Ne-Yo

Ne-Yo was one of the most successful songwriters and artists of the 2000s. His breakthrough didn't come until late 2004, as the co-songwriter of Mario's "Let Me Love You," a number one Hot 100 hit that Billboard later determined to be the eighth most successful single of the decade. By the close of 2009, however, Ne-Yo had racked up a career's worth of accomplishments. He released three albums, all of which went platinum in the United States. Seven of his singles, as well as five on which he appeared as a featured artist, peaked within the Top Ten of the country's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable" and Rihanna's "Take a Bow," two of the many songs he wrote for other artists, were smash hits as well. His music added a high level of sophistication to pop-R&B while appealing to younger audiences. The following decade, he wasn't as busy as a recording artist and devoted time to artist development.Born Shaffer Smith in Camden, Arkansas and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, Ne-Yo broke into the music industry as a songwriter, though he had a false start with a short-lived group called Envy. Prior to exiting his teenage years, he penned material for Youngstown. Shortly thereafter, he co-wrote "That Girl" for Marques Houston and "I'm Sorry" for Christina Milian; the former composition had been intended for Smith's own debut album, which was recorded for Columbia but never released. In late 2004, he became known throughout the industry as the co-writer of Mario's "Let Me Love You," one of the most-played songs on urban radio stations across the U.S. Ne-Yo subsequently signed a solo deal with Def Jam. In My Own Words came out in February 2006 and reached the top of the Billboard 200 and R&B/Hip-Hop album charts, supported by the number one hit "So Sick" -- one of his many collaborations with Norwegian production duo Stargate. During the same year, he appeared on Remy Ma's There's Something About Remy and Ghostface Killah's Fishscale, and he had a hand in writing a pair of Top Ten hits: Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable" and Rihanna's "Unfaithful." Because of You, his second album, followed in May 2007. It went to number one on the Billboard 200 and Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts as well, with its upbeat title track topping out at number two on the Hot 100.

After another series of songwriting triumphs, including Rihanna's "Take a Bow" and Jennifer Hudson's "Spotlight," Ne-Yo released his third album, Year of the Gentleman, in September 2008. Propelled by the hits "Closer," the Grammy-winning "Miss Independent," and "Mad," the set eventually went platinum, which made Ne-Yo three for three in that regard. Ne-Yo then went relatively quiet for a brief period but returned in 2010 with Libra Scale, an album inspired by science fiction and comic books, as well as Stevie Wonder's and Michael Jackson's most ambitious recordings. It debuted in the Top 10 but didn't even come close to attaining gold status. He maintained his mainstream presence as a featured artist on Pitbull's "Give Me Everything" and Young Jeezy's "Leave You Alone," among a handful of minor hits.

In November 2012, after he signed to Motown and was named the label's Senior Vice President of A&R, he released R.E.D. ("Realizing Every Dream"). The album found him continuing to embrace dance-pop while maintaining his connection to R&B. While it debuted at number four on the Billboard 200, it was his slowest selling album to that point. The singer spent much of 2013 collaborating with other artists, including Akon, David Guetta, Cher Lloyd, and Celine Dion. The build-up to Non-Fiction, Ne-Yo's sixth studio album, started during the first half of 2014 with the release of "Money Can't Buy," a single featuring Jeezy that failed to crack the Top 40 of the R&B/Hip-Hop chart. Additional collaborative singles with Juicy J ("She Knows") and Pitbull ("Time of Our Lives") fared better commercially. The parent album arrived in January 2015.

0

Aaliyah

A star in the R&B world before she was even out of her teens, Aaliyah's promising career was tragically cut short by her death in a plane crash at age 22. Even with only three albums under her belt, she'd already earned a place as a talented trendsetter among the R&B elite. Following a successful transition to a more mature image, Aaliyah played a major role in popularizing the stuttering, futuristic production style that consumed hip-hop and urban soul in the late '90s. Her work with Timbaland, especially, was some of the most forward-looking R&B of its time, even while the competing neo-soul movement was gaining prominence. Aaliyah's death came on the heels of her third and most accomplished album, making it especially unfortunate that she was robbed of a chance to continue her creative development. Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born January 16, 1979, in Brooklyn, and named after a Swahili word meaning "most exalted one." Her uncle, Barry Hankerson, was a manager and entertainment lawyer who was married to Gladys Knight for a time, and her mother, also a singer, enrolled Aaliyah in voice lessons before she'd even started school. Still very young, she moved with her family to Detroit, where she sang in several school plays. At age nine, she successfully auditioned for the TV show Star Search, where she performed "My Funny Valentine" (and lost). Two years later, thanks to her uncle Hankerson's connections, she spent five nights in Las Vegas performing as part of Gladys Knight's revue. In addition to his niece, Hankerson was also managing a rising R&B star named R. Kelly, and introduced the two in 1992. Kelly soon took Aaliyah under his wing and began writing and producing songs for her.Aaliyah's debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, was released in the summer of 1994 and quickly became a platinum-selling hit on the strength of two smash singles, "Back & Forth" and "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (the latter an Isley Brothers cover). Both songs hit the pop Top Ten and went gold, and "Back & Forth" went all the way to number one on the R&B charts, while "At Your Best" fell one spot short. Late in the year, Aaliyah found herself at the center of controversy when rumors spread that the 15-year-old singer had married Kelly, who was more than ten years her senior. Although both camps were resolutely tight-lipped, documents later confirmed that the two had wed in the state of Illinois that August and gotten an annulment shortly thereafter. By the time the media buzz died down, the two had parted ways both personally and creatively.

In 1996, Aaliyah released her follow-up album, One in a Million, which signaled a newly emerging maturity. She worked with several different producers, most notably Timbaland, who co-wrote several tracks with his songwriting partner, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott (soon to become a solo star in her own right). Several of these -- "If Your Girl Only Knew," "One in a Million," "4 Page Letter" -- became hits, with "If Your Girl Only Knew" going all the way to the top of the R&B charts. The Diane Warren-penned ballad "The One I Gave My Heart To" was also a Top Ten R&B hit, and One in a Million wound up going double platinum. In the meantime, Aaliyah graduated from high school (in 1997) and contributed several songs to film soundtracks. "Journey to the Past," from Anastasia, was nominated for an Oscar, and in early 1998 she had a major hit with "Are You That Somebody?" from Eddie Murphy's Dr. Dolittle (in which she also made a cameo appearance).

Aaliyah took her time recording a follow-up, and put the process completely on hold to start an acting career. She co-starred with martial-arts master Jet Li and rapper DMX in 2000's urban Shakespeare adaptation Romeo Must Die, and her accompanying soundtrack single, "Try Again," became her first number one hit on the pop charts that summer. Aaliyah subsequently completed filming on the Anne Rice vampire flick Queen of the Damned, playing the title role as a vampire queen, and was cast in a prominent role in the two sequels to The Matrix. Plus, she finally finished her long-awaited third album, with Timbaland again handling the most prominent tracks. Released in the summer of 2001, Aaliyah completed the singer's image overhaul into a sensual yet sensitive adult. The record received excellent reviews, and the first single, "We Need a Resolution," was a Top 20 R&B hit.

