Tyrone Davis was an American R&B performer, popular especially as part of the soul music scene of the 1970s. Davis was born on May 4, 1938 in Greenville, Mississippi. His parents, Willie Branch and Ora Lee Jones, were both sharecroppers, but eventually chose to leave … Read MoreTyrone Davis (1938-2005)
Erykah Badu is an award-winning singer and songwriter who has been hailed as one of the most gifted rhythm and blues singers of the current era and has earned her title as the Queen of neo-soul; a mix of modern soul and R&B with influences from hip-hop, jazz, pop, African music, … Read MoreErykah Badu (1971- )
The Chi-Lites is an R&B and Soul vocal group from Chicago, Illinois who rose up to fame in the early 1970s. The group was formed at Hyde Park High School in Chicago in 1959 by its original members, Eugene Record, Robert Lester, and Clarence Johnson. The group originally went … Read MoreThe Chi-Lites (1959- )
Barry Eugene Carter, commonly known as Barry White, was a three-time Grammy award-winning singer, songwriter, producer, and arranger. His music focused primarily on funk, rhythm and blues, soul, and disco. Throughout his career, he generated 106 gold and 41 platinum albums, 20 gold and ten platinum records, and … Read MoreBarry White/Barry Eugene Carter (1944-2003)
Rhythm and blues artist Sharon Lafaye Jones was born in Augusta, Georgia, on May 4, 1956. She was the youngest of six children born to Ella Mae Price Jones and Charlie Jones. The family moved to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, in 1960. … Read MoreSharon Lafaye Jones (1956–2016)
The first radio station in the United States programmed by and for African Americans, WDIA was one of only six stations broadcasting in Memphis, Tennessee when it hit the airwaves in 1947. Its owners, John Pepper and Dick Ferguson, established the station and located it … Read MoreWDIA Radio Station (1947- )
The Black Arts Movement was the name given to a group of politically motivated black poets, artists, dramatists, musicians, and writers who emerged in the wake of the Black Power Movement. The poet Imamu Amiri Baraka is widely considered to be the father of the … Read MoreThe Black Arts Movement (1965-1975)
