Rudy Mancuso · CC BY 3.0

Alec Benjamin was dropped by Columbia Records weeks after turning in his debut album, and answered by self-funding a European tour, playing parking lots outside other artists' concerts to build an audience one show at a time. The gamble paid off: his 2018 single "Let Me Down Slowly" reached the top 40 in more than 25 countries and went multi-platinum in the US. He later began recording Mandarin versions of his songs, inspired by his father's own cross-cultural medical work, including a duet with Chinese actress Zhao Lusi.