If You Can't Name These Pop Singers You're Definitely Not A 90s Baby
- by Jessie Dax-Setkus
- – on
- in Entertainment
The ‘90s were a great time for pop music. Every generation has their one-hit wonders and pop stars, but the ‘90s just had a ton of them. There were so many pop stars that it was hard to keep track of. One second someone was popular and the next second it was on to someone else. We didn’t even have a long enough period of time to really get to know some of the pop stars that landed some of their huge hits either. They would come in with a massive song, we would love and want more, then they would be gone drifting deep into the “where are they now?” file.
Some of them have left a big enough impression on us that we remember who they are and what their hit was, but some have just faded away into the depths. How well would you say you know ‘90s pop stars? Did you idolize all of them to the point that you could pick out the heavy hitters from the one hit wonders, or did they all sound the same to you? See if you have what it takes by taking our quiz, and find out if you can name all of these ‘90s pop stars.
She feels like a woman
Born Eilleen Regina Edwards in August 28, 1965, she is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and among the best-selling music artists of all time. Yeah, kind of odd that a country star would be from Canada, and not many people know that—but it is true! Raised in Timmins, Ontario, she pursued singing and songwriting from a young age before signing with Mercury Nashville Records in the early 1990s. Her self-titled debut studio album saw little commercial success upon release in 1993. After that, she exploded.
The sitcom star's son
His "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop, folk, and ballads. In addition to singing lead and backing vocals, he often plays all of the instruments himself when recording. He won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four years in a row from 1999 to 2002, breaking the record for most wins in that category as well as setting the record for most consecutive wins in one category by a male.
The woman scorned
You did not want to cross this hot-headed woman that is for sure because she would probably write a song about you. She is a Canadian-American alternative rock singer, songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actress. Known for her powerful and emotive mezzo-soprano voice, she began her career in Canada in the early 1990s with two mildly successful dance-pop albums. Afterwards, she moved to Holmby Hills, Los Angeles and in 1995 released Jagged Little Pill, a more rock-oriented album which sold more than 33 million copies globally and is her most critically acclaimed work.
The show-stopper
Born into a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, she emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record. She first gained international recognition in the 1980s by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest where she represented Switzerland. Following a series of French albums during the 1980s, she signed on to Epic Records in the United States.
The Alaskan star
American singer-songwriter, musician, producer, actress, author, and poet. She has received four Grammy Award nominations and, as of 2008, has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. She was raised in Homer, Alaska, where she grew up singing and yodeling as a duo with her father, a local musician. At age fifteen, she received a partial scholarship at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, where she studied operatic voice. She had more of an indie feel to her music that people could relate to, and that's what put her on the map.
The Icelandic sensation
Over her four-decade career, she has developed an eclectic musical style that draws on a range of influences and genres spanning electronic, pop, experimental, classical, trip hop, IDM, and avant-garde. She became known as the lead singer of the alternative rock band the Sugarcubes, whose 1987 single "Birthday" was a hit on US and UK indie stations and a favorite among music critics. She embarked on a solo career in 1993, coming to prominence as a solo artist with albums such as Debut, Post, and Homogenic, while collaborating with a range of artists and exploring a variety of multimedia projects.
The bad, bad girl
Classically trained on piano as a child, she began composing her own songs when she was 8 years old. Her debut album, Tidal, written when she was 17, was released in 1996 and received a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the single "Criminal". She followed with When the Pawn..., produced by Jon Brion, which was also critically and commercially successful and was certified platinum. After that, many wondered where she went because she kind of disappeared.
The queen of the high note
Following her marriage to Sony Music head Tommy Mottola, she became the label's highest-selling act with the albums Emotions Music Box, Merry Christmas, and Daydream. These albums spawned a string of successful singles including the international number-one "Without You," holiday track "All I Want for Christmas Is You," and "One Sweet Day," which became the longest-running U.S. number-one single in history with a total of 16 weeks. After divorcing Mottola, she adopted a new image and incorporated more elements of hip hop into her music with the release of Butterfly.
The piano girl
Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, she won a full scholarship to the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University at the age of five, the youngest person ever to have been admitted. She was expelled at the age of eleven for what Rolling Stone described as "musical insubordination." She was the lead singer of the short-lived 1980s pop group Y Kant Tori Read before achieving her breakthrough as a solo artist in the early 1990s. Her songs focus on a broad range of topics, including sexuality, feminism, politics, and religion.
The indie queen
She began her career in the early 1990s by self-releasing audio cassettes under the name Girly Sound, before signing with the independent record label Matador Records. Her 1993 debut studio album Exile in Guyville was released to acclaim; it has been ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Ten years after the release of her debut, Her self-titled fourth album was released on Capitol Records and her music began to move in a more pop rock-oriented direction. She has sold nearly three million records worldwide. Her latest album, Funstyle, was released on July 3, 2010.
The British poet
She began her career in 1988 when she joined local band Automatic Dlamini as a vocalist, guitarist, and saxophone player. The band's frontman, John Parish, would become her long-term collaborator. The trio released two studio albums, Dry and Rid of Me before disbanding, after which Harvey continued as a solo artist. Since 1995, she has released a further nine studio albums with collaborations from various musicians including John Parish, former bandmate Rob Ellis, Mick Harvey, and Eric Drew Feldman and has also worked extensively with record producer Flood.
The choir singer
In 2009, Guinness World Records cited her as the most awarded female act of all time. She is one of the best-selling music artists of all-time, with 200 million records sold worldwide. She released seven studio albums and two soundtrack albums, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum, or gold certification. Her crossover appeal on the popular music charts--as well as her prominence on MTV, starting with her video for "How Will I Know"--influenced several African-American women artists who followed in her footsteps.
