Curated playlist

21st-century American male singers

Michael JacksonMichael Jackson bought a music catalog with most of the Beatles's material in 1985. He paid 47.5 million dollars.
Bob DylanAt a 1966 Manchester concert, Bob Dylan told his band to play loud after a heckler called him Judas.
Kanye WestKanye West recorded "Through the Wire" with his jaw still wired shut. A 2002 car accident had shattered it.
Bruce SpringsteenBruce Springsteen threw the first acetate of his own album Born to Run into the swimming pool of his hotel in 1975. The record was being mastered while the band toured, and he was furious at what he heard. He briefly considered scrapping…
Bruno MarsBruno Mars was five years old when he wet himself on a Honolulu stage in the middle of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love." His parents wondered whether they were making a mistake by putting him in front of crowds. He never…
Prince (musician)Prince once changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol to protest his record label.
Little RichardLittle Richard walked away from rock and roll to study theology. A fireball over Sydney in 1957 shook him.
Justin TimberlakeJustin Timberlake was 11 years old when he appeared on the television show Star Search and sang country songs under the name Justin Randall. The boy from Memphis, Tennessee would one day be dubbed the Prince of Pop. Billboard would name…
Pharrell WilliamsPharrell Williams, the American musician, songwriter, record producer and fashion designer, was once behind a startling share of the songs on the radio. An August 2003 survey cited by The Age found that his production duo, the Neptunes,…
Chuck BerryChuck Berry was buried with a cherry-red guitar bolted inside his coffin lid. The rock and roll pioneer died in 2017.
George Clinton (funk musician)George Clinton says a flying metallic object once hit his car. The funk musician was riding with Bootsy Collins.
Will SmithWill Smith turned down the lead role in The Matrix to make Wild Wild West. He later called that choice a mistake.
Jerry Lee LewisJerry Lee Lewis feared his own hit song was blasphemous.
Iggy PopIggy Pop, born James Newell Osterberg Jr., built a reputation on rolling around in broken glass while a crowd watched. Admirers eventually called him the "Godfather of Punk". His first band sold few records, yet its songs outlasted much of…
D'AngeloD'Angelo, born Michael Eugene Archer, released only three studio albums in his lifetime. Rolling Stone still placed him 75th on its 2023 list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. The same magazine ranked his second album, Voodoo, 28th…
Snoop DoggSnoop Dogg bought Death Row Records, the label that launched his career, in February 2022. It took nearly three decades.
Steven TylerSteven Tyler, the singer born Steven Victor Tallarico, saw his touring career end in August 2024. That month, his band Aerosmith announced that it was retiring from the road. The reason was Tyler's voice. He had fractured his larynx and…
Axl RoseAxl Rose, the lead singer of Guns N' Roses, was ninety minutes into a July 1991 concert at the Riverport Amphitheater near St. Louis when he decided to deal with a problem himself. He had asked security on stage to confiscate a fan's video…
Bill CosbyBill Cosby holds the record for the most Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album, with seven wins. To a vast television audience, he was also Cliff Huxtable, the father at the center of The Cosby Show. That role earned him a reputation as…
Usher (musician)Usher, the American singer, songwriter, dancer and actor, drew 123 million viewers within the United States to his Super Bowl LVIII halftime show in 2024. Very few performers ever stand in front of a crowd that size. Fewer still get there…
Gene SimmonsGene Simmons was born Chaim Witz in Haifa, Israel, on the 25th of August 1949. He grew up to become the bassist and co-lead singer of the hard rock band Kiss, where he plays a stage character called the Demon. Rock stardom has a reputation…
R. KellyBeneath the Chicago "L" tracks, at the Jackson stop on the Red Line in the Loop, a young school dropout named Robert Kelly sang for passing commuters. Decades later, as R. Kelly, he had sold more than 75 million albums and singles…
Lenny KravitzLenny Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four years in a row, from 1999 to 2002. That run broke the record for wins in the category. It also set a record for consecutive wins in one category by a male…
Marilyn MansonMarilyn Manson is the stage name of Brian Hugh Warner, an American rock singer whose band has sold over 50 million records worldwide. Few musicians have been argued over in so many rooms. Politicians condemned his lyrics, critics fought…
Billy Bob ThorntonBilly Bob Thornton was working as a waiter at an industry event in Los Angeles when he found himself serving the film director Billy Wilder. Thornton struck up a conversation with him. Wilder's advice was simple: think about becoming a…
Chris CornellChris Cornell was born Christopher John Boyle, and the voice he grew into covered nearly four octaves, from C2 to A5. Critic Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote that as the voice climbed, it could meet hard-rock turbulence with, at the…
David ByrneDavid Byrne was turned away from his middle school choir, which judged him "off-key and too withdrawn". That boy grew up to be an American musician, writer, visual artist and filmmaker. Over his career he has received an Academy Award, a…
Eddie VedderEddie Vedder was born Edward Louis Severson III on the 23rd of December 1964 in Evanston, Illinois. The surname the world knows him by was not the one he was born with. He grew up to become the lead vocalist, primary lyricist and one of…
Alice CooperAlice Cooper summed up his early band with one boast: "We were into fun, sex, death and money when everybody was into peace and love." Alice Cooper is both the name of a rock band that began in Phoenix, Arizona, and the legal name of its…
Dick Van DykeDick Van Dyke walked onto the stage of The Masked Singer in 2023 disguised as a character called Gnome, and he was the first contestant eliminated. The show had promoted his unmasking as "the most legendary, decorated and beloved unmasking…
Billy PrestonBilly Preston got his name on a Beatles single. The 1969 "Get Back" was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston."
Sean LennonSteve Jobs once brought Sean Lennon an early Macintosh for his ninth birthday.
Danny ElfmanDanny Elfman retired his rock band Oingo Boingo on Halloween night in 1995, after five sold-out concerts at the Universal Amphitheatre. The band had made him a name in Los Angeles new wave. Yet the career waiting for him afterward was…