Kane

Although the well-known and well-liked Dutch alternative rock act Kane went through some major roster shake-ups in their career, the core of the group, Dinand Woesthoff (vocals) and Dennis van Leeuwen (guitar), remained true to their goals, and were able to achieve great success. Formed in The Hague, Netherlands in 1998, Kane released their first single, "Where Do I Go Now," in August of 1999. The single broke through to the Top 30 on the Dutch charts, and Kane's successful streak of hit singles was off and running. The band would release a number of albums over the years (As Long as You Want This -- 2000, With or Without You -- 2000, So Glad You Made It -- 2001, What If -- 2003, February -- 2004, and Fearless -- 2005), most of which would find their way to the Top Five. The band also won a number of Edison Awards, as well as an MTV Europe award for Best Dutch Band. One of their biggest singles, "Rain Down on Me," was remixed by DJ Tiësto in 2004.

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Duffy

Emerging during the same boom of retro U.K.-based singers that launched Amy Winehouse, Duffy distinguished herself with a melodic, vintage voice that brought to mind such '60s artists as Dusty Springfield and Petula Clark. Born in the small coastal town of Nefyn on the Llyn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales, Amy Ann Duffy began singing at an early age. With a record collection limited to her parents' classic LPs, though, she had few influences to draw from. Her father's VHS tapes of the 1960s television rock show Ready Steady Go! thus became one of her biggest sources of inspiration, and Duffy started performing with various bands throughout her teenage years, sporting a charmingly retro sound that caught the ear of Rough Trade Records owner Jeannette Lee in 2004. Lee helped nurture the singer's talent by pairing her up with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler. The duo co-wrote several songs, including the single "Rockferry," which revealed Duffy's knack for soulful music inspired by Stax and Motown."Rockferry" became the title song of Duffy's debut album, which was released on Polydor in 2008. However, it took a different song -- "Mercy" -- to make her an international star. "Mercy" topped the charts in the U.K., the first song by a Welsh female in a quarter-century to hit number one, and the follow-up single, "Warwick Avenue," peaked at number three. Overseas, "Mercy" also scored platinum status in America. Rockferry became one of the year's most popular records, selling over two million copies in the U.K. alone, winning a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album, and going multi-platinum in multiple other countries. Duffy began working on her second album in 2009, taking some time off to make her acting debut in the 2010 drama Patagonia. Meanwhile, recording sessions for the album took place in England and New York, with Albert Hammond pulling a double shift as producer and co-writer. The result, Endlessly, was released in November 2010.

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Hilary Duff

Hilary Duff first made a name for herself on the enormously successful Disney Channel/ABC Kids show Lizzie McGuire, which she parlayed into dual careers as a pop singer and film actress. Like most overnight successes, however, she paid her dues for several years before her big break. Appearances in the 1997 western True Women, 1998's Casper (as the Friendly Ghost's human friend Wendy), and 1999's The Soul Collector paved the way for her best-known role. Lizzie McGuire, which chronicled the ups and downs of a junior high schooler's life using live-action and animated clips, debuted in 2001 and quickly became a hit with the preteen set. Aside from the show's unique format, one of the main reasons for its success was Duff herself. As Lizzie, she was pretty, funny, and smart, but not intimidatingly so; she had two best friends, Gordo and Miranda, so she wasn't super-popular or an outcast; and she was confident enough to blaze her own trail, but still vulnerable enough to have crushes on unattainable boys.At the same time Lizzie was taking off, Duff also appeared in the indie film Human Nature, reflecting her continuing big-screen aspirations. Lizzie McGuire mania continued through 2002, and Duff began her first steps toward her singing career with the song "Santa Claus Lane," which appeared on the soundtrack to The Santa Clause 2, as well as her own Christmas album, also named Santa Claus Lane. That year, production ended on Lizzie McGuire, freeing up Duff to pursue other opportunities. Episodes of the show continued to run into 2003, but by that time Duff had begun to move on, appearing in the teen spy movie Agent Cody Banks and playing Lizzie one last time in The Lizzie McGuire Movie, where funnily enough, she goes to Italy and is mistaken for a teen pop star. The soundtrack to the movie also featured several songs by Duff, including the singles "Why Not" and "I Can't Wait," which were both successes in their own right. The soundtrack went platinum in summer 2003.Around that time, Metamorphosis, Duff's bona fide debut as a singer, was released. The album had a hipper and more eclectic sound than any of the material she had been given previously, and helped establish her as a personality outside of her Lizzie McGuire fame.

The album charted at number two on the Billboard 200 on the week of its release, and its single "So Yesterday" topped the pop singles chart earlier that summer. Duff's omnipresence in 2003 continued with appearances at that year's MTV Video Music Awards and the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, where she accepted Lizzie McGuire's trophy for Favorite TV Show. She also appeared in that year's film Cheaper by the Dozen and embarked on a tour that fall.Duff remained just as busy in 2004. She appeared in movies like A Cinderella Story, Agent Cody Banks, and Raise Your Voice, and also released her self-titled second album, which exchanged the neutral fluffiness of Metamorphosis for an anthemic rock-pop style consistent with efforts from Ashlee Simpson and Avril Lavigne. The record continued to shape Duff's public persona, which was a continually evolving dynamo of branding, image, and teenage ambition. Released on September 28th (her 17th birthday), Hilary Duff eventually peaked at number two on both the Billboard 200 and the Top Internet Albums charts, and helped Hilary net "Most Searched by Kids and Teens on AOL" honors and more Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. Publicity for the album continued into 2005. That June, The Perfect Man debuted; in a bit of genius casting, it featured Heather Locklear as Duff's unlucky-in-love mother.

In July, Duff started preparing for the August release of Most Wanted. The collection included three new songs -- including the single "Wake Up," written by Benji and Joel Madden from Good Charlotte -- as well as remixed versions of past Hilary hits like "So Yesterday" and "Come Clean." There was also the Most Wanted tour, which stretched into September, ending just in time for her 18th birthday. By this point, the Hilary Duff promotion machine was in overdrive: her website offered a pay-as-you-go mobile phone branded with her name and bundled with Hilary-themed ringtones and wallpapers. During 2006, Duff worked on the films War Inc. and Material Girls, and also found time to work on her fourth album, Dignity, which was inspired in part by her breakup with Joel Madden. Dignity was released in spring 2007, inspiring favorable reviews from critics but relatively lukewarm sales from the public; nevertheless, it was certified gold from the RIAA.

