With his distinctive vocals and award winning songwriting skills, Canadian musician Bryan Adams name remains one of the most recognized of our time.

Over the course of four decades, Eric Clapton has carried the British blues legacy into the mainstream of pop music. From his mid-1960s days with the Yardbirds and John Mayall, through his years as guitar god with Cream and Blind Faith, and eventuall…

Firehouse arrived at the tail end of the pop-metal explosion of the late 80s and early 90s releasing their first album in 1991 Featuring vocalist CJ Snare Michael Foster Bill Leverty and Perry Richardson the groups melodic commercial hard rock had im…

This heavy metal band was formed in Pennsylvania, USA, in the spring of 1983 by Bret Michaels (b. Bret Sychak, 15 March 1962, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA; vocals) and Rikki Rockett (b. Alan Ream, 8 August 1959, Pennsylvania, USA; drums). They were …

In the early 1980s, aspiring New Jersey musician John Bongiovi assembled a rock band, secured a record deal, and changed his name to Jon Bon Jovi. By 1986, Bon Jovi's brand of melodic hard rock was a runaway hit, with the band's third album, SLIPPERY…

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…

Before Def Leppard, heavy metal was associated with leather, studs, and motorcycles. After a pair of mega-platinum albums in the '80s, Leppard proved that pop hooks, hard rock, and good looks could equal massive success, hatching a slew of imitators …

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 …

While rap music was the music of choice on the urban charts and radio playlists by the late 1980s/early '90s, vocal group Boyz II Men re-introduced the merits of soul and contemporary R&B, laden with perfectly executed harmonies. The group became one…

A product of the late 80s Los Angeles, California, USA club scene, hard rock band Warrant was formed in 1984 by guitarist Erik Turner (b. Eric Benjamin Turner, 31 March 1964, Omaha, Nebraska, USA). The early line-up of the band included Jerry Dixon (…

From his beginnings as a sensitive singer and pianist through his ascent to superstardom, Elton John has enjoyed one of the longest and most successful careers in rock & roll. With his outrageous costumes and campy theatricality, the man formerly kno…

A hard-rocking, no-holds-barred American group fronted by the wiry Steven Tyler, Aerosmith plays heavy riffs with a blues underpinning. After huge hits and sold-out tours in the 1970s, the band sank into oblivion for the first half of the '80s. They …

Skid Row were formed in New Jersey, USA, in 1986 by Dave "The Snake" Sabo (b. 16 September 1964; guitar) and Rachel Bolan (b. 9 February 1964; bass). Sebastian "Bach" Bierk (b. 3 April 1968, Freeport, Bahamas; vocals, ex-Madam X), Scott Hill (b. 31 M…

Not since the glory days of the early '80s has a non-teen dance pop band dented the charts as convincingly as Savage Garden. Bringing such old-timers as Michael Jackson, Debarge, and Madonna instantly to mind with their sugar-coated dance pop, Savag…

The angst-ridden alt-rock that bands like Nirvana popularized in the early-1990s eventually branched off into a softer, more mature sound with such groups as the Goo Goo Dolls. Although they began as raw and rowdy Replacements-style rockers in the la…

Originally known as City Kid, this blues-based, hard rock quintet were formed in Sacramento, California, USA. Named after the scientist Nikola Tesla, Jeff Keith (vocals), Tommy Skeoch (guitar/vocals), Frank Hannon (guitar/keyboards), Brian Wheat (bas…

Formed in 1989, the Damn Yankees were one of several supergroups, including Bad English, to emerge in the USA towards the end of the decade. Ex-Styx guitarist/vocalist Tommy Shaw had already been writing with the larger-than-life guitarist and solo a…

When young singer/pianist Norah Jones arrived in New York City from Texas, few expected that within a couple of years she'd be a chart-topping, MTV-friendly, press-besieged sensation. Yet she charmed listeners by the truckload with her 2002 Blue Not…

John Mayer emerged in 2001 as the fresh young face for a new generation of earnest singer-songwriters. While Mayer's work is as confessional, intimate, and acoustic-guitar-based as that of old-schoolers like James Taylor and Jackson Browne, his appro…