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British DJ and producer Joel Corry's bright, bass-heavy house tracks are chiefly inspired by '90s and 2000s U.K. garage and R&B, mixing upbeat rhythms with yearning sentiments. He hit big in 2019 with a cover of Monsta Boy's "Sorry," then scored his first U.K. number one the following year with "Head & Heart" featuring MNEK. Corry also cracked the U.K. Top 20 with his 2021 David Guetta and RAYE collaboration "Bed." He later released the EP Four for the Floor, as well as singles with Bryson Tiller, Tom Grennan, and others. Further tracks with artists like Icona Pop and MK preceded his 2023 full-length debut, Another Friday Night.

Born in 1989, Corry grew up London during the height of the U.K. garage explosion, and started to DJ when he was 13. Professionally active as the owner of a personal training business as well as a gym and leisure wear company, he first caught the public's eye when he starred in the reality show Geordie Shore. Corry released his first two dance singles, "Back Again" and "Light It Up," in 2015. He began hosting a specialty show on KISS FM in 2017, and holds down summer residencies in Ibiza, Zante, Ayia Napa, and several other clubbing hot spots. In 2019, he released a cover of Monsta Boy's 2000 U.K. garage hit "Sorry (I Didn't Know)," retitled "Sorry" and featuring vocalist Hayley May. After being featured on the British reality TV series Love Island, the song reached the Top Ten in the United Kingdom, Scotland, and Ireland. Two more singles, "Lonely" and "Head & Heart," arrived in 2020 and reached the Top Five of the U.K. singles chart. The latter song, a collaboration with MNEK, eventually hit number one on the U.K. singles chart and cracked the Billboard Hot 100.

In February 2021, Corry scored another Top 20 U.K. hit with "Bed," which also featured David Guetta and RAYE. Both songs later appeared on his EP Four for the Floor. Another Guetta collaboration, "What Would You Do," appeared in 2022, also featuring Bryson Tiller. "History," with Becky Hill, and "Lionheart (Fearless)" featuring Tom Grennan followed. His first album, Another Friday Night, arrived in 2023, with guests including Charli XCX, Rita Ora, and Icona Pop. ~ Paul Simpson

British singer/songwriter RAYE is a dynamic force of pop music, quickly ascending to become one of the brightest stars of her time both as a headliner and an in-demand collaborator. Her effortlessly smooth vocals and hook-laden songs began to take hold after she showed up as a featured artist on tracks by Jonas Blue and Jax Jones, with her 2020 mini-album Euphoric Sad Songs scoring a Top Ten single with "Secrets." RAYE had assisted dozens of other artists spanning pop, R&B, rap, and dance music -- ranging from Charli xcx and Ellie Goulding to David Guetta and Beyoncé -- and was a star in her own right by the time she issued her first album, My 21st Century Blues (2023), containing the number one U.K. hit "Escapism." After winning Artist of the Year at the 2024 BRIT Awards, RAYE unveiled the elaborate single "Genesis."

A native of South London, RAYE (Rachel Keen) was born and raised in Tooting before she moved to Croydon in her teens. Starting her career at the age of ten, she was guided by her father and her guitar teacher. Her interest in music quickly led to small charity gigs and singing in her local church. By 2012, RAYE had enrolled in the prestigious BRIT School to perfect her craft, but she left after two years (in 2014) due to the limitations she was being taught and the desire to create her own rules. Just before the end of 2014, RAYE self-released her R&B-leaning debut EP, Welcome to the Winter. The lead single, "Hotbox," was noticed by Olly Alexander, aka Years & Years, who got in touch with RAYE and arranged a meeting with the A&R department at Polydor.

With major-label backing from Polydor, RAYE kept busy in 2016, including co-writing her single "I, U, US" alongside Charli xcx appearing as a featured artist on Jonas Blue's "By Your Side" and Jax Jones' "You Don't Know Me" -- two Top 20 U.K. hits -- and releasing her own Second EP. She was back working with Charli xcx the following year, guesting on the singer's tracks "Girls" and "Dreamer." Also in 2017, RAYE scored her first U.K. pop hits as a lead artist with "The Line," which reached number 65, and "Decline," a collaboration with Mr. Eazi that peaked at number 15. "Decline" and the subsequent number 41 single "Cigarette," featuring Mabel and Stefflon Don, led the 2018 EP Side Tape. RAYE was heard around the same time on Kojo Funds' Top 40 hit "Check."

