Back on the Block is a 1989 studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 produced by Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones

Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...

. It features many famous and important musicians and singers, including Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...

, Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

, Joe Zawinul

Joe Zawinul

Josef Erich Zawinul was an Austrian-American jazz keyboardist and composer.First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with trumpeter Miles Davis, and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, an innovative musical genre that combined jazz with...

, Ice-T

ICE-T

* Ice-T, an American rapper and actor* ICE T , a tilting model of the German InterCityExpress series of high-speed trains...

, Big Daddy Kane

Big Daddy Kane

Antonio Hardy better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MC's in Hip Hop...

, Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...

, Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...

, George Benson

George Benson

George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....

, Luther Vandross

Luther Vandross

Luther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...

, Dionne Warwick

Dionne Warwick

Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....

, Barry White

Barry White

Barry White, born Barry Eugene Carter , was an American composer and singer-songwriter.A five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his distinctive bass voice and romantic image, White's greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring...

, Chaka Khan

Chaka Khan

Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...

, Take 6

Take 6

Take 6 is an American a cappella gospel music sextet formed in 1980 on the campus of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. The group sings in a contemporary style, integrating R&B and jazz influences into their devotional songs and has 10 Grammy wins, 10 Dove Awards, one Soul Train Award and two...

, Bobby McFerrin

Bobby McFerrin

Robert "Bobby" McFerrin, Jr. is an American vocalist and conductor. He is best known for his 1988 hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy". He is a ten-time Grammy Award winner.-Life:...

, Al Jarreau

Al Jarreau

Alwin "Al" Lopez Jarreau is a seven-time Grammy Award winning jazz singer.- Background :Jarreau was born in Milwaukee, the fifth of six children. His web site refers to Reservoir, Inc., the name of the street where he lived. His father was a Seventh-Day Adventist Church minister and singer, and...

 and Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

.

Overview

Multiple singles were lifted from the album and found success on Pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 and R&B radio, including "I'll Be Good To You", "I Don't Go For That", "The Secret Garden (Sweet Seduction Suite)", and "Tomorrow (A Better You, Better Me)" which was originally an instrumental track on The Brothers Johnson's Look Out for #1 set. "Tomorrow" is also noteworthy for introducing a young Tevin Campbell

Tevin Campbell

Tevin Jermod Campbell is an American R&B singer-songwriter and actor. He scored a string of R&B chart hits as a teenager in the early to mid-1990s.-Music career:...

 to the music scene. Back on the Block won the 1991 Grammy Award for Album of the Year

Grammy Award for Album of the Year

The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer...

. Jones' track, Setembro (Brazilian Wedding Song) was featured on the soundtrack

Boyz n the Hood (soundtrack)

Boyz n the Hood is the soundtrack to the 1991 hood film, Boyz n the Hood. It was released on July 9, 1991 through Columbia Records and contained mostly hip hop music. The album was very successful, making it to #12 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on the Top R&B Albums chart and was certified gold by...

 for the 1991 film, Boyz n the Hood

Boyz N the Hood

Boyz n the Hood is a 1991 American hood film written and directed by John Singleton. Starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., Ice Cube, Laurence Fishburne, Morris Chestnut, Nia Long, Angela Bassett and Regina King, the film depicts life in poor South Central Los Angeles, California and was filmed and released...

. Back on the Block topped the R&B Albums

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...

 chart at number-one for twelve weeks, and topped the Contemporary Jazz Albums chart as well.

Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan

Back on the Block featured the last studio recordings of jazz singers Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...

 and Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...

.

Fitzgerald and Jones had previously worked together on her 1963 album with Count Basie

Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...

, Ella and Basie!

Ella and Basie!

Ella and Basie! is a 1963 studio album by Ella Fitzgerald, accompanied by the Count Basie Orchestra, with arrangements by Quincy Jones...

. Jones had produced three albums with Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...

 when they both worked for Mercury Records

Mercury Records

Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

.

Grammy Awards

At the 33rd Grammy Awards, Back on the Block won seven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Award for Album of the Year

Grammy Award for Album of the Year

The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer...