Following Dignity, Duff stayed away from music for a prolonged period of time. A hits album called Best of Hilary Duff appeared in time for Christmas 2008. During this time, she continued to act -- notably, she appeared in the Polish Brothers' 2011 film Stay Cool -- and she also launched a young adult novel series called Elixir in 2010; the three books in the series were co-written with Elise Allen. Duff began working on her next album in 2014, completing the record in 2015. Preceded by the single "Sparks," Breathe In. Breathe Out. saw a June release; it debuted at five on the Billboard charts.

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Katy Perry

Brandishing a wink, a coo, and cleavage with the aplomb of an assassin, Katy Perry created a distinctly new millennial pop persona: a Disney princess as imagined by Madonna. Flirty and bodacious, Perry sometimes skirted with taboos -- she sneered on her first single "Ur So Gay" (punch line: "and you don't even like boys"), she gasped "I Kissed a Girl" and she liked it -- and that willingness to be controversial certainly put her on the pop culture radar, but the reason she stayed there was her knack for blending classic pop conventions with new trends. This talent reached its apex on 2010's Teenage Dream, a blockbuster sophomore set that generated hits as diverse as its dreamily romantic title track, the cotton-candy summertime pop "California Gurls," and steely EDM variant "Firework," but she was canny enough to temper some of her risqué moves as her career progressed, transforming herself from the naughty cousin into an admirable big sister.

Perry's success was so sudden in 2008 it seemed as if she was an overnight success when the opposite was true. The daughter of Pentecostal pastors, she was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson on October 25, 1984 in Santa Barbara, California. Raised by born-again parents, Katy was initially attracted to gospel music, sometimes sneaking pop music in to balance the inspirational tunes, but when she first started singing it was in the church. She picked up the guitar at the age of 13 and soon started writing songs, pursuing a music career in earnest when she was 15. Earning the attention of CCM artists Jennifer Knapp and Steve Thomas, Katy headed out to Nashville in 2001, where she cut demos and eventually secured a contract with Red Hill Records. Red Hill released Katy Hudson, a record targeted at a Christian/Inspirational demographic, in February 2001, but the album didn't garner much attention and was ultimately buried once the label was shuttered at the end of the year. In the wake of the album's failure, Perry transitioned toward pop music, relocating to Los Angeles and working with producer Glen Ballard, the chief collaborator of Alanis Morissette, one of Katy's biggest inspirations. As she abandoned Christian music, she also abandoned her surname Hudson, choosing to use her mother's maiden name Perry instead.

Ballard signed Perry to his Island/Def Jam-distributed label Java in 2004 but once the producer's imprint severed ties with its parent company, Perry and the album were dropped. Next up, Perry signed to Columbia Records, where she worked on a record for two years, collaborating with the likes of Max Martin, Dr. Luke, the Matrix, Desmond Child, and Butch Walker, but just as the album was reaching the finish line in 2006, she was dropped from Columbia. Perry continued to soldier forth, working as a backup singer for hire (she can be heard on Mick Jagger's "Old Habits Die Hard" from the soundtrack to 2004's Alfie), and recording a full album with the production team the Matrix, only to find that album also scrapped. She finally saw a song called "Simple" released on the soundtrack to 2005's The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but her next big break arrived in 2007, when Jason Flom signed her to Capitol. Once again, Perry headed into the studio to create a would-be blockbuster -- Ballard, Dr. Luke, and Butch Walker all returned, with Dave Stewart, Greg Wells, and S*A*M* & Sluggo also showing up -- but this time everything fell into place for the singer. First came the deliberately controversial "Ur So Gay," released as a video and digital single, and it gained enough attention that by spring of 2008, Madonna was calling it her current "favorite song." By that point, Katy's first real single was scheduled for release: "I Kissed a Girl." Also vaguely scandalous, "I Kissed a Girl" became a smash and headed all the way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Her debut, One of the Boys, followed in June of 2008, and it was also a success, supported by the Top 10 hit "Hot N Cold," along with "Thinking of You" and "Waking Up in Vegas." One of the Boys was a big enough hit that the shelved album Perry had recorded with the Matrix back in 2004 saw a release in January 2009, but it didn't do much.

Perry supported One of the Boys with media appearances and steady tours, including an appearance on the 2008 Warped Tour and her own headlining Hello Katy jaunt in 2009. A stopgap MTV Unplugged album appeared in November 2009, by which time Perry was hard at work on her second album, Teenage Dream. Preceded by the frothy single "California Gurls," Teenage Dream was an international smash, generating no less than five consecutive number one singles in the U.S.: "California Gurls," "Teenage Dream," "Firework," "E.T." (which featured Kanye West), and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)." This success had few precedents: she was the first female artist ever to achieve such a run of number ones and the first artist since Michael Jackson to have so many singles from an individual album reach the pole position. In 2012, the album was expanded as Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, which contained a new single in "Part of Me," which also topped the charts. During this entire cycle, Perry was a constant pop culture presence, undergoing an international tour, appearing in cameos all over television, courting mild social media controversies, creating fragrances, and filming the documentary Katy Perry: Part of Me, which appeared in theaters in July 2012.

As the Teenage Dream juggernaut wrapped up, Katy Perry turned her attention to recording her third album. Appearing in October 2013, Prism signaled a more mature Katy Perry, something that was apparent from its motivating first single, "Roar." Prism received a lift from its third single "Dark Horse," which became her ninth number one ("Unconditionally" didn't crack the Top 10), and it was followed by "Birthday" and "This Is How We Do," both released as she supported the album with an international tour. The highlight of that tour was her appearance at the half-time show for 2014's Super Bowl XLIX, where she performed with Missy Elliott and Lenny Kravitz. Two years later, Perry made her comeback with another major sporting event: the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. Her single "Rise" was honored as the official anthem for the games.

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Maroon 5

A mix of polished pop/rock and neo-soul made Maroon 5 one of the most popular bands of the new millennium, with songs like "This Love," "She Will Be Loved," and "Makes Me Wonder" all topping the charts worldwide. Previously, bandmates Adam Levine (vocals/guitar), Jesse Carmichael (keyboards), Mickey Madden (bass), and Ryan Dusick (drums) had spent the latter half of the '90s playing in Kara's Flowers, even releasing a debut album for Reprise Records while still attending high school. The record tanked, however, and Kara's Flowers found themselves dropped from Reprise's roster. After briefly attending college, the bandmates regrouped as Maroon 5, adding former Square guitarist James Valentine to the lineup and embracing a more R&B-influenced sound. Several years later, the quintet had officially risen to the forefront of pop music with Songs About Jane and It Won't Be Soon Before Long, both of which went multi-platinum. Songs About Jane propelled the band into the mainstream, but the album was not an immediate hit. Octone Records had signed the newly christened Maroon 5 in 2001, and the debut album Jane received a lukewarm response upon its release in June 2002. "Harder to Breathe" became a radio staple 17 months later and was soon followed by the omnipresent "This Love," whose steamy video (featuring frontman Levine and a barely clothed girlfriend) wooed the TV-watching crowds at MTV. Songs About Jane finally entered the Billboard Top Ten in August 2004, more than two years after the album's release, and follow-up singles like "She Will Be Loved" and "Sunday Morning" helped the album move over 2.7 million copies by year's end.

Maroon 5 toured exhaustively in support of Jane's slow-burning success, issuing two stopgap recordings -- 2004's 1.22.03.Acoustic and 2005's Live Friday the 13th -- while traveling the world alongside the likes of the Rolling Stones and John Mayer. Their schedule was especially trying on percussionist Dusick, who sustained wrist and shoulder injuries and was often unable to play. By fall 2006, Dusick had been officially replaced by Matt Flynn (the former drummer for Gavin DeGraw), and the revised band released its sophomore effort in May 2007. It Won't Be Soon Before Long proved to be less popular than its predecessor (which had sold more than four million copies in the U.S. alone), but it still enjoyed double-platinum certification while spinning off the chart-topping single "Makes Me Wonder." Maroon 5 had cemented their status as pop/rock heavyweights, and they now had the connections to prove it. Released in late 2008, Call and Response: The Remix Album reinterpreted the band's catalog with remixes by influential producers like Mary J. Blige, Mark Ronson, and Pharrell Williams.

Between 2008 and 2010, the band worked with a different producer -- veteran rock/country architect Robert John "Mutt" Lange -- on a third studio album, Hands All Over, which was released in September 2010. Although it was kept from the top of the album charts, it went platinum. Also, the following year, it received a big boost when Levine began appearing as a judge on the NBC reality television talent competition The Voice. That same year, Hands All Over was re-released with the single "Moves Like Jagger," featuring Levine's The Voice co-judge Christina Aguilera; the single promptly hit the top of the charts. In 2012, Carmichael revealed that he was taking time off from performing with Maroon 5 and would be replaced by touring keyboardist PJ Morton.

In April of 2012, the band teased the release of its fourth studio album with "Payphone," a single featuring Wiz Khalifa that hit number two. The resulting album, Overexposed, also reached number two, featuring production from a bevy of name producers including Ryan Tedder, Max Martin, Benny Blanco, and more. A second single from the album, the reggae-tinged "One More Night," topped the charts not long after its release in June, and stayed at the top long enough to become the band's most successful showing to date. Two further singles also reached the Top Ten, "Daylight" and "Love Somebody."

During 2013, Levine continued to appear on The Voice, and also made appearances in the television drama American Horror Story, as well as the music-based dramatic film Begin Again. The band also hit the studio to record songs for a fifth studio album, aptly titled V, which saw keyboardist Jesse Carmichael return to the fold after a brief hiatus. Released in September 2014, V debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart and produced several Top Ten singles including "Maps," "Animals," and "Sugar." Two more singles followed in 2015 with "This Summer's Gonna Hurt Like a Motherf*****" and "Feelings". Also in 2015, Maroon 5 released their first hits collection, The Singles. The single, "Don't Wanna Know," featuring rapper Kendrick Lamar, appeared in 2016 and peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

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Snow Patrol

After failing to secure an international audience for nearly ten years, Snow Patrol broke into the mainstream with 2003's Final Straw, a mega-selling album that showcased the band's fondness for epic, melancholic rock. The group had originally stuck closer to the pop realm, releasing quirky albums that took more cues from Belle & Sebastian than Coldplay (to whom the band would later draw many comparisons). Final Straw proved to be a turning point, however, paving the way for the success of 2006's Eyes Open -- particularly its worldwide hit single, "Chasing Cars" -- as well as the band's future work.

Although originally from Northern Ireland, co-founders Gary Lightbody and Mark McClelland relocated to Scotland during their teenage years to attend college. While studying at the University of Dundee in 1994, they began composing music under several different band names, including Shrug and Polar Bear. The duo eventually adopted the Snow Patrol moniker and enlisted Jonny Quinn to play drums in 1997. One year later, Snow Patrol signed with Jeepster Records, a small label based in London, and released the debut effort Songs for Polar Bears.

Snow Patrol's audience was modestly growing, and the trio relocated to Glasgow upon graduation. Their second full-length album, When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up, was released in April 2001. Jeepster dropped the band from its roster that same year, however, prompting Lightbody to blow off steam by forming the Reindeer Section, a Scottish supergroup featuring members of Mogwai and Belle & Sebastian. He also continued writing songs for Snow Patrol, including a promising ballad entitled "Run." After guitarist Nathan Connolly joined the group in 2002, Snow Patrol signed a contract with Fiction Records and began recording a new album alongside producer Chris Lord-Alge. With the power ballad "Run" serving as its lead single, Final Straw became the band's breakthrough hit, spinning off four Top 40 singles in the U.K. and eventually selling more than four million copies worldwide.

Despite the band's growing success, founding member Mark McClelland left in March 2005, effectively downgrading Snow Patrol to a trio comprised of Lightbody, Quinn, and Connolly. Shortly thereafter, former Terra Diablo bass player Paul Wilson and touring keyboardist Tom Simpson were permanently added to the lineup, and the group honed its expanded sound by opening shows on the European leg of U2's Vertigo Tour. Upon the tour's completion, they returned to the studio and created the slickly commercial Eyes Open, which was released worldwide in May 2006. One year later, with a successful run through North America under their belt and an enduring single, "Chasing Cars," maintaining their presence on the radio, Eyes Open was certified gold in the United States. It later rose to platinum status, becoming the band's most successful release in America. Snow Patrol also became the first U.K. rock act in 13 years to break into the Top Five of the Billboard singles charts, a feat they sought to revisit with the release of 2008's A Hundred Million Suns.

Led by the single "Take Back the City," A Hundred Million Suns featured an emphasis on positive, romantic lyrics, something that Gary Lightbody had pointedly shunned in the past. The band joined U2 on the road once again, this time playing stadiums in Europe and America during the summer of 2009. Rather than record another album after the tour, however, they chose to release the comprehensive Up to Now, a compilation spanning Snow Patrol's 15-year history. Lightbody and Simpson also teamed up to compile a mix album, LateNightTales, which featured the band's own take on INXS' "New Sensation." Lightbody admitted to a frustrating bout of writer's block before embarking on the group's sixth studio album, 2011's Fallen Empires.