About a month after the album's release, Aaliyah traveled to the Bahamas to film a video for its second single, "Rock the Boat." On August 25, she and several members of the crew boarded a small twin-engine Cessna plane returning to the mainland. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff, exploding on impact; Aaliyah and seven other passengers were killed instantly, and the ninth later died at a Nassau hospital. Investigations into the crash showed that the plane had been loaded far past its weight capacity, and that pilot Luis Morales had recently been arrested for crack cocaine possession (traces of which, along with alcohol, were found in his system); furthermore, the charter company, Blackhawk International Airways, had not authorized him to pilot the craft in question. Naturally, the R&B community reacted with an outpouring of shock and sorrow, and Aaliyah became the singer's only chart-topping album, eventually going double platinum. "Rock the Boat" and "More Than a Woman" were both posthumous Top Ten hits on the R&B chart, and Queen of the Damned was a commercial success upon its release in early 2002, topping the box office in its first week. As details continued to emerge from the plane crash investigation, Aaliyah's parents filed suit against Blackhawk Airways, Virgin Records, and several other companies. At the end of 2002, the posthumous album I Care 4 U entered the charts at number three; it mixed some of the singer's biggest hits with a selection of unreleased material. The title track was a Top 20 pop hit, and "Miss You" topped the R&B charts early the next year.

0

Ciara

Dubbed early on as "the First Lady of Crunk & B" by the producer who knew, Lil Jon, singer Ciara was born in Austin, Texas, but with her father in the Army, she spent time living in Germany, New York, California, Arizona, and Nevada before landing in Atlanta, Georgia. In her early teens, she got a piece of paper out and wrote down her life's goal, to become a professional singer. She joined a girl group, worked on her songwriting, left the group, landed a publishing deal, and found a "music soul mate" when she met producer Jazze Pha. With Sean Garrett, the co-writer of Usher's massive hit "Yeah!," Ciara co-wrote "Goodies," and when Lil Jon heard the demo, he knew it was going to be big. LaFace released the Lil Jon-produced track in the summer of 2004, and its quick climb to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 was remarkable. With help from Pha, Garrett, and Lil Jon, Ciara released her self-titled debut in September of the same year. The follow-up singles "1, 2 Step," featuring Missy Elliott, and "Oh," featuring Ludacris, both broke the Top Five in the U.S. in 2005. By the end of the year she'd joined Gwen Stefani on tour before teaming with Bow Wow and Chris Brown for a package tour in early 2006.While Ciara's popularity had already peaked, she gradually built a sturdy discography and churned out major hit singles on an occasional basis. The Evolution, her second album, was released in December 2006. Though it debuted at the top of Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and a handful of subsequent singles ("Get Up," "Promise," "Like a Boy") placed within the Top 20 of the publication's Hot 100, it did not perform quite as well as the debut. The May 2009 release of Fantasy Ride, her third album, was preceded by a few delays, including a pre-release single that failed to catch fire. Fantasy Ride was, nonetheless, her most star-studded album to date, with Elliott and Ludacris, as well as the-Dream, Young Jeezy, Chris Brown, and Justin Timberlake as passengers. Collaborating with the-Dream developed into the album Basic Instinct, released in December 2010 and featuring the-Dream and associate Christopher "Tricky" Stewart as executive producers. It was her first album to peak outside the Top 10 of the R&B/Hip-Hop album chart. For her self-titled fifth album, released in July 2013, she reconnected with LaFace co-founder L.A. Reid and moved to the Epic label. Thanks to the certified gold single "Body Party," it debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. An engagement to collaborator Future, the birth of the couple's son, and the couple's split all occurred prior to the May 2015 release of Jackie, Ciara's sixth album, named after her mother.

0

Akon

Although he was born in St. Louis, Missouri, singer, songwriter, and producer Aliaune Thiam -- aka Akon -- grew up in Senegal before he and his family (including his father, jazz percussionist Mor Thiam) returned to the United States and settled in New Jersey when he was seven. There he discovered hip-hop for the first time, as well as crime. He was eventually jailed but he used the time -- a total of three years, he claimed -- to work on his musical ideas. Upon release, Akon began writing and recording tracks in a home studio. The tapes found their way to SRC/Universal, which eventually released Trouble, Akon's debut LP, in June 2004. The album was an interesting hybrid of Akon's silky vocals with East Coast- and Southern-styled beats. The success of the song "Locked Up," a Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 hit, made Akon a star and desired collaborator. After appearing on Young Jeezy's "Soul Survivor," his number of guest appearances seemed to multiply each month. Konvicted, his second album, was released in November 2006. Soon enough, two of the album's singles, "I Wanna Love You" and "Smack That," made their way to the upper regions of the Billboard charts.

A significant stylistic shift occurred with Freedom, his third album. The December 2008 release avoided the rugged hip-hop/R&B hybrid of his earlier work and courted a broader audience with a dance-oriented Euro-pop sound. Despite the bold change, the album repeated Konvicted's chart success by peaking within the Top Ten of the Billboard 200; "Right Now (Na Na Na)," its most successful single, reached the Top Ten of the Hot 100. Akon slowed his own output but subsequently collaborated with dozens of artists, including David Guetta (the world-wide smash "Sexy Bitch," 2009), Artists for Haiti ("We Are the World 25 for Haiti," 2010), parodists the Lonely Island ("I Just Had Sex," 2010), and close friend Michael Jackson ("Hold My Hand," 2010). A fourth album, Stadium -- originally planned for a 2010 release -- was delayed several times.

0

Chris Brown

In November 2005, Chris Brown's Scott Storch-produced "Run It!" -- a rewrite of Usher's "Yeah!" -- topped the Billboard Hot 100, making the 16-year-old singer the first male artist in over a decade to achieve the feat with a debut single. While there was nowhere to go but down, at least in terms of chart positions, the pop-oriented R&B vocalist was only getting started. By the end of the decade, he was one of the biggest active pop stars, with a clutch of Top Ten singles and platinum albums to his credit, along with constant comparisons to Michael Jackson and several acting roles on the side. His momentum slowed little when, in 2009, he pleaded guilty to assaulting girlfriend Rihanna -- one of the year's biggest celebrity news stories. His commercial clout remained, as his successive albums regularly topped the Billboard all-genre and R&B charts.Brown came from a small Virginia town called Tappahannock. Like a lot of kids born during the mid- to late '80s, he was initially into his parents' favorite music but eventually fell under the spell of hip-hop. Around the time he reached puberty, he discovered his singing ability and switched his focus away from MC'ing. A move to New York led to being discovered by Tina Davis, a Def Jam A&R executive who became the singer's manager shortly after losing her position to the Sony-BMG merger. The Jive label, due in part to its track record with younger artists who had established longevity (like Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake), won the bidding war for Brown and lined up several production and songwriting heavyweights, including Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox, Dre & Vidal, Sean Garrett, and Storch, for his self-titled first album. An immediate Top Ten hit when it was released in 2005, Chris Brown not only featured the number one "Run It!" but two other Top Ten singles in "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" and "Say Goodbye." Exclusive, released in 2007 and a bit of a departure from the squeaky-clean image displayed throughout the debut, was even more successful, featuring the number one single "Kiss Kiss" and two other Top Five hits. Yet another Top Five hit came with "No Air," a duet with Jordin Sparks that appeared on Sparks' own self-titled album.

