Christina Milian

Cuban-American Christina Milian was born in New Jersey but raised in Maryland, making her debut as an actress at a very young age while playing a role in a children-oriented musical, working as junior journalist for The Walt Disney Company, and making guest appearances on Sister Sister and Clueless, among other popular TV shows. Milian became seriously involved in music after singing on Ja Rule's "Between Me and You," in addition to co-writing Jennifer Lopez's "Play" and P.Y.T.'s "Same Ol Same Ol" while recording her self-titled R&B/pop debut album in 2001. Though the album fared far better in the U.K., "AM to PM" reached the Top 30 of the Hot 100 chart in the States. 2004's It's About Time, anchored by the Top Ten hit "Dip It Low," was much more successful. Milian's third album, So Amazin', helmed almost entirely by Cool & Dre, was released in 2006. ~ Drago Bonacich, All Music Guide

Brand New

Formed on Long Island, NY, Brand New appeared on the punk-pop scene in 2000. Consisting of drummer Brian Lane, vocalist/guitarist Jesse Lacey, bassist Garrett Tierney, and guitarist Vin Accardi, the band began making a name for itself on the local scene with a self-released four-song demo and shows with bands like Midtown and Glassjaw. In 2001, they issued their first record, Your Favorite Weapon, on Triple Crown, produced by friend Mike Sapone. Lacey's clever and cutting lyrics sprinkled the album, which produced the semi-hit "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad," and more touring with Taking Back Sunday and Finch followed. Proving to be more than just another punk-pop band, the group made something of a stylistic leap with Deja Entendu, a decidedly matured follow-up, recorded with Steve Haigler (Pixies, Blake Babies) and released in summer 2003 to rave reviews from critics and fans alike. Music videos for "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" and "Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades" found constant airplay on MTV, while earning Brand New slots with New Found Glory, Good Charlotte, Dashboard Confessional, and blink-182. By fall, as the band's notable underground following continued to grow in strides, they inked a deal with Dreamworks, which later led to them finding a home on Interscope following the former label's buyout. Touring eventually slowed to a halt as Brand New holed themselves up to work on their third full-length and major-label debut. After an extended quiet spell -- little to no interviews or updates came from the band's camp for quite some time -- Brand New finally emerged in summer 2006 for U.S. headlining dates, their first nationwide tour in three years. The highly anticipated The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me appeared in November 2006. Though significantly darker and less immediate than past efforts, the album was praised for its depth and maturity, and the band supported it on a soldout spring 2007 tour. ~ Kenyon Hopkin, All Music Guide

Chris Isaak

Chris Isaak clearly loves the reverb-laden rockabilly and country of Sun Studios. In particular, he transfers the sweeping melancholy of Roy Orbison's classic Monument singles ("Crying," "Oh, Pretty Woman," "In Dreams") to the more stripped-down, rootsy sound of Sun. His stylized take on '50s and '60s rock & roll eventually made him into a star in the early '90s, thanks to the hit single "Wicked Game."
Isaak began performing after he graduated from college, forming the rockabilly band Silvertone. The group, which featured guitarist James Calvin Wilsey, bassist Rowland Salley, and drummer Kenney Dale Johnson, would become the singer/guitarist's permanent supporting band. Isaak released his first album, Silvertone, on Warner Bros. in 1985. It was critically well received, yet it didn't sell. Two years later, he released Chris Isaak, which managed to scrape into the Top 200 album charts. After its release, the singer began an acting career with a bit part in Jonathan Demme's 1988 film Married to the Mob; he would later have parts in Wild at Heart, The Silence of the Lambs, and A Dirty Shame, as well as starring in his own situation comedy series for the Showtime cable network.
Released in 1989, Heart Shaped World initially sold more than Chris Isaak, yet it didn't manage to break big until late 1990, when the single "Wicked Game" was featured in David Lynch's Wild at Heart. Soon, the single became a Top Ten hit; the album also made it into the Top Ten and sold over a million copies. Both 1993's San Francisco Days and 1995's Forever Blue mined essentially the same vein as Heart Shaped World, yet both went gold and spawned a handful of hits. In 1996, Isaak released The Baja Sessions; Speak of the Devil followed two years later. Isaak's busy touring schedule and growing visibility as an actor kept him out of the recording studio until 2002, when he released Always Got Tonight, though in 2004 he did find time to cut his first seasonal album, Chris Isaak Christmas, which featured five new Yuletide tunes along with a batch of holiday favorites. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Michelle Branch

ust three years after Michelle Branch first picked up a guitar at the age of 14, she was signed to Maverick Records with an album in stores. Branch's debut, The Spirit Room, was produced by John Shanks (Melissa Etheridge, Chris Isaak) and issued in August 2001, spawning the leadoff hit single/video "Everywhere." Although she lists such classic rock acts as Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix as prime influences, Branch's music is more akin to such modern-day female artists as Lisa Loeb, Alanis Morissette, and Melissa Etheridge, something her more mature 2003 album Hotel Paper displayed. In 2005 it was announced that Branch had begun a project with Nashville singer/songwriter Jessica Harp. Originally dubbed the Homewreckers, the duo shortened their name to the Wreckers and released their debut album, Stand Still, Look Pretty, in 2006. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide

