This is a list of soul music

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

ians who have either been influential within the genre, or have had a considerable amount of fame. Bands are listed by the first letter in their name (not including the words "a", "an", or "the"), and individuals are listed by last name.

A

• Johnny Ace
  Johnny Ace
  Johnny Ace , born John Marshall Alexander, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, was an American rhythm and blues singer. He scored a string of hit singles in the mid-1950s before dying of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound....
  
  
• Jonny Craig
  Jonny Craig
  Jonathan Monroe Craig is a Canadian-American singer. He is currently the lead vocalist for the band Dance Gavin Dance, and former vocalist of the bands Emarosa and Ghost Runner on Third. He has an eponymous solo project, with which he has released one studio album and a live album to date...
  
  
• Barbara Acklin
  Barbara Acklin
  Barbara Jean Acklin was an American soul singer and songwriter who was most successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her biggest hit as a singer was "Love Makes a Woman" in 1968...
  
  
• Adele
  Adele (singer)
  Adele Laurie Blue Adkins , known professionally as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter. She was the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008...
  
  
• Gerald Albright
  Gerald Albright
  Gerald Albright is an American jazz saxophonist.Albright has sold over 1,000,000 albums in the U.S. alone. His self-produced music features him on bass guitar, keyboards, flutes, drum programming, and background vocals.- Biography :...
  
  
• Al B. Sure
• Arthur Alexander
  Arthur Alexander
  Arthur Alexander was an American country soul singer. Jason Ankeny, music critic for Allmusic, said Alexander was a "country-soul pioneer" and though largely unknown, "his music is the stuff of genius, a poignant and deeply intimate body of work on par with the best of his...
  
  
• Carleen Anderson
  Carleen Anderson
  Carleen Anderson is an American soul singer, who has had success in the United Kingdom. She is the daughter of the singer Vicki Anderson and stepdaughter of Bobby Byrd, and is most well known as the lead singer in the Young Disciples as well as for her own solo career.-Early career:Anderson was...
  
  
• Sunshine Anderson
  Sunshine Anderson
  Sunshine Anderson is a female American R&B and soul singer and songwriter.-Beginnings:Anderson was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and later moved to Charlotte as a child and became friends with Narisha Foxx...
  
  
• India.Arie
  India.Arie
  India.Arie is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and record producer . She has sold over 3.3 million records in the U.S. and 10 million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards from her 21 nominations, including Best R&B Album.-Background:Simpson was born in Denver, Colorado...
  
  
• Aṣa
  Asa
  -People:* Aṣa , Paris-born Nigerian singer-songwriter* Asa of Judah , son of Abijam, King of Judah* Asa Dotzler , Mozilla contributor and blogger*Asa Kasher , Israeli philosopher and linguist-Places:...
  
  
• Atlantic Starr
  Atlantic Starr
  Atlantic Starr was a 1980s R&B band. Among their biggest hits were "Always" and "Secret Lovers."- History :The group was started in 1976 in White Plains, New York by trumpeter Duke Jones , drummer Porter Carroll Jr., bassist Clifford Archer, percussionist and flautist Joseph Phillips, and three...
  
  
• Patti Austin
  Patti Austin
  -Life and career:Austin was born in Harlem, New York. She made her debut at the Apollo Theater at age four and had a contract with RCA Records when she was only five. Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington have proclaimed themselves as her godparents....
  
  
• Ayọ
  Ayo
  "Ayo!" is an R&B/Go-go song by American singer-songwriter Mýa and features DJ Kool. The track was produced by Chris Henderson for Harrison fourth studio album Liberation. Ayo! was written by Chris Henderson, Mýa, and Charlie Smalls....
  
  
• Amos Lee
  Amos Lee
  Amos Lee is an American singer-songwriter whose musical style encompasses folk, rock and soul. Lee has four albums on Blue Note Records and has toured as an opening act for Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, Paul Simon, Merle Haggard, Van Morrison, John Prine, Dave Matthews Band and Adele. In...
  
