AUTHORITATIVE | CURATED | First 500 words Free

• Personalities
• Boy Bands
• Nineties
• Nineties Pop
• Rock

(Vocal group, 1996–2001) The launch point for the career of Justin Timberlake, *NSYNC formed in Florida in 1996. J.C. Chasez, Chris Kilpatrick, Joey Fatone and James Lance Bass scored their first hits in Europe with ‘I Want You Back’ and ‘Tearing Up My Heart’. America fell for their good looks and vocal charms in 1998 and ...

• Personalities
• Noughties Pop
• Noughties Singer-Songwriters
• Rhythm & Blues
• Rock
• Soul
• Twenty-First Century

(Vocals, b. 1981) Timberlake, once liberated from the confines of former band *NSYNC, managed to appeal to critics and fans alike after the release of his Michael Jackson-influenced Justified album in 2002, and in particular the stunningly modern single ‘Like I Love You’. Helped in no small part by the crisp work of The Neptunes’ production team ...

• Personalities
• Gangsta
• Hip Hop
• Nineties
• Rock

(Vocals, 1972–97) Born Christopher Wallace in New York, he sold crack to make ends meet which ended up in a jail term. Because of his large size he began rapping under the name of Biggie Smalls and an early demo eventually found its way to Sean Combs, a.k.a. Puff Daddy, who signed him to his ...

• Styles & Forms
• Boy Bands
• Pop

Groups of fresh-faced young men singing catchy tunes have been one of the mainstays of commercial pop since The Beatles. In the last two decades, manufactured boy bands such as New Kids On The Block and Take That have ruled the roost. Although their musical legacy bears no comparison to that of The Fab Four’s, the devotion they inspired ...

• Styles & Forms
• Noughties Pop
• Pop

Although boy bands and girl bands held sway over anglo-American pop for much of the 1990s, the end of the decade witnessed the return of the individual artist. While the likes of *NSYNC, Blue and Sugababes continued to fly the flag for groups, artists such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Pink emerged as arena-filling soloists. The ...

• Personalities
• Pop
• Soul & R&B
• Twenty-First Century

Adele was just three years old when she attended her first live gig with her mother: a Cure concert in London’s Finsbury Park. It was the same year her father, a Welsh plumber, left her mother, practically severing all ties with his daughter in the process. After that first gig, the tot took to the music straight ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Modern Era

1874–1954 American composer Ives was drawn to music largely by the example of his father George, who had been a bandsman in the American Civil War and who encouraged his son in such experiments as playing a tune in one key and its accompaniment in another. Ives studied with the conservative composer Horatio Parker (1863–1919), but soon turned to his ...

• Styles & Forms
• Classical
• Contemporary Classical

After the cataclysmic upheaval of World War II subsided, it was clear that a very different musical world would result. The conflict had led to the dislocation, destruction and occupation of major cities in Germany and central Europe, coupled with the dispersal of their leading creative figures around the globe. It was inevitable that fresh centres, directions ...