Curated playlist

American child singers

Michael JacksonMichael Jackson bought a music catalog with most of the Beatles's material in 1985. He paid 47.5 million dollars.
Britney SpearsBritney Spears sold the rights to her entire music catalogue for a reported $200 million. The buyer was the music publisher Primary Wave, and the BBC reported that the purchase closed on the 30th of December 2025. The price reflects a body…
Janet JacksonJanet Jackson was seen at the 1983 American Music Awards wearing a hoop earring with a key attached to it. She has worn variations of that earring in music videos and live shows ever since. The pair she wore between 1987 and 1990 is now on…
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…
Judy GarlandMGM fired Judy Garland in 1950, and Bing Crosby invited her onto his radio show. The audience gave her an ovation.
AaliyahAaliyah signed her first record deal at twelve. By 22 she had three albums and two films behind her.
Brie LarsonBrie Larson's 2005 album Finally Out of P.E. sold only 3,500 copies. She later won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Doja CatIn August 2018, Doja Cat uploaded a homemade music video in which she fantasized about being a cow. Within a week it had passed three million views. The American rapper, singer and producer was born Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, and the…
Brandy NorwoodBrandy Rayana Norwood, known simply as Brandy, once held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for thirteen weeks in a row. The song was "The Boy Is Mine," a duet with the singer Monica. It is still counted as the most successful song by a…
Hayden PanettiereHayden Panettiere was eleven months old when she first appeared on screen, in a 1990 advertisement for a Playskool toy train. That commercial was the start of a working life that now spans several decades. How does an infant in commercials…
ZendayaAt 24, Zendaya became the youngest person ever to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She took the prize at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards in 2020, for her work in the HBO series Euphoria. Zendaya…
Miley CyrusMiley Cyrus was eight years old when she grabbed her father's arm in a Toronto theatre. In 2001 the family lived in Toronto while Billy Ray Cyrus filmed the television series Doc. He took her to see a Mirvish production of Mamma Mia! at…
Hilary DuffHilary Duff was a child actor cast in the pilot of the NBC comedy Daddio, and producers removed her from the cast before it aired. A week later she won the title role in a new Disney Channel series. Years after that, in 2026, Time named…
Olivia RodrigoOlivia Rodrigo was a teenager when one of her songs drew more than 15.7 million streams around the world in a single day, on the 11th of January 2021. The next day, the total passed 17 million. Looking back, she described it this way:…
SelenaSelena Quintanilla-Pérez was 23 years old when she died on the 31st of March 1995, and major television networks interrupted their regular programming to announce it. She was a singer from Texas who performed Tejano music, a…
Lindsay LohanLindsay Lohan posed for the October 2010 cover of Vanity Fair and then made a blunt request. "I want my career back," she told the magazine. She added, "I know that I'm a damn good actress." The plea carried weight because Lohan, an…
Christina AguileraChristina Aguilera sang "A Sunday Kind of Love" on the television contest Star Search in 1990 and was eliminated in the semi-final round. That loss decided nothing. She would go on to sell more than 100 million records worldwide, and…
Billie EilishBillie Eilish was 18 years old when she left the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2020 holding all four of the ceremony's general field prizes. Only one person had done that before her, and no woman had. Not long before, she had been a…
Pink (singer)Pink, the American singer and songwriter born Alecia Beth Moore, once walked out to sing the US national anthem before Super Bowl LII while fighting influenza. For her it was the fulfilment of a childhood dream. As a girl in 1991, she had…
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…
Sabrina CarpenterSabrina Carpenter was one of 7,000 entrants in an online singing contest that opened in October 2008. The contest was called The Next Miley Cyrus Project, and Miley Cyrus herself ran it. Carpenter did not win. She placed third, in 2010.…
Chris BrownChris Brown, born Christopher Maurice Brown, has sold more than 140 million records worldwide. That total places him among the best-selling music artists in the world. Across his career he has collected 219 awards from 566 nominations, and…
Janis JoplinIn the summer of 1962, the campus newspaper at the University of Texas at Austin printed a profile of a student named Janis Joplin. The issue was dated the 27th of July, and the headline read “She Dares to Be Different.” The writer noted…
Vanessa HudgensVanessa Hudgens is an American actress and singer, born on the 14th of December 1988. In August 2007, a Disney Channel sequel starring her drew more than 17.2 million viewers in the United States. That made it the most-watched Disney…
Selena GomezIn 2016, Selena Gomez became the first person to reach 100 million followers on Instagram, a milestone Time later singled out in its Firsts series. Gomez is an American actress, singer, songwriter, businesswoman, and producer, born in…
Hayley WilliamsHayley Williams was 16 years old when her band Paramore released its debut album, All We Know Is Falling, in 2005. Readers of Alternative Press later voted her second in a poll of the five greatest pop-punk vocalists of all time. Yet…
Mandy MooreMandy Moore, the American singer and actress, once offered to refund everyone who had bought her first two albums. In 2006 she said she would give her fans their money back if she could. Then, during a radio interview in April of that…
Billy PrestonBilly Preston got his name on a Beatles single. The 1969 "Get Back" was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston."
Mckenna GraceMckenna Grace was four years old when her great-grandmother gave her a collection of Shirley Temple films on DVD. That present was the first time she showed any interest in acting. Within a few years she was standing in front of cameras,…
Taylor MomsenTaylor Momsen was on stage in Seville, Spain, on the 31st of May 2024 when a bat bit her. She was performing with her band, the Pretty Reckless, at the time. The bite meant she had to take vaccinations for rabies. Momsen is an American…
Keke PalmerKeke Palmer's famous nickname has nothing to do with her real name. Lauren Keyana Palmer took it from an imaginary friend called Keke, invented by her older sister, Loreal, before Palmer was even born. In an interview with Glamour in 2022,…