Carla Bruni

An heiress born in Italy, raised in France and educated in Switzerland, Carla Bruni could've spent her life lounging around swimming pools, tropical beaches and rehab resorts. Instead, Carla Bruni became a celebrated supermodel and appeared in international tabloids linking her to everyone from Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton to Kevin Costner. But Bruni turned out of be more than your run-of-the-mill, marriage-wrecking, catwalk-strutting, modeling millionaire when she released her debut album in 2003. A quiet, folk-pop record sung in French, "Quequ'un M'a Dit" (Someone Told Me), was an instant hit, selling millions of copies across Europe and snagging a Stateside release. Instead of just being a media created cross-promotional opportunity, Carla Bruni displays real talent and a personal point of view in her songs. Her music is grounded in confessional, late 1960s and '70s singer-songwriter fare and she spins out alternately sensitive and humorously suggestive lyrics with throaty, Jeanne Moreau style vocals.