Curated playlist

Golden Globe Award–winning musicians

Bob DylanAt a 1966 Manchester concert, Bob Dylan told his band to play loud after a heckler called him Judas.
MadonnaMadonna arrived in New York in 1978 with thirty-five dollars. It was her first plane ride and first taxi.
Lady GagaLady Gaga's name may have come from a phone typo. Producer Rob Fusari said autocorrect turned "Radio Ga Ga" into "Lady".
Andrew Lloyd WebberAndrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera closed on Broadway in 2023 after 13,981 performances.
Elton JohnElton John sang "Candle in the Wind 1997" live only once, at Princess Diana's funeral. He wrote it days before.
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…
Prince (musician)Prince once changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol to protest his record label.
AdeleA friend posted Adele's three-song class demo on Myspace, and a record label phoned.
Mick JaggerMick Jagger was carrying records by Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters on Platform Two of Dartford railway station on the 17th of October 1961. The man he met there was Keith Richards. The records revealed a shared passion for rhythm and blues,…
Francis Ford CoppolaMarlon Brando won the Godfather role only after a screen test and a reduced fee.
BonoBono, the lead singer of U2, took his name from the sign of a hearing aid shop in Dublin. The shop was called Bonavox, and it stood just off O'Connell Street, the city's principal thoroughfare. The word comes from the Latin for good voice.…
John WilliamsSteven Spielberg laughed at John Williams's two-note Jaws theme, thinking it was a joke.
Mark RonsonMark Ronson was twelve years old when he pestered Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone, until the magazine gave him an internship. By his own description he was a music nerd, and the persistence paid off. Decades later he had won ten…
Sting (musician)Sting, the English musician and actor born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, once disowned his own first name on camera. In the 1985 documentary Bring On the Night, a journalist addressed him as Gordon. He answered, "My children call me Sting,…
Common (rapper)Common is an American rapper, actor and activist, born Lonnie Rashid Lynn, and his shelf of awards crosses three industries. He has won three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award. He signed with…
Hans ZimmerHans Zimmer, the German film composer born on the 12th of September 1957, once set out to write a sound that people would truly hate. His own words were: "I wanted to write something people would truly hate." The target was the villain in…
Trent ReznorTrent Reznor once worked at Right Track Studio in Cleveland as an assistant engineer and janitor. Studio owner Bart Koster remembered his employee this way: "He is so focused in everything he does. When that guy waxed the floor, it looked…
Phil CollinsPhil Collins is the only artist who performed at both Live Aid concerts on the 13th of July 1985. He crossed between London and Philadelphia by helicopters and a Concorde to do it. Born Philip David Charles Collins, he went on to sell an…
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…
EjaeEjae, born Kim Eun-jae and known professionally under a name stylized in all capital letters, co-wrote and co-performed a song that reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. That song, "Golden," from the film KPop Demon Hunters, later…
Neil DiamondNeil Diamond, born on the 24th of January 1941, once stretched his food budget to just 35 cents a day. Decades later, the American singer-songwriter had sold more than 56.5 million records in the United States alone. That total places him…
Annie LennoxAnnie Lennox stepped into the 1983 music video for "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" with cropped orange hair, a man's lounge suit and a cane. The video made her a household name. The BBC later wrote, "all eyes were on Annie Lennox, the…
Bert KaempfertBert Kaempfert signed the Beatles in 1961 to back singer Tony Sheridan. It became their first released recordings.
Carly SimonCarly Simon, an American singer, songwriter and author, recorded a line that strangers still sing back at her: "You're so vain, I bet you think this song is about you." Listeners have argued about the target of that accusation ever since.…
Barbra StreisandBarbra Streisand once filed a lawsuit that sent a crowd of strangers to look at a single photograph. In 2003 she claimed that a website documenting coastal erosion had invaded her privacy. Among its more than 12,000 images, one happened to…
Jon Bon JoviJon Bon Jovi, born John Francis Bongiovi Jr. on the 2nd of March 1962, has played more than 3,000 concerts with his band in over 50 countries. The crowds added up to more than 35 million fans. He is an American singer, songwriter and…
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…
David FosterDavid Walter Foster was born on the 1st of November 1949 in Victoria, British Columbia. He has won 16 Grammy Awards and has been nominated three times for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Songs he composed and produced have reached…
Michael GiacchinoMichael Giacchino used pieces of a real airplane fuselage as instruments on Lost.
A. R. RahmanAt the 81st Academy Awards, A. R. Rahman opened his thanks with a line borrowed from Hindi cinema. He said, "There is a Hindi dialogue, mere pass ma hai, which means 'even if I have got nothing I have my mother here'." Just before his…
Ludwig GöranssonComposer Ludwig Göransson was not Christopher Nolan's first choice for Tenet.