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  1. Elvis Presley

    Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 - August 16, 1977), was an American singer, musician and actor. He is often known simply as Elvis; also "The King of Rock 'n' Roll", or simply "The King". Presley began his career as one of the first performers of rockabilly, an uptempo fusion of country and rhythm and blues with a strong back beat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing 'black' and 'white' sounds, …

  2. James Brown

    James Joseph Brown (May 3 1933 – December 25 2006), commonly referred to as "The Godfather of Soul" and "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business," was an American entertainer recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music. He was renowned for his shouting vocals, feverish dancing and unique rhythmic style. As a prolific singer, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer, …

  3. Ray Charles

    Ray Charles was the stage name of Ray Charles Robinson, a pioneering American pianist and soul musician who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues. He brought a soulful sound to country music, pop standards, and a rendition of "America the Beautiful" that Ed Bradley of "60 Minutes" called the "definitive version of the song, an American anthem - a classic, …

  4. Aretha Franklin

    Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is an American R&B, Pop and Gospel singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has been called for many years "The Queen Of Soul", but many also call her "Lady Soul," as well as the more affectionate "Sister Ree." She is renowned for her soul recordings but is also adept at jazz, rock, blues, pop, gospel, and even opera. She is generally regarded as one of the greatest vocalists ever, …

  5. Michael Jackson

    Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958), commonly known as MJ as well as the "King of Pop", is an American musician, entertainer, and global icon whose successful career and controversial personal life have been a part of pop culture for almost 40 years. Michael Jackson is widely regarded as one of the greatest entertainers and most popular recording artists in history, displaying complicated physical techniques, …

  6. Little Richard

    Richard Wayne Penniman (born December 5 1932), better known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist, who began performing in the 1940s and recording from 1951. Penniman's reputation rests on a string of groundbreaking hit singles from 1955 through 1957, such as "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally", which helped lay the foundation for rock and roll music, influencing generations of rhythm and blues, …

  7. Alicia Keys

    Alicia Keys (born Alicia J. Augello-Cook on January 25 1980) is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, pianist, record producer, actress, philanthropist, and author who has won numerous awards, including nine Grammy Awards, eleven Billboard Music Awards, and three American Music Awards.

  8. Amy Winehouse

    Amy Winehouse (born 14 September, 1983) is an English soul, jazz and R&B singer and songwriter. Her debut album, "Frank" (released in 2003) was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Winehouse is a two-time Ivor Novello Award winner; once in 2004 for her debut single "Stronger than Me" and again in May 2007 for the first single "Rehab" from her 2006 internationally acclaimed second album "Back to Black".

  9. Etta James

    Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins on January 25, 1938) is an American blues, soul, R&B, and jazz singer and songwriter. In the 1950s and 60s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer. She is best-known for her 1961 ballad "At Last", which has been classified as a "timeless classic" and has been featured in many movies and television commercials since its release.

  10. Mary J. Blige

    Mary Jane Blige (born January 11, 1971), is an American R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, rapper, producer, and actress who has sold over 60 million records around the world since her career began in 1991. In that span she has had thirty-one charting hits on the U.S. pop charts. She has had forty hits on the R&B charts, seventeen of which were in the top ten and six which reached number one. She also has nine singles to reach number one on the dance charts, …

  11. Wilson Pickett

    Wilson Pickett was an American R&B/Rock and Roll and soul singer. Known for his raw, raspy, passionate vocal delivery, he recorded some of the most incendiary soul music of the twentieth century. A major figure in the development of Southern soul music, his recordings between 1963 and 1973 left behind a legacy of some of the deepest, funkiest soul music ever to emerge from the South.

  12. Jill Scott

    Jill Scott (born April 4 1972) is a Grammy Award-winning American soul, R&B, jazz, and neo soul singer and songwriter.

  13. Nina Simone

    Eunice Kathleen Waymon, better known as Nina Simone, was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Although she disliked being categorized, Simone is generally classified as a jazz musician. Her work covers an eclectic variety of musical styles, such as jazz, soul, folk, R&B, gospel, and even pop music. Her vocal style is characterized by passion, breathiness, and tremolo. Simone recorded over 40 live and studio albums, …

  14. Luther Vandross

    Luther Ronzoni Vandross, Jr. was an eight-time Grammy Award-winning American R&B and soul singer and songwriter. During his career, Vandross sold over 25 million albums and won eight Grammy awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times. He won four Grammy Awards in 2004 including the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for the track "Dance With My Father", co-written with Richard Marx.

