The Japanese are well known for their eccentric musical tastes – they turned the Cheeky Girls into a success story after all – but their latest pop sensation is probably the most oddball of them all.
It’s a good time to be Bruno Mars right now. The young Hawaiian singer, songwriter and producer has served his time in the celebrity shade, and recently leapt into the limelight quicker than you can say, “number one hit single”
Having been married to The Notorious B.I.G and a close friend of Sean ‘P Diddy’ Combs, Faith Evans is no stranger to controversy
Since Busted split in 2005, the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus have been flying the teen pop flag pretty much all on their own
They say it’s a long road to recovery, and the artwork on the cover of Eminem’s latest album seems to suggest just that – it pictures the rapper slowly walking a lonely highway, with only the horizon in the distance
Since being jailed for gun crimes in March 2010, rapper Lil Wayne has been keeping in regular contact with his fans.
Talvin Singh is a British born musician who has always had one foot firmly in India.
American singer Katy Perry likes to cause a stir whenever she releases a new single, and is quickly turning into an expert at recording risqué pop videos.
The current darling of UK gossip magazines and worth a cool £25 million, X Factor host Cheryl Cole is certainly one of the most famous women in Britain.
Singer, composer, trumpeter, cornetist, flugelhornist – is there anything that Hugh Masekela can’t do? The legendary musician from Witbank, South Africa may be is his seventies now, but is still performing with the same fire and passion he’s always had
He may not be that well known in the English-speaking west, but Khaled is an unparalleled force of nature in the Arabic world
One of the first African bands to taste worldwide fame, Osibisa have been invigorating audiences with their unique blend of jazz, calypso, blues, funk and authentic African and Caribbean folk since their formation in 1969.
With a voice like velvet and looks to match, Timothy Moloi is one of South Africa’s most exciting talents.
A man whose music was a source of inspiration to many during the horrors of apartheid, there are few South African artists as successful and influential as Vusi Mahlasela.
A UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and Director of the Batonga Foundation (a group supporting the education of girls in Africa) Beninoise singer-songwriter and political activist Angélique Kidjo is no stranger to fighting a cause
In a musical genre dominated internationally by US artists, it was never going to be easy for Hip Hop Pantsula – HHP for short – to make a name for himself.
Following in the footsteps of artists like Miriam Makeba, Dorothy Masuka and Brenda Fassie, singer and songwriter Thandiswa Mazwai is one of the most popular female musicians in South Africa today
As a novelist, linguist and literary critic, one might expect John Maxwell Coetzee to be a man of many words.
The eldest son of Nigerian ‘afrobeat’ pioneer Fela Kuti, singer-songwriter Femi Kuti was born in the glare of the public spotlight, and has remained in it ever since
With over thirty years in the music business, the career of Amadou and Mariam is notable enough for its longevity.
Green Day are a contemporary American rock group who, along with The Offspring, are credited with jump-starting the punk revival of the 1990’s.
Probably the most political band of the 1990s, Rage Against the Machine pioneered a combination of rock/heavy metal and rap which has often since been imitated, but never surpassed
On 28th September 1992, an Essex rave act released their debut album. Simply entitled ‘Experience’, the record would change the face of music in the UK, and create a platform for the group to carve out a long and successful career.
Have you heard the Gossip? If not, where have you been the past five years? Fronted by larger-than-life tabloid darling Beth Ditto, the band were relative unknowns until their album Standing in the Way of Control exploded across the US and UK in 2006
Beyonce Knowles is arguably one of the most talented vocalists of her generation. With a vocal range of 3 and a half octaves, her voice has been described as a ‘super human instrument.
Formed in 1998 by Blur’s Damon Albarn and comic book artist Jamie Hewlett, Gorillaz are a ‘virtual band’ comprising four fictional band members.
She is a singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, record producer and actress, fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Given the many strings adorning her bow, the phrase ‘multi-talented’ doesn’t quite do justice to the abilities of Ms Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll
Often referred to as the voice of her generation, and hailed by Celine Dion as probably the best vocalist in the world, you could say that it would have been hard for Christina Aguilera to not have a long and successful career in music
The best selling music artist of the last decade with over 80 million album sales worldwide, Eminem is almost certainly the most successful rap artist of all time.