In March 2009, Brown was charged with felonious assault of Rihanna -- an altercation that had prevented his then-girlfriend from taking the stage at the Grammy Awards. Brown was scheduled to perform as well, but he did not appear and maintained a low profile for several months. A fairly substantial backlash resulted in Brown's songs being pulled from rotation on several radio stations. Ultimately, however, it had little bearing on the progress of his music and acting careers; the week prior to the December release of his third album, Graffiti, the single "I Can Transform Ya" was well on its way to reaching the Top 20 of the Hot 100, and his acting roles -- which had already included spots in Stomp the Yard and a recurring role on The O.C. -- hadn't shown any sign of drying up. Graffiti fell considerably short of gold-selling status, but it was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Contemporary R&B Album, and the Tank collaboration "Take My Time" was nominated for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

Weeks after the 2011 Grammy Awards ceremony, Brown released his fourth album, F.A.M.E., which already had four singles on the charts. That album topped the Billboard 200 and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts, and it also took the 2012 Grammy for Best R&B Album. During the ceremony, he performed a medley of "Beautiful People" (off F.A.M.E.) and "Turn Up the Music," the latter of which previewed Fortune, his fifth album, released in May 2012 and an immediate chart-topper in the U.S. Brown toured Asia, Europe, and Africa during the rest of the year, and prepped his sixth album. A sequence of several singles that began with "Fine China" preceded X, released in September 2014, two weeks after he pleaded guilty to simple assault (for an altercation with a man, which occurred the previous October). Less inspired by European dance-pop and more R&B-oriented than his previous release, the album included contributions from Lil Wayne, R. Kelly, Usher, Rick Ross, and Brandy, among many others. Four of its singles peaked within the R&B Top 10. Only five months after the release of X, Brown and Tyga, who had previously teamed up for one of those singles -- "Loyal," as well as the earlier "Deuces" -- teamed up for Fan of a Fan: The Album. By the end of 2015, Brown released Royalty, his seventh proper album.

0

Stefanie Heinzmann

Swiss soul-pop singer Stefanie Heinzmann, like many of her generation, shot to fame via television, winning a talent search on the show TV Total in 2008 and, within a week's time of doing so, scoring a chart-topping hit with her debut single, "My Man Is a Mean Man." Born on March 10, 1989, in Eyholz, Valais, Switzerland, Heinzmann began her musical career in 2005 in the rock band Bigfisch. Two years later she applied for SSDSDSSWEMUGABRTLAD, a talent contest hosted by Stefan Raab on the late-night show TV Total on the German network ProSieben, and went on to win the contest in early 2008, performing songs in a soul-jazz-funk style. As the winner, she was awarded a solo recording contract with Universal Music Group and released her debut single, "My Man Is a Mean Man," in the week following her win. Crafted by the Swedish songwriting/production team of Gustav Jonsson, Tommy Tysper, and Marcus Sepehrmanesh, "My Man Is a Mean Man" proved immediately popular in the German-language world, hitting number one in Switzerland, number three in Germany, and number six in Austria. Her full-length album debut, Masterplan (2008), proved similarly popular, hitting number one in Switzerland, number three in Germany, and number five in Austria. "Like a Bullet" was released as the follow-up single, and though it failed to match the success of its predecessor, it was a hit nonetheless.

0

Usher

One of the most successful pop-R&B artists of the late 20th century and the early 21st century, Usher debuted during the mid-'90s as a fresh-faced teenager. As part of the thriving LaFace label roster, he made an instant impact in R&B's post-new jack swing era. He successfully rode mainstream songwriting and production trends across three decades and peaked artistically and commercially during the mid-2000s, when his landmark fourth album, Confessions, outshone all of its competitors. It generated four straight number one pop hits and joined the ranks of Thriller, Whitney Houston, and CrazySexyCool by achieving diamond platinum status -- over ten million copies sold in the U.S. More than anyone else, as a singer, songwriter, producer, dancer, and all-around entertainer, Usher was the successor to Michael Jackson.Born Usher Terry Raymond IV in Dallas, Texas, Usher spent much of his childhood in Chattanooga, Tennessee and eventually moved to Atlanta, Georgia for the sake of his budding music career. After a LaFace A&R representative spotted him on Star Search, his career took off. The 14-year-old auditioned for LaFace co-founder L.A. Reid, who signed the gospel choir boy to a recording contract. In 1994, Usher released his debut album of the same name, which featured co-executive producer Sean "Puffy" Combs. The first single, "Think of You," gained Usher wide recognition and reached gold status. From that initial exposure, Usher was approached to do other projects. In 1995, he recorded a national holiday jingle for Coca-Cola. He also joined several top male R&B vocalists to form Black Men United for the single "You Will Know," featured on the Jason's Lyric soundtrack. He also teamed with teen singing sensation Monica for a remake of Latimore's "Let's Straighten It Out."After graduating from high school, Usher released his sophomore album, My Way, in 1997. In an attempt to display his maturity and songwriting abilities, he co-wrote six of the nine songs and enlisted the help of producers Jermaine Dupri, Babyface, and, again, Combs. The album's first single, "You Make Me Wanna," reestablished Usher as one of R&B's hottest artists, and also made him a crossover sensation. It topped Billboard's R&B chart for 11 weeks, hit number two on the Hot 100, and eventually went double platinum. Both of the follow-up singles, "Nice & Slow" and "My Way," also went platinum; the former stayed at number one on the R&B chart for eight weeks and became his first number one pop single. In the meantime, Usher launched an acting career, appearing in the 1998 horror spoof The Faculty and the 1999 urban high-school drama Light It Up.To tide fans over until his next studio release, Usher issued a concert recording titled simply Live in 1999. He returned on the Arista label with his third proper album, 8701, in 2001, and progressed from a teen pop star to a sultry R&B singer. Three years later, Arista released the single "Yeah!" Produced by Lil Jon and guesting Ludacris, the addictive, lightly crunk cut fast became a club favorite, and then it went global -- a number one pop hit in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, and several other territories. Confessions, the parent album, was Usher's most mature and diverse work.

It won a Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album, while "Yeah!" took home the award for Best Rapped/Sung Collaboration. He starred in 2005's In the Mix and returned in 2008 with Here I Stand, an album that topped the Billboard 200 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts but inevitably failed to do as well as what preceded it.Raymond v Raymond, inspired in part by the end of Usher's marriage, was released in 2010 as three of its songs were climbing the charts. Its buzz single, "Papers," had already topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. An EP titled Versus followed later in the year. Led by another Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart-topper, "Climax" (co-produced by Diplo), Looking 4 Myself was issued in 2012, driven by the Top Ten single "Scream," and it became Usher's fourth number one album.A year later, he began a stint as a coach for the NBC talent show The Voice. His contestant, Josh Kaufman, would go on to win season six of the competition in May 2014. Meanwhile, Usher released singles throughout the year, including "Good Kisser," "She Came to Give It to You," and "I Don't Mind," the last of which -- featuring Juicy J -- peaked just outside the Top Ten of the Hot 100. These tracks were supposed to be included on his then-titled album, UR. Despite an international tour and a new single "Chains" (which featured Nas and Bibi Bourelly), the album's release was continually delayed.In 2016, Usher starred as Sugar Ray Leonard in the movie Hands of Stone. New track "Champions" (with Ruben Blades) was included on the film's soundtrack. It would be one of four singles -- along with "Missin' U," "Crash," and "No Limit" featuring Young Thug -- released in preparation for his eighth album, now-titled Hard II Love, which was released in September 2016.