Chris Cornell

Originally finding success as the singer/frontman of Seattle's Soundgarden, Chris Cornell also forged a successful solo career after the band's 1997 demise. Born in Seattle on July 20, 1964, Cornell's music career didn't take shape until he was a teenager, playing drums in bands that mixed punk/new wave (the Police) and metal (AC/DC) covers. Although he spent most of his teenage years withdrawn and as a loner, rock music helped Cornell overcome his uneasiness around others. After dropping out of high school and working as a cook, Cornell formed a band that, with a few lineup changes, would become the great and influential Soundgarden by the mid-'80s. Cornell switched to vocals around the time of the band's formation, with friend Hiro Yamamoto on bass, Kim Thayil on guitar, and eventually, Matt Cameron on drums.
Along with the Melvins, Soundgarden was one of the first rock bands to slow down punk's youthful energy to a Black Sabbath-like crawl. First issuing a few releases on independent labels (Sub Pop's Screaming Life and Fopp EPs, SST's Ultramega OK), Soundgarden was one of the first bands of the late-'80s Seattle underground to sign with a major label, A&M, which issued Louder Than Love in 1989. After the album's release, however, Yamamoto left and was first replaced by ex-Nirvana member Jason Everman, and eventually permanently by Ben Shepherd. With Soundgarden's quintessential lineup in place, the band rightfully became one of rock's most popular bands on the strength of such albums as 1991's Badmotorfinger, 1994's Superunknown, and 1996's Down on the Upside. With each album, Cornell's singing grew stronger and stronger and farther away from the heavy metal screaming of the band's early work and more toward a true singing style. Cornell also showed a great talent for lyric-writing; while his lyrics wouldn't make sense if read without the music, they evoked all kinds of images when he put the two together.
Besides Cornell's vast talents displayed with Soundgarden, he organized a tribute for late Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood in the form of 1990's Temple of the Dog project, which was far more stripped-down. Cornell's first officially released solo composition, the acoustic "Seasons," was the highlight of the 1992 motion picture soundtrack Singles. His bluesy voice also worked amazingly well on a superb cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)" on the 1993 Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix compilation (under the pseudonym MACC). He also found time to pen songs for other acts, such as Flotsam & Jetsam and Alice Cooper, as well as producing the Screaming Trees' 1991 release Uncle Anesthesia. After Soundgarden's demise in April of 1997, Cornell slowly but surely began to put a solo album together with his friends from the band Eleven.
Finally issued in 1999, Euphoria Morning was a departure from his former band's sound, as it was in a more singer/songwriter mold, which focused more on Cornell's vocals and lyrics than meaty guitar riffs. Shortly after its release, Cornell launched his first solo tour, mixing songs from all eras of his career. After wrapping up the aforementioned tour in early 2000, a tepid remix of the Euphoria Morning track "Mission" (retitled "Mission 2000") was included on the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack. It appeared as though Cornell would take a break from music for a while, as his wife gave birth to the couple's first child in June of the same year, but by late 2000, Cornell found himself involved in a project that promised to be a classic hard rock collaboration.
Rage Against the Machine decided not to break up after longtime vocalist Zack de la Rocha left the band that winter, but rather they would find another singer and carry on under a different name. Cornell accepted an invitation to jam and pen a few songs (which former Rage guitarist Tom Morello described as "really groundbreaking") and, shortly thereafter, officially joined forces with the former Rage members under the moniker Audioslave. Produced by Rick Rubin, the band's self-titled debut arrived in November 2002 and went multi-platinum. The follow-up, 2005's Out of Exile, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts and was followed by the platinum-selling Revelations in 2006. Cornell left the band that same year, citing the usual "irreconcilable differences," and began work on his second solo record, 2007's Carry On, a topical, biographical, and musically confused whirlwind featuring a cover version of Michael Jackson's "Billy Jean" and "You Know My Name" from the Bond movie Casino Royale. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide