Prince

A multi-talented songwriter, performer, musician and producer, Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis in 1958.

His forward-thinking production style saw him take the funk music of the seventies and digitise it for a new era, inspiring a whole generation of artists and producers in the process and selling over 100 million albums.

Known for playing all the instruments on his records, he released his debut album in 1978 but it wasn't until his fourth offering, 'Controversy', three years later that he started to have international success. This was followed by the massive success of double album '1999' in 1982 and 'Purple Rain' in 1984, the film of which won Prince an Oscar for best score.

Further hit albums in the eighties and early nineties saw Prince cement himself as a global star before label wrangles in the mid-nineties provoked the infamous name change and a change in direction.

Critics saw 2004's 'Musicology' as a return to form (and name) and it won the singer two Grammy awards. Follow-up album '3121' appeared this year took the singer to the top of the US album charts for the first time since 1989.

Brian Wilson

The main songwriter with The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson fought against partial deafness from childhood to pen some of the biggest hits of the 60s.

Rising to fame with his brothers Carl and Dennis, cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine, Wilson brought the Californian-surfer sound to a worldwide audience with hits such as 'Surfin' USA', 'I Get Around', 'Good Vibrations' and 'California Girls'.

After the acclaim that followed seminal album 'Pet Sounds', Wilson suffered a drug-related breakdown which plagued him for much of the following three decades.

As well as influencing many bands from The Beatles to today's crop of harmony lovers, Wilson re-established himself in 2004 with the long-awaited (since 1966) release of 'Smile', the follow-up to 'Pet Sounds'.

In 2005, Wilson triumphantly took to a sun-drenched Glastonbury main stage to play to a rapturous audience of younger fans. A true legend.

James Brown

James Joseph Brown, Jr was born in 1933 in Barnwell, South Carolina. Known as everything from Soul Brother Number One to Mr Please Please Please to The Boss, he is probably best-known as the Godfather of Soul.

Rising to prominence in the early sixties with a string of hits in the R'n'B scene (no, not that sort of R'n'B), it wasn't until the mid-60s that Brown developed his trade-mark high-octane funk sound that would capture the imagination of the world and inspire generations of hip-hop producers.

With hits such as 'Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag' and 'I Got You (I Feel Good)', he built a fearsome reputation as a live performer with a notoriously low tolerance for musical slip ups, even fining musicians for playing bum notes.

The late-sixties saw Brown embrace the black power movement with songs like 'Say It Loud - I’m Black And I’m Proud', while the seventies and eighties saw the hugely successful 'Get up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine' and 'Living In America' respectively.

Despite high-profile battles with both drugs and the law, Brown remains an icon of popular music and a firm favourite on the live circuit.

Dusty Springfield

Dusty Springfield was born in 1939 in West London and was originally known as Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien. Presumably that was a bit of a mouthful, though, as she became 'Dusty' while still a child.

Forming folk trio The Springfields with her brothers, she had considerable success in the UK before 'Silver Threads And Golden Needles' made it big in the States. In 1963, she split from the band to become a soul singer.

After a number of hits including Bacharach & David's 'The Look Of Love', she changed of direction in the late sixties and signed to Atlantic Records - home of Aretha Franklin - and was sent to Memphis. The product was the seminal 'Dusty In Memphis' and the worldwide hit 'Son Of A Preacher Man'.

After a long spell out of the limelight in the seventies and eighties, Springfield had success with the Pet Shop Boys on 'What Have I Done To Deserve This'. She was awarded the OBE shortly before dying of breast cancer in March 1999.

Bon Jovi

Hailing from New Jersey, USA, in the early eighties, Jon Bon Jovi (real name John Francis Bongiovi) and pals went on to lay waste to the stadiums of the world playing to more than 32 million people and selling an amazing 100 million albums.

With the skills of legendary guitarist Richie Sambora, Bon Jovi pioneered a glam style that would be much imitated in the eighties. But as many of their contemporaries fell by the wayside, the strength of Bon Jovi's songs saw them progress to megastardom.

Their third album, 'Slippery When Wet', from 1986, featured classic hits 'Livin' On A Prayer' and 'You Give Love A Bad Name' and many people regard it as one of the best rock albums of all time.

The nineties saw Jon write the soundtrack to 'Young Guns II', before returning to the fold for the critically-acclaimed 'Keep The Faith' album.

More recently, albums 'Crush' and 'Bounce' have seen the band extend their fan base and reach a younger audience. Keeping a pace like this, you never know, they may be 'only half way there' (sorry).

Rod Stewart

Born in North London to Scottish parents in 1945, Rod Stewart is now in his fifth decade at the top. Estimated to have sold over 200 million records, he has racked up seven UK number one albums and six number one singles.

In his youth, after football trials with Glasgow Celtic and Brentford, Stewart turned to music. In the sixties, 'Rod The Mod' drifted from one group to the next before finally finding fame with the Jeff Beck Group in 1968.

He later joined Ron Wood in The Faces and continued to enjoy success with them into the sixties while also pursuing a solo career. But the hit solo singles 'Maggie May' and 'You Wear It Well' created tensions within the band and contributed to their break-up in 1975.

After mammoth success on both sides of the Atlantic in the sixties, Stewart was more low-key in the eighties and nineties, while still having sporadic hits, before the 'Great American Songbook' albums of this decade have seen the singer rework the hits of the thirties and forties to wide popular acclaim.

Led Zeppelin

Hard rock pioneers and all-round legends Led Zeppelin are in a league of their own in terms of rock bands. Formed in 1968, the British band’s name is believed to have been borrowed from The Who's bass player, John Entwistle, who used to refer to bad gigs as "going down like a lead zeppelin".

The band shunned singles and promotion but through sheer popular appeal went on to sell over 300 million albums. Debut album 'Led Zeppelin' achieved immediate success with Page, Plant, Bonham and Jones pushing musical boundaries with their new brand of distorted blues-rock.

They swiftly followed it (nine months later) with 'Led Zeppelin II' which was a number one on both sides of the Atlantic and featured the barnstorming 'Whole Lotta Love'.

'Led Zeppelin III' (album titles weren’t their forte) in 1970 saw the band pursue a more acoustic and experimental sound which would typify their later albums.

After a decade a true rock 'n' roll rabble rousing, the group came to an end with the tragic alcohol-related death of drummer John Bonham in 1980. They set the benchmark for all the rock 'n' rollers that followed.

George Martin

An undisputed member of the music royalty in the UK for over 40 years, George Martin is, of course, best known for his work producing The Beatles.

But before the Fab Four's arrival, he worked mainly on classical music, recordings of stage shows, children's music and novelty records (the year before The Beatles' 'I Want To Hold Your Hand', he produced Rolf Harris's 'Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport').

As head of Parlophone Records, Martin was also responsible for signing The Beatles - although his famous initial response was that they were "pretty awful".

His classical training at the Guildhall School of Music allowed the so-called "fifth Beatle" to score many of the band’s orchestral arrangements. In his own right, he composed the score for the film 'Yellow Submarine' and for the James Bond movie 'Live And Let Die'.

Numerous other production credits include: Shirley Bassey's 'Goldfinger', Gerry & The Pacemakers' 'Ferry 'cross The Mersey' and Elton John's 'Candle In The Wind '97' - the biggest-selling UK single ever.

He was knighted in 1996 for services to music, the first music producer to receive the honour. EMI released a 151-track box set of his work in 2001.