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Chances are, you’re already familiar with the famous R&B artist Usher and if not, you should start listening now!

Usher was born Usher Raymond the fourth, and spent most of his youth in Chattanooga. Usher joined the choir at his church at the urging of his mother when he was nine, and his grandmother immediately realized his talent. At 11, Usher sang in the R&B group NuBeginnings, but didn’t experience success until he competed on Star Search at age 13, where he was immediately spotted and signed by LaFace Records.

Usher rose to fame in the 1990s and after releasing albums My Way and 8701, he became a household name worldwide. My Way has been certified by the RIAA six times and 8701 has been certified 4 times. When his album Confessions was released in 2004, it sold more than 10 million copies in the US and was diamond certified by the RIAA. Confessions has the highest first week sales for any R&B artist in history and had a record-breaking four singles that topped the Billboard Hot 100. Usher's 2008 album, Here I Stand, didn't disappoint and was certified platinum by RIAA and went on to sell more than 5 million copies.

In March 2010, Usher released his sixth album, Raymond v. Raymond, which quickly debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart and sold 329,000 in its first week. Raymond v. Raymond is Usher’s third consecutive number-one album and his singles, “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)”, “Lil Freak”, “There Goes My Baby”, and “OMG”, have all reached chart-topping success. Production began on the album in 2008, after Usher filed for divorce from wife Tameka Fisher. Usher told People magazine the album would be, “racy, risky and edgy, and sometimes about personal experiences.” The album’s title is from the 1979 film about divorce, Kramer vs. Kramer.

So far, Usher’s sold more than 45 million albums worldwide and has received several awards including five Grammys, four American Music Awards, four World Music Awards, eight Soul Train Music Awards and an amazing 19 Billboard Music Awards. The RIAA also has ranked Usher as one of the best selling musical artists in American Music History. Obviously he’s doing quite well and he doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon!

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If you haven’t heard of Coblie Caillat yet, you've been missing out. Off her debut album CoCo, she already has two chart-topping hits with, “Realize” and “Bubbly." Her collaboration with Jason Mraz on the song “Lucky,” won her a 2010 Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. And oh yeah, her vocals and song writing on Taylor Swift's album Fearless, won her a 2010 Grammy for Album of the Year. Not too shabby for a guitar-playing, folk-singing sweetheart from Hawaii.

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Known for her edgy style and soulful voice, Christina Aguilera has been making hit records since 1999, when she debuted with her self-titled album Christina Aguilera. Born in Staten Island, New York, to her mother who taught Spanish and her father, a native of Ecuador, Aguilera was destined to become a star from the beginning. She shows no signs of stoping with her upcoming fourth album, Bionic, due this June. She made her first appearance as a contestant on the television show “Star Search” in 1990 at the age of 10 and went on from there to perform on the popular television program “The New Mickey Mouse Club” where she starred along with up-and-coming stars Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Keri Russel and Ryan Gosling.

From her initial album Christina Aguilera, three No. 1 singles made it onto the Billboard Hot 100, making the album extremely successful, selling more than 17 million copies worldwide and being named one of the Top 100 Albums of All Time list by The Recording Industry Association of America. By the year 2000, Christina Aguilera was a household name. In 2000, Aguilera and producer Rudy Perez began recording her first Spanish album, Mi Reflejo, in which she was able to get back to her Latin roots. When the hit movie Moulin Rouge! was released in 2001, Christina Aguilera, Pink, Lil’ Kim and Mya re-recorded Labelle’s famous song “Lady Marmalade” for the film’s soundtrack. The single quickly rose to the Hot 100 and remained at the top for five weeks. At the Grammy Awards all four singers took home awards for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

In 2002, Aguilera released a new album, Stripped, and it was drastically different from the squeaky-clean image of her former album. The first single, “Dirrty” caused an angry outcry from many people, as Aguilera had changed her image by wearing less clothing and including more sexual lyrics than had previously appeared in her older songs.

Although some people weren’t happy with Aguilera’s new image, Christina herself was glad to take more creative control over her work. While putting together Stripped, Aguilera co-wrote 14 of her songs, including the hit singles “Beautiful” and “Can’t Hold Us Down." Aguilera received four nominations from the Grammy Awards and won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Beautiful."

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This San Francisco based band has been on the music scene for more than 15 years and continues to crank out the hits. Although the band members have sometimes been in flux, their success is steady. With five studio albums released, three have made it to the Billboard top 10, with the fourth on its way.

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