  

B

• Erykah Badu
  Erykah Badu
  Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...
  
  
• Corinne Bailey Rae
  Corinne Bailey Rae
  Corinne Bailey Rae is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist from Leeds, who released her debut album Corinne Bailey Rae in February 2006....
  
  
• Anita Baker
  Anita Baker
  Anita Baker is an American R&B/soul jazz singer-songwriter. To date, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards, and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit....
  
  
• Bessie Banks
  Bessie Banks
  Bessie Banks is an American soul singer, best known for her original recording of the Moody Blues’ hit song "Go Now".-Life and career:...
  
  
• J. J. Barnes
  J. J. Barnes
  J. J. Barnes is an American R&B singer.He has become a favorite artist of the UK Northern soul scene, and has performed frequently in the UK...
  
  
• Fontella Bass
  Fontella Bass
  Fontella Bass is an American soul singer, who is best known for the 1965 R&B hit "Rescue Me", which she also co-wrote.-Early life:...
  
  
• Gnarls Barkley
  Gnarls Barkley
  Gnarls Barkley is an American soul duo comprising Danger Mouse and Cee Lo Green. Their first studio album St. Elsewhere was released in 2006; along with its first single "Crazy". Both single and album were a major commercial success and have been noted for their large sales by download...
  
  
• The Bar-Kays
• Archie Bell and the Drells
• Regina Belle
  Regina Belle
  Regina Belle is a singer-songwriter who first surfaced in the late 1980s. She is notable for her Grammy award winning duet with Peabo Bryson, "A Whole New World".-Biography:Regina Belle was born in Englewood, New Jersey...
  
  
• William Bell
  William Bell (singer)
  William Bell is an American soul singer and songwriter, and one of the architects of the Stax-Volt sound. As a performer, he is probably best known for 1961's "You Don't Miss Your Water" ; 1968's "Private Number" ; and 1976's "Tryin' To Love Two", Bell's only US top 40 hit, which also hit #1 on the...
  
  
• Bing Ji Ling
  Bing Ji Ling
  Quinn Luke, also known as Bing Ji Ling, is a New York City based producer-musician. Luke has released two full-length albums as a solo artist. He is also a member of Phenomenal Handclap Band...
  
  
• Bobby Bland
  Bobby Bland
  Robert Calvin Bland better known as Bobby "Blue" Bland, is an American singer of blues and soul. He is an original member of the Beale Streeters, and is sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues"...
  
  
• Mary J. Blige
  Mary J. Blige
  Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...
  
  
• Bob & Earl
  Bob & Earl
  Bob & Earl were an American soul music singing duo in the 1960s, best known for writing and recording the original version of "Harlem Shuffle".-Career:...
  
  
• Booker T. & the MG's
• Larry Braggs
  Tower of Power
  Tower of Power is an American R&B-based horn section and band, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing for over 43 years. They are best known for their funky soul sound highlighted by a powerful horn section...
  
  
• Brandy
  Brandy Norwood
  Brandy Rayana Norwood , known professionally as Brandy, is an American singer-songwriter, producer, actress, and dancer. In 2009, she introduced her rap alter-ego Bran'Nu....
  
  
• Beyoncé
• Toni Braxton
  Toni Braxton
  Toni Michelle Braxton is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Braxton has won six Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, and five Billboard Music Awards and has sold over 60 million records worldwide...
  
  
• Diane Birch
  Diane Birch
  Diane Birch is an American singer-songwriter.-Early life:Birch was born in Michigan and her father was a Seventh-day Adventist preacher whose work took him to several countries. As a child Birch lived with her family in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Sydney, Australia...
  
  
• Divine Brown
• James Brown
  James Brown
  James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
  
  
• Maxine Brown
  Maxine Brown (soul singer)
  Maxine Ella Brown is an American soul and R&B singer.-Background and career:Maxine Brown began singing as a child, performing with two New York based gospel groups called the Angelairs and the Royaltones when she was a teenager...
  