RAYE's ascent continued over the next few years. In 2019, she teamed up with David Guetta for "Stay (Don't Go Away)" and "Make It to Heaven" (also featuring Morten), amid one-off collaborations as a co-writer for songs by artists including Beyoncé ("Bigger," off The Lion King: The Gift) and Ellie Goulding (the Top 40 U.K. single "Sixteen"). In November 2020, RAYE released the mini-album Euphoric Sad Songs, the source of the number six U.K. hit "Secrets" (featuring Regard), and the number 37 single "Regardless" (a collaboration with Rudimental). She returned to the U.K. Top Ten in 2021 with the number three single "Bed," another collaboration with Guetta, and helped take D-Block Europe to number 14 with "Ferrari Horses."

Also during 2021, RAYE's mounting frustrations with Polydor -- over artistic direction and the label's refusal to issue her first proper full-length -- led to her release from the four-album contract she had signed seven years earlier. RAYE subsequently signed a licensing and distribution deal with Human Re Sources, thereby giving her artistic control. The first singles from RAYE's debut album arrived the next year. After "Hard Out Here" and "Mascara," she scored her first number one U.K. hit with the unguarded 070 Shake collaboration "Escapism." The feat set the stage for the February 2023 arrival of My 21st Century Blues. RAYE co-wrote each song and was assisted chiefly by Mike Sabath. The album charted worldwide, reaching the number two spot in the U.K. and as high as 58 in the States. Her extensive touring included a televised BBC special filmed at Royal Albert Hall that found RAYE accompanied by a 50-person orchestra and gospel choir. This concert was later released as the live album My 21st Century Symphony. She topped the U.K. dance chart that August via "Prada," Cassö's smash-hit remix of the D-Block Europe track "Ferrari Horses," which featured RAYE on vocals. At the 2024 BRIT Awards, she made history by taking home six trophies including Artist of the Year. She also previewed part of an elaborate single titled "Genesis," the full seven-minute version of which was released in June, peaking at 22 on the singles chart. By the end of the year, she had also picked up her first Grammy nominations, including for Best New Artist and Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical. ~ Andy Kellman & Liam Martin

French electronic music producer David Guetta rose to prominence atop the sparkling wave of DJs who combined Daft Punk's sleek house music with a pinch of electroclash punch at the start of the 21st century. Achieving international crossover success during the late-2000s EDM boom with the chart-toppers One Love and Nothing But the Beat, his house anthems became fixtures on the dance charts into the 2010s, often featuring famous names from the worlds of pop and rap, including frequent collaborators Nicki Minaj, Sam Martin, Sia, Morten, Chris Willis, Rihanna, Kelly Rowland, and Afrojack. Along with the latter two artists, Guetta also won a pair of Grammy Awards in 2011. In 2020, he released the EP New Rave and teamed up with Sia for the ebullient international synthwave/pop hit "Let's Love." In 2022, he hit the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot 100 with "I'm Good (Blue)" featuring Bebe Rexha and again paired with the singer in 2023 for the Grammy-nominated "One in a Million."

A native of Paris, the artist born Pierre David Guetta had been DJ'ing in France playing popular tunes, but his brain was particularly rewired in 1987 when he heard a Farley Jackmaster Funk track on French radio. He taped the track, brought a copy to a gig, and promptly cleared the floor with it during one of his own sets. Things loosened up a year later when acid house came to France and Guetta successfully promoted his own club nights. It was during one of those nights in 1992 that he met Robert Owens, a Chicago-based house legend who was touring Europe at the time. Guetta played Owens some of his own tracks, and Owens picked one he liked enough to sing over. The result was "Up and Away," a minor hit that lurked in garage DJ crates for the next four years.

Guetta's carefree attitude -- that he only produces good music while he's having casual fun -- kept the DJ from releasing anything until 2001's "Just a Little More Love." The track featured American gospel singer Chris Willis, who'd met Guetta while on vacation in France. Another slow-burner, "Just a Little More Love," kept popping up in sets for the next two years, first in an electro version and later in a pumped-up Wally Lopez remix. During this time, Guetta snuck out a bootleg remix of David Bowie's "Heroes," retitled "Just for One Day." Bowie gave the go-ahead to release the track officially, and Guetta soon had a massive hit on his hands. Guetta featured the liberated boot on his first mix CD, Fuck Me I'm Famous, named after Guetta's successful Ibiza-based party.