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The Cat Empire

Combining a number of styles, including funk, jazz, and ska, Melbourne, Australia's Cat Empire formed in 1999 as a trio. Due in part to high-energy performances and constant touring, the band regularly reached the Top Five of their native country's ARIA chart. Keyboardist Oliver McGill, double bassist Ryan Monro, and percussionist Felix Riebl, the founding members, were eventually joined by trumpet player Harry James Angus, drummer Will Hull-Brown, and DJ Jamshid Khadiwala. A single and a live EP preceded the band's first album, The Cat Empire (2003), which eventually went triple platinum in Australia. At that point, they had already played the Melbourne Festival, the Adelaide Festival of Arts, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and WOMAD. Two Shoes (2005), their second album, was recorded in Havana, Cuba, and topped the ARIA chart. Cities followed a year later and made another impressive commercial showing, but it was So Many Nights (2007) that crystallized their frenetic, fun-loving sound.

Meanwhile, the band became a major festival and club attraction. Live on Earth (2009) anthologized some of their on-stage highlights. They continued to develop new material; Cinema (2010) was as widely acclaimed as So Many Nights and featured increased levels of restraint and maturity. In 2011, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their first gig, the band returned to the small Australian venues that hosted their earliest gigs. By the end of the year, they had also completed an extensive tour of Europe and North America. Steal the Light (2013) ended their longest between-albums gap to that point, yet it instantly became their fourth Top Five album. It was trumped by Rising with the Sun (2016), which became the band's second Australian number one album upon release and incorporated photos of over 3,500 global fans in its artwork. Throughout the course of their career, the band's members were involved in numerous outside recording and performing projects, including Jackson Jackson (hip-hop) and the Conglomerate (a jazz quartet).

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Hot Chelle Rae

Hot Chelle Rae took shape in 2005, balancing the polished sounds of mainstream pop with energized, guitar-heavy dance-rock. Vocalist Ryan Keith Follesé, guitarist Nash Overstreet, drummer Jamie Follesé, and bassist Ian Keaggy had all grown up in musical households; the former three were raised by A-list Nashville songwriters, while Keaggy's father was a Grammy-nominated guitarist. As a result, the band wasted little time carving out a commercial sound, resulting in a label offer from Jive Records in 2008. Recording quickly commenced on a debut album, with both Butch Walker and Eric Valentine lending their help to the project, and the resulting Lovesick Electric appeared in 2009. The band returned in 2011 with Whatever, which featured a Top Ten hit in "Tonight Tonight."

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The Lumineers

The Lumineers, a folk-rock trio out of Denver, Colorado, deliver an acoustic-based Americana sound that touches a lot of stylistic bases, from folk to gospel to heartland rock and the narrative end of country, all with interesting rhythmic twists and turns. The band had its beginnings in 2002 when Jeremiah Fraites lost his 19-year-old brother Josh to a drug overdose. Fraites and his brother's best friend, Wesley Schultz, turned to music to deal with their sorrow, and were soon writing songs and gigging together in the New York area as a duo. After relocating to Denver, the pair met classically trained multi-instrumentalist Neyla Pekarek after placing a craigslist ad for a cellist, and things clicked for the trio, who began playing open-mike nights at the Meadowlark -- a basement club where local songwriters gathered. The Lumineers released a demo EP in 2009, following it with an eponymous EP in 2011. A proper first album, again simply called The Lumineers, appeared from Dualtone Records in 2012. The album was critically praised and its infectious single "Ho Hey," which had long been the centerpiece of the band's live sets, ended up breaking into Top Ten markets globally, eventually going double platinum. The Lumineers crossed and recrossed the globe as they toured in support of their debut, earning a pair of Grammy nominations along the way. With their raised profile, they began branching out in 2014, placing a song on AMC's popular zombie series The Walking Dead and supplying the music for the song "The Hanging Tree," the musical centerpiece of the film The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 1. In April 2016, the Lumineers released their long-awaited follow-up album, Cleopatra. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.

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Coldplay

After surfacing in 2000 with the breakthrough single "Yellow," Coldplay quickly became one of the biggest bands of the new millennium, honing a mix of introspective Brit-pop and anthemic rock that landed the British quartet a near-permanent residence on record charts worldwide. The group's emergence was perfectly timed; Radiohead had just released the overly cerebral Kid A, while Oasis had ditched two founding members and embraced psychedelic experimentation on Standing on the Shoulder of Giants. U.K. audiences were hungry for a fresh-faced rock band with big aspirations and an even bigger sound, and Coldplay were more than happy to take the reins. Parachutes went multi-platinum in several countries and earned the band its first Grammy, but Coldplay continued to grow into the 2000s, topping their debut album's success with higher record sales and an increased public profile.Chris Martin (vocals/piano), Jon Buckland (guitar), Will Champion (drums), and Guy Berryman (bass) were all born into musical households. Martin, the eldest of five, began playing the piano as a young child and later took solace in the work of Tom Waits. Buckland, on the other hand, grew up with the heavy guitar sounds of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. Scotland native Berryman preferred funk to indie rock, thereby leaving him to play bass, while multi-instrumentalist Champion didn't plan to be a drummer until he joined Coldplay's lineup. The bandmates came together in 1996 while attending the University College of London, and the Safety EP was issued shortly after their first gig at a Manchester festival for unsigned bands. The release only saw 500 pressings, as did the subsequent Brothers & Sisters EP. Nevertheless, it was enough to win the band a U.K. deal with Parlophone Records in April 1999, and the five-track Blue Room EP arrived that fall. With nods from the media, Coldplay were hailed as the next Travis, thanks to their simple acoustics and charming personas.

Parlophone ushered Coldplay into Parr St. Studios in Liverpool, where they recorded the bulk of their debut album. Parachutes was released in July 2000 and became a swift hit on the strength of four U.K. singles, several of which enjoyed popularity in America as well. With "Yellow" climbing the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, Parachutes was released in the U.S. in November, where its sales soon rivaled -- and eventually surpassed -- those in the U.K.Riding on the strength of their universally popular debut, Coldplay headed back into the studio in fall 2001 to work on a sophomore album. They emerged with A Rush of Blood to the Head, releasing the album worldwide in August 2002 and embarking on a global concert tour soon after. "The Scientist" enjoyed regular radio rotation, while both "Clocks" and "In My Place" won Grammy Awards. The CD/DVD package Live 2003 was issued to highlight the group's popular tour, and Martin specifically earned a higher notch on the celebrity scale by marrying actress Gwyneth Paltrow in December 2003. Paltrow gave birth to the couple's daughter Apple the following April.