  
• Marc Broussard
  Marc Broussard
  Marc Broussard is an American singer/songwriter. His style is best described as "Bayou Soul," a mix of funk, blues, R&B, rock, and pop, matched with distinct Southern roots...
  
  
• Solomon Burke
  Solomon Burke
  Solomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...
  
  
• Jerry Butler
  Jerry Butler (singer)
  Jerry Butler is an American soul singer and songwriter. He is also noted as being the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group, The Impressions, as well as a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.Butler is also an American politician...
  
  
• Bobby Byrd
  Bobby Byrd
  Bobby Byrd born Robert Howard Byrd was an American funk/soul/R&B/gospel musician, songwriter and record producer. He was born in Toccoa, Georgia, and is a 1998 winner of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's prestigious Pioneer Award...
  
  
• Will Mothershed

C

• Roy C
  Roy C
  Roy C , is an American southern soul singer, songwriter and record executive, best known for his 1965 hit, "Shotgun Wedding".-Career:Roy C was born in Newington, Georgia...
  
  
• Carl Carlton
  Carl Carlton
  Carl Carlton is an American R&B, soul, and funk singer and songwriter, best known for his hits "Everlasting Love" and "She's a Bad Mama Jama ".-Career:...
  
  
• James Carr
  James Carr (musician)
  James Carr , was an American Rhythm & Blues and soul singer.Born to a Baptist preacher's family in Coahoma, Mississippi, Carr began singing in church and was performing in gospel groups and making tables on an assembly line in Memphis, Tennessee, when he began recording in the mid-'60s for Goldwax...
  
  
• Mariah Carey
  Mariah Carey
  Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
  
  
• 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...
  
  
• Clarence Carter
  Clarence Carter
  Clarence Carter is a blind American soul singer and musician.-Life and career:Born in Montgomery, Alabama on 14 January 1936, Carter attended the Alabama School for the Blind in Talladega, Alabama, and Alabama State College in Montgomery, graduating in August 1960 with a Bachelor of Science degree...
  
  
• The Chambers Brothers
  The Chambers Brothers
  The Chambers Brothers is a soul-music group, best known for its 1968 hit record, the 11-minute long song "Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions with modern psychedelic and rock elements, spawning a heady mix...
  
  
• Gene Chandler
  Gene Chandler
  Gene Chandler also known as "The Duke of Earl" or simply "The Duke", is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, producer and record executive. He is one of the leading exponents of the 1960s Chicago soul scene...
  
  
• 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...
  
  
• Cee Lo Green
• Cody ChesnuTT
  Cody ChesnuTT
  Cody Chesnutt is an American R&B and neo soul musician.-Biography:Cody Chesnutt is an African American musician from Atlanta, Georgia, whose music blends elements of rock, funk, soul, hip hop, and blues. Chesnutt and his former band, The Crosswalk, had a brief stint with Hollywood Records in which...
  
  
• Chic
  Chic (band)
  Chic was an African American disco and R&B band that was organized during 1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It is known best for its commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance " , "Everybody Dance" , "Le Freak" , "I Want Your Love" , "Good Times"...
  
  
• The Chi-Lites
  The Chi-Lites
  The Chi-Lites are a Chicago-based smooth soul vocal quartet from the early 1970s, one of the few from the period not to come from Memphis or Philadelphia...
  
  
• George Clinton
  George Clinton (funk musician)
  George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...
  
  
• Joe Cocker
  Joe Cocker
  John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
  
  
• William "Bootsy" Collins
  Bootsy Collins
  William Earl "Bootsy" Collins is an American funk bassist, singer, and songwriter.Rising to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the '70s, Collins's driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk...
  
  
• The Commodores
• Arthur Conley
  Arthur Conley
  Arthur Lee Conley was an American soul singer, best known for the 1967 hit "Sweet Soul Music".-Career:...
  
  
• Sarah Connor
• The Contours
  The Contours
  The Contours were one of the early African-American soul singing groups signed to Motown Records.The group is best known for its Billboard Top 10 hit, "Do You Love Me," a million-selling song that peaked twice in the Top 20....
  