The fun-loving slacker DJ finally got around to releasing a collection of his own productions in 2004, Just a Little More Love on Astralwerks. Guetta Blaster arrived that same year, followed by Poplife in 2007. Chris Willis sang lead vocals on the latter album, which spun off multiple dance singles in multiple countries. Fuck Me I'm Famous: International, Vol. 2 was then released in July 2008, giving listeners a taste of the stylish sounds that orchestrated Guetta's summer club events in Ibiza. A year later, he released One Love, a platinum-selling album featuring the singles "When Love Takes Over" with Kelly Rowland, "Sexy Bitch" with Akon, and "Gettin' Over" with Chris Willis.

In 2010, Guetta received five nominations at the 52nd Grammy Awards, two of them related to the One Love album and the other three for his work on the Black Eyed Peas' massive worldwide hit "I Gotta Feeling." That same year, One Love was reissued as One More Love, featuring a bonus disc of remixes and new tracks. A superstar guest list featuring Akon, Lil Wayne, Flo Rida, Usher, Chris Brown, and others would figure into his 2011 release Nothing But the Beat, but this time the DJ's songwriting was inspired by dramatic rock bands like Coldplay.

In 2014, Guetta released three singles on his own Jack Back label, all of which were rounded up on that year's Lovers on the Sun EP. Later that year, Guetta released his sixth studio album, Listen. Perhaps as a reaction to inadvertently finding himself a sort of unofficial godfather to the burgeoning EDM movement, the record saw him branching out of his electro-house comfort zone, experimenting with elements of hip-hop, alternative rock, R&B, and acoustic instrumentation, and featuring guest artists as diverse as Nicki Minaj, Emeli Sandé, Sia, the Script, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. In 2015, the LP was reissued as Listen Again with new songs and remixes added to the track list, including "Bang My Head" featuring Fetty Wap and Sia.

Over the next few years, Guetta issued a continuous stream of singles. In 2016, notable releases included the official UEFA Euro anthem "This One's for You" featuring Zara Larsson, which topped the charts in France, Germany, and Switzerland; "Shed a Light" with Robin Schulz and Cheat Codes; and "No Worries" with Disciples. The following year, Guetta issued a handful of additional collaborations with Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne ("Light My Body Up"), Afrojack ("Another Life"), Justin Bieber (the platinum "2U"), Kiiara ("Complicated"), and Charli XCX and French Montana ("Dirty Sexy Money"). He kicked off 2018 with a pair of Sia collaborations (a remix of "Helium" and "Flames"), while also scoring another Top Ten hit for "Mad Love" with Sean Paul and Becky G. His seventh set, the aptly titled 7, arrived in September. In addition to including a some of his previously released singles -- "2U" and "Flames" among them -- Guetta also recruited Anne-Marie, Bebe Rexha, J Balvin, Jason Derulo, Martin Garrix, Jess Glynne, Steve Aoki, Lil Uzi Vert, G-Eazy, and many more for the effort. A bonus second disc of material was also bundled with 7, collecting a dozen tracks recorded as his alter ego Jack Back.

Early 2019 saw Guetta team up with Spanish DJ Tom Staar for the single "This Ain't Techno." The EP New Rave arrived in July 2020 and included the track "Kill Me Slow" featuring Morten. Later that year, he worked with Sia on the Top Ten dance single "Let's Love." More well-received singles followed, including 2021's "Heartbreak Anthem" with Galantis and Little Mix, 2021's "Remember" with Becky Hill, and 2022's "Crazy What Love Can Do," again with Hill and Ella Henderson. Also in 2022, Guetta released "You Can't Change Me" with Morten and Raye and topped the Hot Digital Songs chart alongside Bebe Rexha with "I'm Good (Blue)." He appeared on multiple charts in 2023 with "Baby Don't Hurt Me," a collaboration with British singer Anne-Marie and American rapper Coi that sampled Haddaway's 1993 hit "What Is Love." He also reunited with Rexha for "One in a Million," which cracked the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. By the end of the year, both "Baby Don't Hurt Me" and "One in a Million" had picked up Grammy nominations for Best Pop Dance Recording. In 2024, he scored a Top 40 after hit joining forces with OneRepublic on "I Don't Wanna Wait." More non-album tracks followed, including "Feeling Good" with Hypaton and "Man in Finance" with Girl on Couch and Billen Ted. ~ Neil Z. Yeung