Kat DeLuna is the stage name of Kathleen Emperatriz DeLuna. She was born on November 17, 1987 in the Bronx neighborhood of New York. As a child, DeLuna spent her time listening to Aretha Franklin and became interested in becoming a singer. At the age of 12, DeLuna was invited by Milly Quezada to sing with her on stage. In her freshman year of high school at Arts High School in Newark, NJ., Kat Deluna responded to an audition in The Village Voice and was accepted into an all-Latina, Hip Hop/R&B group called Coquette. In April 2004, she opened for J Records musician Cassidy as part of Coquette. DeLuna continued to pursue her dream of becoming a solo artist and at 15, she entered a Coca-Cola sponsored karaoke competition and she won. After the competition, Cuban salsa singer Rey Ruiz advised DeLuna to start writing her own music. DeLuna signed a contract with the production label, Global Music Brand founded by Tyrone Edmond. On August 7, 2007 she released her debut album, 9 Lives. It spawned a number of singles which include "Run the Show” and "Whine Up". In September 2008 Deluna performed the US National Anthem at the Texas Stadium during the Monday Night Football game between the Cowboys and the Eagles. The performance garnered media attention because the crowd booed her during the performance. Time later labeled the performance the 8th worst National Anthem rendition. Kat Deluna is currently working on her second album entitled Inside Out.
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Evanescence is a rock band formed by Amy Lee and Ben Moody in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995. The core line up includes Amy Lee on vocals, Benny Moody on guitar and Tim McCord on bass guitar. The band has suffered several line-up changes, including co-founder Moody leaving mid-tour in 2003, bassist Will Boyd in mid-2006, followed by guitarist John LeCompt and drummer Rocky Gray in 2007. After experimenting with band names, such as Childish Intentions and Stricken, they decided on Evanescence, which means "disappearance" or "fading away". Amy Lee loved the name because "it is mysterious and dark, and places a picture in the listeners’ mind". In 2000, they released their debut demo album entitled Origin. In 2003, Evanescence released it’s first studio album, Fallen. It was released on the Wind-up Records label, and was their first album to be released worldwide. Fallen spent 58 weeks on the Billboard Top 20 and about 100 weeks on the Billboard Top 200. The album sold fifteen million records and thrust the group to fame. In 2006, Evanescence released their sophomore album, The Open Door. It debuted at number one in the United States and generated several singles such as Call Me When You’re Sober, Lithium, Sweet Sacrifice and Good Enough. The album has sold over four million copies worldwide.
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Mýa Marie Harrison, professionally known as Mýa, was born on October 10, 1979 in Washington DC. She was raised in Glenn Dale, Maryland and graduated from Eleanor Roosevelt High School. Mýa released her self titled debut album in May 1998. It featured guest appearances by Sisqo, Missy Elliot, and Silkk Tha Shocker and produced three singles, "It’s All About Me, "Movin’ On" and "My First Night With You". The album debut at number seventy-seven on the Billboard 200 and later peaked at number twenty-nine. The album was certified platinum by RIAA on October 1, 1998. Mýa followed that success with the release of her sophomore album, Fear of Flying, released by Interscope Records on April 25, 2000. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA on March 28, 2001 and garnered Mýa a Soul Train Music Award nomination for Best R&B/Soul album. Mýa has since released three more albums and has launched a successful film career. She has starred in movies such as Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004), Shall We Dance? (2004) and Cursed (2005). In 2002, she had a supporting role in the film adaptation of the 1975 Broadway musical Chicago, for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award.
