Los Angeles-based blues-rocker Beth Hart began playing piano at age four later attending LAs High School for the Performing Arts as a vocal and cello major By 1993 she was a regular fixture of the local club circuit by 1993 collaborating with bassist…

Alongside Neil Young, Stephen Stills first hit it big with psychedelic folk-rockers Buffalo Springfield. But it was as a part of Crosby, Stills, & Nash (who were sometimes joined by Young) that Stills enjoyed his greatest success, leading the way to …

b. 31 August 1960, USA. Whitley is a blues rock guitarist, who plays slide guitar to his own romantic compositions. In his youth he was influenced by John Lee Hooker, Johnny Winters, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. Afterwards he began busking on the s…

b. 11 September 1978, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Alternating between a folksy singer-songwriter and an alt-popster, Lee has been heralded in the music press as a "modern day Bob Dylan.' Lee got his start during the early to mid-90s with the …

Jackson Browne was part of the mid-'60s Orange County, CA folk scene that also included Tim Buckley, Steve Noonan (one of the first to record Browne's compositions), and Greg Copeland (for whom Browne later produced an album). After having songs cut …

What do you do when your first album is the CITIZEN KANE of alternative rock? Spend the next two decades living in its shadow. Inspired by the Modern Lovers and the Velvet Underground, the Violent Femmes pioneered the use of acoustic instruments in p…

Carlos Santana is one of those rare guitarists whose sound is instantly recognizable. His fiery, soulful blend of rock, blues, and Latin music made his band, also named Santana, an international success. From 1960s San Francisco psychedelia to '70s f…

Like the Band, Neil Young eschewed his Canadian roots to create a sound rooted in American folk and country, which he mixed with visionary, poetic rock in Buffalo Springfield and on his solo albums. He played the crucial fourth wheel role in Crosby, …

Singer-songwriter Ryan Adams started out as the leader of Whiskeytown, one of the most highly regarded alt-country bands of the late 1990s. By 2000, he was a solo artist, delivering a mostly acoustic set of Dylanesque tunes on HEARTBREAKER. By the ti…

Jamaican legend Bob Marley began recording in the mid-1960s when R&B-influenced vocal harmony was the order of the day in Jamaican pop. With the Wailers, he presaged every major development from rock steady to roots reggae. By combining the tension o…

While the 1980s Los Angeles rock scene will forever be associated with pretty-boy glam metal, it also spawned Guns N' Roses, one of the most in-your-face, streetwise, and controversial bands of the era. Axl Rose & company's roots lay in The Stones, A…

The honey-voiced Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan has ascended from modest success in the U.S. and her native Nova Scotia to international stardom. Her music is accessible enough for the masses, yet serious enough to strike a strong chord w…

Melissa Etheridge made waves in 1988 as one of the few female rockers on the scene; in 1993, she made headlines by coming out as a lesbian. Etheridge's confessional lyrics and raspy voice earned her comparisons to Springsteen and Janis Joplin; she br…

b. Los Angeles, California, USA-based singer-songwriter attended the High School for the Performing Arts as a vocal and cello major. She made her first live performances at open mic nights at the Comedy Store and club gigs throughout the South Centra…

b. 18 May 1973, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The respected US magazine Billboard has dubbed Kreviazuk the "grown up version" of Avril Lavigne, Vanessa Carlton and Michelle Branch. The Canadian singer-songwriter was a child prodigy who could play the p…

Getting her start with Canadian bubblegum pop in the early-1990s, Alanis Morissette reinvented herself as an angst-ridden hippie/alternative rocker by the middle of the decade. The makeover paid off splendidly, as Morissette scored one of the best-se…

One of the first "supergroups," Crosby Stills & Nash came to typify the direction of rock on the cusp of the 1970s. Their tight, three-part harmonies and acoustic/electric instrumentation typified the expanding folk-rock sound, and their introspectio…

With her hook-filled pop tunes, highly developed melodic sensibility, and pin-up girl looks, Sheryl Crow appealed to a wide audience in the 1990s. Garnering platinum albums, hit singles, and even the tacit approval of rock's old guard, Crow proved to…

Her love of the Cranberries John Mayer and Fiona Apple is easy to hear when one listens to the poignant music of singersongwriter Anna Nalick but its her beloved Blind Melon that had the most impact on her career The California native had been record…

David Crosby (b. 14 August 1941, Los Angeles, California, USA), Stephen Stills (b. 3 January 1945, Dallas, Texas, USA) and Graham Nash (b. 2 February 1942, Blackpool, Lancashire, England) first came together in the 1969 supergroup Crosby, Stills And …