Paul Weller

As the front man and main songwriter with new wave heroes The Jam and soul stirrers Style Council, Paul Weller had already made his own indelible mark on British rock long before he started releasing solo albums in 1992. After the Style Council split in 1989, Weller adopted a more jazz-influenced approach in his songwriting and quickly re-established himself as one of the nation's finest with Wildwood (1993) and Stanley Road (1995). The latter gave him his first UK Number 1 for over a decade and became an inspirational influence on the new Brit pop movement symbolized by Oasis, Pulp and Blur - he even played guitar and sang on the Oasis smash Champagne Supernova. Albums like Heavy Soul (1997) and Heliocentric (2000) continued to win him respect and Weller had another UK Number 1 album with the widely acclaimed 22 Dreams in 2008, which currently ranks as one of the best works of his celebrated career.