0

Pharrell Williams

A Grammy-winning producer, songwriter, and artist behind a staggering quantity of R&B, rap, and pop hits, Pharrell Williams not only helped change the face of pop beginning in the late '90s. He also was one of the faces of pop music -- as a charismatic star who often stole the show when producing and/or guesting on other artists' hit singles. His presence was unfading, whether he was the one billed at the top or the one behind a beat. To trace the beginning of his ascent, you have to go back to 1992, when Teddy Riley tapped him to write a verse for Wreckx-n-Effect's "Rump Shaker." Since the late '90s, Williams and longtime friend Chad Hugo -- known together as the Neptunes -- began scoring songwriting and production assignments that slowly but steadily infiltrated mainstream music, whether it was via dance-pop (Britney Spears' "I'm a Slave 4 U"), hardcore rap (Clipse's "Grindin'"), or contemporary R&B (Babyface's "There She Goes"). Williams and Hugo were relatively obscure during the mid-'90s, doing spare work for the likes of SWV, Total, and Mase, but they would eventually develop a style that would become as recognized and as mimicked as that of fellow Virginia Beach native Timbaland. (Prior to stardom, all three producers were in a band together called Surrounded by Idiots.)As the duo took on more work, Williams' voice became increasingly familiar. He was now more likely to provide the chorus and the background vocals of the same song, in addition to appearing in the video. (Check out Jay-Z's "Excuse Me Miss" and Snoop Dogg's "Beautiful" for two examples.) It wasn't until the summer of 2003 that he truly stepped out on his own. He released his first solo single, "Frontin'." Produced with Hugo and featuring a guest verse from Jay-Z, the song built anticipation for The Neptunes Present... Clones, a compilation of all-new tracks from artists produced by the duo. "Frontin'" was a ubiquitous summer hit and kept Williams' momentum running up to the release of Hugo and Williams' second funk/rock-oriented N.E.R.D. album, released in March 2004. Williams' first solo album, In My Mind, survived a number of delays and was finally issued in July 2006. The set, produced by Williams alone, debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 chart.

Although Williams didn't release another solo album for eight years, his name, as well as that of the Neptunes, continued to carry much weight. The remainder of the 2000s was filled with commercially successful collaborations with the likes of Clipse, Britney Spears, Jay-Z, Solange, and Madonna. There was a handful of Grammy nominations, as well as a surprising 2007 win for Ludacris' "Money Maker" in the Best Rap Song category. N.E.R.D., who released their third album, Seeing Sounds, in 2008, remained an an occasional diversion.

The following decade began with a steady stream of activity. Williams was responsible for much of the music for the animated comedy Despicable Me. Along with outside production and songwriting work, Williams and Hugo put together Nothing, the fourth N.E.R.D. album. During 2011 and 2012, Williams produced most of Gloria Estefan's Miss Little Havana, dozens of cuts for R&B, rap, and pop artists, and tracks for two of the most praised albums of the early 2010s: Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City and Frank Ocean's Channel Orange. (Williams won a Grammy for his role in the latter.)

The roll continued through 2013. "Blurred Lines," a Hot 100 chart-topper from Robin Thicke, featured Williams as producer, co-songwriter, and featured artist. He co-wrote and fronted "Get Lucky" and "Lose Yourself to Dance," two songs from Daft Punk's number one Billboard 200 album Random Access Memories. The soundtrack for Despicable Me 2 contained several Williams songs, led by the worldwide smash hit "Happy," for which he conceived a 24-hour music video. When the nominees for the 2014 Grammy Awards were announced, Williams' name appeared in seven categories. "Get Lucky" won Record of the Year, Random Access Memories won Album of the Year, and, most notably, Williams won the award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. Williams signed to Columbia, home of Daft Punk, and released his second album, G I R L, in March 2014. It reached number two on the pop charts, by which time "Happy" had achieved yet more success, becoming one of the top-selling digital singles of all time with sales of more than five million.

0

Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys became an international star through her singular mix of classic and contemporary R&B. Behind the number one pop hit "Fallin," her debut album, Songs in A Minor, sold more than 50,000 copies during its first day of availability in 2001 and eventually moved over ten million units worldwide, thus setting the stage for the then-20-year-old's long career. She was just behind D'Angelo, and ahead of Norah Jones, as the second singer, songwriter, and keyboardist to top the Billboard 200 during the 2000s. The Diary of Alicia Keys cemented her popularity two years later, and she spent well over the next decade refining her signature sound, racking up gold and platinum certifications, and collaborating with the likes of Jay-Z, Emeli Sandé, and Frank Ocean.

Alicia Augello Cook was born in Harlem in early 1981. Raised by her Italian-American mother, she enrolled in classical piano lessons at the age of seven and began writing songs four years later. An education at the Professional Performance Arts School helped develop her vocal skills, and Alicia graduated at the age of 16 as the class valedictorian. Two Columbias loomed on the immediate horizon: Columbia University and Columbia Records, both of whom had extended offers to the talented student/musician. Although she attempted to make both options work, Alicia found it difficult to juggle the two commitments and chose to focus exclusively on her music career. Assuming the stage name of Alicia Keys, she began working with Columbia and contributed a song to the Men in Black soundtrack, but disputes with the label resulted in her contract's termination. Keys bounced back by aligning herself with Clive Davis, the president of Arista Records, but work on her debut album stalled when Davis was ousted from the company in 2000. Davis soon formed his own label, J Records, and welcomed Keys back into the fold with an aggressive publicity campaign (including an influential appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show). Songs in A Minor was then released in June 2001 and debuted at the top of the charts, eventually netting five Grammys and rising to platinum status in ten different countries. Released in 2003, The Diary of Alicia Keys enjoyed similar Grammy-certified success, and Keys released a book of poetry the following year.

A live CD/DVD package, Unplugged, arrived in 2005 and followed Keys' two previous releases to the top of the charts, even if it failed to win any of the four Grammys for which it was nominated. She then entered the acting world, starring in both Smokin' Aces and The Nanny Diaries in 2007, before issuing the pop-influenced As I Am later that year. It became her fourth consecutive number one album, and she was nominated for another handful of Grammys as a result, with "Superwoman" winning the award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in early 2009. As the year drew to a close, Keys returned to the top of the Billboard charts with "Empire State of Mind," a Jay-Z single that featured her vocals, and released her fourth studio album, The Element of Freedom. Although it went platinum, The Element of Freedom didn't reach number one in the U.S., becoming her first album to miss the top slot. It did reach number one in the U.K., though, marking Keys' first chart-topping album in Europe and highlighting her status as a global artist.