.

In arranging, Jerry Hey

Jerry Hey

Jerry Hey is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Thriller and the distinctive flugelhorn solo on Dan Fogelberg's hit Longer....

, Quincy Jones, Ian Prince and Rod Temperton

Rod Temperton

Rodney Lynn "Rod" Temperton is an English songwriter, record producer and musician most famous for writing a number of songs performed by Michael Jackson, including the title track of Jackson's Thriller, the biggest-selling album of all time.-Biography:As Temperton remembers music was in his bones...

 won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement

The Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement has been awarded since 1963. The award is presented to the arranger of the music.There have been several minor changes to the name of the award:...

 for "Birdland

Birdland (song)

"Birdland" is a jazz daddy instrumental composition by keyboardist Joe Zawinul that debuted on the Weather Report album Heavy Weather in 1977...

", and Glen Ballard

Glen Ballard

Glen Ballard is an American songwriter and record producer, best known for co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill , which won Grammy Award for "Best Rock Album", and "Album of the Year" amongst others, and is ranked by the Rolling Stone amongst The 500 Greatest Albums of...

, Hey, Jones and Clif Magness won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)

The Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist has been awarded since 1963. The award is presented to the arranger of the music.There have been several minor changes to the name of the award:...

 for "The Places You Find Love".

Jones also won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance

Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance

The Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works containing quality jazz fusion performances...

 for "Birdland", and the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical

Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical

The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical has been awarded since 1975. The award had several minor name changes:*from 1975 to 1977, the award was known as Best Producer of the Year...

.

Bruce Swedien

Bruce Swedien

Bruce Swedien is a Grammy Award-winning audio engineer and music producer. He is known for his work with Quincy Jones.Swedien is a five-time Grammy winner and has been nominated 13 times. He recorded, mixed, and assisted in producing the best-sold album in the world, Thriller by Michael Jackson...

 won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical

The Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical has been awarded since 1959. The award had several minor name changes:*In 1959 the award was known as Best Engineered Record - Non-Classical...

 for his work on the album.

Ray Charles

Ray Charles

Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

 and Chaka Khan

Chaka Khan

Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...

 won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "I'll Be Good To You".

The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group

Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group

The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group was awarded between 1991 and 2011, alongside the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Previously a single award was presented for Best Rap Performance....

 went to Big Daddy Kane

Big Daddy Kane

Antonio Hardy better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MC's in Hip Hop...

, Ice T

Ice T

Tracy Marrow , better known by his stage name Ice-T, is an American musician and actor.He was born in Newark, New Jersey and moved to the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles when he was in the 7th grade. After graduating from high school he served in the United States Army for four years...

, Kool Moe Dee

Kool Moe Dee

Mohandas Dewese , better known as Kool Moe Dee, is an American Hip Hop MC prominent in the late 1970s through the early 1990s. He was born in Manhattan, New York...

, Melle Mel

Melle Mel

Grandmaster Mele Mel , also known as Melle Mel , is an American hip-hop musician — one of the pioneers of old school hip hop as lead rapper and main songwriter for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.- Biography :...

, Quincy Jones III

Quincy Jones III

Quincy Delightt Jones III is a British-born Swedish/African-American composer, music producer, film producer, and author...

 and Jones for Back on the Block.

