Backstreet Boys were, in many ways, a contradictory band. Comprised entirely of white, middle-class Americans, the group sang a hybrid of new jack balladry, hip-hop, R&B, and dance club pop that originally found its greatest success in Canada and Europe, with their 1996 debut album charting in the Top Ten in nearly every country on the... [+] Read More

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Spice Girls were the first major British pop music phenomenon of the mid-'90s to not have a debt to independent pop/rock. Instead, the all-female quintet derived from the dance-pop tradition that made Take That the most popular British group of the early '90s, but there was one crucial difference. Spice Girls use dance-pop as a musical base, but... [+] Read More

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Alanis Morissette was one of the most unlikely stars of the mid-'90s. A former child actress turned dance-pop diva, Morissette transformed herself into a confessional alternative singer/songwriter, in the vein of Liz Phair and Tori Amos. However, she added enough pop sensibility, slight hip-hop flourishes, and marketing savvy to that formula to... [+] Read More

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Backstreet Boys were, in many ways, a contradictory band. Comprised entirely of white, middle-class Americans, the group sang a hybrid of new jack balladry, hip-hop, R&B, and dance club pop that originally found its greatest success in Canada and Europe, with their 1996 debut album charting in the Top Ten in nearly every country on the... [+] Read More

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Guitarist Simon Austin formed the Melbourne, Australian folk-pop band Frente! in 1991, bringing in Angie Hart, Simon Austin (guitar), Tim O'Connor, and Mark Picton (replaced by Alastair Barden) to round out the lineup. Frente! entered the international spotlight in the summer of 1994 with their quirky acoustic version of New Order's "Bizarre... [+] Read More

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Since he was the son of cult songwriter Tim Buckley, Jeff Buckley faced more expectations and pre-conceived notions than most singer/songwriters. Perhaps it wasn't surprising that Jeff Buckley's music was related to his father's by only the thinnest of margins. Buckley's voice was grand and sweeping, which fit with the mock-operatic grandeur of... [+] Read More

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Atlanta-based folksinger and songwriter Shawn Mullins was serving as a member of the U.S. Army Airborne Infantry Division when he released his first self-titled cassette on his own SM label in 1989; following the release of 1991's Everchanging World, he left the military after eight years to pursue music on a full-time basis. After three years... [+] Read More

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Today Tina Arena is Australia's most successful female recording artist. She spent her childhood in the late 70s on national Australian television on the weekly feel-good Young Talent Time show, where a regular troupe of children sang the hits of the day and yesterday until each child reached 'retirement' age and was replaced with another... [+] Read More

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Tracy Chapman helped restore singer/songwriters to the spotlight in the '80s. The multi-platinum success of Chapman's eponymous 1988 debut was unexpected, and it had lasting impact. Although Chapman was working from the same confessional singer/songwriter foundation that had been popularized in the '70s, her songs were fresh and powerful, driven... [+] Read More

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Those unfamiliar with pop music would be forgiven for confusing All Saints with another hotly tipped music property, the Spice Girls. The four members of All Saints could have stood for Spice Girls body doubles in a lineup: two brunettes, one blonde, and one of West Indian descent. While the Spice Girls were always pure pop and barely musically... [+] Read More

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With their angst-filled hybrid of Van Morrison, the Band, and R.E.M., Counting Crows became an overnight sensation in 1994. Only a year earlier, the band was a group of unknown musicians, filling in for the absent Van Morrison at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony; they were introduced by an enthusiastic Robbie Robertson. Early in 1993, the... [+] Read More

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Its been 7 years since a determined young man set out to find himself in the world of music. Selling over 4,ooo albums as an indie, toured for 1 year as the guest frontman for a band with a #1 selling album on the dance charts, co-wrote a song that was #19 on The Rick Dee's Weekly Top 40, a #1 song on internet radio, 2 song writing awards, 1... [+] Read More

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First rising to fame at the helm of the popular folk-rock band 10,000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchant subsequently enjoyed even greater success as a solo performer as her plaintive vocals and literate, socially conscious songs established her among the preeminent female performers in contemporary pop. Born October 26, 1963 in Jamestown, NY, Merchant... [+] Read More

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