During the next two years, Keys married producer Swizz Beatz, gave birth to a son, collaborated with Eve on the single "Speechless," appeared somewhere in Kanye West's "All of the Lights," and went on a brief tour in celebration of her debut album's tenth anniversary. She wrote and, with her husband, co-produced "Angel" for Jennifer Hudson's I Remember Me. In 2012, she assisted Emeli Sandé (Our Version of Events) and Miguel (Kaleidoscope Dream) prior to releasing Girl on Fire, her fifth studio album. It was issued on RCA that November and featured collaborations with her husband, as well as Sandé, Salaam Remi, Jeff Bhasker, Frank Ocean, and John Legend. In the U.S., it became her fifth number one album and went gold. VH1 Storytellers, recorded just prior to its release, was issued in June 2013. Keys' recorded activity the next year involved a collaboration with Kendrick Lamar, as heard on the soundtrack of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and a pair of socially conscious solo tracks, "We Are Here" and "We Gotta Pray."

After Keys gave birth to her second son with Swizz Beatz, she released another single, "28 Thousand Days," and appeared in the second season of Empire, for which she recorded "Powerful" with series co-star Jussie Smollett. The following May, Keys released "In Common" as a prelude to her sixth studio album and made her third musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live. A few months later, she began a stint as a coach on The Voice and contributed "Back to Life" to the soundtrack for Queen of Katwe. Here, led by the biographical single "Blended Family (What You Do for Love)," arrived that November.

0

Kelis

A charismatic singer and songwriter who, for several years, was closely associated with the Neptunes, Kelis arrived at the tail-end of the '90s and left an immediate impression with her first solo single, "Caught Out There" -- a Top Ten R&B single with a frank and screamed chorus. While her other Top Ten R&B single, 2003's Grammy-nominated "Milkshake," was also something of a novelty hit -- and also produced by the Neptunes -- Kelis released some of the most creative R&B albums of the late '90s and 2000s. In the 2010s, she took left turns that defied expectations and remained a fascinating, unpredictable artist.Bred in Manhattan's Harlem neighborhood, Kelis Rogers left home at 16 and landed a deal with Virgin four years later. She appeared in August 1999 with a featured role on Ol' Dirty Bastard's Neptunes-produced single "Got Your Money." Her debut album, Kaleidoscope, was out by the end of the year, produced entirely by the Neptunes' Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo. It peaked at only number 144 in the U.S. but went gold in the U.K. Two years later, she teamed up with the Neptunes once again for Wanderland. The album was issued in Europe only. Political reworkings within the U.S. wing of Virgin prevented a stateside release, which compelled Kelis to leave for Arista. Released in 2003, Tasty yielded the Top Ten hit "Milkshake," yet another Neptunes production. The song was nominated for a 2004 Grammy award in the category of Best Urban/Alternative Performance. After Kelis married Nas (a relationship that would last roughly four years), Kelis Was Here was released in 2006 through Jive, led by the duly assertive "Bossy" and featuring a verse from Too Short. The album spawned no other hits, and it would be her last studio work for the label, despite its nomination for a Best Contemporary R&B Album Grammy. Jive subsequently packaged The Hits, a mix of singles and album cuts that also featured some of the singer's most popular collaborations, such as "Get Your Money," N.E.R.D.'s "Truth or Dare," and Richard X's "Finest Dreams."

Between 2006 and 2010, Kelis indulged her other passion, cookery -- enrolling at and eventually graduating from Le Cordon Bleu cooking school as a fully qualified chef. In 2010 she returned to music, signing to Interscope through the will.i.am music group and releasing Flesh Tone (2010), an EDM-flavored set featuring productions from David Guetta, Benny Benassi, Boys Noize, Diplo, and Jean Baptiste. It peaked at number five on Billboard's club chart. The following year, she sang on Calvin Harris' single "Bounce," which hit number two on the U.K. singles chart. In 2013, Kelis announced that she had signed with Ninja Tune, a cult British label known for its electronica releases. She linked up with Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio and emerged the following year with the album Food, released in April. Compared to her earlier R&B work, the album was relatively raw with a couple stylistic diversions and a number of food-related song titles, such as the single "Jerk Ribs." Around that time, she presented the program Saucy & Sweet for the Cooking Channel.

0

Rihanna

Rihanna established her dance-pop credentials in summer 2005 with her debut smash hit, "Pon de Replay," and continued to demonstrate hit potential in subsequent years ("S.O.S." in 2006; "Umbrella" in 2007; "Disturbia" in 2008). However, it was the singer's third album, Good Girl Gone Bad, that made her a full-fledged international pop star with a regular presence atop the charts. Born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados, she exhibited a certain star quality as a young child, often winning beauty and talent contests. Because she lived on the fairly remote island of Barbados in the West Indies, however, she never foresaw the sort of stardom she would later attain. That stardom came courtesy of a fateful meeting with Evan Rogers. The New Yorker was vacationing in Barbados with his wife, a native of the island, when he was introduced to Rihanna. Rogers had spent years producing pop hits for such superstars as *NSYNC, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, and Rod Stewart, and he offered the talented Rihanna a chance to record. Along with Rogers' production partner, Carl Sturken (the other half of Syndicated Rhythm Productions), Rihanna recorded several demos that sparked the interest of the Carter Administration -- that is, the newly appointed Def Jam president Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter. This led to an audition, and Rihanna both received and accepted an on-the-spot offer to sign with Def Jam.

Come summer 2005, Def Jam rolled out "Pon de Replay," the lively leadoff single from Music of the Sun. Produced almost entirely by Rogers and Sturken, the song synthesized Caribbean rhythms with urban-pop songwriting. "Pon de Replay" caught fire almost immediately, climbing all the way to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and contesting that summer's reign of Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" atop the chart. The debut album spawned one other hit, "If It's Lovin' That You Want," which also broke the Top 40. Rihanna's follow-up effort, A Girl Like Me, saw even greater success and spawned three sizable singles: a chart-topper ("S.O.S.") and two Top Ten hits ("Unfaithful," "Break It Off"). Rihanna's third album, 2007's Good Girl Gone Bad, continued her success while signaling a change of direction. Whereas her past two albums had been imbalanced -- often weighed down by faceless balladry and canned Caribbean-isms -- Good Girl Gone Bad was a first-rate dance-pop album, stacked with several chart-topping singles and boasting collaborations with Jay-Z, Ne-Yo, Timbaland, and StarGate. The lead single, "Umbrella," shot to number one, as did "Take a Bow" and "Disturbia." Its success turned Rihanna into one of the planet's biggest pop stars.

Rated R was released in 2009 during the wake of a physical altercation with romantic interest Chris Brown, who pleaded guilty to felony assault. The album's lead single, "Russian Roulette" -- written with Ne-Yo -- was one of the year's most controversial singles, and it set the tone for the singer's new, dark direction. Rated R peaked within the Top Five of the Billboard 200, while another one of its singles, "Rude Boy," topped the Hot 100. Rated R: Remixed was released in the spring of 2010 and featured ten tracks from the album revamped for the dancefloor by Chew Fu.

