Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites. Schultz and Fraites began writing and performing together in Ramsey, New Jersey, in 2005. Cellist and vocalist Neyla Pekarek joined the band in 2010, and was a member until 2018. The Lumineers emerged as one of the most popular folk-rock/Americana artists during the revival of those genres, their popularity growing in the 2010s. The band's stripped back raw sound draws heavily from artists that influenced Schultz and Fraites such as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. They are known for their energetic live shows and several international hit singles, including "Ho Hey", "Stubborn Love", "Ophelia", "Angela" and "Cleopatra". The band has become one of the top touring bands in the United States and is also popular in other countries.
Jamila Akiko Aba Chilombo, known as Mila J, is an American singer, rapper and songwriter. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she is the older sister of R&B singer Jhéne Aiko and is known for being in Prince's video for "Diamonds and Pearls" and appearing on tracks by RaRa, IMx, Trey Songz and Omarion. She released several singles in 2006–2009 under the name "Mila J" and then went on a hiatus for a number of years after the shelving of her original debut studio album, Split Personality, before returning as "Japallonia" in 2012 and then reverting to Mila J a year later.
Unorthodox Jukebox is the second studio album by American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars. It was released on December 7, 2012, by Atlantic Records and was made available to listen to in its entirety for a week before its release. It serves as the follow-up to Mars's debut record Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010). Mars's writing and production team, the Smeezingtons, composed the whole record and worked with several past collaborators, Jeff Bhasker and Supa Dups, while enlisting new producers, such as Mark Ronson and Emile Haynie, and no guest vocalists.
Zain Javadd Malik, known mononymously as Zayn, is an English pop and R&B singer. Zayn auditioned as a solo contestant for the British music competition television series The X Factor in 2010. After being eliminated, he was brought back to the competition to form the five-piece boy band One Direction, which went on to become one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. He left the group in March 2015 and signed a solo recording contract with RCA Records.
The discography of Rock City —a songwriting and record production duo from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands—consists of one studio album, 16 mixtapes, eight singles and 21 music videos. Rock City is primarily known for their songwriting and production, having written or produced songs such as "Pour It Up" by Rihanna, "Replay" by Iyaz, "Bow Down/I Been On" by Beyoncé and "We Can't Stop" by Miley Cyrus. Many albums that Rock City has contributed to have won or been nominated for Grammy Awards. For instance, the duo wrote "If This Isn't Love" on Jennifer Hudson's Grammy Award-winning self-titled album.
"Locked Away" is a song by Virgin Islands production duo R. City featuring American singer Adam Levine, the lead singer of pop rock band Maroon 5. The song was released on June 29, 2015, by Kemosabe Records and RCA Records. The song peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the duo's first top ten hit and Levine's first single that he did not co-write.
Anti is the eighth studio album by Barbadian singer Rihanna, released on 28 January 2016 by Roc Nation and Westbury Road. Rihanna started recording in 2014 after ending her contract with Def Jam Recordings, who had released all of her albums since her debut in 2005. As executive producer, Rihanna recorded Anti with producers including Jeff Bhasker, Boi-1da, DJ Mustard, Hit-Boy, Brian Kennedy, Timbaland and No I.D., at studios in Canada, the United States and France. SZA and Drake contribute guest vocals.
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