Items20The creator’s order
  1. 1Johnny CashJohnny CashBorn 26 Feb 1932By the early 1990s Johnny Cash had been dropped by his label and was seen as a nostalgia act. Producer Rick Rubin, known for the Beastie Boys and Slayer, recorded him alone with an acoustic guitar for American Recordings (1994), then had him cover songs by Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden and Depeche…0i
  2. 2Tom Jones (singer)Tom Jones (singer)Born 7 Jun 1940Tom Jones spent the 1970s and 1980s as a Las Vegas fixture until the electronic group Art of Noise invited him to sing their cover of Prince's Kiss in 1988. Their cut-up production made his big voice sound modern and ironic at once, and the single went top five in Britain. It reintroduced him to…0i
  3. 3Kylie MinogueKylie MinogueBorn 28 May 1968Kylie Minogue was still seen as a Stock Aitken Waterman pop puppet when Nick Cave asked her to duet on Where the Wild Roses Grow (1995), a murder ballad in which his character kills hers. Cave brought dark, literary songwriting; she brought a fragility his fans had not expected. It was a hit, won…0i
  4. 4Tony BennettTony BennettBorn 3 Aug 1926Tony Bennett's son and manager, Danny Bennett, steered him onto Late Night with David Letterman, The Simpsons and finally MTV Unplugged in 1994, where he sang standards with guest k.d. lang and Elvis Costello. The album won the Grammy for album of the year and made a crooner in his late sixties…0i
  5. 5Lady GagaLady GagaBorn 28 Mar 1986Lady Gaga was best known for meat dresses and electro-pop when she recorded the jazz album Cheek to Cheek (2014) with Tony Bennett. His approval told sceptical audiences she could really sing, and it led directly to her Sound of Music tribute at the Oscars and her starring role in A Star Is Born.…0i
  6. 6Robert PlantRobert PlantBorn 20 Aug 1948Robert Plant, the rock god of Led Zeppelin, teamed up with bluegrass singer and fiddler Alison Krauss and producer T Bone Burnett for Raising Sand (2007), a hushed album of Americana covers. Krauss's harmonies and Burnett's spacious production showed a restraint few expected from Plant. It won the…0i
  7. 7Loretta LynnLoretta LynnLoretta Lynn was a country legend whom country radio had stopped playing when Jack White of The White Stripes produced Van Lear Rose (2004), playing guitar on raw, garage-tinged versions of her new songs. White gave her a rock audience and critics' attention; she wrote every song herself. It won…0i
  8. 8Steven TylerSteven TylerSteven Tyler and Aerosmith were written off as a burnt-out 1970s band when Run-DMC, with producer Rick Rubin, recorded a rap version of their song Walk This Way in 1986 with Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry. The video, in which the two acts literally break through a dividing wall, became an MTV…0i
  9. 9Carlos SantanaCarlos SantanaBorn 20 Jul 1947Carlos Santana had been without a major hit for decades when Clive Davis paired him with younger artists for Supernatural (1999). Smooth, written and sung by Matchbox Twenty's Rob Thomas, spent twelve weeks at the top of the American charts, and the album won nine Grammys. The guests delivered the…0i
  10. 10Nile RodgersNile RodgersBorn 19 Sept 1952Nile Rodgers was respected as the producer behind Chic, Bowie's Let's Dance and Madonna's Like a Virgin, but little known to younger listeners until Daft Punk invited him to play on Random Access Memories (2013). His rhythm guitar on Get Lucky, with Pharrell Williams singing, made it the song of…0i