Scottish producer and DJ Calvin Harris is one of dance music's most popular artists, with a lengthy list of chart-topping hits and superstar collaborations. He went from self-releasing his music online to selling millions in the 2000s and 2010s with radio-friendly, electronic dance crossover anthems such as "Feel So Close," "This Is What You Came For," "Slide," and "One Kiss." In addition to winning a Grammy in 2013, he also broke Michael Jackson's record for the most U.K. Top Ten singles from one album and was named Forbes' highest-earning DJ in 2013. After issuing his first two efforts -- 2007's I Created Disco and 2009's Ready for the Weekend -- he made his 2012 mainstream breakthrough with 18 Months, which recruited high-profile guest vocalists such as Rihanna, Kelis, Ellie Goulding, and Florence Welch, resulting in multiple chart hits and platinum certifications. With this successful electronic pop crossover formula, he issued the U.S. Top Five Motion in 2014 before reaching a chart peak in 2017 with the hip-hop and retro-R&B summertime hit Funk Wav Bounces, Vol. 1. More Top 20 U.K. songs followed, including 2018's "One Kiss" with Dua Lipa, and 2021's "By Your Side" with Tom Grennan. In 2022, he released his sixth LP, Funk Wav Bounces, Vol. 2. Singles with Sam Smith, Eliza Rose, and Rag'n'Bone Man followed into 2024.

Born Adam Richard Wiles on January 17, 1984 in the southern Scotland city of Dumfries, Harris was first attracted to electronic music in his teens and was recording bedroom demos by 1999. Two of these songs, "Da Bongos" and "Brighter Days," were released as a 12" club single and an EP by the Prima Facie label in early 2002 under the artist name Stouffer. With that single to his credit, the still-teenaged Harris moved from Scotland to London, but as a very small fish in one of the world's largest and most competitive ponds, he floundered; only one of his songs was released during his time in London, "Let Me Know" with vocalist Ayah on the Unabombers' 2004 live-mix CD Electric Soul, Vol. 2.

Returning home to Dumfries, Harris began posting homemade solo recordings to his MySpace page. An A&R representative from EMI liked what he heard and signed Harris to the label in 2006. Following a pair of successful singles, Harris released his debut album, I Created Disco, in the summer of 2007. It featured two Top Ten hits ("Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls") and climbed high in the album charts. Along with his work as a solo artist and touring in front of a full live band, Harris quickly became an in-demand remixer, working on singles by Jamiroquai, Groove Armada, All Saints, and CSS. He also wrote and produced songs for Kylie Minogue's 2007 comeback album, and collaborated with Dizzee Rascal on "Dance wiv Me," which reached number one in the U.K.

"I'm Not Alone," the first single from his second album, also hit number one upon release in April 2009, as did the album when it appeared that August. That album, Ready for the Weekend, topped the U.K. albums chart and peaked at number 12 on Billboard's U.S. dance/electronic chart. Through 2011, Harris took on production work for Example, Tinchy Stryder, and Rihanna ("We Found Love," a quadruple-platinum hit in the U.S.) and issued two of his own singles (the Kelis collaboration "Bounce" and "Feel So Close"). Harris' third solo album, 18 Months, was a collaboration-filled affair that featured "We Found Love" and "Bounce," plus vocal spots from Ellie Goulding, Florence Welch, and Ne-Yo, among others. It was released in October 2012, hit number one on the U.K. albums chart, and reached number 19 in the U.S. Nine singles from the album went Top Ten in the U.K. -- an astonishing feat.

The following May, his songwriting was acknowledged when he was given the top Ivor Novello Award. Forbes reported that he was the highest-earning DJ of 2013; according to the publication, he made $46 million -- $14 million more than runner-up Tiësto. Harris continued to roll. Each one of the first three singles from 2014's Motion topped the U.K. pop chart, while the album itself debuted at number two in the U.K. and at number five in the U.S. A successful collaboration with Disciples, "How Deep Is Your Love," followed in 2015. The song was a hit, reaching number two in the U.K. and number one in Australia, and securing Harris his eighth Top Ten on the Billboard Dance chart, the most for any artist up to that point. The next year he returned with two further hits: the Top Five U.S. "This Is What You Came For" with Rihanna, and the Top Five U.K. "My Way" with his own lead vocals. Despite the popularity of those singles, they would not appear on his next album and remained standalone releases.

