Anthony DeCurtis (born June 25, 1951) is an American author and music critic, who has written for Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Relix and other publications.

DeCurtis is now a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, where his work has appeared for more than thirty years. He holds a Ph.D. in American literature from Indiana University, and teaches in the creative writing program at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a music critic for WFUV-FM, where he does on-air reviews. He is also the author of In Other Words: Artists Talk About Life and Work (Hal Leonard Publishing Co, 2005) and Rocking My Life Away: Writing About Music and Other Matters (Duke University Press, 1998), and editor of Present Tense: Rock & Roll and Culture (Duke University Press, 1992) and "Blues & Chaos: The Music Writing of Robert Palmer" (Scribner, 2009). He co-edited the third editions of the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll and the Rolling Stone Album Guide.

DeCurtis's essay accompanying the Eric Clapton box set Crossroads won a Grammy in the "Best Album Notes" category, and on three occasions he has won ASCAP's Deems Taylor awards for excellence in writing about music. He has appeared as a commentator on MTV, VH1, the Today Show and many other news and entertainment programs. From 2006 through June 2008 he directed and helped design the arts-and-culture curriculum at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He was an editorial consultant and the primary interviewer for "Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound," a documentary for PBS American Masters. DeCurtis has currently joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers. He was also a judge for the 7th and 8th Independent Music Awards.

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed, born March 2, 1942, is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his solo career, which has spanned several decades. Though the Velvet Underground were a commercial failure in the late 1960s, the group has gained a considerable cult following in the years since its demise and has gone on to become one of the most widely cited and influential bands of the era. As the Velvet Underground's principal songwriter, Reed wrote about subjects of personal experience that rarely had been examined so openly in rock and roll, including sexuality and drug culture.

After his departure from the group, Reed began a solo career in 1971. He had a hit the following year with "Walk on the Wild Side", although he subsequently lacked the mainstream commercial success its chart status seemed to indicate. Reed's work as a solo artist frustrated critics wishing for a return of the Velvet Underground. In 1975, Reed released a double album of feedback loops, Metal Machine Music, upon which he later commented, "No one is supposed to be able to do a thing like that and survive."

Alanis Nadine Morissette (born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination. Morissette began her career in Canada, and as a teenager recorded two dance-pop albums, Alanis and Now Is the Time, under MCA Records Canada.

Her first international album was the rock-influenced Jagged Little Pill, released in 1995. Jagged has sold more than 33 million units globally. Her following album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, was released in 1998 and was a success as well. Morissette took up producing duties for her subsequent albums, which include Under Rug Swept, So-Called Chaos and Flavors of Entanglement. Morissette has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide. Morissette is also known for her powerful and emotive mezzo-soprano voice.

Morissette acquired United States citizenship in 2005.

Morissette was born June 1, 1974 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Georgia Mary Ann (née Feuerstein), a teacher of Hungarian descent, and Alan Richard Morissette, a French-Canadian high school principal. She has a twin brother, Wade Morissette, (also a musician) who was born 12 minutes after her. Morissette was raised Catholic. She attended Glebe Collegiate Institute (Ottawa, Canada) for high school.

Deborah Ann "Debbie" Harry (born July 1, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter and actress, best known for being the lead singer of the punk rock and new wave band Blondie. She has also had success as a solo artist, and in the mid-1990s she performed and recorded as part of The Jazz Passengers. Her acting career spans over thirty film roles and numerous television appearances.

Harry was born in Miami, Florida, and adopted by Catherine Harry and Richard Smith, gift shop proprietors in Hawthorne, New Jersey. She attended Hawthorne High School, where she graduated in 1963. She graduated from Centenary College in Hackettstown, New Jersey, with an Associate of Arts degree in 1965.^{[citation needed]} Before starting her singing career she moved to New York City in the late 1960s and worked as a secretary at BBC Radio's office there for one year. Later, she was a waitress at Max's Kansas City, a go-go dancer in Union City, New Jersey, discothèque,^{[citation needed]} and a Playboy Bunny.

Deborah Harry began her musical career in the late '60s with the folk rock group The Wind in the Willows, that recorded one album for Capitol Records. Harry then joined The Stilettos, with Elda Gentile and Amanda Jones, in 1974. The Stilettos included her eventual boyfriend and Blondie guitarist Chris Stein. When Harry and Stein left the Stilettos, they formed Angel and the Snake, with Tish and Snooky Bellomo. Shortly thereafter, Harry and Stein formed Blondie, naming it for the term of address men often yelled at Harry when she bleached her hair. Blondie quickly became regulars at Max's Kansas City and CBGB in New York City. After a debut album in 1976, commercial success followed in the late 1970s to the early 1980s, first in Australia and Europe, then in the United States.

Christopher "Chris" Stein (born January 5, 1950) is co-founder and guitarist in the New Wave band, Blondie. He is also a producer and performer for the classic soundtrack of the hip hop film Wild Style.

Stein wrote "Sunday Girl" as well as writing some of Blondie's hits with Deborah Harry: "Heart of Glass", "Picture This" (with Jimmy Destri), "Dreaming", "Island of Lost Souls", "Rapture" and "Rip Her to Shreds". Stein also ran the Animal Records label between 1982 and 1984.

In 1983, Stein was diagnosed with pemphigus, a rare autoimmune disease of the skin, but he has since regained normal function. As of 2011, he was still touring and recording music with Blondie.

Stein was born in Brooklyn, New York. While leading Blondie, Stein and Harry became life partners as well as musical partners, although they never married. In the mid-1980s, she took several years off to nurse him back to health. Stein and Harry broke up in 1989, but they have continued to work together.

He married the actress Barbara Sicuranza in 1999. They have two daughters.