Icelandic-Italian singer Emiliana Torrini has achieved much, but gained comparatively little, off the back of a career that has blossomed in a nook out of the mainstream's line-of-sight for over a decade. She's been a voice for hire for dance acts aplenty (Paul Oakenfold, Thievery Corporation), was the lungs behind the sky-reaching "Gollum's Song" in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and ...
New Age diva Enya first became widely known when her 1988 album Watermark sold 4 million copies and launched the single "Orinoco Flow". Her follow-up, Shepherd Moons, was even more successful, selling over 10 million copies despite its slightly lower grade of ethereal enchantment. In 1997 she released Paint the Sky with Stars, an assortment of her best work from these two ...
Songs in the Key of Life was the highest high-point of Stevie Wonder's career. More sprawling than Innervisions and Talking Book, this 2 LP-plus-EP was also less of a consistent stunner than either of those masterworks. That Songs retains an enormous amount of visionary relevance, though, is demonstrated not only in Coolio's borrowing of "Pastime Paradise" as a template ...
Australian-born soul starlet Sam Sparro has been making ears prick up of late. His savvy blend of soul, funk and modern electronica nods to 70s and 80s legends like Stevie Wonder and Hall and Oates, but Sparro brings a sassy style and modern production ethic that renders his music 21st Century fresh. Armed with a smooth, mercurial voice, Sparro sashays slickly through disco, funk and soul, moving ...