  15. Erykah Badu

    Erykah Badu (born Erica Abi Wright on February 26, 1971 in Dallas, Texas) is an American R&B, soul, neo soul, and hip hop singer and songwriter whose work crosses over into jazz. She is best known for the single "You Got Me", her collaboration with The Roots, as well as her own songs "Tyrone", "Next Lifetime", "On & On", "Bag Lady", and "Cleva". Influenced early on by singers such as Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Chaka Khan (her all-time favorite artist), …

  16. Ruth Brown

    Ruth Brown was an American R&B singer. Born Ruth Alston Weston in Portsmouth, Virginia, Brown brought a popular music style to rhythm and blues in a series of hit songs for fledgling Atlantic Records in the 1950s. Following a resurgence that began in the mid-1970s and peaked in the eighties, Brown used her influence to press for musicians' rights regarding royalties and contracts.

  17. Patti Labelle

    Patti LaBelle (born Patricia Louise Holt on May 24, 1944 in West-Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a Grammy Award-winning American R&B and soul singer and songwriter who fronted two groups, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles and Labelle, which changed and birthed a new era of women's music and, in the process, has influenced a new generation of female singers. She is known for her strong vocals and her signature high octave vocal belting.

  18. Carl Perkins

    Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 - January 19, 1998) was an American pioneer of rockabilly music, a mix of rhythm and blues and country music that was recorded most notably at Sun Records in Memphis beginning in 1954.

  19. Joss Stone

    Joscelyn Eve Stoker (born 11 April 1987), best known by her stage name Joss Stone, is a BRIT Award- and Grammy Award-winning English soul, R&B, and blues singer, songwriter, and occasional actress who has sold over ten million albums worldwide.

  20. Donna Summer

    Donna Summer (born LaDonna Adrian Gaines, on December 31, 1948) is a legendary American singer, songwriter, and artist, best known for a string of dance hits in the 1970s that earned her the title "Queen of Disco" and as one of the few disco-based artists to have longevity on the charts into the late-1980s. Though she's notable for her disco hits, Summer's repertoire has expanded to include R&B, soul, funk, rock, pop and gospel.

  21. Lionel Richie

    Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is a Grammy Award-winning American R&B and soul singer, Academy Award-winning songwriter, record producer, and occasional actor.

  22. Keyshia Cole

    Keyshia Cole (born October 15, 1981) is an American R&B singer-songwriter known for her soulful voice. She released her platinum selling debut album "The Way It Is" in 2005, and is preparing to release her second album "Just Like You" in 2007.

  23. Kelly Rowland

    Kelly Rowland (born Kelendria Trene Rowland on February 11, 1981) is a Grammy Award-winning American R&B singer, songwriter, dancer, and occasional actress, who rose to fame as one of the founding members of the successful R&B girl group Destiny's Child, the world's best-selling female group of all time selling over 100 million records worldwide.

  24. Anita Baker

    Anita Baker (born January 26, 1958) is a eight-time Grammy Award-winning, multi-Platinum rhythm and blues and soul singer and songwriter, renowned for her soaring alto vocal range.

  25. Angie Stone

    Angela Laverne Brown (born January 30 1961), best known by her stage name Angie Stone, is a Grammy Award-nominated American R&B and neo soul singer, songwriter, keyboardist, record producer, and actress. Stone's music possesses a clear old school soul music influence, and her singing vocals recall those of Aretha Franklin.

  26. Alan Freed

    Alan Freed (December 15, 1921 - January 20, 1965), also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey (DJ) who became internationally known for promoting African-American Rhythm and Blues (R&B) music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of Rock and Roll.

  27. Toni Braxton

    Toni Michelle Braxton (born October 7, 1967 in Severn, Maryland) is a six-time Grammy Award-winning American R&B singer, songwriter, and actress who was popular during the 1990s. She is famous for her husky alto vocal timbre. The RIAA named Braxton as one of the top selling artists of all time.

  28. Sam Phillips

    Sam Phillips, born Samuel Cornelius Phillips, was a record producer who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s. He is most notably attributed with the discovery of Elvis Presley, and is associated with several other noteworthy rhythm and blues and rock and roll stars of the period. Phillips was a native of Florence, Alabama and a graduate of Coffee High School.

