Ten women who changed the music industry
Meet the trailblazers who left a mark on music
Sunday 8 March marks International Women’s Day, and while here at Magic we support and champion women every day of the year, we’re reflecting on the women who have made an unforgettable impact on the music industry.
From blazing a trail for songwriters, to championing female voices and creating entertainment empires, these are just some of the female artists who have changed the game, set the bar higher and left an indelible mark on music.
Madonna
The “Queen of Pop”’s four decade career has seen her produce fourteen studio albums, win seven Grammy’s and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. She also just so happens to be the best-selling female recording artist of all time.
Since releasing her debut album in 1983, Madonna’s cultural legacy is still alive in the music industry, with countless artists from Britney Spears to Adele claiming they were influenced by her. Madonna is known for continuously reinventing herself, bringing a fresh sound to each album. She paved the way for other female artists in the pop industry and busted boundaries both lyrically and visually, by discussing religion, sex and politics in her music.
Aside from music, her role in the 1996 film Evita earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, she founded Maverick entertainment company and Maverick Records in 1992 and founded charities Ray of Light Foundation in 1998 and Raising Malawi in 2006.
Ella Fitzgerald
With an astonishing 200 albums to her name, 14 Grammy Awards and over 40 million albums sold, Ella Fitzgerald sufficiently earned her title, "First Lady of Song." She smashed through barriers as a woman of color during the civil rights era, and became the first African-American woman to win multiple Grammys at the inaugural Awards ceremony in 1958.
Famed for her intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing, Fitzgerald created music unlike any other. Her collaborations with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and The Ink Spots produced some of her best-known songs such as "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Cheek to Cheek", "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall", and "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)".
Fitzgerald was also the first African-American woman to perform during the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 1972. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and in 1990, she became an honorary Doctor of Music at Harvard University. Fitzgerald also appeared in movies and as a guest on popular television shows in the second half of the twentieth century.
Mariah Carey
While her smash festive song, ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ secured her place in infamy, Mariah Carey’s legacy is much greater than one Christmas hit. She writes the majority of her songs, and paved the way for other female songwriters. Until a few years ago, she had written more Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 songs than any other woman.
Noted for her five-octave vocal range and signature use of the whistle register, Mariah Carey is hailed as being one of the pioneers of pop and contemporary R&B music by embraced hip hop in the early stages in her career, collaborating with rappers such as Puff Daddy, Snoop Dogg, JAY-Z, and more. Carey also influenced many of today's biggest superstars including Beyoncé and Ariana Grande.
Carey has sold over 200 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She is the second-best-selling female artist in the United States, with 66.5 million certified albums and has won five Grammy Awards. Additionally, she won the Breakthrough Actress Performance Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival for her role in Precious in 2009.
Janet Jackson
The youngest child of the Jackson family, Janet Jackson appeared on television first in 1976, before signing with A&M records in 1982. But it wasn’t until the release of her third and fourth albums, Control (1986) and Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989) respectively, that she became a pop icon.
In 1991, Jackson signed the first of two record-breaking multimillion-dollar contracts with Virgin Records, establishing her as one of the highest-paid artists in the industry. Having sold over 100 million records, Jackson is one of the world's best-selling music artists of all time.
Her collaborations with record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis incorporated elements of rhythm and blues, funk, disco, rap and industrial beats, which led to crossover success in popular music. Jackson holds the record for the most consecutive top-ten entries on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart by a female artist with 18. She was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
Taylor Swift
Having sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, Swift is the highest-earning female musician of the 2010s. With 10 Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, six Guinness world records at thirty years old, her impact is undeniable. At fourteen, Swift was the youngest artist signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house and her debut album was the longest-charting album of the 2000s in the United States. Her sophomore album, Fearless, a pop crossover hit, was the US's best-selling album of 2009 and certified diamond. The album helped Swift become the youngest Album of the Year winner.
As a songwriter, Swift has been honored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame and was included in Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time list in 2015. She appeared in Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010, 2015 and 2019 and was ranked first in the Forbes Celebrity 100 in 2016 and 2019. With her seventh album, Lover (2019), she became the second woman to achieve six consecutive number-one albums on the Billboard 200.
Aside from her chart success, Taylor has been an advocate for fair compensation in the new world of streaming. When she removed her music from select services, demanding they change their compensation policies, it brought about real change. For her most recent albums, Swift hand-selected fans to come to her home, to hear her new music first, taking fan interaction to a new level.
Beyoncé
Beyoncé has been nominated for a Grammy over 60 times, taking home 22 of them over the last 17 years, and is the second most-winningest woman (second to bluegrass artist Alison Krauss who has 27 Grammy wins to her name and is the second biggest winner of any gender, tied with Quincy Jones). She rose to fame as part of the band Destiny's Child's, before venturing into a solo career. Her first solo album, Dangerously in Love (2003), debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. Her third album, I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008), earned a record-setting six Grammy Awards in 2010.
