Favorite Musical Artist(s)

1.

The Beatles

By: beej     22 votes

The Beatles were a pop and rock group from Liverpool, England formed in 1960. Primarily consisting of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals) throughout their career, The Beatles are recognised for leading the mid-1960s musical "British Invasion" into the United States. Although their initial musical style was rooted in 1950s rock and roll and homegrown skiffle, the group explored genres ranging from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. Their clothes, styles, and statements made them trend-setters, while their growing social awareness saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s. After the band broke up in 1970, all four members embarked upon solo careers. (Wikipedia)

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2.

Elvis Presley

By: beej     20 votes

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935-August 16, 1977), middle name sometimes written Aron,a was an American singer, musician and actor. He is considered a cultural icon, recognized simply by his first name. He is also referred to as the The King of Rock 'n' Roll, or as The King. (Wikipedia)

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3.

Johnny Cash

By: beej     21 votes

Johnny Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 - September 12, 2003) was a Grammy Award-winning American country singer-songwriter. Cash is widely considered to be one of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century.
Cash was known for his deep, distinctive voice, the boom-chick-a-boom or freight train sound of his Tennessee Three backing band, his demeanor, and his dark clothing, which earned him the nickname The Man in Black. He traditionally started his concerts with the introduction, Hello, I'm Johnny Cash. (Wikipedia)

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4.

Bon Jovi

By: beej     20 votes

Bon Jovi is a hard rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Fronted by lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi, the group originally achieved large-scale success in the 1980s. Over the past 25 years, Bon Jovi has sold over 120 million albums worldwide, including 34 million in the United States alone. (Wikipedia)

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5.

Billy Joel

By: beej     21 votes

William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American pianist and singer-songwriter. He released his first hit song, Piano Man, in 1973. According to the RIAA, he is the sixth best-selling recording artist in the United States. Joel had Top 10 hits in the '70s, '80s, and '90s; is a six-time Grammy Award winner, and has sold in excess of 150 million albums worldwide. He was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame (Class of 1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Class of 1999), and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (Class of 2006). Joel retired from recording pop music in 1993 but continued to tour (sometimes with Elton John). In 2001 he subsequently released Fantasies & Delusions, a CD of classical compositions for piano. In 2007 he returned to recording with a single entitled All My Life, followed by an extensive World Tour from 2006-2008, covering many of the major world cities. (Wikipedia)

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6.

Nirvana

By: beej     21 votes

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990. With the lead single Smells Like Teen Spirit from the group's second album Nevermind (1991), Nirvana entered into the mainstream, bringing along with it a subgenre of alternative rock called grunge. Other Seattle grunge bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden also gained popularity, and, as a result, alternative rock became a dominant genre on radio and music television in the United States during the early-to-middle 1990s. As Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the spokesman of a generation, with Nirvana the flagship band of Generation X. Cobain was uncomfortable with the attention and placed his focus on the band's music, challenging the band's audience with its third studio album In Utero (1993). (Wikipedia)

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7.

Aerosmith

By: beej     20 votes

Aerosmith is an American hard rock band, sometimes referred to as The Bad Boys from Boston and America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band. Their style, rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, glam, and R&B, which has inspired many subsequent rock artists. The band was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970. Guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton, originally in a band together called the Jam Band, met up with singer Steven Tyler, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarist Ray Tabano, and formed Aerosmith. By 1971, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford, and the band began developing a following in Boston. (Wikipedia)

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8.

Frank Sinatra

By: beej     22 votes

Francis Albert (Frank) Sinatra (December 12, 1915 - May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a solo artist with great success in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the bobby soxers. His professional career had stalled by the 1950s, but it was reborn in 1954 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. (Wikipedia)

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9.

AC/DC

By: beej     21 votes

AC/DC are a rock band formed in Sydney, Australia in 1973 by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young. Although the band are considered pioneers of hard rock and heavy metal, its members have always classified their music as rock 'n' roll. (Wikipedia)

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10.

