Subject line says it all, write about your favorite artist (or song) and say what they mean to you. 

While some of my favorites change periodically, Cyndi Lauper and Ani DiFranco are always on top for me.

Cyndi Lauper influenced me a lot when I was younger, she made me feel more confident to be a little crazy, different, to have fun hair styles/clothes, and to know that there was always a place for me in the world. True Colors meant a lot when I was realizing I wasn't exactly straight or cis-female, and a lot of her other songs I could just have a lot of fun with and sing along to without caring about anything. As I've gotten older, more of her later songs I enjoy more and more as I am able to better relate to them.

Ani DiFranco also means a lot to me, I was introduced to her in my freshman year at an all-female college. While I mainly identify as male, she made (and still does) give me pride in my female side, and all of her songs I can identify with; if I had a personal life soundtrack, it'd be made up of all Ani songs. Like Cyndi, she continued to reinforce that there was always a place for me in the world, that it's okay to not be "In or Out", and that I can feel confident not being a "pretty girl" while still being beautiful. Through Ani, I was able to realize more that I wasn't fully female and that it was okay to show the masculine side of myself. Ani helped to teach me that I just need to be me, do what I need to do, and to not care if others disapprove.

Frank Zappa's music showed me the concept of non-conformism and beauty in ugliness. Also encouraged me to think for myself
Deep Purple's Ritchie Blackmore showed me that you don't need many effects for a nice guitar tone and that sometimes, less is more.
Rainbow for showing me how facetious a hard rock band can be. I mean, listen to A Light In The Black, then Rainbow Eyes.
Manfred Mann, i grew up with his Earth Band music.
Bob Dylan for showing me what kind of lyrics one can write instead of the standard crap.

Music is basically everything to me. I listen to loads and loads, and listen to genres of all makes and models.  But like Miss Bungle did, I'll go through the artists I consider "landmarks" in my life and my musical timeline.
Herbie Hancock/Miles David/John Coltrane – Around 6th or 7th grade my dad played the Headhunters LP for me, and it was love at first listen. I went out and bought Takin' Off and it really opened my eyes to how vastly different jazz could be. Miles Davis, well, he ruled my life for a while. I dug my teeth into anything I could, I bought his albums of every era and loved it all (minus that 80s era of flops). My collection to this day is still majoritively Miles Davis. John Coltrane... As someone who plays saxophone, anyone who can play chords on one instantly becomes a god to you. And now, as someone who as a much larger taste for the avante garde and "noiser" music, his later work is absolutely mind-blowing and ahead of its time.
Then, simultaneously....
Rage Against the Machine, the Clash, Against Me! – so in junior high I was seen as the anti-social jazz kid who had the political ethics of a punk. The above mentioned bands are where that political energy came from. Today I plan on majoring in political science in college. Sandinista! From the Clash in particular remains one of my all time favorites. And of course when Laura Jane Grace of Against Me!  came out as trans my connection to the band became all the more deep.
Then...
Radiohead/Radiohead/Radiohead – My explanation for this? Radiohead.  Kid A... Holy smokes, it was powerful, and today it remains one of the most powerful albums in terms of its impact on my life. Not to mention the rest of their incredible discog. I like to impress myself by thinking that I even own their solely Japanese release COM-LAG. Gahh. This band truly paved the road that I am now on today.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – the first song I heard from this band was Providence. I remember being absolutely mesmerized by the noises I was listening to... I couldn't believe instruments could create such a soundscape... It wasn't until I saw live footage that I was like "Oh yeah, this is a band, with string players, and guitarists".
Stravinsky – my initial foot into actual passion for orchestral works. I actually attempted to perform all of the Rite of Spring on the computer using MIDI controllers, but it proved vastly too difficult.

This past year was pretty rough for me... To stay positive I would resort to electronic music. Not really positive... I moreso used  EDM as the means to get my feelings out. But aside from the deadmau5 and Daft Punk (before it was cool ;P ), and other house artists, my taste reached its most abstract and "out there". I listened to The Seer by Swans over and over again. It's still soon to say, but I definitely think that will be up there with Kid A, Sandinista, and Lift Yr. Skinny Fists. I also listened to all of Somnium, a 7 hour abstract album. And one week I listened to the whole SIgur Ros discog which was completely new to me. I can already tell that that too will one day be a huge nostalgia kick. Also, I discovered Penderecki, who has probably earned a seat next to Stravinsky in my musical palace. So this year (especially since downloading spotify) I lived off wild/abstract/noisy/beautiful artwork (or what I consider artwork) and EDM.

DEFINITELY not all the music I listen to, but these are the "Musical Titans" in my life.