Denver-based band the Fray was formed in 2002 by Isaac Slade vocals piano and Joe King guitar vocals when the two former school friends met up again in a local music store They soon began regular two-man jam sessions that led to writing songs and dev…

Fergie fits in between a diminishing trance scene and the radical advent of UK garage with an uncomplicated take on hard house ethics Beginning his DJ career at the age of 14 and taken through the clubland ranks with the help of Tony De Vit Fergie ma…

A discovery of pop-punk superstars Fall Out Boy, the Las Vegas emo band Panic! At the Disco (named for a Smiths song), stormed the charts in 2005 while its members were barely old enough to vote. Offering a highly danceable take on the emo formula of…

Inspiring legions of imitators (especially among the rap-metal crowd), the Red Hot Chili Peppers combined biting rock guitar with funk rhythms and rap-influenced vocals for a thunderous, party-hearty sound. While the California band was popular on th…

Out of the backwaters of Oklahoma rose the power-pop clatter of the All-American Rejects, whose 2002 self-titled debut album, released on the indie Doghouse Records, yielded a huge fan base and the attention of several major labels. In a field crowde…

Vancouver pop-rocker Daniel Powter's song "Bad Day" achieved notable longevity, first becoming a European hit in 2005 after being featured in a Coca-Cola campaign, and then topping the American charts a year later after its inclusion as a valedictory…

Bursting on to the U.K. music scene seemingly out of nowhere in 2005, KT Tunstall is a Scottish singer-songwriter who blends the earthy pop sensibilities of Sheryl Crow with the darker leanings of Cat Power and Beth Orton. Her debut album, EYE TO THE…

Britney Spears proved that the same goldmine that Madonna and Cyndi Lauper mined in the 1980s was again ripe for the picking, and she was immediately followed up the charts by another female teenybop sensation, Christina Aguilera. Closely aligned wit…

Though he first came to fame as a member of the definitive boy band N Sync, Justin Timberlake gained superstar status after stepping out on his own with his first solo album in 2002. JUSTIFIED showed that there was more to the then-21-year-old Timber…

RB singer Cassie got her first taste of the music industry at 16 when she had the opportunity to speak with the producer Rockwilder a meeting that inspired her to take formal voice lessons This decision paid off nicely later on when after shed gradua…

Glasgow-via-Belfast indie-rock ensemble Snow Patrol have played everything from shambolic noise-pop a la Pavement, to a slightly droney post-rock in the vein of Mogwai, to epic lovelorn anthems modeled after Coldplay. While the band's influences are …

Young singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado, who hails from Victoria, BC, emerged seemingly from out of nowhere with her debut album WHOA NELLY in 2000, sporting an eclectic, genre-defying sound and winsome tone. Furtado's hugely popular work incorporates …

An indie/garage supergroup consisting of two members of Toledo's Greenhorns, Motor City power-pop songsmith Brendan Benson and the inimitable Jack White, the Raconteurs play a fairly straightforward version of classic rock that contains hints of the …

Though journalistic shorthand often finds Nickelback dubbed "the Canadian Creed," the band found success on its own terms right from the start with the 2000 debut album THE STATE. It may be true that the band's heavy guitars, pounding drums, and dram…