Fatherhood didn't stop Martin from working, as Coldplay began recording material for a third album within weeks. Previously recorded material with longtime producer Ken Nelson was scrapped early on, while Danton Supple (Morrissey, the Cure) joined Coldplay to complete the recording of X&Y. "Speed of Sound" marked Coldplay's first single from their long-awaited third effort in spring 2005; the album followed in June, topping charts around the world and selling more than eight million copies during its first year.Such success put Coldplay on the same commercial level as U2, and Coldplay retreated to the studio in late 2006 to work with famed producer Brian Eno (who had teamed up with U2 several times in the past). Recording sessions with Eno were completed within one year, followed by several months of mixing and growing anticipation from the band's audience. Viva la Vida -- also known by its extended name, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends -- ultimately arrived in June 2008. Worldwide sales for the album had approached six million by November, when Coldplay released several new recordings (including a collaboration with hip-hop mogul Jay-Z) as part of the Prospekt's March EP.Preceded by first single "Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall," Coldplay's fifth studio album, 2011's Mylo Xyloto, was produced by Markus Dravs, Daniel Green, and Rik Simpson (the official press release adds "with enoxification and additional composition by Brian Eno"). Live 2012, the band's second concert film/recording, followed in 2012 after a hugely successful world tour, which included a special performance at the London Paralympics closing ceremony. Work began on their sixth album in late 2012 at their Bakery and Beehive studios in North London, where longtime producers Paul Epworth, Daniel Green, and Rik Simpson joined them for sessions. As the recording progressed, other producers, including Avicii and Timbaland, were brought in, making the resulting Ghost Stories quite different from its predecessors in that there were many producers instead of a handful.

Coldplay began promoting Ghost Stories in March 2014, two months prior to its May release, playing a showcase concert held during the 2014 South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. Around the time of the concert, it was revealed that Martin was separating from his wife. This news was counterbalanced by the announcement that Martin was going to act as an advisor on the U.S. singing competition series The Voice. Additional television duties for the band included a concert called Coldplay: Ghost Stories on NBC (the same network that aired The Voice), which aired on May 18, the Sunday prior to the release of Ghost Stories. Thanks to this promotional push, Ghost Stories debuted at number one throughout the world and the singles "Magic" and "A Sky Full of Stars" performed well too, with the latter reaching the Top Ten in every major international market. For the holiday season of 2014, the band released Ghost Stories: Live 2014, a CD/DVD package that contained live versions of every song from the album.Soon after finishing their promotional duties for Ghost Stories, Coldplay returned to the studio to work on their seventh album. Recording in Los Angeles and London, the band collaborated with Noel Gallagher, Beyoncé, Tove Lo, and Merry Clayton (best known for her vocals on the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter) as well as producers Rik Simpson and Stargate. The joyous, disco-tinged lead single "Adventure of a Lifetime" arrived in November 2015, just a few weeks before the full-length A Head Full of Dreams was released that December. "Hymn for the Weekend" peaked at six in the U.K. and 26 in the U.S., with "Up & Up" keeping the album on the charts through 2016.

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Sky Ferreira

Precocious synth pop singer/songwriter Sky Ferreira had built up a huge online following, worked with Britney Spears' producers, and become friends with Michael Jackson, all before the age of 15. Born in Los Angeles in 1992, Ferreira counted the King of Pop among her childhood friends, thanks to his 25-year working relationship with her hairstylist mother. She began playing Elton John songs on the piano at nine years old, before discovering her voice while singing in her local gospel choir, prompting her to take opera lessons to improve her vocal talents. After attracting the attention of Swedish producers Bloodshy and Avant via a song posted on MySpace that she describes as a "dramatic 15-year-old's version of 'Careless Whisper' in outer space," she worked with the duo behind her idol Spears' "Toxic," which eventually led to a deal with Parlophone Records in 2009. While recording her debut album with producers Greg Kurstin, Dallas Austin, and Paul Epworth, she also appeared in Matthew Porterfield's indie drama Putty Hill and Uffie's "Pop the Glock" music video, and provided vocals on the Shoes' remix of the Virgins' "Teen Lover." Her first singles, "One" in the U.K. and "Obsession," later used on the soundtrack to The Vampire Diaries in the U.S., were released in 2010. A year later she released the EP As If!, and in 2012 Ferreira returned with another EP, the five-song Ghost.

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Travis

Along with Cast, Ocean Colour Scene, Kula Shaker, and Embrace, Travis were one of the most prominent British trad rock bands in the mid- to late '90s. Following Oasis' lead of crafting down-to-earth, heartfelt songs in the vein of classic British bands from the '60s, Travis were more successful and enduring than some of their peers due to their lively, impassioned songwriting and performances. They would go on influence a generation of bands, including Coldplay, Keane, and Snow Patrol.The group formed in Glasgow around 1990 as something of a lark for its members, singer/songwriter Francis Healy, guitarist Andy Dunlop, drummer Neil Primrose, and bassist Dougie Payne. After finishing their studies at art school a few years later, the foursome became more serious about Travis' potential and moved to London in 1996. Their self-released debut EP, All I Wanna Do Is Rock, came out in the fall of that year; with its earnest vocals and soaring guitars, it captured the spirit of British rock at the time, which was retreating from some of Brit-pop's artiness to a back-to-basics sound. Their second single, 1997's "U16 Girls," was released by Independiente Records, the new label headed by former Go! Discs director Andy MacDonald; a few months later, their critically acclaimed full-length debut, Good Feeling, arrived. Recorded in a matter of days with top producer Steve Lillywhite, the album included hit singles like "Happy" and "Tied to the '90s" and immediately entered the Top Ten of the U.K. charts.

The following year, Travis began sessions with star producer Nigel Godrich for the follow-up to Good Feeling, recording in six studios in as many months. Though it was a slower, darker affair, when The Man Who appeared in 1999 it eclipsed Travis' previous successes, going platinum six times in the U.K. and spawning more hit singles such as "Why Does It Always Rain on Me?" and "Writing to Reach You." Nominated Select Magazine's Album of the Year (and finishing in the Top Ten of many other publication's year-end lists), The Man Who appeared on U.S. shores in early 2000, just in time for a tour with their musical big brothers, Oasis. Debuting at the number one spot on the U.K. album chart, The Invisible Band was issued in June 2001 just prior to stateside summer gigs with Dido. Two years later, the band issued the thematically darker 12 Memories, which was loosely based on Healy's own struggles with depression. A singles collection followed in late 2004.