The un-breaker of hearts
She attracted the attention of producers Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, later recording a series of songs for them before being signed to their Arista-distributed imprint, LaFace Records. Her self-titled debut studio album reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States, selling 10 million copies worldwide and seeing the international success of the singles "Another Sad Love Song" and "Breathe Again". The album brought her three Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist. Now she acts for a living.
The cute nerd
She is an American singer-songwriter, producer, touring artist, actress, author, and philanthropist who started her career with the platinum-selling number 1 hit song, "Stay (I Missed You)" from the film Reality Bites, the first number 1 single for an artist without a recording contract. Her studio albums include two back-to-back albums that were certified Gold; these were Tails and the Grammy-nominated Firecracker. Her film, television and voice-over work includes a guest starring role in the series finale of Gossip Girl, and she starred in two other television series, Dweezil & Lisa, a weekly culinary adventure for the Food Network that featured her alongside Dweezil Zappa, and Number 1 Single on E! Entertainment Television.
The ecclectic girl
As of 2009 she had sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Her best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards (out of four nominations) and four Juno Awards. In addition to her personal artistic efforts, she founded the Lilith Fair tour, which showcased female musicians on an unprecedented scale. The Lilith Fair concert tours took place from 1997 to 1999, and resumed in the summer of 2010. On May 6, 2014, she released her first album of original music in four years, titled Shine On.
She just can't get you out of her head!
She achieved recognition starring in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, where she played tomboy mechanic Charlene Robinson. Appearing in the series for two years, her character married Scott Robinson in an episode viewed by nearly 20 million people in the United Kingdom making it one of the most watched Australian TV episodes ever. Since then, she has been a recording artist and has achieved commercial success and critical acclaim in the entertainment industry. Since then she has been known as a pop icon down under.
Miss World
A notable presence in the punk and grunge scenes of the 1990s, she has enjoyed a career that spans four decades. She rose to prominence as the lead vocalist of the alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989. She has drawn public attention for her uninhibited live performances and confrontational lyrics, as well as her highly publicized personal life following her marriage to Kurt Cobain. Many argue that she hasn't had a career but rather rode off the coat tails of her late husband.
The one who found a place in the sun
She has released ten studio albums, four compilations, a live album, and has contributed to a number of film soundtracks. Her songs include "All I Wanna Do" and "If It Makes You Happy." She has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide. She has garnered nine Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. She was famously attached to Neil Armstrong and went through a somewhat famous breakup, creating a few of her best songs. What was her name?
The TKO
In the early-to-mid-1990s she was the lead singer of feminist punk band Bikini Kill, before fronting Le Tigre in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 1998, she released a lo-fi solo album under the name Julie Ruin and since 2010, has been working on a project called The Julie Ruin. A documentary film about Hher was released in 2013 by director Sini Anderson, titled The Punk Singer, detailing her life and career, as well as revealing her years-long battle with Lyme disease. She is married to Adam Horovitz ("Ad-Rock") of the Beastie Boys.
The one that rocked the boat
She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of 10, she appeared on the television show Star Search and performed in concert alongside Gladys Knight. At age 12, she signed with Jive Records and her uncle Barry Hankerson's Blackground Records. Hankerson introduced her to R. Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number. It seemed as though quickly after she got famous, she passed away in a plane accident sadly.
The folk singer
She moved to Austin, Texas and joined a Western swing band called the Dixie Diesels. She then entered "the folk circuit in Illinois and Berkeley," California before straining her vocal cords and taking a sabbatical at the age of 24. She relocated to New York City, joining the Buddy Miller Band in 1980 and later became involved in the Fast Folk cooperative of Greenwich Village. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. But her real came from "Sunny Came Home."
The sitcom star
Born into a musical family in McComb, Mississippi and raised in Carson, California, she began her career as a child and performed as a backing vocalist for teen groups. In 1993, she signed with Atlantic Records. The following year, she released her self-titled debut album, which was certified quadruple Platinum in the US, selling six million copies worldwide. Norwood starred in the UPN sitcom Moesha as the title character, which lasted six seasons and resulted in numerous other roles. She was America's sweetheart.
The sugar pop star
After coming to fame in 1999 with her debut single "Candy", which peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100, she signed with Epic Records. Her debut studio album, So Real, went on to receive a platinum certification from the RIAA. The title single from her second studio album, I Wanna Be With You, became her first top 30 song in the U.S., peaking at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100. As of 2009, Billboard reported that she has sold more than ten million albums worldwide.
The Ska queen
She is a co-founder and the lead vocalist of the band No Doubt that experienced major success after their breakthrough studio album Tragic Kingdom along with various successful singles, including "Just a Girl", "Don't Speak", "Hey Baby", and "It's My Life". During the band's hiatus, she embarked on a solo pop career in 2004 by releasing her debut studio album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. Inspired by pop music from the 1980s, the album was met with both critical and commercial success. It spawned three commercially successful singles: "What You Waiting For?", "Rich Girl", and "Hollaback Girl."
The torn one
In the early 1990s, she played Beth Brennan in the Australian soap opera Neighbours. Three years after leaving the program, she began a singing career with her successful hit cover of Edna swap's song "Torn." Her subsequent album, Left of the Middle, sold 7 million copies worldwide. Further releases include White Lilies Island, Counting Down the Days, a hits compilation, Glorious: The Singles 97–07, Come To Life, and a cover album of songs originally performed by male artists, Male. Who is she?