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Individual musical biographies

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Jāzeps Vītols

Jāzeps Vītols (1863–1948) was a Latvian composer, choir conductor, and founder of Latvian national music who taught Prokofiev in St Petersburg and led the Latvian Conservatory in Riga.

Jazmine Sullivan

Jazmine Sullivan (born 1987) is an American R&B singer-songwriter from Philadelphia, known for Fearless, Reality Show, and Heaux Tales. Two-time Grammy winner with 18 nominations; won Best R&B Album for Heaux Tales and sang the 2021 Super Bowl national anthem with Eric Church.

JB Gill

JB Gill (Jonathan Benjamin Gill, born 1986, Croydon) is a British singer, presenter, farmer, and author: JLS member with five UK number-one singles, Kent farmer, CBeebies Down On The Farm presenter, and 2024 Strictly finalist.

JC Chasez

JC Chasez, born Joshua Scott Chasez, is an American singer and songwriter best known as one of NSYNC's two lead vocalists; he released the solo album Schizophrenic in 2004.

JD Samson

JD Samson (Jocelyn Samson, born 1978, Cleveland) is an American musician, DJ, and performance artist, a member of Le Tigre and leader of queer dance collective MEN, later a film composer and NYU Clive Davis Institute professor.

Jean Shepard

Jean Shepard, born Ollie Imogene Shepard, was an American country singer whose 1953 hit "A Dear John Letter" led to a 60-year Grand Ole Opry career.

Jean Sibelius

Jean Sibelius (Johan Julius Christian Sibelius, 1865-1957), Finnish composer of seven symphonies, Finlandia, and Tapiola; national icon of Finland's independence era who fell silent for his last 30 years.

Jean Terrell

Jean Terrell, born Velma Jean Terrell in 1944, is an American singer from Mississippi who was the lead singer of the Supremes from 1970 to 1973.

Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste Lully (Giovanni Battista Lulli, 1632–1687), Italian-born founder of French opera, surintendant of Louis XIV's music, creator of the tragédie en musique with Quinault, holder of the 1672 opera monopoly, died of gangrene after a conducting-cane injury.

Jean-Jacques Burnel

Jean-Jacques Burnel, also JJ Burnel, born 1952 in London, is the Franco-English bassist, co-lead vocalist, and last founding member of The Stranglers, known for distorted melodic basslines on Peaches and No More Heroes and solo album Euroman Cometh.

Jean-Luc Ponty

Jean-Luc Ponty (born 1942, Avranches, France) is a pioneering French jazz-fusion violinist and composer who played with Zappa, Elton John, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, pioneered the electric violin, and scored twelve consecutive top-5 Billboard jazz albums on Atlantic from 1975.

Jean-Michel Jarre

Jean-Michel Jarre, French electronic music pioneer born 1948 in Lyon, composer of Oxygene (1976), Equinoxe, and Oxymore; record-breaking concerts in Paris, China, and Moscow; over 85 million records sold.

Jean-Philippe Rameau

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764), Dijon-born French Baroque composer and theorist, master of tragédie lyrique after Lully; author of the 1722 Traité de l'harmonie and operas including Hippolyte et Aricie, Les Indes galantes, and Les Boréades.

Jeannie C. Riley

Jeannie C. Riley (Jeanne Carolyn Stephenson, born 1945, Anson, Texas) is an American country and gospel singer, distinct from Jeannie Seely, whose 1968 Plantation Records hit "Harper Valley P.T.A." by Tom T. Hall made her the first female artist to top both country and pop charts simultaneously, winning a Grammy and CMA Single of the Year.

Jeannie Seely

Jeannie Seely (Marilyn Jeanne Seely, 1940-2025), American country singer known as "Miss Country Soul," Grammy winner for "Don't Touch Me," Opry member since 1967 with a record 5,397 performances and first woman to regularly host Opry segments.