Queen

By: beej     20 votes

Queen are an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist Brian May, lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, and drummer Roger Taylor. Bass guitarist John Deacon joined the following year, completing the band as it would remain until Mercury's death on November 24, 1991. It is uncertain how many albums the band has sold, but estimations range from 130 million to over 300 million albums worldwide. (Wikipedia)

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11.

The Eagles

By: beej     20 votes

The Eagles are an American rock band that were formed in Los Angeles, California during the early 1970s. With five Number 1 singles and six Number 1 albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful recording artists of the decade. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 and Hotel California, ranked among the ten best-selling albums according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The best-selling studio album Hotel California is rated as the thirty-seventh album in the Rolling Stone list The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and the band was ranked number 75 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. They are also the best-selling American group ever, with Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 being the best-selling album in the U.S. to date. (Wikipedia)

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12.

Neil Diamond

By: beej     21 votes

Neil Diamond is one of pop music's most enduring and successful singer-songwriters. As a successful pop music performer, Diamond scored a number of hits worldwide in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Critic William Ruhlmann wrote of Diamond, As of 2001, he claimed worldwide record sales of 115 million copies, and as of 2002 he was ranked third, behind only Elton John and Barbra Streisand, on the list of the most successful adult contemporary artists in the history of the Billboard chart. As of May 2005 Diamond had sold 120 million records worldwide, including 48 million records in the U.S. (Wikipedia)

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13.

The Beach Boys

By: beej     21 votes

The Beach Boys are an American rock and roll band. Formed in 1961, the group gained popularity for its close vocal harmonies and lyrics reflecting a California youth culture of surfing, girls, and cars. Brian Wilson's growing creative ambitions later transformed them into a more artistically innovative group that earned critical praise and influenced many later musicians. (Wikipedia)

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14.

Garth Brooks

By: beej     21 votes

Troyal Garth Brooks, known professionally as Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Successfully integrating rock elements into his recordings and live performances, Brooks soon began to dominate the country singles and country album charts and quickly crossed over into the mainstream pop arena, exposing country music to a larger audience. (Wikipedia)

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15.

Shania Twain

By: beej     21 votes

Shania Twain (born Eilleen Regina Edwards, August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter in the country and pop music genres. Her third album Come on Over is the best-selling album of all time by a female musician, and the best-selling album in the history of country music. She is the only female musician to have three albums certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, and is also the second best selling artist in Canada, behind Céline Dion, with three of her studio albums being certified double diamond by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. Twain has achieved both critical and financial success, having received five Grammy awards, 27 BMI Songwriter awards, and sold over 65 million albums worldwide to date including 48 million in the US alone. (Wikipedia)

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16.

Weezer

By: beej     13 votes

Weezer is an American alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California formed in 1992 by Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, guitar), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Matt Sharp (bass, backing vocals), and Jason Cropper (guitar, backing vocals), with the last two replaced by Mikey Welsh and Brian Bell, respectively. Mikey Welsh was later replaced with Scott Shriner. They have released six full-length albums, three EPs, and a DVD. Weezer has sold more than seven million records to date in the US. (Wikipedia)

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17.

Meatloaf

By: beej     20 votes

Michael Lee Aday (September 27, 1947), better known as Meat Loaf, is an American rock singer and actor of stage and screen. He is noted for his albums Bat out of Hell, II, and III and several famous songs from movies. The Neverland Express is the name of the band he fronts as its lead singer. In 2001, he changed his first name to Michael. Despite setbacks (including multiple bankruptcies), Meat Loaf has had a successful music career, spawning some of the largest-selling albums, and breaking several records for chart duration. Bat out of Hell, the debut album which had been four years in the making, has sold over 37 million copies. After almost 30 years, it still sells an estimated 200,000 copies annually, and stayed on the charts for over 9 years. Each of the seven tracks on the album eventually charted as a hit single. (Wikipedia)

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18.