Track listing

#	Title	Writer(s)	Time
1	"Prologue (2Q's Rap)"	Big Daddy Kane Big Daddy Kane Antonio Hardy better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MC's in Hip Hop... , Jones Quincy Jones Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...	1:04
2	"Back on the Block"	Jones Quincy Jones Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend... , Rod Temperton Rod Temperton Rodney Lynn "Rod" Temperton is an English songwriter, record producer and musician most famous for writing a number of songs performed by Michael Jackson, including the title track of Jackson's Thriller, the biggest-selling album of all time.-Biography:As Temperton remembers music was in his bones... , Siedah Garrett Siedah Garrett Siedah Garrett is an American songwriter and singer.-Biography:She appeared as a contestant on Password Plus in 1980.She performed "One Man Woman" on Quincy Jones' Grammy-Award winning "Back on the Block."... , Caiphus Semenya, Ice-T Ice T Tracy Marrow , better known by his stage name Ice-T, is an American musician and actor.He was born in Newark, New Jersey and moved to the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles when he was in the 7th grade. After graduating from high school he served in the United States Army for four years... , Melle Mel Melle Mel Grandmaster Mele Mel , also known as Melle Mel , is an American hip-hop musician — one of the pioneers of old school hip hop as lead rapper and main songwriter for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.- Biography :... , Kane Big Daddy Kane Antonio Hardy better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MC's in Hip Hop... , Kool Moe Dee Kool Moe Dee Mohandas Dewese , better known as Kool Moe Dee, is an American Hip Hop MC prominent in the late 1970s through the early 1990s. He was born in Manhattan, New York...	6:34
3	"I Don't Go for That"	Ian Prince	5:11
4	"I'll Be Good to You I'll Be Good to You "I'll Be Good to You" is a 1976 hit song by R&B duo The Brothers Johnson. George Johnson, one of the two Johnson brothers in the band, wrote the song after deciding to commit to a relationship with one woman, instead of dating several at a time. While George was recording a demo for the song,... "	George Johnson George Johnson -Politics: *George W. Johnson , Confederate Governor of Kentucky*George A. Johnson , Attorney General of the State of California... , Louis Johnson Louis Johnson Louis or Lou Johnson may refer to:*Louis A. Johnson , second United States Secretary of Defense, from March 28, 1949 to September 19, 1950... , Sonora Sam	4:54
5	"The Verb To Be (Introduction to Wee B. Dooinit)"	Mervyn Warren Mervyn Warren Mervyn Edwin Warren is an American film composer, record producer, music conductor, music arranger, lyricist, songwriter, pianist, and vocalist. Warren is a five-time Grammy Award winner and a 10-time Grammy Award nominee...	0:29
6	"Wee B. Dooinit (Acapella Party by the Human Bean Band)"	Jones Quincy Jones Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend... , Garrett Siedah Garrett Siedah Garrett is an American songwriter and singer.-Biography:She appeared as a contestant on Password Plus in 1980.She performed "One Man Woman" on Quincy Jones' Grammy-Award winning "Back on the Block."... , Ian Prince	3:34
7	"The Places You Find Love"	Glen Ballard Glen Ballard Glen Ballard is an American songwriter and record producer, best known for co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill , which won Grammy Award for "Best Rock Album", and "Album of the Year" amongst others, and is ranked by the Rolling Stone amongst The 500 Greatest Albums of... , Clif Magness, Caiphus Semenya	6:25
8	"Jazz Corner of the World (Introduction to "Birdland")"	Kane Big Daddy Kane Antonio Hardy better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MC's in Hip Hop... , Dee Kool Moe Dee Mohandas Dewese , better known as Kool Moe Dee, is an American Hip Hop MC prominent in the late 1970s through the early 1990s. He was born in Manhattan, New York...	2:54
9	"Birdland"	Joe Zawinul Joe Zawinul Josef Erich Zawinul was an Austrian-American jazz keyboardist and composer.First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with trumpeter Miles Davis, and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, an innovative musical genre that combined jazz with...	5:33
10	"Setembro (Brazilian Wedding Song)"	Ivan Lins Ivan Lins Ivan Guimarães Lins is a Latin Grammy winning Brazilian musician. He has been an active performer and songwriter of Brazilian popular music and jazz for over 30 years. His first hit, Madalena, was recorded by Elis Regina in 1970. Beyond his own performance of his compositions, Simone is his most... , Gilson Peranzzetta	5:05
11	"One Man Woman"	Garrett Siedah Garrett Siedah Garrett is an American songwriter and singer.-Biography:She appeared as a contestant on Password Plus in 1980.She performed "One Man Woman" on Quincy Jones' Grammy-Award winning "Back on the Block."... , Ian Prince, Harriet Roberts Harriet (singer) Harriet is a dance pop singer. She released two singles, "Woman to Man" and "Temple of Love", in 1990, on EastWest/Atlantic Records. "Temple of Love" cracked the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1991, peaking at #39. Her single also reached #14 on the US Billboard R&B chart...	3:44
12	"Tomorrow (A Better You, Better Me) Tomorrow (A Better You, Better Me) "Tomorrow " is the title of a song originally recorded by The Brothers Johnson as an instrumental in 1976 on the album Look Out for #1... "	George Johnson, Louis Johnson Louis Johnson (bassist) Louis Johnson is an American bass guitarist.Johnson is best known for his group The Brothers Johnson and his session playing on several hit albums of the 1970s and '80s including the "best selling album of all time" Thriller... , Garrett Siedah Garrett Siedah Garrett is an American songwriter and singer.-Biography:She appeared as a contestant on Password Plus in 1980.She performed "One Man Woman" on Quincy Jones' Grammy-Award winning "Back on the Block."... ,	4:46
13	"Prelude to the Garden"	Jorge Calandrelli Jorge Calandrelli Jorge Calandrelli is an Argentine composer, arranger and orchestrator.His truly ingenious arranging and composing techniques, especially his beautiful string writing, makes him very well recognized on many records of today's pop - jazz/ Jazz commercial record publications.Big record stars hired him...	0:54
14	"The Secret Garden (Sweet Seduction Suite)"	Jones Quincy Jones Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend... , Temperton Rod Temperton Rodney Lynn "Rod" Temperton is an English songwriter, record producer and musician most famous for writing a number of songs performed by Michael Jackson, including the title track of Jackson's Thriller, the biggest-selling album of all time.-Biography:As Temperton remembers music was in his bones... , Garrett Siedah Garrett Siedah Garrett is an American songwriter and singer.-Biography:She appeared as a contestant on Password Plus in 1980.She performed "One Man Woman" on Quincy Jones' Grammy-Award winning "Back on the Block."... , El DeBarge El DeBarge Eldra Patrick "El" DeBarge is an American R&B/pop falsetto singer and was the focal point and lead singer of the family group DeBarge throughout the early to mid-1980s....	6:41

