Ken Sharp

Initially a music journalist and power pop historian, Ken Sharp began recording his own accomplished albums as well, the whole package making him an underappreciated pacesetter of the '90s pop underground movement. A resident of Philadelphia, Sharp was already an accomplished writer and interviewer when his 1993 book Overnight Sensation: The Story of the Raspberries made his name as the foremost chronicler of the power pop legends' career. In 1994, after almost a decade and a half of writing classic-styled power pop tunes, Sharp recorded his first album, 1301 Highland Avenue, for the Japanese imprint M&M; though it received favorable reviews, its U.S. availability was limited at best. Without the money to record a follow-up, Sharp returned to journalism, co-authoring books on the Beatles, Kiss, and Cheap Trick; in 1997, along with Doug Sulpy, he also published Power Pop! Conversations with the Power Pop Elite, the first comprehensive survey of the movement's most important groups (28 in all). Finally, Sharp was able to land a deal with Not Lame, the premier pop underground label; his second album, Happy Accidents, was released in 2000, once again to highly complimentary reviews.