His fifth effort, Funk Wav Bounces, Vol. 1, arrived in the summer of 2017. Boasting a festival's worth of inspired guest artists, Bounces featured Frank Ocean and Migos on "Slide," Young Thug, Pharrell Williams, and Ariana Grande on "Heatstroke," Future and Khalid on "Rollin'," and Katy Perry, Big Sean, and Williams on "Feels," in addition to further collaborations with John Legend, Schoolboy Q, D.R.A.M., Nicki Minaj, Lil Yachty, Snoop Dogg, and more. It peaked at number two on both the U.K. charts and the Billboard 200. In 2018, Harris began to roll out a series of standalone singles, starting with "Nuh Ready, Nuh Ready" featuring Canadian rapper PartyNextDoor. Later that year, Harris scored a pair of '90s-house-tinged U.K. chart-toppers: one with Dua Lipa ("One Kiss") and another with Sam Smith ("Promises"). He also reached number two in the U.K. with his song "Giant" with Rag'n'Bone Man. More collaborations followed, including 2020's "Over Now" with the Weeknd, which arrived in August 2020 and "By Your Side" with Tom Grennan, which appeared in June 2021. He began releasing singles as Love Regenerator, including "Rollercoaster" (with Solardo) and "Lonely" (with Riva Starr featuring Sananda Maitreya).

Returning to his own name, he geared up for the release of a much-anticipated sequel set to Funk Wav Bounces with the 2022 single "Potion" featuring Dua Lipa and Young Thug. Additional star-studded tracks featuring 21 Savage ("New Money"), Justin Timberlake, Halsey, and Pharrell ("Stay with Me"), and Normani, Tinashe, and Offset ("New to You") all landed on Funk Wav Bounces, Vol. 2. Released in August 2022, the sequel proved nearly as popular as its predecessor, reaching number five in the U.K. and 17 on the Billboard 200. A standalone single, "Miracle" featuring Ellie Goulding, arrived in March 2023. It became Harris' eleventh U.K. chart-topper. "Desire," with Sam Smith, followed and reached the Top Ten. The Eliza Rose collaboration "Body Moving" charted in the Top 40. In 2024, Harris released "Lovers in a Past Life" with Rag'n'Bone Man. ~ Stewart Mason

Shooting from obscurity to fame as the featured artist on Disclosure's "Latch" in 2012, a global smash hit that showcased their distinctively stirring high tenor, Sam Smith has since become one of pop's most prominent balladeers. Taking cues from soul belters like Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan, followers such as Amy Winehouse and Adele, and their own church upbringing, Smith effectively arrived as a headliner with 2014's In the Lonely Hour. Multi-platinum in the singer's native U.K. and the U.S., the album also garnered Best New Artist and three additional Grammys among a slew of accolades. Smith followed up with 2017's The Thrill of It All, a heartsick album favoring Southern soul and gospel, and by the end of the 2010s had accumulated six number one U.K. singles as a headliner: "Money on My Mind," "Stay with Me," and "Lay Me Down," followed by the Academy Award-winning James Bond theme "Writing's on the Wall," "Too Good at Goodbyes," and the Calvin Harris collaboration "Promises." The singer entered the next decade with a handful of additional Top 20 U.K. singles that led to 2020's Love Goes, followed by the Grammy-winning "Unholy" and its parent album, 2023's Gloria.

Before their commercial breakthrough at the age of 21, the London-born singer and songwriter balanced their studies and music, sang in choirs and in bands, and performed in musical theater productions. They developed a passionate approach to singing inspired by their Catholic upbringing and numerous soul legends, and in the late 2000s headlined a couple low-profile independent singles, "Bad Day All Week" and "When It's Alright." Smith was barely out of their teens when, in late 2012, they reached a much larger audience as the featured vocalist on Disclosure's "Latch." A powerful and loping mixture of U.K. garage and contemporary dance-pop, the song went to number 11 in the U.K., where it also went platinum. Over in the U.S., it took significantly longer to take hold, but eventually hit number seven there and was certified platinum three times over.