Chart history

This is the history of the Billboard Music Charts (North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

) for Back on the Block.

Year	Music Chart	Position
1989	Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	#9
	Top Contemporary Jazz Albums	#1
	Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...	#1

Credits

Recorded in 1989, in Hollywood, Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, the credits include:

• Ella Fitzgerald
  Ella Fitzgerald
  Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
  
   - Vocals
• Take 6
  Take 6
  Take 6 is an American a cappella gospel music sextet formed in 1980 on the campus of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. The group sings in a contemporary style, integrating R&B and jazz influences into their devotional songs and has 10 Grammy wins, 10 Dove Awards, one Soul Train Award and two...
  
  
• Chaka Khan
  Chaka Khan
  Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
  
  
• Bobby McFerrin
  Bobby McFerrin
  Robert "Bobby" McFerrin, Jr. is an American vocalist and conductor. He is best known for his 1988 hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy". He is a ten-time Grammy Award winner.-Life:...
  
  
• Melle Mel
  Melle Mel
  Grandmaster Mele Mel , also known as Melle Mel , is an American hip-hop musician — one of the pioneers of old school hip hop as lead rapper and main songwriter for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.- Biography :...
  
  
• Ray Charles
  Ray Charles
  Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
  
  
• Big Daddy Kane
  Big Daddy Kane
  Antonio Hardy better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MC's in Hip Hop...
  
  
• Ice-T
  ICE-T
  * Ice-T, an American rapper and actor* ICE T , a tilting model of the German InterCityExpress series of high-speed trains...
  
  
• Luther Vandross
  Luther Vandross
  Luther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...
  
  
• Sarah Vaughan
  Sarah Vaughan
  Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...
  
  
• Al Jarreau
  Al Jarreau
  Alwin "Al" Lopez Jarreau is a seven-time Grammy Award winning jazz singer.- Background :Jarreau was born in Milwaukee, the fifth of six children. His web site refers to Reservoir, Inc., the name of the street where he lived. His father was a Seventh-Day Adventist Church minister and singer, and...
  
