PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: singing
American singer, songwriter, and dancer
Michael Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, and dancer who was one of the most popular and influential entertainers in the world in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Jackson transformed popular...
American singer-songwriter
Taylor Swift is an American singer-songwriter who captivated audiences with her heartfelt lyrics about relationships and her catchy, finely crafted melodies, solidifying herself as one of the most influential...
American singer and actor
Before Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and all the teen idols who followed in their footsteps, there was Frank Sinatra: a skinny kid from New Jersey who became one of the most sought-after performers in the...
French singer and actor
Johnny Hallyday was a French rock singer and actor whose powerful vocals and prolific career spanning more than half a century enabled him to achieve unprecedented stardom in France. Credited with popularizing...
American singer and actress
Madonna is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and entrepreneur whose immense popularity in the 1980s and â90s allowed her to achieve levels of power and control that were nearly unprecedented for...
The true story of the music legend who inspired the film Deliver Me from Nowhere.
Bruce Springsteen is an American singer, songwriter, and bandleader who became the archetypal rock performer of the 1970s and â80s. With his poetic lyrics describing the lives of everyday Americans, his...
American singer-songwriter
Bob Dylan is an American singer and songwriter who moved from folk to rock music in the 1960s, infusing the lyrics of rock and rollâtheretofore concerned mostly with boy-girl romantic innuendoâwith the...
American rapper and actor
Tupac Shakur was an influential American rapper and actor who was one of the leading names in 1990s gangsta rap. With his raw talent and thoughtful lyrics, he frequently addressed social issues in his...
American rapper and entrepreneur
JAY-Z is an American rapper, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who became one of the most influential figures in hip-hop in the 1990s and early 21st century. A classic self-made music mogul, he parlayed...
Ugandan politician, performer, and activist
Bobi Wine is a Ugandan politician, performer, and activist who first garnered acclaim for his popular hits and socially conscious songs he called âedutainmentââthe fusion of education and entertainment....
American singer and actor who rose from rags to riches to become âthe King of Rock ânâ Rollâ
Elvis Presley was an American popular singer and actor widely known as âthe King of Rock ânâ Roll.â One of rock musicâs dominant performers from the mid-1950s until his death, Presley revolutionized popular...
American singer
CeCe Winans is an American gospel singer known for her rich vocal style and emotional delivery of faith-centered lyrics and for helping popularize contemporary gospel music by blending classic gospel with...
American producer, rapper, and designer
Kanye West is an American producer, rapper, and fashion designer who parlayed his production success in the late 1990s and early 2000s into a career as a popular, critically acclaimed solo artist. One...
Canadian rapper
Drake is a Canadian rap musician who first gained fame as an actor on the acclaimed TV teenage drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation and went on to have a successful and influential music career....
American musician
Country music singer-songwriter Waylon Jennings lived a life straight out of a classic country song. With a baritone growl for a voice and a musical style that blended folk lyrics, rock rhythms, and honky-tonk-style...
American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
Dolly Parton was an American country music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress who pioneered the interface between country and pop music styles and became one of the most iconic entertainment figures...
American entertainer
Janet Jackson is an American singer and actress and the youngest member of Motownâs famed Jackson family. Starting out in the 1970s as a child actor who occasionally performed music with her siblings,...
American singer-songwriter
Buffy Sainte-Marie is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, political activist, and visual artist known especially for her use of music to promote awareness of issues affecting Native Americans. Since...
American musician and actor
Travis Scott is an American rapper and producer known for his dark ambient style, high-energy performances, and innovative uses of audio manipulation, including Auto-Tune. Scottâs meteoric career has been...
American rapper and actor
Ice-T rose to fame in the late 1980s and early â90s as a gangsta rapper who developed a reputation for being fearless when it came to courting controversy. âCop Killerâ (1992), a song about police brutality...
American singer-songwriter
D4vd is an American singer and songwriter who fused R&B and indie pop in such hit singles as âRomantic Homicideâ (2022) and âLocked & Loadedâ (2025), the official anthem of the electronic game Fortnite....
American singer and actor
Billy Ray Cyrus is an American country singer and actor best known for his 1992 song âAchy Breaky Heart,â a smash hit that crossed over to the pop charts and inspired a line dancing craze. He also acted...
American singer, songwriter, and record producer
Brian Wilson was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer best known as a co-founder and the lead singer, bassist, and keyboardist for the Beach Boys, a band whose songs defined the sun-drenched...
Puerto Rican singer and songwriter
Bad Bunny is a Puerto Rican singer and songwriter who helped bring reggaeton and trap music to a wider audience and led to him being crowned âthe king of Latin trap.â His urban music style, also called...
American singer-songwriter
Lana Del Rey is an American singer-songwriter known for pairing glamorously morose musical themes with classic Americana and a nostalgic, cinematic visual style. Del Reyâs songs typically focus on relatable,...