Travis finally returned with an album of all-new material in the spring of 2007 entitled The Boy with No Name, whose arrival was announced by the release of the single "Closer." Travis opted for an edgier sound on Ode to J. Smith, which was released in early fall 2008 in the U.K. and later in the season in the U.S. Their seventh studio album, Where You Stand, was released in the summer of 2013, five years after Ode to J. Smith. The record was previewed with "Another Guy," which displayed a lo-fi, angular side to Travis. The band returned to the legendary Hansa Tonstudio (David Bowie, Depeche Mode, U2) in Berlin to record their eighth album, 2016's Everything at Once, which was preceded by the lead single of the same name in November 2015.

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Passenger

Passenger, the working name of singer/songwriter Mike Rosenberg, makes intimate, folk-inflected indie pop. Originally a four-piece, Passenger formed in Brighton, England, as a collaboration between singer/songwriter Rosenberg and composer Andrew Phillips. Working out of Phillips' studio, the duo recorded the songs that would become Wicked Man's Rest, Passenger's debut album. The disc was released on ChalkMark in 2007 and spawned several singles including "Wicked Man's Rest," "Walk You Home," "Do What You Like," and "Table for One." Passenger opened for several high-profile indie acts throughout the U.K. that year, including Kate Nash and the Hold Steady. The following year found the band providing the soundtrack to the film Where Have I Been All Your Life? and performing at the 2008 SXSW festival in Austin, Texas.

Phillips parted ways with Passenger in 2009, leaving Rosenberg at the helm. The band's sophomore effort, 2009's Wide Eyes Blind Love, reflected this change with a stripped-down acoustic sound. A year later, Rosenberg's Passenger returned with the "fan-only" release Divers and Submarines. Also in 2010, Passenger released Flight of the Crow, featuring collaborations with such artists as Josh Pyke, Katie Noonan, Elana Stone, and others. In 2012, Passenger released a fifth full-length effort, All the Little Lights, which featured a more fully fleshed-out sound. While the album was released in the summer of 2012, it wasn't until 2013 that a tune from All the Little Lights, "Let Her Go," broke through as a hit in Europe. By the end of the year, the single had reached number one in 16 countries, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, and Belgium.

Rosenberg began work on his next album, Whispers, toward the end of 2013 and enlisted All the Little Lights' co-producer Chris Vallejo to work with him. Whispers was released in 2014 and featured the singles "Scare Away the Dark" and "Heart's on Fire." A year later, the band paired again with Vallejo for Passenger's full-length follow-up, Whispers II. Rosenberg also announced that all profits from Whispers II would go to help fund UNICEF U.K.'s work in Liberia. In 2016, Passenger returned with Young as the Morning Old as the Sea, which saw Rosenberg and Vallejo collaborating as producers alongside a newly assembled group of musicians.

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Jason Mraz

California-based singer/songwriter Jason Mraz makes laid-back, melodic pop with stylistic nods toward folk, jam band music, hip-hop, and soft rock. Since coming to the public's attention with his 2002 hit single "The Remedy (Don't Worry)", Mraz has proven himself to be a reliable pop craftsman whose crowd-pleasing melodies can encompass both cheeky humor and earnest sincerity. Born in Mechanicsville, Virginia, in 1977, Mraz grew up amidst the sounds of the Dave Matthews Band and local roots musicians the Agents of Good Roots. However, it was Mraz's interest and participation in musical theater that served as his first introduction to music. Following high school, he moved to New York to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, but dropped out a year later when he took up the guitar and began to focus on songwriting. Nonetheless, Mraz's training as a vocalist would later show itself on his debut album, which was marked by the pure clarity of his tenor range. After busking around New York, Mraz eventually returned to Virginia; in 1999, however, he made his way out West and settled in San Diego, California, having been drawn to the city's coffee house scene and its historical support of singer/songwriters, most notably Jewel. Mraz began playing shows and soon landed a weekly residency at the local hot spot Java Joe's, which had previously played host to Jewel during the early stages of her career. He also formed a duo with drummer Noel "Toca" Rivera, who accompanied Mraz's acoustic material by banging the djembe. Together, the musicians honed a live show that featured as much comedic banter as actual music.Over the next two years, Mraz's following expanded outside of the San Diego limits and began to encompass Los Angeles, garnering the attention of record labels. Mraz signed to Elektra Records in early 2002 and returned to Virginia to write and record his debut album, a project that saw him working with producer John Alagía (the Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer) and his high school heroes, the Agents of Good Roots, who became his backing band. The resulting effort, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, was released that same November, blending Mraz's early influences with elements of country, roots rock, and coffee house folk.

The buoyant first single "Remedy (I Won't Worry)," which Mraz had co-written with pop hitmakers the Matrix, proved to be a big hit, and Mraz headed out on the road to support it. One of those shows, an October 2003 date at the Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee, was later documented on Mraz's summer 2004 live release Tonight, Not Again.The album tided his fans over until July 2005, when the songwriter returned with the sophomore studio effort Mr. A-Z. Mraz's popularity reached a new high in 2008 with the release of We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things, which peaked at number three and spawned his first chart-topping single, "I'm Yours." The concert album, Jason Mraz's Beautiful Mess: Live on Earth, arrived in 2009, followed by his fourth studio album, Love Is a Four Letter Word, in 2012. In the summer of 2014, Mraz returned with Yes!, which featured backing from the all-female L.A. folk-rock outfit Raining Jane; it was preceded by the single "Love Someone."

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OneRebublic

Featuring the anthemic songwriting of Ryan Tedder, OneRepublic rose to prominence in 2007, when "Apologize" began its reign as the most popular digital download in American history. Although the song proved to be a quick success, OneRepublic had spent five years touring the musical minor leagues before its release, with Tedder splitting his time between the band's work and production gigs for other artists. Tedder and Zach Filkins formed the band in 2002 and relocated to Los Angeles shortly thereafter, adding keyboardist Drew Brown, bassist/cellist Brent Kutzle, and drummer Eddie Fisher to the lineup in the process. OneRepublic then signed with Sony BMG's Columbia label in 2003; three years later, however, the bandmates returned from a performance at Coachella to find themselves dropped from Columbia's roster. Nevertheless, OneRepublic's popularity continued to soar on MySpace, and Tedder helped raise the group's profile by penning songs for artists like Blake Lewis and Hilary Duff. Hip-hop producer Timbaland (with whom Tedder had already worked for several years) took notice of the group's audience and signed OneRepublic to his own Mosley Music Group, a joint venture with Interscope Records. Timbaland also remixed one of the group's most promising tracks, "Apologize," and included it on his own album, 2007's Timbaland Presents Shock Value. The song quickly became a platinum-selling single in many countries, breaking airplay records in the U.K. and selling an unprecedented 4.3 million digital downloads in America alone.

