Lady Gaga (born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, March 28, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter and performance artist. She began performing in the rock music scene of New York City's Lower East Side. Lady Gaga soon signed with Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records, upon its establishment in 2007. During her early time at Interscope, Gaga worked as a songwriter for fellow label artists and captured the attention of Akon who recognized that she also had vocal talent. Akon then managed to also have her sign with his own label, Kon Live Distribution.

Owl City is an American synthpop musical project by Adam Young. Young started out making music in his parents' basement in Owatonna, Minnesota[3] which he claims is a result of his insomnia.

Rob Thomas is the award-winning singer-songwriter best known for being frontman of alternative rock band Matchbox Twenty. Born Robert Kelly Thomas in Landstuhl, Germany, on a US military base, Thomas was raised in both South Carolina and Florida. He declared his intent to be a musician at the age of 13 after seeing Genesis on their Invisible Touch Tour. To that end he dropped out of high school and left home to chase his career dreams, eventually meeting up with Paul Doucette, Kyle Cook, Brian Yale and Adam Gaynor to form Matchbox Twenty in 1996.

Jay-Z is one of the most popular and financially successful hip-hop artists in the world. His success has come from his own work, including hugely successful albums like Vol.2... Hard Knock Life and The Blueprint, and from his work with most of rap's A-list performers; he has helped a host of artists start or advance their careers.

Teen-pop starlet Britney Spears burst into worldwide consciousness with her debut single "...Baby, One More Time" in 1998, and followed that with a succession of hit singles that made her the biggest pop star in the world.

Singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, producer, author and Grammy Award winner Britney Jean Spears was born in 1981 in Louisiana. Her record sales put her in the top ten best-selling female artists in American music history.

Shinedown are a hard rock/post-grunge band formed in Florida in 2002 by vocalist Brent Smith, guitarist Jasin Todd, bassist Brad Stewart and drummer Barry Kerch. They have released two albums, both of which have gone platinum.

The band released their debut album Leave a Whisper in 2003 which included the singles "Fly from the Inside" and "45". Both records made the top five of the US Mainstream Rock Charts. The album was re-released a year later with a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrds' "Simple Man".

Taylor Swift is an American country music singer/songwriter who acheived platinum-selling success while she was still only 17. Her debut album Taylor Swift (2006) has generated three Top 10 singles. By 2007 she was the youngest person to win the Nashville Songwriters Association’s Songwriter of the Year Award.

The first product given to us by American Idol was feisty singer Kelly Clarkson. She won the first series of the show in 2002, topped the Hot 100 with debut single "A Moment Like This", had a brief foray into acting with a poorly received film From Justin to Kelly, and released her first pop-focused double platinum album Thankful in 2003.

Her second album Breakaway (2004) afforded her the opportunity to evolve a little more as an artist, veering from her pop beginnings into rockier territory. Its appeal was buoyed by the success of its singles, including "Since U Been Gone", which hit No.2

Chris Daughtry didn't win series 5 of American Idol, but his appearance in the final did earn him a contract with RCA, who then formed a band for him to front. Just a few months later, they released debut album Daughtry in November 2006. It topped the Billboard 200, and was No.1 of the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart for 14 weeks. Lead single "It's Not Over" reached No.4 (but topped the charts in Canada), and has now sold almost two million copies. Second single "Hope" was just as successful, reaching No.5 and selling similar quantities in the long run.

Few bands did more than Nickelback to establish the force of slick, commercially minded post-grunge in the 2000s. Led by vocalist Chad Kroeger, the band initially emerged in the late '90s as Canada's answer to Creed, prizing a blend of gruff vocals and distorted (yet radio-friendly) guitars. After a handful of singles failed to gain much traction in Canada, "How You Remind Me" caught hold in 2001, eventually topping the charts in several countries while gathering four Grammy nominations and four Juno Awards.

Country-pop singer Carrie Underwood was the winner of the fourth series of American Idol. As a result of that win she was awarded a recording contract with Arista Nashville, and released her first album Some Hearts shortly after. Some Hearts (2005) did very well with multi-platinum sales of around seven million copies in the US, no doubt buoyed by the immediate post-win fervour of American Idol watchers. The album also spawned several Top 10 hits, most notably "Inside Your Heaven", "Before He Cheats" and "Don't Forget to Remember Me".

Singer-songwriter and acclaimed guitarist John Mayer broke through with Room For Squares (2001), which was a massive commercial success. It has sold over four million copies in the US, and Mayer won a Grammy for "Your Body is a Wonderland". He is also known as a blogger and occasional stand-up comedian.

Heavier Things (2003) cemented his reputation as one of America's most popular new singer-songwriters, debuting at No.1 on its way to two-million more sales. "Daughters" earned him two more Grammys in 2005.

Kristopher Neil Allen (born June 21, 1985), better known as Kris Allen, is an American singer-songwriter from Conway, Arkansas, and the winner of the eighth season of American Idol Prior to Idol, he self-released a 2007 album entitled Brand New Shoes. Allen's post-Idol self-titled album was released on November 17, 2009, through Jive Records. On September 21, 2009, "Live Like We're Dying", the first single from his major label debut album, was released. It became available on iTunes on September 25, 2009. The song landed on #41 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 as its highest peak position. The music video for "Live Like We're Dying" was later released on November 6, 2009. On November 9, 2009, AOL premiered all 13 tracks from his upcoming album as a listen-only feature, for AOL's "Listening Party".

Shakira first gained worldwide fame with the 2001 release of single "Whenever, Wherever", which topped pop charts all over the world and shot her album Laundry Service to sales of 15 million.

Colombia-born Shakira was something of a child prodigy, writing her first poem aged four in 1981. These early poems slowly turned into songs; she wrote her first when she was eight. She was signed to Sony Columbia and released her debut album Magia in 1991 when she was only fourteen.

Before becoming a front-runner in the eighth season of American Idol, vocalist Adam Lambert made his name in the theater world, where he performed alongside Val Kilmer in the debut production of Ten Commandments: The Musical and landed an understudy role in a touring production of Wicked. The California native subsequently parlayed that theater background into a successful multi-month run on American Idol in 2009. Lambert's flair for neo-goth attire and eclectic arrangements made him a critical favorite, as did his dramatic tenor vocals.

Rihanna established her dance-pop credentials in summer 2005 with her debut smash hit, "Pon de Replay," and continued to demonstrate such hit potential in subsequent years (e.g., "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