  
• Dionne Warwick
  Dionne Warwick
  Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
  
  
• Barry White
  Barry White
  Barry White, born Barry Eugene Carter , was an American composer and singer-songwriter.A five-time Grammy Award-winner known for his distinctive bass voice and romantic image, White's greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring...
  
  
• Syreeta Wright
  Syreeta Wright
  Syreeta Wright , who recorded professionally under the single name Syreeta, was a Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter most notably known for her work with Stevie Wonder and Billy Preston.-Early life and career:...
  
  
• Grandmaster Melle Mel
• Al B. Sure!
  Al B. Sure!
  Albert Jason Brown III is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He grew up in Leonia, New Jersey and Mount Vernon, New York. During the late 1980s under the stage name Al B...
  
  
• Tevin Campbell
  Tevin Campbell
  Tevin Jermod Campbell is an American R&B singer-songwriter and actor. He scored a string of R&B chart hits as a teenager in the early to mid-1990s.-Music career:...
  
  
• Alvin Chea
  Alvin Chea
  Alvin "Vinnie" Chea was born in 1967 and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. A product of Christian Education, Chea attended Seventh-day Adventist schools up through 1989 where Mr. Chea earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Oakwood University, double-majoring in English and Communications...
  
  
• Andraé Crouch
  Andrae Crouch
  Andraé Crouch is a seven-time Grammy Award-winning American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, recording artist, record producer, and pastor.-Early years:Born Andraé Edward Crouch in San Francisco, California....
  
  
• Kool Moe Dee
  Kool Moe Dee
  Mohandas Dewese , better known as Kool Moe Dee, is an American Hip Hop MC prominent in the late 1970s through the early 1990s. He was born in Manhattan, New York...
  
  
• Nadirah Ali
• Maxi Anderson
• Peggie Blu
• McKinley Brown
• Sandra Crouch
• Geary Faggett
• Voncielle Faggett
• Geary Lanier Foggett
• Ken Ford
• Jania Foxworth
• Siedah Garrett
  Siedah Garrett
  Siedah Garrett is an American songwriter and singer.-Biography:She appeared as a contestant on Password Plus in 1980.She performed "One Man Woman" on Quincy Jones' Grammy-Award winning "Back on the Block."...
  
  
• Tammie Gibson
• Rose Banks
• El DeBarge
  El DeBarge
  Eldra Patrick "El" DeBarge is an American R&B/pop falsetto singer and was the focal point and lead singer of the family group DeBarge throughout the early to mid-1980s....
  
  
• Cedric Dent
• Chad Durio
• Jim Gilstrap
• Jackie Gouche
• Alex Harris
• Howard Hewett
  Howard Hewett
  Howard Hewett is an American R&B and gospel singer and former lead vocalist of the R&B group Shalamar.Raised in Akron, Ohio, Hewett moved to Los Angeles. He would eventually meet Soul Train dancer and future first wife Rainey Riley-Cunningham, then a secretary of the show's creator and original...
  
  
• Reggie Green
• Jennifer Holliday
  Jennifer Holliday
  Jennifer-Yvette Holliday is an African-American singer and Tony Award-winning actress. She started her career on Broadway in musicals such as Dreamgirls, and later became a successful recording artist...
  
  
• Pattie Howard
  Pattie Howard
  Pattie Howard born Francine Patience Howard is an American Gospel and R&B singer-songwriter, producer, and vocal arranger. She is a 30 years+ music industry veteran who has released two albums with major record labels, RCA Records and Light Records...
  
  
• James Ingram
  James Ingram
  James Ingram is an American soul musician. He is best known as a vocalist. He is also a self-taught musician who plays piano, guitar, bass, drums and keyboards...
  
  
• David Thomas
  David Thomas (musician)
  David Lynn Thomas is an American singer, songwriter, and musician.He was one of the founding members of the short-lived protopunkers Rocket From The Tombs , where he went by the name of Crocus Behemoth, and of punk group Pere Ubu . He has also released several solo albums...
  
