Conor Oberst
This emo singer-songwriter, who records under the name Bright Eyes, has enthralled a generation of teenage girls with his plaintive, confessional anthems.
Nebraska-born and bred, Oberst began writing songs and playing in Omaha bands as a scrawny kid of 12; three years later, his band Commander Venus landed its first record deal. The group disbanded after a couple of years and Oberst went out on his own, releasing a 1998 record under the name Bright Eyes. His sensitive, weepy music caught on, and his second album, Letting Off the Happiness, won him more fans and some critical attention. Oberst didn't hit the mainstream, though, until 2002's Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, which sold a surprisingly robust 250,000 copies. These days Oberst also records with his side project Desaparecidos, a punk-infused band whose lyrics have a political bent, and Monsters of Folk, a, you guessed it, folk band which also can boast She & Him's M. Ward as a member.
Oberst has been widely touted as the second coming of Bob Dylan, and his live shows often inspire tears and mass reverie. Not everyone's a convert, though. On the release of his 2005 record I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, one critic said that "instead of reaching musical maturity, he's wallowing in a perpetual adolescence." The Onion once mocked his maudlin posturing in a story entitled "Nation Planning Surprise Party to Cheer Up Conor Oberst." His April 2007 release, the alt-country-styled Cassadaga, sold 58,000 copies in its first week, and debuted at number four on the Billboard chart. [Image via Getty]