 | | |
 | | Cassandra Steen is a German contemporary R&B singer known for solo hits such as "Darum Leben Wir" as well as guest features on hits by Bushido, Xavier Naidoo, and others. |
 | | Mutlu is an acoustic guitar-playing singer/songwriter from Philadelphia who draws from a range of styles, primarily soul music but also hip-hop and jazz, and who built up his initial following with years of live performances and a series of EP releases. |
 | | A native of Brisbane, Australia, singer/songwriter Shane Nicholson first gained public attention as the lead-singer/guitarist for the rock band Pretty Violet Stain. |
 | | New Zealand's Aaradhna -- born Aaradhana Patel -- lucked out when Dawn Raid co-founder Brotha D happened to get his hair braided at her grandmother's Wellington house. |
 | | New York-based singer/songwriter Emily Angell spent her formative years studying under the tutelage of the Beatles, Amy Grant, and Christina Aguilera before heading to the Big Apple in 2004 to attend City College of New York’s Sonic Arts Center, where she focused on music and recording. |
 | | Finnish pop star Annika Eklund is a popular singer in her native country who has performed since her early teens. |
 | | Katie Noonan's parents, opera singer Maggie Noonan and journalist and singer Brian Noonan, met on the set of the performance TV program Showcase (she won the judges' vote; he the viewers'). |
 | | |
 | | |
 | | Diane Birch made her studio debut with 2009's Bible Belt, a combination of singer/songwriter soul and soft, '70s-era pop in the vein of Carole King, Laura Nyro, and Elton John. |
 | | A protégée of Backstreet Boys producer Jonathan "Mookie" Morant, pop singer Krystal first discovered music at an early age back home in Anderson, IN. |
 | | |
 | | After growing up in West Virginia, singer/songwriter Lainie Marsh attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, then settled in Los Angeles to pursue a musical career before relocating to Nashville in 1989. |
 | | |
 | | Vesa-Matti "Vesku" Loiri is well-known in his native Finland as a comedian, actor, and Emma-nominated musician. |
 | | Erik Hassle is a Swedish soul-pop vocalist who made his debut in 2009 with Hassle. Born on August 26, 1988, in Katrineholm, Sweden, he studied at the Rytmus school of music in Stockholm. |
 | | A native of Louisville, KY, Heather Bond moved to Nashville as a young adult to launch her music career. |
 | | Testing out of high school at 16 and armed with his guitar, singer/songwriter Ronnie Day(b. Jan. 18, 1988) -- no relation to fellow musician Howie Day; he simply adopted the stage surname based on MySpace fan suggestions -- was free to take on the music industry. |
 | | Singer, poet, and multi-instrumentalist K.S. Rhoads grew up in Michigan but relocated to Nashville in 2000, where he refined his autumnal and pensive pop/rock sound. |
 | | Singer/songwriter Marié Digby is perhaps best known for posting a clip of herself performing an acoustic version of Rihanna's "Umbrella" on YouTube. |
 | | Seven is a contemporary R&B singer/songwriter from Switzerland whose albums regularly chart within the Top Ten, if not the Top Five, in his homeland. |
 | | William Deslauriers is a Canadian pop singer/songwriter who rose to fame on the reality television series Star Académie in 2009 and made his smash hit album debut with Un Pied à Terre the following year. |
 | | American singer/songwriter Matt Morris began his career on the small screen in 1991 as part of the cast of seasons four through seven of The Mickey Mouse Club. |
 | | Prior to developing her sound, a fusion of rock and R&B that tends to center around themes of dealing with heartache, inward reflection, and empowerment, Kwanza Jones learned how to play several instruments, but music was merely one of her interests. |
 | | Out of all of the Eagles, Don Henley had the most successful solo career. After the group initially broke up in 1982, Henley released his first solo album, I Can't Stand Still. |
 | | Allan Olsen is a Danish folk-rock singer/songwriter who began his solo recording career in the 1980s and rose to chart-topping success in his homeland. |
 | | |
 | | |
 | | |
 | | Anointed "the new Dylan" upon his recording debut, folk-rock singer/songwriter Steve Forbert was born in Meridian, MS, in 1954. |
 | | Years before "I Don't Want to Be" propelled him to pop/rock success, songwriter Gavin DeGraw began honing his piano skills at the age of eight, followed by his participation in several cover bands with his older brother in upstate New York. |
 | | New Jersey-based singer/songwriter Jimmy White spent his formative years composing lyrics and music in his head before publishing his first song while studying at Seton Hall University. |
 | | Daniel Powter, the Canadian who stormed the European charts in 2005 with his single "Bad Day" (from his 2005 self-titled release), was born and raised in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, picking up the violin at the age of four. |
 | | |
 | | |
 | | Tuomo Prättälä (born April 30, 1979, in Helsinki) is a Finnish jazz and soul musician perhaps best known for his contributions to such bands as Quintessence, Q-Continuum, Huba, the Emma Salokoski Ensemble, MP4, and the Ilmiliekki Quartet. |
 | | Stan Walker is a pop singer from New Zealand with an R&B style who rose to fame as the winner of Australian Idol in 2009 and topped the charts shortly thereafter with his debut single, "Black Box. |
 | | |
 | | After making his introduction as a sensitive, acoustic-styled songwriter on 2001's Room for Squares, John Mayer steadily widened his approach over the subsequent years, encompassing everything from blues-rock to adult contemporary in the process. |
 | | Folk-pop singer/songwriter Pete Murray emerged from relative obscurity to become one of Australia's biggest stars with his chart-topping 2003 sophomore LP, Feeler. |
 | | Pop-rocker Shannon Noll rose to stardom down under after earning runner-up honors in the 2003 debut season of the television amateur showcase Australian Idol. |
 | | Jonathan Johansson writes his lyrics in Swedish, and delivers them in a dreamy croon (frequently doubling himself in falsetto) that's marked by the accent of his native Scania region at the country's southern tip. |
 | | |
 | | Folk-soul chanteuse Ayo emerged as one of Europe's biggest new pop stars of 2006 with her breakthrough debut LP, Joyful. |
 | | Amy Macdonald is a Scottish singer/songwriter who, at the age of 20, began topping the European charts with her Celtic-tinged folk music. |
 | | By age 21, vocalist Colbie Caillat had evolved swiftly from an aspiring R&B/folk singer to a pop sensation, a feat that owed as much to the marketing assistance of MySpace as the meteoric popularity of her debut single, "Bubbly. |
 | | Reversing the usual process by which groups break up and give way to solo careers, the Traveling Wilburys are a group made up of solo stars. |
 | | Best remembered for his mid-'70s smashes "Lonely Boy" and "Thank You for Being a Friend," pop singer/songwriter Andrew Gold was born in Burbank, California on August 2, 1951. |
 | | Though he's never been able to record a hit of his own, singer/songwriter Jules Shear has recorded several albums of highly accessible, hit-worthy material, and as a testament to his abilities, he's penned hits for others, including "All Through the Night" for Cyndi Lauper and "If She Knew What She Wants" for the Bangles. |
