Macy Gray

More than the acclaimed work of just another neo-soul singer, Macy Gray's otherworldly music is as indebted to Billie Holiday and Betty Davis as it is to Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu. No wonder why she caught critics and consumers off guard with her GRAMMY®-winning hit, "I Try," and its two follow-up singles: the playful, funky "Why Didn't You Call Me" and the slow-roasted, steam-pressed "Still." Taken together alongside the creepy, kooky character studies "Sex-o-matic Venus Freak" and "I've Committed Murder," Gray's first songs were as strange as they were stimulating.

They're also just a taste of what makes her tick, something we fully explore in our Next Steps.

"One-dimensional" is a term that'll never trail the vibrant vocals of Macy Gray. "A tad eccentric" and "mighty versatile" is more like it, as she demonstrates on such bewildering solo songs as the string-saturated "Love Is Gonna Get You" and the self-explanatory swinging soul of "Relating to a Psychopath." And then there are her guest spots — a position she fills with flair, whether it's a smoldering R&B duet ("Love and War" with Anthony Hamilton) or something a bit more envelope pushing (the spacey synth-pop stroll of "Greatest Show on Earth").

Macy Gray spent most of her young life despising her unmistakable voice, a husky rasp that led her to ghostwrite lyrics at first. That is until a friend of hers missed a key recording session, giving Gray a chance to steal her studio slot and cut a demo. While many labels passed on her early tracks, Epic eventually signed Gray on the strength of those songs, a move she rewarded with the stylized madness of On How Life Is, one of the strongest and most successful neo-soul discs ever. A crossover hit of the highest order, it set Gray's standard so high she's been reinventing her approach ever since, from the wobbly guitar melodies of "My Nutmeg Phantasy" to the surprisingly straightforward "Finally Made Me Happy."