Thomas Dolby

Appropriately enough, Thomas Dolby got his start in rock 'n' roll as a sound tech before becoming a synth wiz highly sought after by performers as disparate as Lene Lovich, Foreigner, Def Leppard and Joan Armatrading. Like a flare in the night sky, Dolby's solo career rocketed upwards, burned brightly and quickly fizzled on the strength of 1982's "She Blinded Me with Science" -- the hit single for which he will forever be fondly remembered by new wave buffs. ("SCIENCE!") Still, his album The Flat Earth, with its graceful fusion of jazz and electronics, deserves more than ironic attention.