Daniel Merriweather

Influenced by mavericks like Prince, Stevie Wonder, and Jeff Buckley, Australia's Daniel Merriweather is a musical free spirit himself, although he's most closely associated with R&B. The smooth crooner first came to most music fans' attention in 2003 when he made an appearance on Mark Ronson's genre-blending album Here Comes the Fuzz. Combining smooth soul and social commentary with rapper Saigon as his guest, Merriweather's debut single, "City Rules," appeared a year later. Damon Dash threw the cut on one of his mixtapes, introducing Merriweather to the U.S. urban audience, while numerous U.K. publications pegged it as the single of the week. In 2007 his career kicked into high gear worldwide when he hooked up with Ronson again, mashing the Smiths' "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" with the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On" for the single "Stop Me," which landed on Ronson's album Version. His debut album, Love & War, arrived in 2009 along with the single "Change." ~ David Jeffries