"Vanessa CarltonThe Poet
"The first time I played for my friends, I made them face the wall.… It was too much for them to look at me," recalls Vanessa Carlton. Considering her success, however, Vanessa's had to get over her shyness--big time. Her platinum 2002 debut disc, Be Not Nobody, connected with fans in such a major way that many call themselves "Nessaholics." And now, as the 23-year-old delivers her heartfelt Harmonium (with guest drumming from Pharrell Williams and backup vocals from rock legend Stevie Nicks), the cult of Carlton grows stronger. The main reason? Vanessa's tunes are so emotionally on-target, it's like she read your diary. Take her single "White Houses": "It's about that chapter in life [starting at age] 17 where you go through all the rites of passage--losing your virginity, having terrible fights, falling in love, breaking up," she says. Luckily, Vanessa's love life is in that blissful phase: Her boyfriend, Stephan Jenkins (of Third Eye Blind fame), coproduced the record. Yet, as she explains, she won't walk a thousand miles for him: "I wouldn't want to be in love with a man who'd want me to walk that far for him!" --Jonathan Small"
http://www.teenpeople.com/teenpeople/25hottest/cg2/0,20255,614157_15,00.html