Later that year, OneRepublic stepped out on their own with Dreaming Out Loud, a debut album filled with piano-fueled songwriting and pop/rock melodies. The album quickly went gold, and "Apologize" continued to top the singles charts in multiple countries. Another Tedder-penned track, Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love," experienced similar success at the same time, thus making Tedder one of the year's most celebrated songwriters. OneRepublic began writing songs for a second album in 2008, and the group later decamped to Colorado Springs to avoid outside distractions. Although initially planned for a summer release, Waking Up wasn't completed until September 2009. "All the Right Moves," the album's lead single, was released to radio that same month, while the entire album followed in November.

In 2013, OneRepublic returned with their third studio album, Native, featuring the singles "Feel Again," "If I Lose Myself," and their biggest hit to date, "Counting Stars." During the group's subsequent extensive world tour, a deluxe version of Native was released, featuring the hit "Love Runs Out," which reached number 15 on the Hot 100 and was a Top Ten hit in several other countries. As touring continued, the band began recording its follow-up album. Written in 16 cities across 12 countries, Oh My My captured the sound and flavor of locales like Turkey, Brazil, Spain, and Russia, and was released in late 2016.

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Ed Sheeran

Flame-haired singer/songwriter, beatboxer, and guitarist Ed Sheeran's eclectic blend of acoustic pop, folk, and hip-hop has been championed by everyone from the underground grime scene to American Oscar winners. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England in 1991, Sheeran released his first EP, The Orange Room, while still at school, and his first two albums, his self-titled debut and Want Some, by the age of 16. After moving to London to gain more live experience, his performance of the self-penned "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" on YouTube channel SB.tv gained half a million viewers and attracted the attention of actor/R&B star Jamie Foxx, who invited him to appear on his Los Angeles Sirius radio show. Securing a deal with Elton John's management company, he supported Example on his U.K. tour and, after signing with Atlantic Records, he became only the third artist to score a Top 75 album purely on download sales, when his No. 5 Collaborations project, a star-studded seven-track EP featuring Wiley, JME, and Devlin, charted at number 47 in 2011. That same year he released his major-label debut studio album, +. The album was a massive hit, selling over a million copies in the U.K. alone in just six months, and charting highly in many other countries. Sheeran then went about boosting his profile, co-writing songs for One Direction and Taylor Swift. He toured the U.S. with Swift on her massive 2013 arena tour, and saw his song "I See Fire" featured on the closing credits of the smash hit movie The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. By the end of 2013, Sheeran shifted his focus from performing to recording his sophomore album with Rick Rubin and Pharrell producing. Keeping with the mathematical theme, the album was titled x ("Multiply"). Appearing in June 2014, x encompassed his acoustic/hip-hop hybrid sound, but also had an R&B feel in places along with straight-ahead pop. The record debuted at number one on both the U.S. and U.K. charts, reached gold or platinum status in 15 countries, and the singles for "Sing" and "Thinking Out Loud" both topped the British charts.

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Lykke Li

The Swedish indie pop artist Lykke Li Zachrisson (better known as Lykke Li) grabbed the attention of international bloggers in the early 2000s with a handful of catchy, retro-chic singles made available on her MySpace profile. Armed with sensuous, barely there vocals and backed up by a quirky, bass-heavy electro dance sound (courtesy of producer Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John), Lykke Li released her debut EP, 2007's Little Bit, on her own fledgling LL Recordings label. The disc's title track went on to earn a good deal of buzz among not only indie pop-centric bloggers but in the mainstream Swedish music press as well. She made her first appearance on Swedish MTV that same year, and the video for "Little Bit" was nominated for Best Video at the Swedish Grammy Awards. She soon signed with Atlantic for worldwide distribution of the Little Bit EP and her first album, 2008's Youth Novels. The album proved an international success and Lykke Li increased her visibility through touring, a guest spot on Swedish producer Kleerup's debut album, and appearances on late-night television talk shows. In 2011, Lykke Li returned with her atmospheric and edgy sophomore effort, Wounded Rhymes, which won plenty of plaudits worldwide. She subsequently went on to tour across Europe and North America that year, and appeared at a selection of summer festivals in 2012, including Pukkelpop in Belgium and Helsinki's Flow Festival. In 2013, Lykke Li contributed to David Lynch's second album, The Big Dream, performing vocals on the lead single "I'm Waiting Here." That year she returned to the studio with long-term collaborator Björn Yttling, alongside Greg Kurstin (the Shins, Foster the People, Lily Allen) to record her third album, I Never Learn, which was released in May 2014.

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Mike Posner

Singer Mike Posner launched his career at Duke University, where he balanced his undergraduate studies in sociology and business with his musical habits. Like fellow undergrad Asher Roth, Posner began making melodic pop-rap songs for the college crowd, filling his music with references to fraternity culture, dorm life, and young adulthood. He also compiled several mixtapes, one of which -- A Matter of Time -- topped the digital charts during the summer of 2009. After signing with J Records, he finished his degree, graduated with a 3.59 GPA, and released his full-length debut, 31 Minutes to Takeoff, in the summer of 2010. The album featured the worldwide hit "Cooler Than Me," and reached the Top Ten in the U.S.

J Records dissolved soon after, and Posner moved to its parent label, RCA, but only after some legal wrangling, which was referenced in the title to his 2011 mixtape The Layover. His career with RCA officially began late that same year with the December release of "Looks Like Sex." Two more singles, "The Way It Used to Be" and "Top of the World" (featuring Big Sean), followed in 2013 as preludes to his second official album, Pages. The EP The Truth followed in 2015 and featured the hit "I Took a Pill in Ibiza." The single also landed on the 2016 LP At Night, Alone, which featured a guest appearance from the returning Big Sean.