Jeff Ament

Jeff Ament (born 1963) is an American bassist, songwriter, and visual artist, co-founder and bassist of Pearl Jam since 1990. Previously in Deranged Diction, Green River, Mother Love Bone, and Temple of the Dog; also a photographer and Montana skate park philanthropist.

Jeff Baxter

Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, born 1948 in Washington, D.C., American guitarist, founding member of Steely Dan and member of the Doobie Brothers, first-call session player, Roland guitar-technology designer, and self-taught U.S. defense consultant.

Jeff Beck

Jeff Beck (Geoffrey Arnold Beck, 1944-2023), English rock guitarist, Yardbirds member 1965-66 replacing Eric Clapton, founder of the Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart, eight-time Grammy winner, twice Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, died of bacterial meningitis.

Jeff Bhasker

Jeff Bhasker, American record producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (Berklee class of 1999) behind Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak, fun.'s Some Nights, and Uptown Funk; five-time Grammy winner including 2016 Producer of the Year.

Jeff Buckley

Jeff Buckley, American singer-songwriter (born 1966), known for four-octave tenor voice, 1994 album Grace, Hallelujah cover, drowned in Memphis 1997; posthumous Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk and It's Never Over documentary.

Jeff Cook

Jeff Cook (Jeffrey Alan Cook, 1949-2022), American country musician, co-founder, lead guitarist, fiddler and keyboardist of Alabama; eight No. 1 country singles 1980-1982, Country Music Hall of Fame 2005, died of Parkinson's disease in Destin, Florida.

Jeff Fatt

Jeff Fatt (born 1953, Casino, NSW) is an Australian keyboardist, original Purple Wiggle and founding member of the Wiggles, formerly of the Cockroaches and Roadmasters; known for "Wake Up, Jeff!", voiced Henry the Octopus, received the AM in 2010, retired in 2012 after heart surgery while retaining a shareholding.

Jeff Hanneman

Jeff Hanneman (Jeffrey John Hanneman, 1964-2013) was an American guitarist, founding member and principal songwriter of thrash metal band Slayer, author of Angel of Death and Raining Blood, who died of alcohol-related cirrhosis after a 2011 spider-bite infection.

Jeff Healey

Jeff Healey (Norman Jeffrey Healey, 1966–2008) was a blind Canadian blues-rock and jazz guitarist of the Jeff Healey Band, known for lap-style guitar, "Angel Eyes," Road House, a Juno Award, and a Grammy nomination.

Jeff Loomis

Jeff Loomis (born 1971, Appleton, Wisconsin) is an American metal guitarist, lead guitarist of Nevermore and Arch Enemy (2014-2023), with instrumental solo albums Zero Order Phase and Plains of Oblivion; he now leads the 2026 Nevermore reunion.

Jeff Lynne

Jeff Lynne: Birmingham-born English singer, songwriter, and producer; co-founder of Electric Light Orchestra (1970), member of the Traveling Wilburys, producer of Cloud Nine, Full Moon Fever, and the Beatles' Anthology tracks.

Jeff Mangum

Jeff Mangum is the Louisiana-born singer-songwriter behind Neutral Milk Hotel and a founder of the Elephant 6 collective; his 1998 album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea became a cult classic before he withdrew from music.

Jeff Pilson

Jeff Pilson is an American rock bassist, vocalist, and producer, Dokken's 1980s bass player and Foreigner's bassist since 2004, also of Dio, War & Peace, T&N, The End Machine, and Black Swan.

Jeff Porcaro

Jeff Porcaro (1954–1992), American drummer, founding member of Toto and leading Los Angeles session musician; created the Rosanna half-time shuffle, played on Thriller, won a Grammy for Rosanna's arrangement; died August 5, 1992.

Jeff Rosenstock

Jeff Rosenstock (Jeffrey Ernest Rosenstock, born 1982, Long Island) is an American punk/ska musician from The Arrogant Sons of Bitches and Bomb the Music Industry!, founder of Quote Unquote Records, and solo artist behind We Cool?, Worry., POST-, NO DREAM, and HELLMODE.