Leonard Norman Cohen, CC GOQ (born 21 September 1934) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality, and interpersonal relationships. Cohen has been inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honour.

While giving the speech at Cohen's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 10 March 2008, Lou Reed described Cohen as belonging to the "highest and most influential echelon of songwriters."

Cohen was born on 21 September 1934 in Westmount, Montreal, Quebec, into a middle-class Jewish family. He attended Roslyn Elementary School. His mother, Marsha Klinitsky, of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry, emigrated from Lithuania while his great-grandfather emigrated from Poland. He grew up in Westmount on the Island of Montreal. His grandfather was Lyon Cohen, founding president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. His father, Nathan Cohen, who owned a substantial Montreal clothing store, died when Cohen was nine years old. On the topic of being a Kohen, Cohen has said that, "I had a very Messianic childhood." He told Richard Goldstein in 1967. "I was told I was a descendant of Aaron, the high priest." Cohen attended Westmount High School, beginning in 1948 where he was involved with the Student Council and studied music and poetry. He became especially interested in the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca. As a teenager, he learned to play the guitar, and formed a country-folk group called the Buckskin Boys. Although he initially played a regular acoustic guitar as a teenager, he soon switched to playing a classical guitar after meeting a young Spanish flamenco guitar player who taught him "a few chords and some flamenco."

George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founder member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter and conceptual leader. The band subsequently achieved worldwide success in the 1970s with the concept albums The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall. Although Waters' primary instrument in Pink Floyd was the bass guitar, he also experimented with synthesisers and tape loops and played rhythm guitars in recordings and in concerts. Amid creative differences within the group, Waters left Pink Floyd in 1985 and began a legal battle with the remaining members over their future use of the group's name and material. The dispute was settled out of court in 1987, and nearly eighteen years passed before he performed with Pink Floyd again. It is estimated that as of 2010, the group have sold over 200 million albums worldwide, including 74.5 million units sold in the United States.

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, (born 30 March 1945) is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. Clapton ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and fourth in Gibson's Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.

In the mid 1960s, Clapton departed from the Yardbirds to play blues with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. In his one-year stay with Mayall, Clapton gained the nickname "Slowhand". Immediately after leaving Mayall, Clapton formed Cream, a power trio with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations and "arty, blues-based psychedelic pop." For most of the 1970s, Clapton's output bore the influence of the mellow style of J.J. Cale and the reggae of Bob Marley. His version of Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" helped reggae reach a mass market. Two of his most popular recordings were "Layla", recorded by Derek and the Dominos, another band he formed and Robert Johnson's "Crossroads", recorded by Cream. A recipient of seventeen Grammy Awards, in 2004 Clapton was awarded a CBE for services to music. In 1998, Clapton, a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, founded the Crossroads Centre on Antigua, a medical facility for recovering substance abusers.

Tyler James Hilton (born November 22, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Hilton began his professional career in music in 2000. Rolling Stone magazine compared him to his contemporary, Howie Day, while others have compared Hilton to Elton John, both vocally and instrumentally. Since the release of his debut album, Hilton has ventured into acting, guest starring on The CW's One Tree Hill as the talented but somewhat arrogant Chris Keller, and playing the role of Elvis Presley in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line. He also appeared in Taylor Swift's music video "Teardrops on My Guitar".

Hilton was born in Palm Springs, California, the son of Kristy (née Herren) and Robert George Hilton. Raised in Bermuda Dunes, California, Hilton grew up around music and began teaching himself Elvis Presley songs at an early age. After a brief stint in Northern California, his family moved back to the Palm Springs area, where he wrote his first song about a girl named Rhian with whom he attended school. Hilton's family made another move back to Coachella Valley for high school, where, at La Quinta High School, he started a band with some of his classmates. The band did not go anywhere, so Hilton began to enter open mic nights and went to local coffee shops to play his own music.

Scott Ryan Williamson (born February 17, 1976, in Fort Polk North, Louisiana) is a right-handed relief pitcher in the Miami Marlins organization. He has played for the Cincinnati Reds (1999–2003), Boston Red Sox (2003-2004), Chicago Cubs (2005–2006), San Diego Padres (2006), and the Baltimore Orioles (2007). After a lightning-fast start: going from college to the major leagues in two years, with just five appearances at the Triple-A level and winning National League Rookie of the Year honors, Williamson's career tailed off in the mid-2000s as he suffered repeated injuries and spent long stretches on the disabled list.

Williamson attended Friendswood High School in Friendswood, Texas. In his senior year he posted a 0.68 ERA and was named district MVP. In college, Williamson played for first Tulane University and then Oklahoma State University. With the latter, he earned Big 12 first-team honors during the 1996-1997 school year. Williamson entered the draft after the season was over and was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 9th round, 276th pick overall.