A solo album, in popular music, is an album headlined by a current or former member of a band. A solo album may feature simply one person performing all instruments, but typically features the work of other collaborators; rather, it may be made with different collaborators than the artist is usually associated, though just how different that group is varies widely.

The concept of the solo album arose at least as early as the late 1940s. A 1947 Billboard magazine article heralded "Margaret Whiting huddling with Capitol execs over her first solo album on which she will be backed by Frank De Vol".

A modern example is rock musician Sting, who came to prominence as a member of The Police. For his first solo album, 1985's Dream of the Blue Turtles, Sting recruited an entirely different backing group with which to perform. However, it is common for musicians to recruit some of their "regular" bandmates for the recording of a solo album. Another example is the musician Peter Gabriel. Gabriel departed from the UK band Genesis with the birth of his first daughter, and wrote a song, "Solsbury Hill", to commemorate the event.

Claudio Baglioni (born 16 May 1951) is an Italian musician. His various works include the official Anthem for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin. He has also written for previous sporting events.

His musical career began in 1965 when he entered a competition for new talents in the Rome district of Centocelle. Between 1965 and 1968 he composed a musical suite to a poem by Edgar Allan Poe entitled Annabel Lee, made a test recording for RCA, released his first album Claudio Baglioni. In 1969, he entered the Disco per l'estate competition with the song Una favola blu and the Festivalbar competition with Signora Lia. The following year, Baglioni released his first album Claudio Baglioni, which didn't sell well and was retired from the market a few weeks after initial release.

Following the release of his second album Un cantastorie dei giorni nostri in 1972, he made the big-time with Questo piccolo grande amore. He set off for his first tour in 1973, the year of Gira che ti rigira amore bello. On 4 August 1973, he married Paola Massari. In 1974 he produced E tu in Paris in collaboration with Vangelis and in 1975 Sabato pomeriggio with arrangements by Luis Enriquez Bacalov. In 1977 he released Solo and began a tour of the United States and Canada. 1978 was the year of E tu come stai?, released by his new record company CBS.

Adam Wade Gontier (born on May 25, 1978) is a Canadian musician and songwriter. He is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and main songwriter of the rock band Three Days Grace. He is regarded for his singing capabilities and is known to have a voice range from high tenor to medium low bass. In addition to his work with Three Days Grace, he has been involved in collaborations with other bands including Art of Dying and Apocalyptica.

Gontier was born in Norwood, Ontario in May 1978. He attended Norwood District High School. It was here that he met fellow band members Neil Sanderson and Brad Walst. They formed a band under the name 'Groundswell', which later evolved into Three Days Grace. Groundswell gained popularity in the local area, and a few years later the band decided to move to Toronto to pursue their music career.

Gontier cites his influences as Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Beatles and Jeff Buckley. When he was 8 to 12 years old, his mom, a jazz piano player, would take him to her concerts.

David Jon Gilmour,CBE (born 6 March 1946) is an English rock musician and multi-instrumentalist who is best known as the guitarist, one of the lead singers and main songwriters in the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. It is estimated that as of 2010, the group have sold over 250 million records worldwide, including 74.5 million units sold in the United States.

In addition to his work with Pink Floyd, Gilmour has worked as a producer for a variety of artists, and has enjoyed a successful career as a solo artist. Gilmour has been actively involved with many charities over the course of his career.

In 2003, he was appointed CBE for his charity work and was awarded with the Outstanding Contribution title at the 2008 Q Awards. In 2011, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him number 14 in their list of the greatest guitarists of all time.

Gilmour was born in Cambridge, England. His father, Douglas Gilmour, was a senior lecturer in zoology at the University of Cambridge and his mother, Sylvia (née Wilson), was a teacher and film editor who raised her family at Grantchester Meadows, later immortalised by a Roger Waters song on Pink Floyd's Ummagumma. He has a younger brother who is also a musician.

Jonathan Houseman Davis (born January 18, 1971) is the lead vocalist and frontman for the nu metal band Korn. Davis was ranked 16th on Hit Parader 's list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists".

Davis was born in Bakersfield, California to Rick Davis and Holly Chavez. He has a sister named Alyssa, a half brother, Mark Chavez, (the former lead singer for Adema) and half sister Amanda Chavez by his mother. His father was a keyboardist for Buck Owens while his mother was a professional dancer. His parents divorced when he was three years old, his mother leaving Rick for Judas, and was raised by his father and stepmother Lily in Bakersfield. Davis suffered severe bouts of asthma as a child, and had survived a near-fatal asthma attack when he was five, when he was pronounced clinically dead for several minutes. He also spoke of having a horrible relationship with his stepmother. Davis has said that his earliest musical inspiration as a child was the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Jesus Christ Superstar, and his favorite musical group was Duran Duran. He graduated from Highland High School in 1989. He also attended the San Francisco School of Mortuary Science for a period of time.