Singer Demis Roussos, known for his dramatic, operatic vocal stylings, was born Artemios Ventouris Roussos in Alexandria, Egypt, on June 15, 1946, to Greek expatriate parents. In the early '60s, however, the family decided to return to their homeland, and once there, the young Roussos (who had studied trumpet and sung in the church choir in Egypt) began playing in local bands. One of these was Aphrodite's Child, which also featured Vangelis Papatanassiou and Lucas Sideras. A huge hit in Europe, especially France, the band released a handful of albums before breaking up in 1971. With his label contacts in place, however, Roussos was able to secure a deal as a solo recording artist, and later that same year issued the single "We Shall Dance," also included on the album On the Greek Side of My Mind. The 1970s were a prolific time for Roussos, and he released a number of singles and albums that charted highly on the European and Latin American charts. In 1978 the singer decided to retire, and moved to Malibu Beach, where he kept a lower profile.

Tony is a British singer who, for a long time, struggled to make a significant impact in his own country. He was far more popular in mainland Europe, especially Spain, where he eventually set up home. As far as his UK chart history goes, he began in 1971 with Las Vegas, which just missed the top twenty. He then made number two with I did what I did for Maria. However, his third hit of 1971, Is this the way to Amarillo (a song written by Neil Sedaka), only just made the UK top twenty although it was number one in several European countries. Some people have joked that Brits bought the record when they visited Spain rather than buying it at home, but Tony's subsequent career suggests this is not so. In any event, Tony never actually got to Amarillo back then. After those three hits, Tony had two minor UK hits in the seventies - Avenues and alleyways (originally from the TV series The protectors, the song was also used in a movie, Love honor and obey) in 1973 and Drive safely darling in 1976.

Having compromised on her Arista debut and gotten a hit single for her trouble, Jennifer Warnes took charge of the recording of her second Arista album, co-producing it and writing three songs, including the title track. It was hard to miss the point when Warnes covered Dionne Warwick's 1963 hit "Don't Make Me Over" (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David) that she was finished with having people tell her what to do. On her own, her taste was impeccable, her song choices including the work of Jesse Winchester, Bob Dylan, and Stephen Foster, and her own songwriting was good, too. She also managed to satisfy the commercial expectations aroused by her previous album, with "I Know a Heartache When I See One" rising into the country Top Ten and the pop and adult contemporary Top 40. (She also made it into all three charts with "Don't Make Me Over" and into the pop and AC charts with "When the Feeling Comes Around.") She proved an adept producer, achieving a smooth pop/rock sound. With session stars like Andrew Gold aboard, Warnes succeeded in making what sounded like the great lost Linda Ronstadt album.

Boy Meets Girl's George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam wrote Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)," so they understand how important a foundation is to adult contemporary pop – without something to pull the listener along, the songs become just flash and keyboard flutter, platitudes about love and loss. And while Reel Life suffers a little bit from the over-synthesized instrumentation of its era, Boy Meets Girl more often than not pushed the right melodic buttons on this, their biggest album. "Bring Down the Moon" and "Stay Forever" are particularly strong, while the hit single, "Waiting for a Star to Fall," is just a classic.

Singer/songwriter Michael Bolton emerged in the mid-'80s as a major soft rock balladeer. Originally, he recorded under his real name, Michael Bolotin, turning up on RCA Records in the mid-'70s singing cover tunes and his own blue-eyed soul songs in a voice reminiscent of Joe Cocker. He then became the lead singer of Blackjack, a heavy metal band that made two albums for Polydor before splitting up in the early '80s. Looking to relaunch his career, he changed his name to Michael Bolton and signed to Columbia Records as a solo artist in 1983. Bolton's achievements include selling more than 75 million records, recording eight top 10 albums and two number-one singles on the Billboard charts, as well as winning multiple American Music Awards and Grammy Awards.