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Gwen Stefani was born on October 3, 1969 in Fullerton, California. She joined the Ska band No Doubt and in 1992 they released their self titled debut album through Interscope Records. Despite strong tours, the album failed to perform as well as the record company expected it to, selling only 30,000 copies. The record company refused to fund the release of a single from it, so No Doubt released the album’s only single, "Trapped in a Box", independently. Interscope refused to finance another album. Instead, the band independently produced its second album, The Beacon Street Collection, which performed much better than its debut, selling 100,000 copies and ensuring that Interscope financed and supported their third album, Tragic Kingdom. Tragic Kingdom was released in October 2005 and was the band’s breakthrough hit. it spawned seven singles, including "Just a Girl", which charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart; and "Don’t Speak", which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay and peaked in the top five of many international charts. In 2004, Gwen Stefani took a hiatus from No Doubt and released her debut solo album entitled "Love. Angel. Music. Baby". The album yielded six singles and had high sales, going multi-platinum in several countries, and selling seven million copies. It earned Stefani several Grammy Award nominations in 2005 and 2006. Gwen Stefani’s second solo album The Sweet Escape in 2006 yielded "Wind It Up", a moderate worldwide success. Including her work with No Doubt, Gwen Stefani has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide and won the World’s Best-Selling New Female Artist at the World Music Awards 2005.
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Taylor Swift is a country pop singer songwriter that was born on December 18, 1989 in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. At the age of ten, Swift began writing songs and singing in various contests and fairs including karaoke contest. It was at this age that she developed a love for country performers like Dolly Parton and Patsy Cline. When she was twelve, Taylor Swift started writing songs with her friend Kevin Kuscavage and playing acoustic guitar. When she turned fifteen, Taylor Swift performed at a Nashville’s songwriters’ venue, The Bluebird Cafe, catching the attention of Scott Borchetta. He immediately signed her to his new record company, Big Machine Records. On October 26, 2006 Taylor Swift released her self titled debut album. The album spent 23 weeks on the Country Music Charts and spawned 5 hit singles. Than in 2008 Taylor Swift released her second album, Fearless to many positive reviews. It debuted at number one on the music charts and sold over a half million copies it’s first week. Fearless was the first album since Santana’s "Supernatural" to top the Billboard 200 for eleven non-consecutive weeks. It generated six hit singles including "Love Story" which reached number one on both the Canadian and US country charts.
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Skillet is an American Christian rock band, formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1996. The band consists of John Cooper (lead vocalist, bassist), his wife Korey Cooper (guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist), Ben Kasica (guitarist), and the newest member Jen Ledger (drummer). On October 29,1996, Skillet released it’s self titled debut album. In 1998, they released their sophomore album Hey You, I Love Your Soul. Soon after the release of their third album, Invincible in early 2000, Trey McClurkin parted ways with Skillet, and Lori Peters filled the drummer’s position. Invincible would be Skillet’s best selling record thus far. The band released their first worship album, and fourth album overall, Ardent Worship in fall of 2000. With little time between touring and recording, Skillet released Alien Youth in 2001, which was the first album that John Cooper took on production duties. Skillet’s most recent album Comatose was released on October 3, 2006. The album spawned the singles "Rebirthing," "Whispers In The Dark," "Comatose," "The Older I Get," "Those Nights," and "The Last Night". The title of Skillet’s next studio album’s, Awake, was announced on April 17th 2009 in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is scheduled for release August 25. A recent magazine article states the album will contain 12 songs.
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Dave Matthews Band is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1991. Members include Dave Matthews, Carter Beauford, Stefan Lessard and Boyd Tinsley. The band’s first in-studio demo was recorded in February or March 1991, and consisted of "The Song That Jane Likes," "Recently," and "Tripping Billies". On November 9, 1993, the Dave Matthews Band released its first album, Remember Two Things, on its Bama Rags label. The band released their first live EP, entitled Recently, in 1994. The album’s five tracks were taken from shows performed at The Birchmere, in Alexandria, Virginia, and from Trax, in Charlottesville. This EP featured the first recorded version of Bob Dylan’s classic "All Along the Watchtower" and "Halloween." Recently was re-released by RCA Records in 1997. On September 20, 1994, they released their second album, Under the Table and Dreaming, featuring their first commercial hits "What Would You Say", "Satellite" and "Ants Marching". Under the Table and Dreaming and its follow-up album, Crash brought the band national attention, culminating in a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "So Much to Say" as well as four other nominations between the years 1996 and 1997. On October 28, 1997, the band released their first full length live album, Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95. The album, which was recorded at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, featured popular songs from the band’s first three albums and included longtime collaborator Tim Reynolds on electric guitar.
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