  
• Mervyn Warren
  Mervyn Warren
  Mervyn Edwin Warren is an American film composer, record producer, music conductor, music arranger, lyricist, songwriter, pianist, and vocalist. Warren is a five-time Grammy Award winner and a 10-time Grammy Award nominee...
  
  
• Charity Young
• Shane Shoaf
• Alfie Silas
• Perry Morgan
• Phil Perry
• Tyren Perry
• Derrick Schoefield
• Mark Kibble
• Edie Lehmann
• Tiffany Johnson
• Clif Magness
• Donovan McCrary
• Howard McCrary
• Claude McKnight
  Claude V. McKnight III
  Claude V. McKnight, III is a Jazz, R&B, and Gospel Music Singer, as well as the founding member of the award-winning a cappella performing group Take 6....
  
  
• Jean Johnson McRath
• Miles Davis
  Miles Davis
  Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
  
   - Trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
  
• Dizzy Gillespie
  Dizzy Gillespie
  John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
  
  
• Gary Grant
• Bill Reichenbach Jr. - Trombone
  Trombone
  The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
  
  
• Jerry Hey
  Jerry Hey
  Jerry Hey is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Thriller and the distinctive flugelhorn solo on Dan Fogelberg's hit Longer....
  
   - Trumpet, Arranger, Keyboards
• James Moody
  James Moody (saxophonist)
  James Moody was an American jazz saxophone and flute player. He was best known for his hit "Moody's Mood for Love," an improvisation based on "I'm in the Mood for Love"; in performance, he often improvised vocals for the tune.-Biography:James Moody was born in Savannah, Georgia...
  
   - Alto saxophone
  Alto saxophone
  The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
  
  
• Gerald Albright — Alto saxophone, Vocals
• Paul Jackson Jr. - Guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Michael Landau
  Michael Landau
  Michael Landau is a prolific session musician and guitarist who has played on a large number of albums since the early 1980s with artists as varied as Seal, James Taylor, Helen Watson, Richard Marx, Steve Perry, Pink Floyd and Miles Davis...
  
  
• Randy Lukather
• Steve Lukather
  Steve Lukather
  Steve "Luke" Lukather is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer best known for his work with the rock band Toto. Lukather has played with many artists, released several solo albums, and worked as a composer, arranger, and session guitarist on more than 1,500 albums...
  
  
• George Benson
  George Benson
  George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
  
   - Guitar, Vocals
• George Johnson - Guitar, Vocals (bckgr)
• Neil Stubenhaus
  Neil Stubenhaus
  Neil Stubenhaus is an American bass guitarist.-Career:He started his musical training playing drums and switched to bass guitar at the age of 12. He studied at the Berklee College of Music where he graduated in 1975...
  
   - Bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Louis Johnson
  Louis Johnson (bassist)
  Louis Johnson is an American bass guitarist.Johnson is best known for his group The Brothers Johnson and his session playing on several hit albums of the 1970s and '80s including the "best selling album of all time" Thriller...
  
  
• Nathan East
  Nathan East
  Nathan Harrell East is a jazz, R&B and rock bass player and vocalist. East holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from the University of California, San Diego...
  
  
• Ollie Brown
  Ollie E. Brown
  Ollie E. Brown is an American drummer, percussionist and record producer. A prolific session musician, Brown has performed on over a hundred albums in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Brown was also half of the American dance-pop duo Ollie & Jerry, which had a Top 10 hit with "Breakin'.....
  
   - Percussion
• Harvey Mason
  Harvey Mason
  Harvey William Mason is an American jazz drummer. He has worked with many jazz and fusion artists such as Bob James, The Brecker Brothers, Lee Ritenour, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and almost all the Mizell Brothers productions with Donald Byrd, Johnny Hammond, Bobbi Humphrey and Gary Bartz...
  