Loud, Rihanna's fifth studio album, followed in November and was led by the StarGate-produced "Only Girl (In the World)." That song, as well as the follow-up singles "What's My Name?" and "S&M," all topped the Billboard Hot 100. In November 2011, shortly after Loud's "Cheers (Drink to That)" entered the Top Ten, the singer released Talk That Talk. The single "We Found Love" with Calvin Harris earned the top spot in the Hot 100, and the album peaked at number three.

Unapologetic, Rihanna's seventh studio album, featured some of her brashest material and was led by "Diamonds" -- her 18th Top Ten single. Unapologetic became her first number one album, and eventually produced further Top Ten hits in "Stay" and "Jump." By the fall of 2013, another record had fallen: her feature on Eminem's "The Monster" helped it hit number one on the pop charts, tying her with Michael Jackson for the most chart-toppers in Billboard chart history. The song won a Grammy Award in the category of Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. In early 2015, Rihanna released "FourFiveSeconds," a stripped-down single featuring the unlikely duo of Kanye West and Paul McCartney. It topped the Hot 100 and was followed by the cruder "Bitch Better Have My Money," which led the way to Anti the following January.

0

Macy Gray

Macy Gray parlayed an utterly unique voice and an outlandish sense of style into pop stardom at the turn of the millennium, appealing to audiences of all colors in search of a fresh alternative to mainstream R&B. After an accidental entry into the music industry, she reached the mainstream in grand style with a Top Ten pop hit, platinum certifications, and several Grammy nominations. Although her pop success dried up, she built a sizeable and unpredictable discography for a series of major and independent labels that included gutsy original material and bold covers that paid tribute to Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, and Metallica. By 2016, she was revisiting career highlights with a jazz quartet. Gray was born Natalie McIntyre in Canton, Ohio, and grew up a shy youngster frequently teased about her odd-sounding voice. She studied classical piano but also soaked up the music of soul legends like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Aretha Franklin, as well as old-school hip-hop. At boarding school as a teenager, she was exposed to a variety of white rock & roll as well. She moved to Los Angeles to enroll in USC's screen writing program, where one day she agreed to write lyrics for a friend's original songs. A demo session was scheduled to get the songs on tape, and when the singer failed to show up, Gray -- having adopted the full name of an elderly Canton neighbor as her creative alias -- wound up singing on the recordings, in spite of her distaste for her own voice. One of the songs was never overdubbed with another vocalist, and when the tapes started making the rounds of the local music scene, Gray's raspy growl attracted attention. She sang jazz and pop standards with a band that played in hotels around Los Angeles, continued work as a demo singer, and also performed at an after-hours club she organized.All the buzz led to a recording contract with Atlantic Records. Gray recorded an album, but the label declined to release it. Devastated by this rejection and the breakup of her marriage, Gray retreated to Canton. However, her demo tape continued to make the rounds, and she returned to L.A. to accept a publishing deal with Zomba. This in turn helped lead to a new record contract with Epic. Released in July 1999, On How Life Is won glowing reviews and great word of mouth, but was initially slow to catch on. That changed early the next year, when Gray received Grammy nominations in the categories of Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal. That May, "I Try" peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, and the album went triple platinum by the end of the year. "I Try" prompted three 2001 Grammy nominations: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal, the last of which she won.Gray subsequently recorded with Fatboy Slim, the Black Eyed Peas, and Slick Rick, and made her screen acting debut in the Denzel Washington police drama Training Day. By the time she began work on her second album, Gray was developing a reputation for surreal public appearances and interviews, culminating in an August 2001 incident in which she was booed for apparently stumbling over the lyrics to the national anthem. Released the following month, The Id was a determined effort to play up the crazy side of Gray's image. It entered the Billboard 200 at number 11 and quickly went gold on the strength of lead single "Sweet Baby." In spite of guest appearances by Erykah Badu and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante, among others, its sales stalled much sooner than expected. Between releases, Gray appeared as herself in the blockbuster film Spider-Man and also guested on Santana's Shaman. In April 2003, her third album, The Trouble with Being Myself, arrived on the shelves and peaked outside the Top 40 -- a commercial disappointment compared to her first two albums. Gray then moved from Epic to Geffen. With a new production team, including will.i.am from Black Eyed Peas and his confederate Ron Fair, Gray returned with a slicker, Tom Joyner-approved version of soul on 2007's Big, but it didn't perform much better chart-wise. The Sellout, a 2010 release for Concord, featured some self-composed songs and an appearance from Bobby Brown. Gray then signed to the 429 label for a pair of albums released in 2012: Covered featured renditions of songs by Metallica, My Chemical Romance, and Kanye West, while Talking Book was a song-for-song tribute to Stevie Wonder's 1972 classic. The Way, a set of original material, was independently released with help from rights management company Kobalt in 2014. The singer, backed by a jazz quartet featuring trumpeter Wallace Roney, then cut Stripped for the Chesky label. That album, Gray's ninth proper studio album, was released in 2016.

0

Mary J. Blige

When her debut album, What's the 411?, hit the street in 1992, critics and fans alike were floored by its powerful combination of modern R&B with an edgy rap sound that glanced off of the pain and grit of Mary J. Blige's Yonkers, New York childhood. Called alternately the new Chaka Khan or new Aretha Franklin, Blige had little in common stylistically with either of those artists, but like them, she helped adorn soul music with new textures and flavors that inspired a whole generation of musicians. With her blonde hair, self-preserving slouch, and combat boots, Blige was street-tough and beautiful all at once, and the record company execs who profited off of her early releases did little to dispel the bad-girl image that she earned as she stumbled through the dizzying first days of her career. As she exorcized her personal demons and softened her style to include sleek designer clothes, she remained a hero to thousands of girls growing up in the same kinds of rough places she came from. Blige reinvented her career again and again by shedding the bad habits and bad influences that kept her down; by the time her fourth album, Mary, was released in 1999, she had matured into an expressive singer able to put the full power of her voice behind her music, while still reflecting a strong urban style. With her fifth album, No More Drama, it wasn't just Blige's style that shone through the structures set up for her by songwriters and producers, it was her own vision -- spiritual, emotional, personal, and full of wisdom, it reflected an artist who was comfortable with who she was and how far she had come.Born in the Bronx on January 11, 1971, Blige spent the first few years of her life in Savannah, Georgia before moving with her mother and older sister to the Schlobam housing projects in Yonkers, New York. Her rough life there produced more than a few scars, physical and otherwise, and Blige dropped out of high school during her junior year, instead spending time doing her friends' hair in her mother's apartment and hanging out. When she was at a local mall in White Plains, New York, she recorded herself singing Anita Baker's "Caught Up in the Rapture" into a karaoke machine. The resulting tape was passed by Blige's stepfather to Uptown Records CEO Andre Harrell. Harrell was impressed with Blige's voice and signed her to sing backup for local acts like Father MC. In 1991, however, Sean "Puffy" Combs took Blige under his wing and began working with her on What's the 411?, her debut album. Combs had a heavy hand in What's the 411?, along with producers Dave Hall, Mark Morales, and Mark Rooney, and the stylish touches that they added to Blige's unique vocal style created a stunning album that bridged the gap between R&B and rap in a way that no female singer had before. Uptown tried to capitalize on the success of What's the 411? by issuing a remixed version of it a year later, but it was only a modest success creatively and commercially.

