Famous Songwriters and Composers a to z

American musician Prince achieved wide fame in the 1980s with 1999 and Purple Rain, the latter album sharing a title with a film starring the musician.

Italian composer Giacomo Puccini started the operatic trend toward realism with his popular works La Boheme and Madame Butterfly.

Tito Puente was a musical pioneer, mixing musical styles with Latin sounds and experimenting in fusing Latin music with jazz.

Experimental jazz pianist, songwriter, composer and bandleader Sun Ra formed the band Arkestra in the 1950s and played in it until his death in 1993.

Sergey Rachmaninov was a Russian musician known for his magnificent piano playing as well as his distinguished compositions and symphonies.

Bonnie Raitt is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose musical range encompasses blues, folk, rhythm and blues, pop, and country rock.

Maurice Ravel was a 19th and early 20th century French composer of classical music. His best known works are Bolero and Daphnis et Chloé.

Lou Reed is a singer and guitarist best known as a co-founder of the influential rock group the Velvet Underground and as solo artist.

L.A. Reid is an American music executive and producer. He's also starred as a judge on the music competition show The X Factor.

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Max Roach was a jazz drummer and pioneer of the bebop style.

From The Sound of Music to Oklahoma! to South Pacific, Richard Rodgers helped change the face of Broadway musicals, giving them stories and making them both memorable and "hum-able."

Pop singer Draco Rosa was a member of Menudo and has released a number of successful solo albums in a variety of different languages.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is best known as an influential 18th-century philosopher who wrote the acclaimed work A Discourse on the Arts and Sciences.

Darius Rucker is a singer/songwriter known as the frontman of the musical group Hootie & the Blowfish and as a solo country artist.

Sade is a singer who struck a cord around with world in the 1980s with sultry, soul-inspired songs like 'Smooth Operator.'

Composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic won a Grammy Award in 1986 for their recording of Witold Lutoslawski's "Symphony No. 3".

Actor, comedian, and musician Adam Sandler was a cast member on Saturday Night Live and is the star of such films as Punch-Drunk Love and The Wedding Singer.

Fred Schneider is best known as the lead singer of rock band The B-52s. He's known for his style of reciting poetry over music, called sprechgesang.

Franz Schubert is considered the last of the classical composers and one of the first romantic ones. Schubert's music is notable for its melody and harmony.

Seal is a Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter with an international reach known for hits like "Crazy," "Kiss From a Rose" and "Love's Divine."

Neil Sedaka is an American singer-songwriter known for writing hits like "Love Will Keep Us Together" and "Laughter in the Rain."

American folk singer Pete Seeger is an iconic figure in the mid-20th century, and is best known for his contributions to the American folk music revival.

Shel Silverstein was a poet and musician known for children’s books such as The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends.

American singer-songwriter Paul Simon is an influential figure in American rock music. He is best known for his long-running success as a musician.

Jessica Simpson is an American pop singer, actress and fashion empire entrepreneur, and a former MTV reality show star.

Noble Sissle was a pioneering jazz singer, bandleader and composer known for his work on the musical Shuffle Along, among other productions.

Ricky Skaggs is a legendary country and bluegrass singer and mandolin player.

Singer-songwriter Grace Slick was one of the lead singers for the band Jefferson Airplane. She wrote the songs "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love".

Patti Smith is a highly influential figure in the New York City punk rock scene, starting with her 1975 album Horses. Her biggest hit is the single "Because the Night."

Trey Songz is a Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter known for hits like "Can't Help but Wait."

Stephen Sondheim is one of Broadway’s most successful and revered composers, responsible for works like Follies, A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd.

Ringo Starr first rose to fame in the early 1960s as the drummer for the legendary rock group the Beatles.

Gwen Stefani is a founding member and lead singer of the ska-pop group No Doubt.

Rod Stewart is best known as a U.K. and U.S. pop/rock singer-songwriter with a signature raspy voice, who performed from the 1960s to the present day.

William Grant Still was a conductor and composer and the first African-American to conduct a professional symphony orchestra in the U.S.

Stephen Stills is an American folk musician, best known as a member of the vocal super group Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. He is the first person to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame twice in one night.

Singer Joss Stone is known for deep throaty vocals, soulful renditions and barefoot performances. At age 16, she released her debut album, The Soul Sessions.

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer best known as one of the most influential composers in the twentieth century for ballets such as The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring.

Joe Strummer was a British singer, songwriter and guitarist best known as the co-founder and member of the punk rock band The Clash.

Donna Summer was a singer-songwriter who became the "Queen of Disco" in the 1970s with such hits as "Love to Love You Baby," "I Feel Love" and "Last Dance."

Pytor Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer best known for his popular ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker.

Robin Thicke is a singer/songwriter and reality-television star known for major soul hits like "Lost Without U," "Magic" and "Sex Therapy."

Mel Torme was a singer, jazz vocalist, and composer active from the 1940s-1990s. He also wrote biographies of Judy Garland and Buddy Rich.

Pete Townshend is best known as the guitarist and songwriter for the band the Who as it grew to be one of the most influential bands of the 1960 and '70s.

American country singer Randy Travis opened the door to young artists who sought to return to the traditional sound of country music. His 1986 album, Storms of Life, landed at No. 1 on the U.S. albums chart.

Travis Tritt is a country music performer known for his bluesy, rock-and-roll-inspired songs.

Shania Twain is a Canadian country and pop singer and songwriter, best known for the albums The Woman in Me and Come on Over.

Jeff Tweedy is a singer and songwriter who belongs to the influential alternative rock band Wilco.

Conway Twitty was a country singer who scored 55 No. 1 hits over the long expanse of his career.

Carrie Underwood was the winner of American Idol's fourth season and went on to win multiple Grammy and Academy of Country Music Awards.

Grammy-award winning country music singer, songwriter and guitarist Keith Urban was named the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year in 2006.

Mexican-American musician Ritchie Valens is best known for his hit "La Bamba." His successful career was cut short when he died in a plane crash at age 17.

A preeminent bluesman, award-winning guitarist and singer Stevie Ray Vaughan earned critical and commercial success during the 1980s.

Giuseppe Verdi was an Italian composer who is known for several operas, including La Traviata and Aida.

20th century Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos’s work, including Bachianas brasileiras, brought Brazilian folk motifs to American classical music.

Antonio Vivaldi was a 17th and 18th century composer who’s become one of the most renowned figures in European classical music.

Richard Wagner is best known for creating several complex operas, including Tristan and Isolde and Ring Cycle, as well as for his anti-semitic writings.

Rufus Wainwright is a Canadian American singer and songwriter best known for his pop albums Rufus Wainwright (1998) and Poses (2001).

Blues guitarist and singer-songwriter T-Bone Walker is best known for his hit song "Stormy Monday"  and has been called the Charlie Parker of Blues guitar.

M. Ward is a critically acclaimed singer, songwriter and musician known for his solo albums as well as his work with Zooey Deschanel in the duo She & Him.

Julia Ward Howe was a women's rights activist, abolitionist and writer who penned the poem "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

American singer and guitarist Muddy Waters may have been born in Mississippi, but he defined Chicago blues with songs like "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man."

Roger Waters was the singer, songwriter and bassist for the British rock band Pink Floyd. He also has had an extensive solo career.

Composer. Andrew Lloyd Webber is an English composer known for such musical theater hits as Cats, Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Phantom of the Opera.

Songwriter Cynthia Weil is famous for singles including "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" for The Animals and "Walking in the Rain" for The Ronettes.

A country music legend, Kitty Wells had a string of hits in the 1950s and '60s, including "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels."