Jay-Z was going to ask Mary J. Blige to duet on "Empire State of Mind," but he decided on Alicia Keys when he heard the piano stabs on the track.
Jonah Hill directed the video for Sara Bareilles' song "Gonna Get Over You." It's a mash-up of Grease and West Side Story.
When Marc Cohn played "True Companion" to his girlfriend, she thought he was proposing. He wasn't, but he did eventually marry her.
"November Rain" by Guns N' Roses has a literary influence: The lyric is based on a story called Without You by Del James.
R.E.M. got the title "Shiny Happy People" from a Chinese propaganda poster.
Joni Mitchell wrote "Woodstock" - the most popular song about the festival - but didn't attend the event because she was booked on The Dick Cavett Show.
Smith breaks down some of his worship tracks as well as his mainstream hits, including "I Will Be Here For You" and "A Place In This World."
With the rise of Kindie rock, more musicians are embracing their inner child with tunes for tots - here, we look at pop stars who recorded kids' albums.
The Cult frontman tells who the "Fire Woman" is, and talks about performing with the new version of The Doors.
You may not recognize his name, but you will certainly recognize Peter Lord's songs. He wrote the bevy of hits from Paula Abdul's second album, Spellbound.
Our chat with Barney Hoskyns, who covers the wild years of Woodstock - the town, not the festival - in his book Small Town Talk.
The Garbage drummer/songwriter produced the Nirvana album Nevermind, and Smashing Pumpkins' Gish and Siamese Dream.