Tangela Nicole Smith (born April 1, 1977 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American basketball player in the WNBA currently playing for the San Antonio Silver Stars.

Smith attended George Washington High School in Chicago, where she was named a 1994Kodak High School All-American. Smith was named a High School All-American by the WBCA. She participated in the WBCA High School All-America Game in 1994, scoring three points.

Smith graduated from the University Of Iowa in 1998. She won the 1998 Big Ten Player of the Year award. She was also a 1998 Kodak/WBCA All-America honorable mention and earned 1996 and 1998 All-Big Ten first team and 1997 All-Big Ten honorable mention accolades.

Smith was selected 12th overall in the 1998 WNBA Draft by the Sacramento Monarchs. She played 6 seasons for the Monarchs, helping them reach the playoffs on 5 times. In 2005 she was traded to the Sting in exchange for Nicole Powell. Charlotte folded following the 2006 season and Smith's rights were acquired by the Minnesota Lynx in the dispersal draft.

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American recording artist, actress, producer, and model. In 2009, the Guinness World Records cited her as the most-awarded female act of all-time. Houston was one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 170 million albums, singles and videos worldwide. She released seven studio albums and three movie soundtrack albums, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum or gold certification. Houston's crossover appeal on the popular music charts, as well as her prominence on MTV, starting with her video for "How Will I Know", influenced several African American female artists to follow in her footsteps.

Houston is the only artist to chart seven consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hits. She is the second artist behind Elton John and the only female artist to have two number-one Billboard 200 Album awards (formerly "Top Pop Album") on the Billboard magazine year-end charts. Houston's 1985 debut album Whitney Houston became the best-selling debut album by a female act at the time of its release. The album was named Rolling Stone's best album of 1986, and was ranked at number 254 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Her second studio album Whitney (1987) became the first album by a female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart.

Joan Elizabeth Osborne (born July 8, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her song "One of Us". She has toured with Motown sidemen the Funk Brothers and was featured in the documentary film about them, Standing in the Shadows of Motown.

Originally from Anchorage, Kentucky, a suburb of Louisville, Osborne moved to New York City in the late 1980s, where she formed her own record label, Womanly Hips, to release a few independent recordings. She signed with Mercury Records, and released her first full length album, Soul Show: Live at Delta 88, in 1991. Her second (and first major label) album was Relish (1995), which became a hit on the strength of the single "One of Us". Apart from this song, the rest of the album was steeped in country, blues and folk music. "Right Hand Man" and "St. Teresa" became minor hits following the success of "One of Us".

In 2001, Osborne appeared on Austin City Limits, singing material mainly from Righteous Love. In a brief interview segment at the end of the episode, Osborne reflects on her gladness to have gotten out of the limelight of her mid-90's stardom.

Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. (born September 27, 1982), better known by his stage name Lil Wayne, is an American rapper. At the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, and half of the duo, The B.G.'z, with B.G.. In 1997, Lil Wayne joined the group Hot Boys, which also included rappers Juvenile, B.G., and Young Turk. Hot Boys debuted with Get It How U Live! that year. Lil Wayne gained most of his success with the group's major selling album Guerrilla Warfare, released in 1999. Also in 1999, Lil Wayne released his Platinum debut album Tha Block Is Hot, selling over one million copies in the U.S.

Although his next two albums Lights Out (2000) and 500 Degreez (2002) were not as successful (only reaching Gold status), Lil Wayne reached higher popularity in 2004 with Tha Carter, which included the single "Go D.J." Wayne also appeared on the Destiny's Child top ten single "Soldier" that year. In 2005, the sequel to Tha Carter, Tha Carter II, was released. In 2006 and 2007, Lil Wayne released several mixtapes and appeared on several popular rap and R&B singles. His most successful album, Tha Carter III, was released in 2008 and sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. its first week of release. It included the number-one single "Lollipop" featuring Static Major. It also includes the singles "A Milli" and "Got Money" featuring T-Pain and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.