After enjoying enormous chart success during the New Wave era French pop group Indochine spent more than decade grappling with commercial frustration roster defections and even the death of a founding member--only in 1999 did their fortunes turn yet …

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 …

Artistically active from the 1950s through the '70s, Belgian-born singer-songwriter Jacques Brel is best known in France, but he has also achieved a vast cult fan base in the United States for his poetic cynicism and lyrics, which vary from nihilisti…

b. 5 December 1966, Forbach, Moselle, France. The top female performer in France in the 90s, Kaas had already sold over five million albums by her mid-twenties. Those who suggested she was the French Madonna gained further credence for their claims w…

b. 4 February 1942, Suez, Egypt, d. 11 March 1978. François inherited musical skills from his parents who, with worsening political antagonism in the East, returned him to France where, on leaving school, he drummed in a Monte Carlo jazz combo before…

Johnny Hallyday (born Jean-Philippe Smet) is often referred to as the French Elvis, for his brooding, full-lipped good looks and rakish singing style, and for the powerful sway he had on young females of his home country in the early 1960s. He sang l…

Borrowing from such flamboyant pop stars as Freddie Mercury, Elton John, and George Michael, British singer Robbie Williams started out in the boy band Take That, but soon split and launched a solo career. By the late 1990s he had become a dance/pop …

As the daughter of gospel/R&B singer Cissy Houston, Whitney Houston was literally born to sing. Initially a back-up vocalist and fashion model, Houston leapt to solo stardom with her self-titled debut in 1985. Since then, she has remained one of the …

By 2004 roughly a decade after she made her recording debut at the age of 18 Laura Pausini had sold over 25 million albums worldwide quite an impressive feat for someone whod never really broken into the lucrative English-language market The Italian …

2003 was definitely KYOs year The French pop quartet was nominated numerous times at NRJs annual music awards winning best French album song and group of the year honors All the hubbub was over KYOs second album Le Chemin The Way and its title trackl…

The major French pop star of the mid-90s Pascal Obispo sold consistently beginning with his 1993 debut Plus Que Tout Au Monde Noted arranger Jean-Claude Vannier who had worked with Serge Gainsbourg helped out on 1995s Un Jour Comme Aujourdhui and the…

Maxime le Forestier emerged in the wake of the student revolts of May 1968 to become one of Frances most popular and acclaimed protest singers In the years to follow his music turned away from politics to tackle more personal subjects but retained it…

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 …

Born in Quebec Diane Tell learned to play the guitar early in life and moved to Montreal as a teenager She performed in bars around the area and gradually gained popularity until LEveche became popular in 1980 Tells album En Fleche appeared the same …

b. 1934, Alexandria, Egypt. A singer, songwriter, actor and film music composer of Greek ancestry, early in his life Moustaki studied French which enabled him to work in Paris as a journalist. He began to write songs, and played the piano and guitar …

Though he wrote songs as a teenager Roch Voisine studied physiotherapy at Canadas University of Ottawa He began a solo career in 1988 however releasing his self-titled debut the same year One year later Voisine wrote and recorded Helene with Stephane…

The purveyor of the most blood-curdling scream in pop music history (on his epochal cover of the Beatles "A Little Help From My Friends"), the deeply soulful Cocker is also one of rock's most gifted interpretive singers. After a breakthrough performa…