With their heavily orchestrated, sweet ballads, the Australian soft rock group Air Supply became a staple of early-'80s radio, scoring a string of seven straight Top Five singles. Air Supply, for most intents and purposes, was the duo of vocalists Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell; other members came through the group over the years, yet they... [+] Read More

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America was a light folk-rock act of the early '70s who had several Top Ten hits, including the number ones "A Horse with No Name" and "Sister Golden Hair." Vocalists/guitarists Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek, and Gerry Beckley met while they were still in high school in the late '60s; all three were sons of U.S. Air Force officers who were stationed... [+] Read More

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Bread was one of the most popular pop groups of the early '70s, earning a string of well-crafted, melodic soft rock singles, all of which were written by keyboardist/vocalist David Gates. A session musician and producer, Gates met in 1968 guitarist/vocalist James Griffin, who had already released a solo album called Summer Holiday. Griffin hired... [+] Read More

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Carly Simon was one of the most popular of the confessional singer/songwriters who emerged in the early '70s. The youngest child in an upper-class New York family (her father, Richard Simon, co-founded the Simon and Schuster publishing company), Simon got her start in music as part of a duo with her sister Lucy (who later wrote the music for the... [+] Read More

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Christopher Cross was far and away the biggest new star of 1980, virtually defining adult contemporary radio with a series of smoothly sophisticated ballads including the chart-topping "Sailing"; seemingly as quickly as he shot to fame, however, his star descended, although he continued recording and touring for years to come. Born Christopher... [+] Read More

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The 1970s produced relatively little popular music displaying elegance and unassuming charm. Often identified by pop historians as the "me" decade, it was an era of tremendous self-indulgence -- in music and everywhere else -- marked most strikingly by open, almost frenzied sexual exploration. Running almost counter to these currents were a... [+] Read More

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With roots in the Los Angeles country and folk-rock scenes, Linda Ronstadt became one of the most popular interpretive singers of the '70s, earning a string of platinum-selling albums and Top 40 singles. Throughout the '70s, her laid-back pop never lost sight of her folky roots, yet as she moved into the '80s, she began to change her sound with... [+] Read More

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In a career that began in the 1960s, Neil Diamond became a major recording artist, an internationally successful touring act, and a songwriter whose compositions produced hits for himself and others. His earliest recognition, in fact, came as a songwriter associated with the Brill Building era of Tin Pan Alley in the early '60s. But he soon... [+] Read More

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Born in Cambridge, England in 1948, the youngest child of Professor Brin Newton-John and Irene, daughter of Nobel Prize winning physicist, Max Born, Olivia moved to Melbourne, Australia with her family when she was five. By the age of fifteen, she had formed an all-girl group called Sol Four. Later that year she won a talent contest on the... [+] Read More

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With their light, airy melodies and meticulously crafted, clean arrangements, the Carpenters stood in direct contrast with the excessive, gaudy pop/rock of the '70s; yet they became one of the most popular artists of the decade, scoring 12 Top Ten hits, including three number one singles.

Karen Carpenter's calm, pretty voice was the... [+] Read More

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