Tiffany

For two weeks in 1987, a teenager from Norwalk, California sat atop the Billboard Hot 100. Known simply as Tiffany, Tiffany Renee Darwish was born there in 1971 to a family with Lebanese and German roots, and her route to that chart moment ran through talent shows and country venues. She began singing at four, learning Tanya Tucker's 'Delta Dawn', and her voice suited the dance-pop and ballads that followed.

Her debut album, Tiffany, arrived in 1987, after its first single failed to chart and her manager sent her on a nationwide tour of shopping malls. Her cover of Tommy James and the Shondells' 'I Think We're Alone Now' remains her biggest hit, and 'Could've Been' reached number one in February 1988. The follow-up, Hold an Old Friend's Hand, produced the top 10 single 'All This Time' but was less successful. New Inside (1990) and the Asia-exclusive Dreams Never Die (1993) failed to recapture that momentum, and The Color of Silence (2000) gained little traction. Five further studio albums and two collections of 1980s covers have followed the latter, and she continues to tour.