  
• Sam Cooke
  Sam Cooke
  Samuel Cook, , better known under the stage name Sam Cooke, was an American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocal abilities and...
  
  
• Don Covay
  Don Covay
  Don Covay is an American R&B/rock and roll/soul music singer and songwriter most active in the 1950s and 1960s, who received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1994...
  
  
• Deborah Cox
  Deborah Cox
  Deborah Cox is a Canadian R&B singer-songwriter and actress. Her 1998 song "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here" held the record for longest-running number one single on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart , a record held for nearly eight years. She has achieved ten number-one hits on...
  
  
• King Curtis
  King Curtis
  Curtis Ousley , who performed under the stage name King Curtis, was an American saxophone virtuoso known for rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, funk and soul jazz. Variously a bandleader, band member, and session musician, he was also a musical director and record producer...
  
  
• Bruno Mars
  Bruno Mars
  Peter Gene Hernandez , better known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is an Filipino-American singer-songwriter and record producer. Raised in Honolulu, Hawaii by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age...
  
  

D

• D'Angelo
  D'Angelo
  Michael Eugene Archer , better known by his stage name D'Angelo, is an American R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. He is known for his production and songwriting talents as much as for his vocal abilities, and often draws comparisons to his influences,...
  
  
• Terence Trent D'Arby
• Tyrone Davis
  Tyrone Davis
  Tyrone Davis , born Tyrone Fettson, was a leading American soul singer with a distinctive style, recording a long list of hit records over a period of more than 20 years. He had three no...
  
  
• The Delfonics
  The Delfonics
  The Delfonics are a pioneering Philadelphia soul singing group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their most notable hits include "La-La ", "Didn't I ", "Break Your Promise," "I'm Sorry," and "Ready or Not Here I Come "...
  
  
• Joy Denalane
  Joy Denalane
  Joy Maureen Denalane , known as Joy Denalane, is a German singer-songwriter, known for her mixture of soul, R&B, and African folk music with lyrics in German and English.-Early life:...
  
  
• Jason DeRulo
  Jason Derulo
  Jason Joel Desrouleaux , better known by his stage name Jason Derülo, is an American singer-songwriter, actor and dancer. After producing records for several artists and writing songs for Cash Money Records, co-founder of the label Birdman, Young Money Entertainment owner Lil Wayne and rapper...
  
  
• Des'ree
  Des'ree
  Des'ree is an English pop/soul singer who was popular during the 1990s. She is well known for her hits: "Feel So High", "You Gotta Be", "Life", and "Kissing You"...
  
  
• The Detroit Emeralds
• The Drifters
  The Drifters
  The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...
  
  
• William DeVaughn
  William DeVaughn
  William DeVaughn is an American R&B singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known for the hit song "Be Thankful for What You Got".-Biography:...
  
  
• Jim Diamond
  Jim Diamond (Scottish musician)
  James "Jim" Diamond is a Scottish singer-songwriter. Diamond is best known for his three Top 5 hits. The first was "I Won't Let You Down" , as the lead singer in the trio Ph.D., with Tony Hymas and Simon Phillips. His solo performance, "I Should Have Known Better", was a United Kingdom number one...
  
  
• Melinda Doolittle
  Melinda Doolittle
  Melinda Marie Doolittle is an American singer who finished as the third place finalist on the sixth season of American Idol...
  
  
• Lee Dorsey
  Lee Dorsey
  Lee Dorsey was an African American pop/R&B singer during the 1960s. Much of his work was produced by Allen Toussaint with instrumental backing provided by the Meters.-Career:...
  
  
• The Dramatics
  The Dramatics
  The Dramatics are an American soul music vocal group, formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1962. They are best known for their 1970s hit songs "In the Rain" and "Whatcha See is Whatcha Get", both of which were #1 R&B and Top 10 Pop hits.-Career:The Dramatics originally formed in 1962 recording as the...
  