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Lily Allen

With her omnivorous musical tastes and cheeky attitude, London-based pop singer/songwriter Lily Allen made a name for herself almost as soon as she released her demos on the Internet. The daughter of comedian Keith Allen, Lily spent most of her childhood bouncing from one school to another; in fact, she attended 13 different schools between the ages of five and 15. This constant moving meant she didn't have much of a chance to make lasting friendships, so Allen entertained herself with books and, especially, music: she listened to everything from T. Rex, the Specials, and the Slits to the Happy Mondays and drum'n'bass, and even ran away to see the Glastonbury Festival when she was 14. After she left school a year later, she realized that music was the only career for her. Allen concentrated on her songwriting and singing, developing a style that was equally sweet and bratty; late in 2005, she set up a MySpace page and posted demos of her songs, as both individual tracks and as part of two limited-edition "mixtapes" that also featured tracks by Dizzee Rascal, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Ludacris. The critical acclaim for her work fueled Allen's publicity, leading to tens of thousands of friends on MySpace, airplay on BBC Radio One, and a record deal with Regal/Parlophone before the end of 2005.Allen began working on her full-length album with producers such as Greg Kurstin, Mark Ronson (with whom she also collaborated on a cover of the Kaiser Chiefs' "Oh My God" that appeared on her second mixtape), and Futurecut, and released a limited-edition 7" of LDN as her debut single in spring 2006. Both LDN and Smile, which followed that summer, were chart successes, with the former reaching number seven on the U.K. chart and the latter hitting number one the week it debuted. Hot on the heels of Smile came Allen's first full-length, Alright, Still, which she supported with a slew of dates stretching out to the end of the year. Despite the speed of her success, Allen continued to update her MySpace page with amusing blog rants, including one about her June 2006 appearance on Top of the Pops that berated the lead singer of the Kooks for "wearing broken straw hats and dark sunglasses" indoors and Dirty Pretty Things for having "organic sliced bread on the rider." Allen rang in 2007 with more tour dates, including gigs in Japan, Australia, and the U.S., and the U.S. release of Alright, Still. She also earned nominations for British Breakthrough Act and British Female Solo for that year's Brit Awards, while "Smile" and Alright, Still were nominated for British Single and British Album, respectively.

Allen spent most of 2007 touring, but also collaborated with Dizzee Rascal on Maths and English's duet "Wanna Be," and provided vocals on Basement Jaxx's Crazy Itch Radio. Allen's personal life and side projects were nearly as prominent as her music career, with her relationship with Chemical Brother Ed Simons and her subsequent miscarriage making headlines in late 2007 and early 2008. In February 2008, Allen embarked on a talk show on BBC Three, Lily Allen and Friends, which lasted through that April. That month, Allen posted two new demos on her MySpace page, including "GWB," which was about President George Bush; for her second album, she worked with producer Greg Kurstin of the Bird and the Bee, and co-wrote several songs with him instead of just providing the lyrics. She also worked on songs with Jamie Reynolds of the Klaxons and wrote a song about comedian James Corden for the 2008 Shockwaves Awards. Another new song, "Everyone's at It," debuted that fall, and Allen courted controversy again with an unauthorized cover of Britney Spears' "Womanizer" that December. It's Not Me, It's You, which covered topics like drugs, fame, family, and society, arrived early in 2009, preceded by the single "The Fear." Despite the album's success, which included platinum certification in the U.K. and a debut at the top of the charts in the U.K., Canada and Australia (and at number five in the U.S.), in September 2009 Allen did not renew her record contract and took a hiatus from making music.

She remained busy, however, founding her own label In the Name Of (which included Cults on its roster), writing songs for the musical version of Bridget Jones' Diary, and starting a family with her boyfriend Sam Cooper, whom she married in June 2011. The following year, she announced that she was in the studio working on new music with longtime producer Greg Kurstin; she also sang vocals on P!nk's 2012 single "True Love," which was produced by Kurstin. Early in 2013, she gave birth to her second child. By November 2013, she had released a cover of Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know" for a holiday television commercial by U.K. retailer John Lewis. The single version promptly became her third U.K. number one single. Two subsequent singles, "Hard Out Here" and "Air Balloon," both reached the British Top Ten as well, and both appeared on her third album, Sheezus, which appeared in early May 2014.

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Nelly Furtado

When Nelly Furtado appeared with her neo-hippie, multiculti debut, Whoa, Nelly!, in 2001, a dance-diva makeover seemed like an impossibility, but the singer/songwriter revived and sustained her career with the sexually charged Loose in 2006, in the process consolidating her position as one of the most unpredictable artists of her decade. Furtado always proudly displayed her Portuguese heritage, a distinction that separated her from legions of emerging female singer/songwriters in the early days of the new millennium, but her uniqueness didn’t cease there: she had an ear for elliptical yet memorable melodies, a taste for Brit-pop balanced by an immersion in modern R&B and hip-hop. All this surfaced on Whoa, Nelly! and its hits "Turn Off the Light" and "I'm Like a Bird," but she really pushed her rhythmic influences to the forefront on Loose, resulting in "Promiscuous" and "Man Eater," her biggest hits to date, and suggesting that Furtado had many avenues yet to explore. A native of the Canadian city of Victoria, Furtado was a musically precocious child, learning to play a variety of instruments and singing in choirs, spending as much time listening to modern R&B like Mariah Carey and TLC as she did Brit-pop, eventually winding her way toward hip-hop and Brazilian music. Upon her high school graduation she headed to Toronto, soon joining the hip-hop duo Nelstar. Not long afterward, the duo of Brian West and Gerald Eaton, core members of the Philosopher Kings, produced the Furtado demo that led to her contract with DreamWorks.

Whoa, Nelly!, her first album, appeared in late 2000 and DreamWorks built the album gradually, capitalizing on strong reviews and a supporting slot for Moby, with the record truly taking off when "I'm Like a Bird" turned into a hit on a road that led to a Grammy for Song of the Year. This was one of four Grammy nominations and several hits including "Turn Off the Light," which displayed her rhythmic roots in a way "I'm Like a Bird" did not. Furtado had a daughter as she was working on her second album, and her new role as a mother was evident on Folklore. Released in November 2003, it was an ambitious album that garnered some good reviews along with some negative notices, and it failed to generate a hit.

Perhaps the under-performance of Folklore pushed Furtado toward the musical makeover of Loose, the 2006 album produced largely by hip-hop superstar Timbaland. Heavy on grooves and overtly sexual, Loose had a pair of smash singles: "Promiscuous," which was a chart-topper in the U.S., and "Maneater," which performed the same feat in the U.K. Both singles set the soundtrack for 2006 around the world, helping the album shift seven million copies internationally. Her star status fortified, Furtado took her time delivering a follow-up, releasing her first Spanish-language album, Mi Plan, in September 2009. A collection of remixes from Mi Plan appeared a year later and was followed just a few weeks later by The Best of Nelly Furtado. Her fifth studio album, the largely positive and upbeat The Spirit Indestructible, was scheduled for release during fall 2012.

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