Billy Preston, singer and musician, was born William Everett Preston in 1946 in Houston, Texas. He lived in Houston, Texas until his family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1949. Working as Victory Baptist Church’s organist, his mother, Robbie Preston Williams, supported Preston, his sister … Read MoreWilliam Everett “Billy” Preston (1946-2006)
Taliaferro, the first black talk show host on a major American radio station, was born on February 7, 1939 and grew up in the Hunters Point district of San Francisco. His talk radio career began in 1967 at San Francisco’s KNEW station and shortly thereafter … Read MoreRaphael “Ray” Taliaferro (1939-2018)
Richard Wayne Penniman, also known as Little Richard, is considered one of the most influential artists in the early years of rock and roll. This singer, songwriter, and pianist was born in 1932 in Macon, Georgia, the son of Charles “Bud” Penniman and Leva Mae … Read MoreLittle Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman) (1932-2020)
Jesse B. Blayton, Sr., was a pioneer African American radio station entrepreneur. Blayton founded WERD-AM in Atlanta, Georgia on October 3, 1949, making him the first African American to own and operate a radio station in the United States. Jesse Blayton was born in Fallis, … Read MoreJesse B. Blayton, Sr. (1897-1977)
Image Ownership: Public Domain The third of ten children, Smiley was born in Gulfport, Mississippi on September 13, 1964, to Joyce Marie and Emory G. Smiley. At the age of two, he and his family moved to Indiana when his father, an Air Force non-commissioned … Read MoreTavis Smiley (1964- )
Otis Blackwell was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist whose work significantly influenced rock ‘n’ roll. His compositions include Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel,” “All Shook Up” and “Return to Sender,” Little Willie John’s “Fever,” Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Great Balls of Fire” and “Breathless” (with … Read MoreOtis Blackwell (1931-2002)
Def Jam Records, created by hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons, is one of the most successful black-owned record labels in the history of the United States. Its success and influence on music and popular culture are paralleled only by Motown Records in the 1960s and 1970s. … Read MoreDef Jam Records (1984- )
Rap Music, and the culture that surrounds rapping itself, hip-hop, is a genre of music and a lifestyle which originated in the housing projects of New York City, New York in the late 1970s but which now has global influence. While not without controversy and … Read MoreRap/Hip Hop
Robert “Bumps” Blackwell was a musician, producer, and composer who worked with the top names in early jazz and rock and roll. Blackwell was born in Seattle, Washington on May 23, 1918. By the late 1940s his Seattle-based “Bumps Blackwell Junior Band” featured Ray Charles … Read MoreRobert “Bumps” Blackwell (1918-1985)