  
• Doris Duke
  Doris Duke (soul singer)
  Doris Duke is an American gospel and soul singer, best known for her 1969 album I'm A Loser.-Biography:She was born as Doris Curry in Sandersville, Georgia, and reportedly started singing with gospel groups including the Queen of Gospel Albertina Walker and Caravans, though this has been questioned...
  
  
• Duffy
  Duffy (singer)
  Aimée Ann Duffy , known as Duffy, is a Welsh singer-songwriter. Her 2008 debut album Rockferry entered the UK Album Chart at number one. It was the best-selling album in the United Kingdom in 2008 with 1.68 million copies sold...
  
  
• Dwele
  Dwele
  Andwele Gardner , better known by his stage name Dwele is a soul singer, songwriter and record producer from Detroit, Michigan.-Biography:...
  
  
• DeBarge
  DeBarge
  DeBarge was a sibling music group of American origin whose repertoire included R&B, soul, funk, and later gospel. Active as a professional recording group from 1979 and 1989, the group was one of the few recording acts to bring success to the Motown label during the 1980s.-Background:Hailing from...
  
  
• Destiny's Child
  Destiny's Child
  Destiny's Child was an American R&B girl group whose final line-up comprised lead singer Beyoncé Knowles alongside Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. Formed in 1997 in Houston, Texas, Destiny's Child members began their musical endeavors in their pre-teens under the name Girl's Tyme...
  
  

F

• Fantasia
  Fantasia Barrino
  Fantasia Monique Barrino commonly known as Fantasia, is an American R&B singer, Broadway and television actress who rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the reality television series American Idol in 2004. Following her victory, she released her debut single, "I Believe", which...
  
  
• Roberta Flack
  Roberta Flack
  Roberta Flack is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who is notable for jazz, soul, R&B, and folk music...
  
  
• The Floaters
  The Floaters
  The Floaters were an African American, R&B vocal group, from the Sojourner Truth housing projects in Detroit, Michigan, that formed in 1976.-Career:...
  
  
• Floetry
  Floetry
  Floetry was a British R&B duo comprising Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart . The group recorded two studio albums, one live album, and sold over 800,000 records worldwide. Formed in 1999, Floetry started on the performance poetry stage.In 2002, the duo released their first album entitled, Floetic...
  
  
• Eddie Floyd
  Eddie Floyd
  Eddie Lee Floyd is an American soul/R&B singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s and the song "Knock on Wood".-Biography:...
  
  
• The Foundations
  The Foundations
  The Foundations were a British soul band, active from 1967 to 1970. The group, made up of West Indians, White British, and a Sri Lankan, are best known for their two biggest hits, "Baby Now That I've Found You" , written by Tony Macaulay and John MacLeod; and "Build Me Up Buttercup" The Foundations...
  
  
• The Four Tops
• Aretha Franklin
  Aretha Franklin
  Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
  
  
• Freddie Scott
  Freddie Scott
  Freddie Scott was an American soul singer and songwriter. His biggest hits were "Hey, Girl", a top ten US pop hit in 1963, and "Are You Lonely For Me", a no.1 hit on the R&B chart in early 1967.-Life and career:...
  
  
• Frans Grijs

H

• Lynden David Hall
  Lynden David Hall
  Lynden David Hall was a singer, songwriter, arranger, and producer.- Life and career :Born in Wandsworth, South London, he won the 'best newcomer' accolade at the 1998 MOBO Awards....
  
  
• Anthony Hamilton
  Anthony Hamilton (musician)
  Anthony Hamilton is an American R&B, and soul singer-songwriter, and record producer who rose to fame with his platinum-selling second studio album Comin' from Where I'm From , which featured the singles "Comin' from Where I'm From" and "Charlene."-Life and career:Hamilton was born in Charlotte,...
  
  
• Donny Hathaway
  Donny Hathaway
  Donny Edward Hathaway was an American soul singer-songwriter and musician. Hathaway contracted with Atlantic Records in 1969 and with his first single for the Atco label, "The Ghetto, Part I" in early 1970, Rolling Stone magazine "marked him as a major new force in soul music."His collaborations...
  
