What are some non American and non British singers or bands who made international careers?

Answer 1

Please list only performers of broadly defined popular music. No Chopin or Mozart here. Basically anything that is played on commercial radio stations fits here.

Please don't list any US/UK born artists only because their ancestors come from a different country. For the sake of this list, Lady Gaga isn't Italian, J. Lo isn't Puerto Rican, Cher isn't Armenian, Pitbull isn't Cuban, George Michael isn't Cypriot, etc. You can, though, list any musicians who live and work in the US or the UK but were born somewhere else. For the sake of this list, Rihanna is Barbadian, Sade is Nigerian, Akon is Senegalese, Freddie Mercury was an Indian from Zanzibar, etc.

Also, don't list any artists from your country. You're probably biased by your local media who often exaggerate the international success of their musicians. I myself come from a small country in Europe which has never exported any of its stars but I hear all the time that this and this singer "is making an international career". If an artist from your country really is famous abroad, someone else will list him.

Finally, don't list any regional stars. I can imagine that, for instance, many Russian artists might also be famous in other ex-USSR states. Same with Latin and Indian musicians who are listened to throughout Latin America and Asia respectively. Here we list only artists known globally or at least throughout Europe.

These are all the artists that I can think of right now. It includes huge stars such as U2, Celine Dion, Kylie Minogue, etc, as well as one hit wonders like Gazebo, Sarah Connor, Marquess, etc. The order is random.

AUSTRALIA

Crowded House

AC/DC

Nick Cave

Kylie Minogue

Gotye

Keith Urban

Natalie Imbruglia

BARBADOS

Rihanna

BELGIUM

Vaya Con Dios

Stromae

Lara Fabian (also Italian)

Kate Ryan

Selah Sue

BRAZIL

Loalwa Braz (Kaoma member)

Ive Mendes

BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS

Iyaz

COLOMBIA

Shakira

Juanes

CANADA

Alanis Morissette

Avril Lavigne

Bryan Adams

Céline Dion

Diana Krall

Justin Bieber

Michael Bublé

Neil Young

Nelly Furtado

Nickelback

Shania Twain

Paul Anka

Leonard Cohen

Garou

Melanie Fiona

Sarah McLachlan

Tamia

Rufus Wainwright

The Guess Who

CAPE VERDE

Cesaria Evora

CUBA

Celia Cruz

Gloria Estefan

Buena Vista Social Club

Dominican Republic

Aventura (only one of 4 members born in DR)

FINLAND

Apocalyptica

HIM

Nightwish‎

Bombunk MC's

Tarja Turunen

FRANCE

Kaoma

Jean-Michel Jarre‎

Matt Pokora

Alizée

Édith Piaf

Patricia Kaas

Sébastien Izambard (Il Divo member)

David Guetta

GEORGIA

Katie Melua

GERMANY

Bad Boys Blue‎

Modern Talking‎

ATC

Gregorian

Marquess

Milli Vanilli

Tokio Hotel

Boney M.

La Bouche

Scooter

Snap!

Rammstein

Scorpions

Marlene Dietrich

Mr. President

Paul van Dyk

Sandra Cretu‎

Sarah Connor

Lou Bega

HAITI

Wyclef Jean

HUNGARY

Omega

ICELAND

Björk

IRELAND

Boyzone

Westlife

The Cranberries‎

U2‎

The Corrs

Chris de Burgh

Enya

Bob Geldof (& Boomtown Rats)

Ronan Keating

Sinéad O'Connor

ISRAEL

Dana International

ITALY

Tiziano Ferro

Eros Ramazzotti

Zucchero

In-Grid

Mina

Laura Pausini

Lara Fabian (also Belgian)

Andrea Bocelli

Luciano Pavarotti

Gazebo

Eiffel 65

JAMAICA

Shaggy

Sean Paul

Bob Marley & The Wailers

LATVIA

BrainStorm

MEXICO

Maná

Carlos Santana

MOLDOVA

O-Zone

NETHERLANDS

Caro Emerald

NEW ZEALAND

Kimbra

NIGERIA

Sade

Dr Alban (also Swedish)

Eddy Wata

NORWAY

a-ha

POLAND

Basia

PUERTO RICO

Ricky Martin

Tito Nieves

ROMANIA

Akcent

RUSSIA

t.A.T.u.

ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES

Kevin Lyttle

SENEGAL

Akon

SWEDEN

Swedish House Mafia

Dr Alban (also Nigerian)

Måns Zelmerlöw

Roxette

The Cardigans

ABBA‎

Ace of Base‎

A*Teens

SPAIN

Las Ketchup

Carlos Marín (Il Divo member)

José Carreras

Plácido Domingo

Enrique Iglesias

Julio Iglesias

David Bisbal

SWITZERLAND

Urs Bühler (Il Divo member)

DJ BoBo

TURKEY

Tarkan

Sertab Erener

ZANZIBAR (today part of Tanzania)

Freddie Mercury (Indian parents)