She is one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 100 million records worldwide. When Beyoncé released her fifth studio album in 2012, she did so in a revolutionary way: without any announcements whatsoever. The album’s themes of feminism throughout all fourteen tracks, and her most recent solo album Lemonade incorporated stunning visuals.
Her success during the 2000s was recognized with the Recording Industry Association of America's Top Certified Artist of the Decade. In 2014, she became the highest-paid black musician in history and was listed among Time's 100 most influential people in the world, with Forbes ranked her as the most powerful female in entertainment in 2015 and 2017.
Dolly Parton
In the male-dominated landscape of country music, Dolly Parton is one of the most honoured female country artists of all time. In addition to all of her Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum records, Parton is one of a select few to have received at least one nomination from the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, Tony Awards, and Emmy Awards. She also has been inducted into 15 different Hall of Fames, and is tied with Bruce Springsteen for the most Grammy noms overall (they are both in 10th place).
Citing her professions as singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actress, author, businesswoman, and humanitarian, she is a highly successful, influential and game-changing figure for women in the music industry. She has garnered ten Grammy Awards, two Academy Award nominations, ten Country Music Association Awards, seven Academy of Country Music Awards, three American Music Awards, and is one of only seven female artists to win the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year Award.
Parton’s "I Will Always Love You," famously covered by Whitney Houston, came out of a moment of empowerment and taking control when she left syndicated TV program The Porter Wagoner Show. Houston’s cover became one of the best-selling singles of all time. As an actress, she has starred in films such as 9 to 5 (1980) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), for which she earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress.
Cher
Commonly referred to by the media as the Goddess of Pop, Cher has embodied female autonomy in a male-dominated industry. Known for her distinctive contralto singing voice, multiple reinventions and working across the entertainment industry, has cemented her place in history throughout her six-decade-long career. Cher gained popularity in 1965 as one-half of the folk rock husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher after their song "I Got You Babe" reached number one on the American and British charts. In the 1970s with her shows The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, watched by over 30 million viewers weekly during its three-year run, and Cher. She emerged as a fashion trendsetter by wearing elaborate outfits on her television shows.
She then revived her musical career by recording the rock-inflected albums Cher (1987), Heart of Stone (1989), and Love Hurts (1991), all of which yielded successful singles such as "I Found Someone", "If I Could Turn Back Time", and "Love and Understanding". Cher reached a new commercial peak in 1998 with the dance-pop album Believe, whose title track became the biggest-selling single of all time by a female artist in the UK. It features the pioneering use of Auto-Tune, also known as the "Cher effect". Her 2002–2005 Living Proof: The Farewell Tour became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time, earning $250 million. In 2008, she signed a $180 million deal to headline the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for three years.
Having sold 100 million records to date, Cher is one of the world's best-selling music artists. Her achievements include a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, an Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, a Cannes Film Festival Award, and awards from the Kennedy Center Honors and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. She is the only artist to date to have a number-one single on a Billboard chart in six consecutive decades, from the 1960s to the 2010s. Outside of her music and acting, she is noted for her political views, social media presence, philanthropic endeavors, and social activism, including LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS prevention.
Stevie Nicks
Best known for her work as a songwriter and vocalist with Fleetwood Mac, and her chart-topping solo career, Nicks’ distinctive voice, mystical stage persona and poetic, symbolic lyrics set her apart from the crowd.
As a member of Fleetwood Mac and a solo artist has produced over forty top 50 hits and sold over 140 million records, making her one of the best-selling music acts of all time with Fleetwood Mac. After immense success in Fleetwood Mac, in particular with the 1977 Rumours album that went on to become the fifth biggest-selling studio album of all time and won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1978. In 1981, while remaining a member of Fleetwood Mac, Nicks began her solo career, releasing the studio album Bella Donna, which topped the Billboard 200 and has reached multi platinum status.
Nicks was named one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time by Rolling Stone and is the only woman to have been inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of Fleetwood Mac in 1998 and as a solo artist in 2019.
Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj has been called one of the most influential female rap artists of all time. Throughout her career, she has received numerous accolades, including six American Music Awards, 11 BET Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, two Billboard Women in Music Awards, and 10 Grammy Award nominations.
With 30 million singles sold as a lead artist, 60 million as a featured artist, and over five million albums worldwide, Minaj is one of the world's best-selling music artists. Her first studio album, Pink Friday (2010) peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200 and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Early in her career, Minaj was known for her colourful costumes and wigs. Her rapping is distinctive for its fast flow and the use of alter egos and accents. Minaj was the first female artist included on MTV's annual Hottest MC List. In 2016, Minaj was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. As a lead artist, she has earned multiple top-ten entries on the Billboard Hot 100 and has the most entries among women of all genres.