Her 1995 follow-up, My Life, again featured Combs' handiwork, and if it stepped back stylistically from its urban roots by featuring less of a rap sound, it made up for it with its subject matter. My Life was full of ghetto pathos and Blige's own personal pain shone through like a beacon. Her rocky relationship with fellow Uptown artist K-Ci Hailey likely contributed to the raw emotions on the album. The period following the recording of My Life was also a difficult time professionally for Blige, as she severed her ties with Combs and Uptown, hired Suge Knight as a financial advisor, and signed with MCA.

Released in 1997, Share My World marked the beginning of Blige's creative partnerships with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The album was another hit for Blige and debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. Critics soured somewhat on its more conventional soul sound, but Blige's fans seemed undaunted. By the time her next studio album, Mary, came out in 1999, the fullness and elegance of her new sound seemed more developed, as Blige exuded a classic soul style aided by material from Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Stevie Wonder, and Lauryn Hill. Mary made it obvious that the ghetto-fabulous style and more confrontational aspects of her music were gone, while the emotive power still remained.

That power also helped carry the more modern-sounding 2001 release No More Drama, a deeply personal album that remained a collective effort musically yet reflected more of Blige's songwriting than any of her previous efforts. The Mary J. Blige on No More Drama seemed miles away from the flashy kid on What's the 411?, yet it was still possible to see the path through her music that produced an older, wiser, but still expressive artist. In 2003 she was reunited with P. Diddy, who produced the majority of that year's patchy Love and Life album. The Breakthrough followed two years later and was a tremendous success, spawning a handful of major singles. By the December 2006 release of Reflections (A Retrospective), The Breakthrough's lead single, "Be Without You," had spent nearly a year on the R&B chart, while the album's fifth single, "Take Me as I Am," had been on the same chart for over four months.

A year later Blige came out with her eighth studio album, Growing Pains. It was her third consecutive studio album to top both the Billboard 200 and the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. While on tour with Robin Thicke during 2008, Blige began working on Stronger with Each Tear, which was released near the end of the following year and came one spot short of topping the Billboard 200. My Life II...The Journey Continues (Act 1), previewed through the Eric Hudson-produced single "25/8," followed in 2011 with appearances from Beyoncé, Drake, Rick Ross, and Busta Rhymes. Like her previous nine studio albums, it reached gold status. (Her first eight surpassed gold to reach either platinum or multi-platinum status.) Her first holiday album, A Mary Christmas, was released in 2013.

Early in 2014, she linked with Disclosure for an alternate version of the U.K. dance-production duo's single "F for You." A few months later, Blige -- supported by extensive assistance from the-Dream and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, as well as a few other associates -- provided the soundtrack to the comedy Think Like a Man Too. It entered the Billboard Top 200 at number 30 and also reached the Top Ten on Billboard's R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. Released on Epic, rather than on her home label, it didn't receive the typical level of promotion for a Blige album and, as a result, sold significantly less than her prior releases. Inspired by Disclosure and other genre-blurring singer/songwriters and producers who were emerging from the U.K., she recorded her 13th album in London that summer with the likes of Sam Smith, Naughty Boy, and Emeli Sandé, as well as Disclosure once more. The London Sessions, her first album for Capitol, was released that November.

0

Nikka Costa

The daughter of famed arranger/producer Don Costa and goddaughter of her father's longtime client, Frank Sinatra, R&B vocalist Nikka Costa is no stranger to the music business. Born on June 4, 1972, she landed her first gig at age five, when she opened for the Hawaiian entertainer Don Ho. Two years later, a young Costa wowed 300,000 Police fans in Chile. The burgeoning singer was a natural talent, and her childhood gigs paved the way for a fruitful career. Costa went back and forth between Los Angeles and Europe, enjoying her youth while molding a sophisticated music career. She made her studio debut in 1981 with a recording of "(Out Here) On My Own," a song from the musical Fame, and watched as the 45rpm record climbed to the top of the European charts. She released several albums throughout Europe, Israel, Central and South America, most of them going platinum. Whirlwind success, however, was matched by her exciting life at home, as Costa spent time in her father's recording studio alongside luminaries like Quincy Jones, Sly Stone, and Sammy Davis, Jr.Nikka Costa's late teens were spent atop the German charts, and by the time she reached her mid-twenties, she called Australia home. She became a favorite in the Outback, landing a deal with Mushroom Records and issuing Butterfly Rocket in the mid-'90s. The album help garner Costa a nomination for "Best New Artist" at the annual Australian Recording Industry Awards.

The new millennium sparked a new scene for Nikka Costa. Now a mature woman with a fiery spark of determination and passion, the red-headed siren's songwriting expanded into an alluring art, and her urban vocals sashayed with class and raw sexiness. She soon signed with the Aussie label Cheeba Sound, home to soon-to-be labelmate D'Angelo. The sultry single "Like a Feather" marked Costa's almost ignored debut in fall 2000 when the cut was used in a Tommy Hilfiger advert. Virgin Records took notice, however, and properly re-introduced Nikka Costa to the world in spring 2001 with the full-length release of Everybody Got Their Something. She returned in May of 2005 with Can'tneverdidnothin' and supported the album by touring with one of its guest stars, Lenny Kravitz. Pebble to a Pearl followed in 2008, furthering her synthesis of funk, soul, and contemporary R&B.

0

Amy Winehouse

Much can be said about the late Amy Winehouse, one of the U.K.'s flagship vocalists during the 2000s. The British press and tabloids seemed to focus on her rowdy behavior, heavy consumption of alcohol, and tragic end, but fans and critics alike embraced her rugged charm, brash sense of humor, and distinctively soulful and jazzy vocals. Her platinum-selling breakthrough album, Frank (2003), elicited comparisons ranging from Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan to Macy Gray and Lauryn Hill. Interestingly enough, despite her strong accent and vernacular, one can often hear aspects of each of those singers' vocal repertoires in Winehouse's own voice. Nonetheless, her allure had always been her songwriting -- almost always deeply personal but best known for its profanity and brutal candor.Born to a taxi-driving father and a pharmacist mother, Winehouse grew up in the Southgate area of northern London. Her upbringing was surrounded by jazz. Many of the uncles on her mother's side were professional jazz musicians, and even her paternal grandmother was romantically involved with British jazz legend Ronnie Scott at one time. While at home, she listened to and absorbed her parents' selection of greats: Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra among others. However, in her teens, she was drawn to the rebellious spirit of TLC, Salt-N-Pepa, and other American R&B and hip-hop acts of the time. At the age of 16, after she had been expelled from London's Sylvia Young Theatre School, she caught her first break when pop singer Tyler James, a schoolmate and close friend, passed on her demo tape to his A&R representative, who was searching for a jazz vocalist. That opportunity led to her recording contract with Island Records. By the end of 2003, when she was 20 years old, Island had released her debut album, Frank. With contributions from hip-hop producer/keyboardist Salaam Remi, Winehouse's amalgam of jazz, pop, soul, and hip-hop received rave reviews. The album was nominated for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize as well as two Brit Awards, and its lead single, "Stronger Than Me," won an Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song.