British singer and composer
George Michael was a British singer and songwriter who rose from teen idol status with the Britpop band Wham! to global superstardom as a solo pop music artist in the 1980s and â90s, with such hit songs...
British singer-songwriter
Ed Sheeran is a British singer-songwriter known for his genre-crossing style infused with elements of folk, rock, rhythm and blues (R&B), pop, and hip-hop. As a child, Sheeran was surrounded by art and...
American singer
Aretha Franklin was an American singer who defined the golden age of soul music of the 1960s. Considered one of the greatest vocalists of the 20th century, Franklin possessed a formidable gospel-trained...
Indian singer
Asha Bhosle was a celebrated Indian playback singer who recorded more than 12,000 songs in 20 different Indian languages over eight decades. Her career was remarkable for both its longevity and the versatility...
American musician
Kendrick Lamar is an American rapper who achieved critical and commercial success with such albums as good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012) and To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) and singles such as âNot Like Usâ (2024)....
American singer
BeyoncĂ© is an American singer-songwriter and actress who achieved fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the R&B group Destinyâs Child and then launched a hugely successful solo career. In 2023 she...
American musician
Jerry Garcia was the singer, songwriter, and lead guitarist of the Grateful Dead, a San Francisco-based group that emerged from the Haight-Ashbury psychedelic-drug-and-music scene in the mid-1960s. He...
American poet, songwriter, and singer
Patti Smith is an American poet, songwriter, singer, and visual artist who blazed a trail for punk rock artists, especially women, in the 1970s. With her androgynous appearance, intense live performances,...
American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor
Paul Williams is an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor known for his long and storied career in which he has written numerous award-winning songs, scored films, and acted in films and television....
Lebanese singer and actress
Fairuz is a Lebanese singer and actress widely considered to be one of the most celebrated Arab singers of the 20th century. Fairuzâs husband was Assi Rahbani, who along with his brother Mansour Rahbaniâknown...
American singer
In 2013 American singer, songwriter, and musician Sturgill Simpson released his debut album, the fiercely traditionalist High Top Mountain. Simpson was soon hailed by many critics and fans as âthe savior...
American music artist and fashion designer
Tyler, The Creator is an American rapper, producer, and fashion designer known for his often subversive artistic style. After starting the popular hip-hop collective Odd Future, he launched a successful...
American rapper
ASAP Rocky is an American rapper and artist known for his experimental approach, âcloud rapââstyle music, bold fashion statements, and long-standing romantic partnership with global pop star Rihanna. In...
American singer and songwriter
Michael McDonald is an American singer-songwriter best known as the lead vocalist and keyboardist for the rock band the Doobie Brothers. McDonald became a fixture on rock radio with his rich and soulful...
American singer and musician
Joan Jett is an American singer and musician whose raucous, three-chord guitar-playing and rebellious image made her a trailblazer in the male-dominated genre of rock music. She was a member of the all-female,...
British musician
Paul McCartney is a British vocalist, songwriter, composer, bass player, poet, and painter whose work with the Beatles in the 1960s helped lift popular music from its origins in the entertainment business...
American rapper and record producer
Sean Combs is an American rapper, record producer, actor, and clothing designer who founded an entertainment empire in the 1990s. Beginning in 2023, he was the subject of several lawsuits accusing him...
American singer-songwriter and actress
Lady Gaga is an American singer-songwriter and performance artist, known for her flamboyant costumes, provocative lyrics, and strong vocal talents, who achieved enormous popular success in the early 21st...
American rapper
Emerging as a rapper, producer, and songwriter in the âparty rapâ tradition, Mac Miller went on to captivate audiences with a diverse discography of hip-hop music. Originally derided by critics, Millerâs...
Jamaican musician
Bob Marley was a Jamaican singer-songwriter whose thoughtful ongoing distillation of early ska, rock steady, and reggae musical forms blossomed in the 1970s into an electrifying rock-influenced hybrid...
American entertainer
Sammy Davis, Jr. was an American singer, dancer, actor, and entertainer who broke down barriers for African American performers in the 20th century. Considered a consummate showman, he earned the nickname...
British singer
Mick Jagger is a British musician best known as the flamboyant lead singer of the highly influential rock band the Rolling Stones, for which he cowrote the majority of songs. He has also released a number...
American singer and actress
Demi Lovato is an American singer and actress who rose to fame playing Mitchie Torres in the Disney Channel musical film Camp Rock (2008). Some of Lovatoâs most well-known albums include Here We Go Again...
American musician
âWeird Alâ Yankovic is a musician and songwriter best known for his parodies of songs and music videos by other musicians. He gained national fame in 1984 with the song and music video for âEat It,â a...
British musician
Ray Davies is an English musician and songwriter best known for his work with the rock band the Kinks. Ray Davies was born into a working-class family in the Fortis Green area of the suburban Muswell Hill...