The singer's first major-label solo single, released in February 2013, went in a more adult contemporary direction. Produced by Jimmy Napes and Steve Fitzmaurice, "Lay Me Down" recalled the pared-down ballads that had proved successful for Adele, another artist Smith admired. Only three months later, producer/songwriter Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan followed his Emeli Sandé-fronted U.K. Top Ten hit "Wonder" with "La La La," featuring a lead vocal from Smith (who had just finished a series of dates in support of Sandé). It was an instant number one U.K. hit and reached number 19 in the States. That October, Smith issued the Nirvana EP, which included "Lay Me Down" and an acoustic version of "Latch."

By the end of February 2014, they were back on top of the U.K. chart with "Money on My Mind," a single marrying their relaxed vocal with a frenetic production from Two Inch Punch. Smith's debut long-player, In the Lonely Hour, followed that May in the U.K., and topped the album chart. It arrived in the U.S. the following month and peaked at number two there. The singles "Stay with Me," "I'm Not the Only One," and "Lay Me Down" hit the Top Ten in both the U.K. and U.S. The number two seller of 2014 in the U.K. and U.S., behind only respective LPs by Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift, In the Lonely Hour led to awards from organizations as varied as the BRITs, Billboard, BET, and the Recording Academy. Smith almost swept the "big four" Grammy categories by winning Best New Artist, as well as Song of the Year and Record of the Year, the latter two for the Darkchild version of "Stay with Me," produced by Rodney Jerkins. In the Lonely Hour didn't win Album of the Year, but it did take the award for Best Pop Vocal Album.

In 2015, Smith recorded another Disclosure collaboration, "Omen," eventually placed on the production duo's Caracal. Smith also earned the honor of being chosen to record the theme for a James Bond film. "Writing's on the Wall," recorded for Spectre, was the first Bond theme to go to number one in the U.K. An expanded version of In the Lonely Hour, the "Drowning Shadows Edition," was released that November with new material and previously released stray tracks added to the original album.

Following Golden Globe and Academy Award wins for "Writing's on the Wall," Smith spent most of 2016 and early 2017 in the studio recording their follow-up album with previous collaborators Jimmy Napes and Steve Fitzmaurice. "Too Good at Goodbyes," the lead single from Smith's second album, was issued in September 2017. The ballad went to number one in the U.K. and the Top Five in the U.S. just before its parent release, The Thrill of It All, entered the U.K. and U.S. charts at number one.

The promotional campaign wound down the next year, and Smith continued with singles across the remainder of 2018 and into 2019. These included three more Top Ten U.K. hits: the chart-topping Calvin Harris collaboration "Promises," the Normani duet "Dancing with a Stranger" (also Top Ten U.S.), and "How Do You Sleep?" Strides toward Smith's third album continued in 2020 with "To Die For," which peaked in the U.K. at number 18. Preceded by a couple of additional Top 20 entries -- "I'm Ready" featuring Demi Lovato and "Diamonds" -- Love Goes arrived that October, reaching number two in the U.K. and hitting number five on the Billboard 200.

Determining to not make another album filled with romantic sorrow, Smith designed Gloria, their fourth full-length, as a wider-scoped affair both lyrically and sonically. Lead single "Love Me More" arrived in April 2022, and was followed five months later by "Unholy," a slinking collaboration with Kim Petras that Smith produced with Jimmy Napes, Cirkut, Ilya, Blake Slatkin, and Omer Fedi. Shortly after the release of "Unholy," Smith performed at London's Royal Albert Hall and included their new song in the set (excerpted for the Live from the Royal Albert Hall EP). "Unholy" topped the U.K. and U.S. pop charts and, just weeks after Gloria's January 2023 release, earned Smith and Petras the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. ~ Andy Kellman & James Wilkinson