  29. Johnny Otis

    Johnny Otis (born Ioannis (Yannis) Veliotes on December 28, 1921 in Vallejo, California) is an American blues and rhythm and blues pianist, vibraphonist, drummer, singer, bandleader, and impresario. Johnny Otis was one of the most prominent white figures in the history of black R&B. After playing in a variety of swing orchestras, including Lloyd Hunter's Serenaders, …

  30. Irma Thomas

    Irma Thomas (b. February 18, 1941, Ponchatoula, Louisiana) is a Grammy Award winning soul and rhythm and blues singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans." Thomas is a contemporary of Aretha Franklin and Etta James, but never experienced their level of commercial success; still, she has a large cult following among soul aficionados. In 2007, she won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album for "After The Rain", …

  31. Macy Gray

    Macy Gray is an American R&B, soul, and neo soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress, famed for her raspy voice and a singing style heavily influenced by Billie Holiday and Betty Davis. To date, Gray has released four studio albums, one compilation album, and one live album — with her fourth studio album, "Big", released in March 2007. "Coming Back to You", her latest song, is featured on the soundtrack to the 2006 film "Déjà Vu".

  32. India.Arie

    India Arie Simpson (born October 3 1975), professionally known as India.Arie, is a two-time Grammy Award-winning American soul, R&B, and neo soul singer, songwriter, record producer, guitarist, and flautist.

  33. Aaron Neville

    Aaron Neville (born January 24, 1941 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American soul and R&B singer.

  34. Anthony Hamilton

    Anthony Hamilton (born January 28, 1971 in Charlotte, North Carolina) is an American R&B, soul, and neo soul singer, songwriter, and record producer who rose to fame with his Platinum-selling second studio album "Comin' from Where I'm From" (2003), which featured the singles "Comin' from Where I'm From" and "Charlene". Hamilton first discovered his talent while singing in his church choir at age ten. In 1993, he left Charlotte and headed to New York City, …

  35. Bobby Brown

    Robert Berisford "Bobby" Brown (born February 5, 1969) is an American Grammy Award-winning R&B singer, songwriter, and dancer. Brown began his career with the popular boy band New Edition in 1980 but was later ousted from the group due to behavioral problems. He embarked on a solo career in 1986 and had a string of Top 10 Billboard hits. Brown is the ex-husband of R&B singer Whitney Houston and the star of his own reality show, "Being Bobby Brown" on Bravo.

  36. Branford Marsalis

    Branford Marsalis (August 26, 1960, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana) is an American jazz and classical saxophonist. He was born the oldest of six sons to Delores Ferdinand Marsalis and famed pianist Ellis Marsalis, Jr.. He is the oldest of the six Marsalis brothers: Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis III, Delfeayo Marsalis, Mboya Kinyatta, and Jason Marsalis. Wynton, Delfeayo, and Jason are also jazz musicians. Ellis is a poet, photographer, & network engineer based in Baltimore.

  37. Rufus Thomas

    Rufus Thomas was a rhythm and blues and soul singer from Memphis, Tennessee, who recorded on Sun Records in the 1950s and on Stax Records in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the father of soul singer Carla Thomas ("B-A-B-Y") and keyboard player Marvell Thomas. A third daughter, Vaneese, a former French teacher, for years had a recording studio in upstate New York where she sang for television commercials.

  38. Faith Evans

    Faith Renée Evans is a Grammy Award-winning American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is also the widow of the Notorious B.I.G. For over a decade, she has worked with numerous successful artists such as Tupac Shakur, Mary J. Blige, Diddy, Kelly Price, Usher, Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Nas, Twista, and Carl Thomas.

  39. Paul Jones

    Paul Jones (born Paul Pond, 24 February 1942, in Portsmouth, England) is an English singer, actor, harmonica player, and radio and television presenter. In 1962, Jones became resident-singer with Alexis Korner's Bluesbreakers (alongside Long John Baldry, both towering out above a shorter third vocalist, aspiring Michael 'Mick' Jagger). Jones then went on to be the vocalist and harmonica player of the successful 1960s group, Manfred Mann.

  40. Ian McLagan

    Ian McLagan (born on 12 May, 1945, in Hounslow, Middlesex) is an English keyboards player, best known as a member of Small Faces in the 1960s, and Faces in the 1970s.Instrument = Keyboards | Genre = Rock 'n' Roll<br>Rhythm and Blues<br>Hard Rock<br>Blues Rock | Occupation = | Associated_acts = Small Faces<br>Faces<br>The Rolling Stones<br>;Bump Band<br>Billy Bragg and the Blokes }} Since then he has been in demand as a session musician and also leads his own Bump Band, …

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