This London, England-based quartet, formed in 1994, was led by the stunning singer Skin (b. Deborah Dyer, Brixton, London, England). After attending a furniture design course at Teeside Polytechnic in Middlesbrough, she returned to the capital and st…

Diminutive, bald-headed Richard Melville Hall, better known as Moby, achieved greater mainstream success than any other electronica artist by virtue of his willingness to adapt electronic dance music to a well formed pop sensibility. From the '90s on…

The Bristol collective known as Massive Attack arose out of the acid house scene of late-1980s England to become one of the 1990s' greatest innovators. The group has literally changed the face of music every time out. They invented "trip-hop" on thei…

This Athens band's initial mix of Velvet Underground strum, Byrds-like Rickenbacker jangle, and charismatically oblique singing, became the sound of the 1980s as legions of bands followed suit. But even as imitators codified R.E.M.'s approach into th…

In the mid-1990s, the dreamy-but-grooving sound of trip-hop was confined to the U.K. underground until Portishead brought it to the worldwide mainstream. Combining electronics, lush production, Ennio Morricone-like guitar breaks, and angelic singing …

Alison Goldfrapp first gained notoriety for her astonishing vocal work on albums by Tricky and techno duo Orbital. She joined forces with composer Will Gregory in the late 1990s to create her own moody, sensual version of contemporary electronica. Wi…

U2's Bono was one of the few real rock heroes of the 1980s, leading the Irish band to international recognition with a charged, political approach to music. The band's early efforts brought a stadium-size presence to alt-rock, with Bono's expressive …

The three founding members of Placebo hailed from Belgium, Sweden, and Switzerland, but their sound was British through and through, a mix of angst-ridden Cure-esque post-punk and glammy art rock a la Bowie. Amid the success of their early albums in …

Hole was spearheaded by controversial lead singer Courtney Love; the band's harsh, punky debut, 1991's PRETTY ON THE INSIDE, was a cornerstone of the post-riot grrl scene. Then Love married Kurt Cobain, signed an enormous deal with Geffen Records, an…

The success of Travis and Coldplay on the UK charts in the late 90s instigated the usual record company feeding frenzy, with their new target white bands playing no-frills, melodic rock music. Starsailor, who take their name from a Tim Buckley album …

French postmodernists Air raid every aspect of retro pop music, from the sublime to the ridiculous, in fashioning their sonic bricolage. Everything from Krautrock-inspired electronics to 1960s lounge music is incorporated into the work of Nicolas God…

David Bridie is one of Australias most innovative musicians and songwriters balancing his career in bands and on record with the composition of soundtrack music His career began in 1983 when the classically trained Bridie began working with guitarist…

Radiohead burst onto the Britpop scene in the early 1990s with a clamorous, post-U2 take on guitar rock, buoyed by the hit "Creep." They subsequently developed their songwriting and production skills on THE BENDS and achieved iconic status with their…

Although six months earlier people were telling New Zealands Datsuns to give up by mid-2002 Londons music press was hailing them as genius By then the Datsuns had already been playing their brand of garage rock for six years ever since they met at sc…

In the late 1990s, U.K. songstress Beth Orton broke new ground by combining electronica-derived backing with acoustic folk-rock tendencies that recalled the early-'70s glory days of Sandy Denny and Nick Drake. The fact that she was aided in these eff…

Starting only at 18 years of age pop-RB singer Jamelia swept UK RB fans off their feet and following her second album Thank You she made herself a star winning over many more fans as well as some critics across the rest of the European continent The …

The 1987 breakup of the Smiths saddened legions of fans, but it led to a fruitful solo career for lead singer and lyricist Morrissey. The Smiths were very much a singles band, and VIVA HATE, Morrissey's first record, continued in the Smiths vein with…

Based in Malmö, Sweden, where they are widely regarded as the country's "top alternative rock band', the Cardigans were formed in the small town of Jönköping in 1992 by Peter Svensson (b. 18 October 1974; guitar), Magnus Sveningsson (b. 4 April 1972;…