Ben Lee

When he started writing songs in his bedroom in Australia in his early teens, Ben Lee idolized American indie icons such as Sonic Youth and the Lemonheads. Then serendipity struck. Lee met Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, who passed Lee's demo tape around to anyone who would listen. It ended up in the hands of the Beastie Boys, who were starting up Grand Royal. The label ended up releasing two records by Noise Addict, Lee's punk-pop project, as well as a couple of his electro-folk solo records. He has since written songs on lead Lemonhead Evan Dando's solo record, formed the all-star pop-a-thon the Bens (with Ben Folds and Ben Kweller), sold millions of records in his native Australia, released more solo records and toured the world. Not a bad résumé for a 26-year-old who started out recording by himself in his bedroom on a boombox.