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 | | Eva Simons is a Dutch electro-pop singer who made her solo recording debut in 2009 with the international hit "Silly Boy" after rising to fame on the reality show Popstars several years earlier as part of the chart-topping girl group Raffish. |
 | | Born in Pristina, Kosovo but raised in London, R&B singer Rita Ora made her first official appearance in 2007 when she guested on Craig David's single "Awkward. |
 | | Touted as the British answer to Canadian pop sensation Justin Bieber, Brighton-born Conor Maynard also rose to prominence through cover versions posted on YouTube. |
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 | | Outasight is the alias of Richard Andrew, a rapper and singer who hails from Yonkers, New York and combines rap, R&B, and rock with occasional crossover appeal. |
 | | Alexandra Stan is a Euro-dance vocalist from Romania who scored an international smash hit in 2011 with her second single, "Mr. |
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 | | Influenced by Nina Simone, Massive Attack, and Joni Mitchell, jazz-soul artist Emeli Sandé regularly provided guest vocals for several of the U. |
 | | London, England musician Alex Clare grew up listening to his father’s jazz records, was drawn to blues and soul (Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder), and eventually drum‘n’bass and U. |
 | | Cher Lloyd came to notice as a contestant on series seven of Simon Cowell's U.K. talent program The X Factor. |
 | | In 2008, 11-year-old Cody Simpson opened a YouTube account and began posting videos of his own musical performances. |
 | | Las Vegas-based indie rockers Imagine Dragons formed in Provo, Utah in 2009. Like their desert-born stadium rock contemporaries the Killers, Imagine Dragons blend engaging, synth-based dance-pop with emotionally charged, Brit-pop-inspired alt-rock. |
 | | With an eye toward reinventing the boy band sound, the Wanted formed in 2009, nearly 10 years after groups like N ‘Sync and the Backstreet Boys hit their commercial peak. |
 | | Favoring a naughty schoolboy look that makes him seem even younger than his already tender years (22 when his first major-label album was released), Scottish artist, producer, and remixer Calvin Harris has a similarly youthful and forward-looking approach to his music. |
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 | | On the one hand, in the pop music arena, worldbeaters such as Kylie Minogue are few and far between. |
 | | Canadian pop star Carly Rae Jepsen spent her formative years absorbing pop culture in her hometown of Mission, British Columbia. |
 | | Though he was born in Chicago, the DJ, A&R director, record store owner, and producer known as Kaskade found his spiritual and musical home in San Francisco by way of Salt Lake City and New York. |
 | | The winner of Fox TV's first American Idol competition during the summer of 2002, Kelly Clarkson went from an anonymous talent to a nationally known singer in a matter of months, performing for an audience of millions. |
 | | Electronic pop-rap group Far East Movement made their major-label debut in 2010. Founded in 2003, the group was originally a trio comprised of high-school companions Kev Nish (born Kevin Nishimura), Prohgress (James Roh), and J-Splif, all of whom had grown up in downtown Los Angeles. |
 | | 3Oh!3 are a duo from Boulder, Colorado (i.e., area code 303), whose style of music includes jokey raps, indie electronica beats, and lots of tomfoolery. |
 | | With the return of the punks in the mid-'90s came a resurgence of their slightly more commercial rivals, new wave bands. |
 | | British R&B singer/songwriter Jay Sean is notable for being one of the first British-Asian crossover stars and also for his international popularity, including five consecutive Top 40 singles in America. |
 | | Before becoming a front-runner in the eighth season of American Idol, Adam Lambert made his name in the theater world, where he performed alongside Val Kilmer in the debut production of Ten Commandments: The Musical and landed an understudy role in a touring production of Wicked. |
 | | A leader in the parade of Mickey Mouse Club veterans who stormed pop at the turn of the millennium, Christina Aguilera was the sexy, brassy diva of the bunch -- the Rolling Stones to Britney Spears’ Beatles, as it were. |
 | | France's David Guetta belongs to the sparkling wave of DJs who combine Daft Punk's sleek house music with a pinch of electroclash's punch. |
