It would be both annoying and inaccurate to quip that diminutive, balding drummer-turned-singer Phil Collins became a music-industry titan against all odds. As evidenced by his multitude of hits, both solo and with Genesis, the 59-year-old Englishman made banging out karaoke favorites look easy.

Back in 2006, as OutKast was coming off a dizzying run that saw five consecutive studio albums hit No. 2 or higher on the Billboard chart, André 3000 and Big Boi announced that each would put out solo records before releasing their next joint project.

For a woman who belts out arias at sold-out opera houses without using a microphone, Renée Fleming speaks in surprisingly soft tones. "I have a terrible speaking voice," says the 51-year-old soprano, by phone from her New York office. "If I go to restaurants, people can't hear me."

Since forming Alkaline Trio in his native Chicago in 1996, Matt Skiba has been hit by five cars and drawn the ire of Christian radio stations for talking about his membership in the Church of Satan. Despite those crises, his band's 2008 album, Agony & Irony, peaked on the Billboard chart at No. 13.

Whether it was for his quasi-religious posturing or his bombastic, Vedder-lite vocals, Scott Stapp was certainly a divisive force in rock during his rise to fame with Creed in the late 1990s. Trouble with alcohol and the law led to the group's contentious 2004 breakup.

Born in Texas but raised in his mother's native Venezuela, Devendra Banhart has built an enviable career out of being an outsider. The 28-year-old singer-songwriter broke out in 2002 with a lo-fi album made up of largely folky ditties he left on people's answering machines, quickly amassing a passionate following.