The Rolling Stones

By: beej     20 votes

The Rolling Stones are an English band whose music was initially based on rhythm and blues and rock & roll. Formed in London and having their first success in the UK, they subsequently became popular in the US during the British Invasion in the early 1960s. (Wikipedia)

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19.

Elton John

By: beej     20 votes

Sir Elton Hercules John CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is an English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. In his four-decade career, John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially during the 1970s. He has sold over 200 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits including seven consecutive #1 U.S. albums, 59 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, 4 #2 hits, and nine #1 hits. He has won five Grammy awards and one Academy Award. His success has had a profound impact on popular music and has contributed to the continued popularity of the piano in rock and roll. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #49 on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. (Wikipedia)

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20.

Prince

By: beej     20 votes

Prince is a prolific artist, having released several hundred songs both under his own name and with other artists. He has won six Grammy Awards and an Academy Award, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2004, he was named as the top male pop artist of the past 25 years by ARC Rock on the Net, and Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Prince #28 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. (Wikipedia)

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21.

The Doors

By: beej     20 votes

The Doors were an influential American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles by vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger. They were a controversial band, due mostly to Morrison's cryptic lyrics and unpredictable stage persona. The band dissolved in 1972, one year after Morrison's death in 1971. According to the RIAA, they have sold over 32 million albums in the US alone. (Wikipedia)

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22.

Van Halen

By: beej     18 votes

Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California in 1972. They enjoyed success from the release of their self titled debut album in 1978. As of 2007 Van Halen has sold more than 80 million albums worldwide and have had the most number one hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, Van Halen is the 19th best selling band/artist of all time with sales of over 56 million albums in the USA and is one of five rock bands that have had two albums sell more than 10 million copies in the USA. (Wikipedia)

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23.

Bruce Springsteen

By: beej     20 votes

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an influential American songwriter, singer and guitarist. He has recorded and toured with the E Street Band. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of heartland rock infused with pop hooks, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered around his native New Jersey. His eloquence in expressing ordinary, everyday problems has earned him numerous awards, including eighteen Grammy Awards and an Academy Award, along with a notoriously dedicated and devoted global fan base. His most famous albums, Born to Run and Born in the U.S.A., epitomize his penchant for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily life. He has sold over 65 million albums in the U.S. (Wikipedia)

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24.

Backstreet Boys

By: beej     19 votes

The Backstreet Boys are a Grammy-nominated American pop group. They were the first group launched by fallen boy band mogul Lou Pearlman. They have had 13 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and have approximately sold 100 million records, the best selling boy band of all time, and World's Biggest Money Makers (Concerts and Album Sales) 1997-2005: #1 ($533.1 million). Two of their albums Millennium and Backstreet Boys are listed #13 and #27 respectively, in the list of 150 Best Selling Albums. (Wikipedia)

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25.

Justin Timberlake

By: beej     19 votes

Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American pop singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. He has won six Grammy Awards as well as an Emmy Award. (Wikipedia)

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26.

Michael Jackson

By: beej     20 votes

Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958) is an American musician and entertainer. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene at the age of eleven as a member of The Jackson 5. Jackson began a solo career in 1971 while still a member of the group. In the early 1980s, he became a dominant figure in popular music as the first African-American entertainer to amass a strong crossover following on MTV. Referred to as the King of Pop in subsequent years, five of his solo studio albums have become some of the world's best-selling records: Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995). (Wikipedia)

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27.

Bob Dylan

By: beej     19 votes

Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter, author, poet and disc jockey, who has been a major figure in popular music for five decades. Much of Dylan's most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when he became an informal chronicler and a reluctant figurehead of American unrest. A number of his songs, such as Blowin' in the Wind and The Times They Are a-Changin, became anthems of the anti-war and civil rights movements. His most recent studio album, Modern Times, released on August 29, 2006, entered the U.S. album chart at number one, and that same year was named Album of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine. (Wikipedia)

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28.

Barry Manilow

By: beej     19 votes

Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer and conductor, best known for such recordings as I Write the Songs, Mandy, Weekend in New England and Copacabana. (Wikipedia)

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