Following Winehouse's debut, the accolades and inquiring interviews appeared concurrently in the press with her tempestuous public life. Several times she showed up to her club or TV performances too drunk to sing an entire set. In 2006, her management company finally suggested that she enter rehab for alcohol abuse, but instead, she dumped the company and transcribed the ordeal into the U.K. Top Ten hit "Rehab," the lead single for her second, critically acclaimed album, Back to Black. Containing evocative productions from Salaam Remi and British DJ/multi-instrumentalist Mark Ronson, the album somewhat abandoned jazz, delving into the sounds of '50s/'60s-era girl group harmonies, rock & roll, and soul. The fanfare over the release was so great that it started to spill over onto U.S. shores; several rappers and DJs made their own remixes of various songs, not to mention covers by Prince and the Arctic Monkeys.One month after Winehouse won Best Female Artist at the Brit Awards in February 2007, Universal released Back to Black in the U.S. The LP charted higher than any other American debut by a British female recording artist before it, and it remained in the Top Ten for several months, selling a million copies by the end of that summer. Just as in the U.K., she became the talk of the town, landing on the covers of Rolling Stone and Spin magazines. Not long afterward, though, Winehouse canceled her North American tour. Early reports revealed that she was entering rehab for alcohol and drug addiction, but her new management denied the claims, stating it was due to severe exhaustion. Her erratic behavior kept her and her new husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, in the tabloids constantly, on and off stages on both sides of the Atlantic, but in late 2007, American fans were finally given a chance to hear Winehouse's early work, with a slightly abbreviated (two songs removed and one added) version of Frank.

Unfortunately, the next four years were filled with drama, disappointment, and very little music. By 2009, her marriage had ended in divorce, she had repeatedly been arrested on assault charges and/or public order offenses, her struggles with substance abuse and mental health issues tragically played out in the press. Public performances turned into incoherent disasters, the worst of them posted to video-sharing sites for all to see. A track on the Quincy Jones tribute Q: Soul Bossa Nostra appeared in 2010, while a duet with Tony Bennett was announced in early 2011, but a planned follow-up to Back to Black would never make it past the demo stage. Winehouse was found dead in her Camden, London apartment on July 23, 2011. The coroner's report, delivered three months later, revealed that her blood alcohol content had reached a potentially fatal level.

Nearly two months after her death, Winehouse's first posthumous appearance was released on Tony Bennett's Duets II, where she duetted with him on "Body and Soul." Near the end of 2011, her family's foundation announced the release of Lioness: Hidden Treasures, a posthumous compilation featuring recordings from throughout her career (although a few of the arrangements were recorded after her death). A year after Lioness came At the BBC, a deluxe CD/DVD set -- available both as a four-disc box and a smaller two-disc compilation -- rounding up all of her live performances for the British Broadcasting Company. In the summer of 2015, Amy, a documentary by director Asif Kapadia, told her story through photographs, archival footage (in the studio and out), and music. Much of this media had not been available previously. It also contained interviews with friends, family, musical collaborators, and the late singer. That October, a soundtrack was issued that alternated previously released and unreleased Winehouse material with pieces from the film's score.

0

Jessie J

Combining the vocal prowess of Beyoncé, the genre-hopping sounds of Gwen Stefani, and the feisty attitude of P!nk, songwriter Jessie J eventually overcame various career setbacks and health problems to become a star in her own right. Born Jessica Cornish in Chadwell Heath, London in 1988, she started her career in show biz at the age of 11, performing in the West End production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Whistle Down the Wind. After studying musical theater at the prestigious BRITS School, she signed a deal with indie label Gut Records, which went bankrupt before releasing any of her music. Following a minor stroke at age 18, she gained a Sony publishing contract and penned hits for the likes of Chris Brown, Dutch X Factor winner Lisa Lois, and Miley Cyrus (the American number two hit "Party in the USA"). After building up an established online presence, she signed to Universal Records and began working with the likes of hitmaker Dr. Luke (Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson), Atlanta rapper B.o.B, and R&B producer Labrinth on her debut album, Who You Are. In 2010, her first single, "Do It Like a Dude," originally written for Rihanna, reached number 25 in the U.K. charts and, following in the footsteps of Adele, Florence + the Machine, and Ellie Goulding, she was announced as the winner of the Critics Choice Award at the 2011 Brits. That same year, an appearance on Saturday Night Live coincided with her album being reissued in the U.S. Following a tour that took in the U.K., Ireland, Australia, Malaysia, and her first show in North America, Jessie J became the first U.K. female solo artist to achieve six Top Ten singles from a single studio album. The success of the sixth single, "LaserLight," featuring David Guetta, was aided in no small part by her appearance as judge on the U.K. edition of The Voice. The hit show gave the singer a chance to display her talent for musical coaching, while building a rapport with fans both old and new on prime-time television. Also involved were Tom Jones and will.i.am, with whom Jessie J performed at Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Concert in June 2012, before heading back to the studio to work on the follow-up to Who You Are.After finishing her second and final season of coaching on The Voice in 2013, J returned with the singles "Wild" and "It's My Party," which preceded her second album, Alive, that September. With a planned U.S.-only version of Alive featuring collaborations with Pharrell Williams eventually put aside, J instead focused on recording new material for what would become her third studio album, Sweet Talker. Including the likes of Diplo, the-Dream, and the aforementioned Pharrell, the album also saw her join forces with De La Soul and 2 Chainz, while Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj both featured on the lead single "Bang Bang," which debuted at number one in the U.K. and became a Top Ten hit in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Bulgaria. Sweet Talker arrived in October 2014, reaching the Top Ten in the U.S. and U.K.

0

Era Istrefi

An Albanian Kosovar singer, Era Istrefi broke internationally in 2015 with her single "Bon Bon." Born in Pristina in the former Yugoslavia, Istrefi debuted in 2013 as simply Era with her single "Mani Per Money." Blending pop and reggae in the style of early Rihanna, the track hit in Albania and Kosovo, as did the 2014 follow-up, "E Dehun." "Njo Si Ti" appeared in 2015 and charted in the Top 40 in Belgium, and by the end of year she released the dance-pop track "Bon Bon," which became an international viral hit. After the track reached 96 million views, the Ultra label signed Era and re-released "Bon Bon" internationally in 2016.

0

Rita Ora

Born in Pristina, Kosovo but raised in London, R&B singer Rita Ora made her first official appearance in 2007 when she guested on Craig David's single "Awkward." A year later she joined Tinchy Stryder on his single "Where's Your Love," but her big break came in 2009 when an open-mike performance attended by one of Jay-Z's A&R men landed her a deal with the rapper's label, Roc Nation. In 2012, she provided the vocals for DJ Fresh's drum'n'bass hit "Hot Right Now," which topped the charts in the U.K. She returned to the number one spot that same year with her debut solo single, "R.I.P." Ora also released her debut album, simply titled Ora, which went straight to the number one spot on the U.K. album charts.

0