Brilliant Careers

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Stevie Nicks
She's cool, she's hot and she's back. The witchy '70s glam princess, who was Lilith Fair before there was one, is in style -- again.
Phil Jackson
The Zen-iest coach in basketball has a cruel streak. He's weird and it works.
Bob Dylan
At age 60, with a career that spans four decades, he remains one of rock's most eloquent, sexy and unpredictable singers.
Snoop Dogg
A North Carolina cracker proclaims the reign of rap's highest hound a triumph of decadence over the numbing boredom of the status quo, in the tradition of the Marquis de Sade and Arthur Rimbaud.
Tom Waits
With his trademark throaty growl, he's a piano bar crooner and a Coney Island barker, singing songs of loneliness and desperation.
Björk
Violence may follow her, but so does everything else. Iceland's greatest export is taking us to the verge.
Betsey Johnson
Her sexy clothes make merciless fun of sex. She's naughty, dresses like a kitschy rock Muppet and remembers when fashion had a sense of humor.
Robert Kaplan
The controversial "Balkan Ghosts" put him on the map. His opinionated, darkly seductive reports of an unraveling world have kept him there.
Robert Downey Jr.
His future's uncertain, but even if Hollywood's beloved screw-up never acts again, he'll stand as the most talented actor of his generation.
George Soros
He went from apple harvester to capitalist kingpin to progressive savior. The countercultural investor has more money than you've ever heard of, and he just loves to give it away.
Kate Bush
With a voice you either love or hate, she belts out a song with a desperation that grabs you and won't let go.
Steve Martin
The one-time madcap comic deity has become the distinguished elder statesman of humor. Hey, that's not funny!
Chuck Barris
Long before "Survivor," the eccentric who created "The Gong Show" discovered that people will do anything to get on TV, and others will watch them.
Aung San Suu Kyi
Even when she's under house arrest, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning resistance leader is a symbol of hope in the struggle for democracy in Burma.
Johnny Carson
On the good nights, he was the second best thing you could do in bed -- but on his best nights, he was the best.
Bill Murray
The funniest graduate of "Saturday Night Live" has made an art form (and a career) out of insincerity and a blank stare.
Matt Groening
"The Simpsons" has made him the ultimate industry insider, but it's the inane decisions and petty betrayals of clueless network executives that keep his trenchant satire fresh.
Ursula K. Le Guin
The award-winning creator of mythic worlds, and a master of metaphor, writes about people, animals and trees -- "nothing that is alien."
Karlheinz Stockhausen
The composer of "the first great piece of electronic music" influenced the Beatles, Miles Davis and numberless others. And he comes from Sirius.
Marianne Faithfull
The eternal Venus in furs owns the golden voice you hear when all the bars are closed and the whores have gone home.
Sam Shepard
He's become a legend over the last three decades, but the elusive cowboy of American theater is not going soft on us -- for damn sure.
The best of Brilliant Careers 2000
Twelve profiles selected from the many fine ones published in Salon People this year -- to keep you in good company over the holidays.
Julie Krone
At 2 years old she was already on horseback. Last year saw her become the first female jockey inducted into thoroughbred racing's Hall of Fame.
Molly Ivins
Balancing humor and passion, the proudly partisan Texas pundit elevates a profession dominated by mediocrity and received ideas.
Daniel Clowes
With a new graphic novel out and a movie on the way, the author of "David Boring," "Ghost World" and "Eightball" talks about writing stories, making movies and what it's like being him.
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