Singer/pianist Ben Folds (born September 12, 1966, in Winston-Salem, NC) is best-known as the leader of the power pop trio Ben Folds Five, but has also struck out on his own as a solo artist. Despite playing in bands in high school, his musical career didn't really get off the ground until the late '80s, as a bassist for Majosha (the outfit... [+] Read More

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If James Taylor epitomized the definition and the original, late-'60s incarnation of the term singer/songwriter, Dan Fogelberg exemplified the late-'70s equivalent of that term at its most highly developed and successful, with a string of platinum-selling albums and singles into the early '80s and a long career since, interrupted only by a... [+] Read More

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A member of the popular group Bread, David Gates is also a songwriter, keyboardist, vocalist and producer. His first hit as a songwriter came with the popular Murmaids song "Popsicles and Icicles."

David Gates was born in Tulsa, OK. to a band director and a piano teacher. Surrounded by music from birth, he was proficient in piano,... [+] Read More

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Richard Patrick (vocals, guitars, bass, programming, drums) and Brian Liesegang (programming, guitars, keyboards, drums) both experimented with electronics early in their careers. Patrick was a member of the original touring incarnation of Nine Inch Nails. After NIN finished its lengthy first tour in the early '90s, Patrick and Liesegang met... [+] Read More

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When people use the term "singer/songwriter" (often modified by the word "sensitive") in praise or in criticism, they're thinking of James Taylor. In the early '70s, when he appeared with his introspective songs, acoustic guitar, and calm, understated singing style, he mirrored a generation's emotional exhaustion after tumultuous times. Just as... [+] Read More

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John Mayer was one of those multiple-threat music talents that made most other players' lives and career paths seem simple. Born in India, to Anglo-Indian parents, he studied classical music and had a successful career as an orchestral violinist, but gave it up to work as a composer and, later, in jazz fusion as a composer-violinist-band leader.... [+] Read More

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After Neil Young left the Californian folk-rock band Buffalo Springfield in 1968, he slowly established himself as one of the most influential and idiosyncratic singer/songwriters of his generation. Young's body of work ranks second only to Bob Dylan in terms of depth, and he was able to sustain his critical reputation, as well as record sales,... [+] Read More

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In a career dating back to the 1950s, Paul Simon has established himself among the best and most popular songwriters of the rock era. Growing up in Queens, NY, Simon befriended schoolmate Art Garfunkel, who had an angelic tenor voice, and the two teamed up as Tom & Jerry, taking the names of the cartoon characters. In the winter of 1957-1958,... [+] Read More

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Phil Collins' ascent to the status of one of the most successful pop and adult-contemporary singers of the '80s and beyond was probably as much of a surprise to him as it was to many others. Balding and diminutive, Collins was almost 30-years old when his first solo single, "In the Air Tonight," became a number two hit in his native U.K. (the... [+] Read More

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The acoustic jam band Vertical Horizon was formed in 1991 by Georgetown University undergrads Matt Scannell and Keith Kane; after graduation the duo relocated to Boston, and in 1992 self-released their debut LP There and Back Again. Non-stop touring followed, and soon the group was opening for bands like the Allman Brothers, Better Than Ezra and... [+] Read More

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