  , Sr.
• Paulinho Da Costa
  Paulinho Da Costa
  Paulinho da Costa is a Brazilian percussionist born in Rio de Janeiro, considered one of the most recorded musicians of modern times. Playing over two hundred percussion instruments, he has participated in thousands of recording sessions, Grammy Award-winning albums, hit songs, soundtracks, radio...
  
  
• J.C. Gomez
• John Robinson
• Bruce Swedien
• Bill Summers — Percussion, hindewhu
• Michael Boddicker
  Michael Boddicker
  Michael J. Boddicker , is an American film composer and session musician, specializing in electronic music. Three times N.A.R.A.S. Most Valuable Player "Synthesizer" and MVP Emeritus, he was awarded a Grammy as a songwriter for Imagination from Flashdance in 1984...
  
   - Synthesizer
• Jorge Calandrelli
• Randy Kerber
  Randy Kerber
  Randy Kerber is a composer, orchestrator, keyboard player, born September 25, 1958 in Encino, California, who has had a prolific career in the world of cinema...
  
  
• Rhett Lawrence
• David Paich
  David Paich
  David Frank Paich is a session musician, keyboard player, recording producer, arranger, vocalist and main composer of the Los Angeles-based rock/pop band Toto. David is the son of the late jazz composer, musician, and arranger Marty Paich...
  
  
• Michael Young
• Greg Phillinganes
  Greg Phillinganes
  Greg Phillinganes is an active session keyboardist in Los Angeles, California. He is a graduate of Cass Technical High School, Detroit Michigan....
  
  
• Ian Underwood
  Ian Underwood
  Ian Robertson Underwood is a woodwind and keyboards player. He began his career by playing San Francisco Bay Area coffeehouses and bars with his improvisational group the Jazz Mice in the mid 1960s before he became a member of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention in 1967 for their third studio...
  
  
• Steve Porcaro
  Steve Porcaro
  Steven Maxwell "Steve" Porcaro is an American keyboardist and composer, who was an original member of the rock/pop band Toto....
  
  
• Joe Zawinul
  Joe Zawinul
  Josef Erich Zawinul was an Austrian-American jazz keyboardist and composer.First coming to prominence with saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, Zawinul went on to play with trumpeter Miles Davis, and to become one of the creators of jazz fusion, an innovative musical genre that combined jazz with...
  
   - Vocals, Synthesizer
• Larry Williams
  Larry Williams
  Larry Williams was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana...
  
   - Keyboards, Saxophone
• George Duke
  George Duke
  George Duke is a multi-faceted American musician, known as a keyboard pioneer, composer, singer and producer in both jazz and popular mainstream musical genres. He has worked with numerous acclaimed artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and professor of music...
  
   - Keyboards, Fender Rhodes
• Herbie Hancock
  Herbie Hancock
  Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
  
   - Keyboards, Synthesizer Pads
• Sheila E. - Timbales
  Timbales
  Timbales are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing, invented in Cuba. They are shallower in shape than single-headed tom-toms, and usually much higher tuned...
  
  , Soloist
• Glen Ballard
  Glen Ballard
  Glen Ballard is an American songwriter and record producer, best known for co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill , which won Grammy Award for "Best Rock Album", and "Album of the Year" amongst others, and is ranked by the Rolling Stone amongst The 500 Greatest Albums of...
  
   - Arranger
• Rod Temperton
  Rod Temperton
  Rodney Lynn "Rod" Temperton is an English songwriter, record producer and musician most famous for writing a number of songs performed by Michael Jackson, including the title track of Jackson's Thriller, the biggest-selling album of all time.-Biography:As Temperton remembers music was in his bones...
  
  
• Jesse Jackson
  Jesse Jackson
  Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
  
   - Narrator
• Quincy Jones
  Quincy Jones
  Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
  
   - Arranger, Drums, Vocals, Korg M1
  Korg M1
  The Korg M1 is the world's first widely-known music workstation. Its onboard MIDI sequencer and palette of sounds allowed musicians to produce complete professional arrangements...
  
  
• Ian Prince — Arranger, Keyboards
• Caiphus Semenya — Arranger, Conductor, Vocal Arrangement
• Morris Michael