 | | A self-proclaimed product of his past, rapper Sean Kingston's history helps describe his sound. Born in Miami, FL, then raised in Kingston, Jamaica, from the age of six, he mixed more than a little dancehall and reggae into his hip-hop. |
 | | Although initially viewed as another face in the late-'90s crowd of teen pop acts, Pink (professionally known as P!nk) quickly transcended and outgrew that label with her combination of pop songcraft and powerhouse, rock-influenced vocals. |
 | | Before releasing her debut album in 2009, Selena Gomez began her career as a child actress. Born in 1992, she grew up in Texas and got her first break as a cast member on the kids TV show Barney and Friends. |
 | | After stars reach a certain point, it's easy to forget what they became famous for and concentrate solely on their personas. |
 | | A brash and driven pop singer/songwriter, Ke$ha (Kesha Rose Sebert) was born in Los Angeles but moved at the age of four to Nashville, where her mother -- a longtime songwriter -- had inked a publishing deal. |
 | | When Nelly Furtado appeared with her neo-hippie, multiculti debut, Whoa, Nelly!, in 2001, a dance-diva makeover seemed like an impossibility, but the singer/songwriter revived and sustained her career with the sexually charged Loose in 2006, in the process consolidating her position as one of the most unpredictable artists of her decade. |
 | | When the Southern-flavored party rap called crunk took over urban radio in 2004, Miami rapper Pitbull decided it was time to seek stardom. |
 | | Rihanna established her dance-pop credentials in summer 2005 with her debut smash hit, "Pon de Replay," and continued to demonstrate hit potential in subsequent years (e. |
 | | The Black Eyed Peas transcended hip-hop to become one of the most commercially successful pop groups of the 2000s. |
 | | A former Christian artist, Katy Perry rebranded herself as a larger-than-life pop star and rose to prominence during the summer of 2008. |
 | | More than any other single artist, Britney Spears was the driving force behind the return of teen pop in the late '90s. |
 | | Flo Rida, unsurprisingly a native Floridian, is an MC who toured as a teenager with 2 Live Crew's Fresh Kid Ice and began popping up on high-profile mixtapes by 2006, most notably DJ Khaled's We the Best -- on "Bitch I'm from Dade County," he appeared with the likes of Rick Ross, Trick Daddy, Trina, and Dre (of Cool & Dre). |
 | | Glamorously gaudy, a self-made post-modern diva stitched together from elements of Madonna, David Bowie, and Freddie Mercury, Lady Gaga was the first true millennial superstar. |
 | | After Usher Raymond was spotted by a LaFace record executive at a talent show in his hometown of Atlanta, it took no time for his career to take off. |
 | | Influenced by the unpredictable rhymes of Missy Elliot along with the sexually charged attitudes of Lil' Kim and Foxy Brown, Queens native Nicki Minaj was discovered thanks to her MySpace page. |
 | | At the dawn of the new millennium, Enrique Iglesias was the best-selling Latin recording artist in the world. |
 | | Ne-Yo was one of the most successful songwriters and artists of the 2000s. His breakthrough didn't come until late 2004, as the co-songwriter of Mario's "Let Me Love You," a number one Hot 100 hit that Billboard later determined to be the eighth most successful single of the decade. |
 | | In November 2005, Chris Brown’s Scott Storch-produced “Run It!” -- a rewrite of Usher’s “Yeah!” -- topped the Billboard Hot 100, making the 16-year-old singer the first male artist in over a decade to top the chart with a debut single. |
 | | Actress/singer Jennifer Lopez was born in the Bronx, New York, on July 24, 1969; after starting out in musical theater as a child, she made her film debut at age 16 in the little-seen My Little Girl, but her career then stalled until she was tapped to become one of the dancing "Fly Girls" on the television sketch comedy series In Living Color. |
 | | Although rooted in alternative metal, Linkin Park became one of the most successful acts of the 2000s by welcoming elements of hip-hop, modern rock, and atmospheric electronica into their music. |
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 | | After working a string of behind-the-scenes jobs -- including writing songs for Brandy, singing backup for the Sugababes, and impersonating Elvis -- songwriter/producer Bruno Mars put his name on top of the charts in 2009 by co-writing Flo Rida's hit song "Right Round. |
