Alannah Myles

Alannah Myles rose to pop immortality in 1990 with the smouldering “Black Velvet”, which topped the U.S. charts thanks to its sinewy blues-rock riffs and her yearning, urgent vocals. The success was a long time coming for the Toronto-born musician, who started her career in the ’80s fronting a cover band and dabbling in acting before landing a record deal. Myles never duplicated the stateside success of “Black Velvet”, although she did parlay the popularity of the song into a second Top 40 hit (the gritty “Love Is”), a best-selling self-titled debut album and a decades-long career full of twists and turns. The orchestral 1992 ballad “Song Instead of a Kiss” hit No. 1 in Canada, while her 1995 full-length Alannah (alternately styled A-lan-nah) included the smoky, organ-driven hit “Family Secret”, and she teamed up with Jeff Healey in 2004 for a soul-rock take on “I Can’t Stand the Rain”.