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England was basking in an unseasonably warm and bright afternoon one play last week. Paul McCartney, however, was spending it enveloped by darkness and fog, as he had done for most of the preceding month. Yet the famous ex-Beatle’s mood could hardly have been sunnier. On Soundstage 6 at the Goldcrest Elstree Studio complex north of London, shrouded by dry ice, McCartney enthusiastically kicked into a performance of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” He was rehearsing for his most significant career move since the breakup of The Beatles in 1970. Buoyed by the critical success of his latest album, Flowers in the Dirt, and excited about the sound of his new band, McCartney is embarki...

Janet Jackson is a survivor. As the baby in pop’s most famous family, Janet had to fight for attention and to be taken seriously. Launching her recording career just as brother Michael’s popularity was exploding, she lived in his shadow for many years—until she asserted her own image and a sound that mixed elements of r&b, funk, rap and new jack swing. By the end of the 1990s, she rivaled even the King of Pop as one of the decade’s most successful recording artists. A new compilation, Number Ones, charts Jackson’s rise from her 1986 breakthrough Control album to 2001’s multimillion-selling All for You. The 12 tracks range from love songs to statements of female empowerment. Control’s “Na...

As the daughter of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll and the former wife of the self-proclaimed King of Pop (a.k.a. Wacko Jacko), poor little Lisa Marie comes with a whole heap of baggage. But the tabloid target is sure to silence her critics with her long-awaited debut. Inheriting her father’s deep, sultry voice and writing all of the songs, including the hard-rocking confessional “S.O.B.” and “Lights Out,” the surprisingly frank ode to Graceland’s dark side, Elvis’ and Priscilla’s lovechild has acquitted herself admirably.

It couldn’t have been easy growing up in the shadow of her famous father. Lisa Marie, Elvis’ daughter with Priscilla, struggled through three marriages to musician Danny Keough, with whom she had two children, superstar Michael Jackson and actor Nicolas Cage. Now happily married to guitarist Michael Lockwood, with whom she has twin girls, the 44-year-old singer has just released the authentic sounding Storm and Grace. Says Presley: “It’s me without any attitude or anger at a time of rediscovery.” Produced by T-Bone Burnett, Storm and Grace reveals an artist baring her soul and embracing her Southern roots. Mixing country, folk and blues, Presley delivers moody confessionals like “Over Me” an...

The High Priestess of Freak is looking suspiciously like a Volvo Driving Soccer Mom. Dressed in a denim shirt, track pants and running shoes, with only a white, fun-fur cowboy hat hinting at her outlandish style, Macy Gray arrives at a studio in Burbank, California for a rehearsal with her seven-piece band. She’s late and her group has already run through most her repertoire. But the singer doesn’t seem the least bit concerned. Instead, Gray plonks herself down on a couch, curls her long, lanky frame up at one end of it and hides beneath the wide brim of her hat, nodding occasionally along to the music. She seems bored or at least tired—which would be entirely understandable, given that she’...