Joan Osborne

When she first hit the charts in 1995, Joan Osborne was lumped into Year of the Woman articles that sandwiched her between Alanis Morissette's feistiness, Sheryl Crow-style blues and Jewel's doe-eyed soul. To commercial rock slaves, though, she was a ubiquitous radio presence, repeating "what if God was one of us" enough times to make even the man upstairs reach for His earplugs. The exposure paid off in Grammy nominations but not record deals, as Osborne switched labels and declawed her sound to fit even better on the mainstream Adult Alternative couch.