At 16 years old, Hayley Williams released her first album with Paramore, a spunky emo-pop band that featured her vocals, lyrics, and songwriting skills. The group had formed two years earlier in Franklin, TN, where Williams and her bandmates -- bassist Jeremy Davis, drummer Zac Farro, lead guitarist Josh Farro, and rhythm guitarist Jason Bynum -- attended high school while playing shows around the southeast ...

Musician, singer, songwriter. Born Stephen Victor Tallarico on March 26, 1948, in Yonkers, New York. As the lead singer of Aerosmith, Steven Tyler is considered one of rock's greatest showman. The son of a music teacher, he started playing drums, but then focused on singing. After moving to Boston in the late 1960s, Tyler eventually met up the musicians that would form the rock group Aerosmith. He reportedl ...

Musician. Born Nel Ust Wyclef Jean sometime around October 17, 1972, in the small town of Croix-des-Bouquets, just outside of Port-au-Prince Haiti. Jean's real birth date is unknown, due in part to Haiti's confusing record-keeping system and conflicting U.S. immigration records. Jean was one of four childrenthree sons and a daughterborn to pastor Gesner Jean and his wife. When Wyclef was 9 years old, his ...

Singer, songwriter. Born Roderick David Stewart on January 10, 1945, in London, England. Born into a working-class family, Stewart excelled at soccer. He worked a series of odd jobs, including working as a grave digger, before his singing career took off. During the 1960s, Stewart was a part of several different bands. In 1966, he joined the blues-influenced Jeff Beck Group and experienced his first taste o ...

Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos) was one of several female singer/songwriters who combined the stark lyrical attack of alternative rock with a distinctly '70s musical approach, creating music that fell between the orchestrated meditations of Kate Bush and the stripped-down poetics of Joni Mitchell. In addition, she revived the singer/songwriter traditions of the '70s while reestablishing the piano as a rock ...

As she grew up in Providence, R.I., with her five siblings, Blu Cantrell was toted from one jazz performance to another to watch her mother sing. From that point forward, she knew what she wanted to do, and began auditioning for vocal gigs and displaying her dynamic alto at talent shows. On a visit to Atlanta in 2000, Cantrell played her demo tape for A&R executive Tab and producer C. Stewart (aka Trick ...

The sons and daughters of the rich and famous may have a reputation for being embarrassing, vapid fodder for the paparazzi and reality TV, but Rashida Jones has nothing in common with her peers. The daughter of music mogul and world-famous songwriter Quincy Jones, Rashida began working hard to make herself educated and accomplished from the time she was five years old, when her father would catch her readin ...

(born Aug. 20, 1979, Rochford, Essex, Eng.) British musician, who was known for jazz compositions that were heavily influenced by contemporary popular music. Cullum grew up in Hullavington and—mostly self-taught—began playing in a rock band at age 15. He soon became attracted to jazz and began playing and singing it in bars and on cruise ships. He spent a year in Paris and then attended the University of Re ...

First rising to fame at the helm of the popular folk-rock band 10,000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchant later enjoyed even greater success as a solo performer during the mid-'90s. Her plaintive vocals and literate, socially conscious songs established her among the preeminent women in contemporary pop, while her solo debut -- 1995's Tigerlily -- helped pave the way for a number of female performers in a pre-Lilith ...

Roger Waters earned a spot in 1996 in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the bass player, vocalist and lyricist for the band Pink Floyd. Waters was a founding member of the band in 1965, along with Syd Barrett (guitar and vocals), Nick Mason (drums) and Rick Wright (keyboards). By 1968 the band had had success in the U.K., but Barrett's unpredictable behavior led to the addition of guitarist David Gilmour, a ...