Taylor Swift is a phenomenally successful young country music artist who has broken records with her 21st century take on country music and introduced the genre to an entirely new audience worldwide.
Rapidly rising to international stardom in just five short years, Rihanna has become one the biggest contemporary R&B acts on the scene today.
He is worth over 500 million dollars. He is married to R&B star Beyonce Knowles.
A contemporary of artists like Wiley and Dizzee Rascal, Tinchy Stryder has been making waves on the British pop-rap scene since his debut album, Star in the Hood, was released in 2007
Kanye West is a producer and rapper who has worked with some of the biggest names in hip hop, including Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson and John Legend.
After nearly 25 years together and still packing out concerts across the globe, few bands can claim to have had as large an impact on popular music as U2.
With over 50 million albums sold since their debut Parachutes was released in 2000, few bands have had as much influence over British music during the last decade as Coldplay have.
One of the most popular British indie rock bands of the last 5 years, Kasabian have been compared to Oasis and The Stone Roses, in terms of both their music and their swaggering stage presence.
Curtis James Jackson III, better known as 50 Cent, is certainly no stranger to controversy. In gangster rap, feuds between artists are quite common, and 50 Cent has courted more than most
Technically a band, although in reality a collaboration between singer Florence Welch and a changing number of backing musicians, Florence and the Machine are one of the most exciting new acts to emerge in the UK over the past few years.
Given the work-rate of Aliaune Badara Thiam, he should really be called Akloned, rather than simply Akon
Sean John Combs has assumed many pseudonyms during his career, including Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, and now just plain old Diddy.
Having sold a massive 15 million records across the world in just over five years, The Killers are undoubtedly one of the hottest bands in the business of rock today
New York rapper Ja Rule is one of hip hop’s most successful artists. A contemporary of Jay-Z and DMX, he has released six studio albums, selling over 20 million copies across the world since his debut in 1999.
At a time when reality TV shows are catapulting countless young starlets into the UK charts, all peddling carefully chosen and marketed material, it’s arguably harder than ever for a young singer-songwriter to stand out from the crowd.
Rapper, producer, and founder of Aftermath Records, there are few artists in the game bigger than Dr Dre. As a solo artist.
Celebrity certainly runs in the family for pop starlet Miley Cyrus. Although famous worldwide in her own right, it can’t have been a bad thing to have a father like Billy Ray Cyrus.
One of the most recognisable names in hip hop, Snoop Dogg has been at the forefront of the scene ever since he was discovered by the legendary rapper and producer, Dr Dre.
Before Jayceon Terrell Taylor burst onto the rap scene in 2005 with his debut album, ‘The Documentary’, West Coast hip hop had been largely eclipsed by artists from the East of America.
Also known as Biggie Smalls, Biggie, and Frank White, The Notorious B.I.G. is one of the most popular and influential rap artists of all time, selling a total of 17 million albums in the US alone.
One of the best-selling and most influential rap artists of all time, Tupac Shakur, has been missed by many since his death in 1996
Heard of the phrase, keep it in the family? Being a band formed of three brothers and one cousin from Tennessee, the Kings of Leon surely have.
Since bursting onto the American rock scene with No Doubt in the mid ‘90s, Gwen Stefani’s career has gone from strength to strength.
In a world of manufactured pop bands put together by reality TV shows and music moguls hoping to make a quick buck, few artists’ careers will last more than a couple of albums.
A few years ago, nobody had heard of Aston Merrygold, Marvin Humes, Oritsé Williams and Jonathan Gill (JLS)
Justin Timberlake is one of the most successful recording artists of his generation, having sold a staggering 55 million albums with boyband NSYNC and more than 15 million as a solo artist.
Robbie Williams is one of those rare artists whose down to earth personality and brutal honesty have helped him sustain a career through addiction, scandal and the occasional flop of an album.
Lady Gaga’s music, outrageous fashion sense and ballsy attitude have captured the imagination of both fans and jaded music critics alike.
Britney Spears has been a pop phenomenon since she exploded onto the world stage with her debut release Baby One More Time in 1998.
Leona Lewis shot to fame as the winner of the 2006 season of Simon Cowell’s ITV show The X Factor. Since then she has become a global phenomenon.
