Kenny G

Kenneth Bruce Gorelick was born in Seattle in 1956 and picked up the saxophone at age ten. He turned professional as a teenager, playing in Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra, and began releasing solo records in the early 1980s. His commercial breakthrough came with 1986's Duotones, whose single "Songbird" crossed over from smooth jazz to reach number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and helped the album sell five million copies in the U.S. alone.

Then came Breathless in 1992 — an album that went on to become the best-selling instrumental album of all time, with over 15 million copies sold worldwide (12 million in the U.S.). His 1994 holiday record Miracles sold more than 13 million, and his career total climbed past 75 million records, making him the best-selling instrumentalist in history. More than the numbers, it was the ubiquity: Kenny G's warm, wandering soprano sax became the literal sound of '90s adult contemporary, piped into every waiting room and elevator — beloved by millions and famously derided by jazz purists like Pat Metheny in equal measure.

He also owns one of music's stranger world records. In 1997, using a technique called circular breathing — inhaling through the nose while pushing stored air out through the mouth so the sound never stops — Kenny G held a single E-flat on his saxophone for 45 minutes and 47 seconds at J&R Music World in New York City, earning a Guinness World Record for the longest note ever sustained on the instrument.