  
• Isaac Hayes
  Isaac Hayes
  Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
  
  
• Heather Headley
  Heather Headley
  Heather Headley is a Trinidadian-American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She has won one Tony Award and one Grammy Award.-Personal life:...
  
  
• Bobby Hebb
  Bobby Hebb
  Bobby Hebb was an American singer and songwriter, best known for his writing and recording of "Sunny".-Biography:...
  
  
• Taylor Hicks
  Taylor Hicks
  Taylor Reuben Hicks is an American singer who achieved fame in 2006, when he won the fifth season of American Idol. Hicks got his start as a professional musician in his late teens and performed around the Southeastern United States for well over the span of a decade, during which he also released...
  
  
• Lauryn Hill
  Lauryn Hill
  Lauryn Noelle Hill is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress.Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of...
  
  
• Brenda Holloway
  Brenda Holloway
  Brenda Holloway is an American singer and songwriter, a recording artist for the Motown label during the 1960s...
  
  
• Thelma Houston
  Thelma Houston
  Thelma Houston is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She scored a number-one hit in 1976 with her cover version of the song "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.-Early life & career:Houston is the daughter of a cotton picking mother...
  
  
• Whitney Houston
  Whitney Houston
  Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
  
  
• Jennifer Hudson
  Jennifer Hudson
  Jennifer Kate Hudson is an American recording artist, actress and spokesperson. She came to prominence in 2004 as one of the finalists on the third season of American Idol coming in seventh place...
  
  
• Baby Huey & the Babysitters
  Baby Huey (singer)
  Baby Huey was an American rock and soul singer, born in Richmond, Indiana. He was the frontman for the band Baby Huey & The Babysitters, whose single LP for Curtom Records in 1971 was influential in the development of hip hop music.-Biography:A native of Richmond, Indiana, James Ramey moved to...
  
  
• Willie Hutch
  Willie Hutch
  Willie McKinley Hutchison, known professionally as Willie Hutch was an American singer, songwriter as well as a record producer and recording artist for the Motown record label during the 1970s and 1980s....
  
  
• Phyllis Hyman
  Phyllis Hyman
  Phyllis Linda Hyman was an American soul singer and actress.-Early years:Phyllis Hyman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up in the St. Clair Village, the South Hills section of Pittsburgh...
  
  

I

• The Impressions
  The Impressions (American band)
  The Impressions are an American music group from Chicago, originally formed in 1958. Their repertoire includes doo-wop, gospel, soul, and R&B....
  
  
• The Isley Brothers
  The Isley Brothers
  The Isley Brothers are a highly influential, successful and long-running American music group consisting of different line-ups of six brothers, and a brother-in-law, Chris Jasper...
  
  

• Integr8d Soul

J

• The Jackson 5
  The Jackson 5
  The Jackson 5 , later known as The Jacksons, were an American popular music family group from Gary, Indiana...
  
  
• Chuck Jackson
  Chuck Jackson
  Chuck Jackson is an R&B singer who was one of the first artists to record material by Burt Bacharach and Hal David successfully. He has performed with moderate success since 1961...
  
  
• Freddie Jackson
  Freddie Jackson
  Frederick Anthony "Freddie" Jackson is an American soul singer. He was an important figure in R&B during the 1980s and early 1990s...
  
  
• Janet Jackson
  Janet Jackson
  Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
  
  
• Jermaine Jackson
  Jermaine Jackson
  Jermaine La Jaune Jackson is an American singer, bassist, composer, a member of The Jackson 5, older brother of American pop stars Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson and occasional film director...
  
  
• J.J. Jackson
• Michael Jackson
  Michael Jackson
  Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
  
  
• Millie Jackson
  Millie Jackson
  Mildred "Millie" Jackson is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter and comedienne. Three of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA for over 500,000 copies....
  
  
• Jaibi
  Jaibi
  Jaibi was the stage name of the American soul singer Joan Banks .-Life and career:Born Joan Pulliam, and later known as Joan Bates after her marriage to her first husband Anthony Bates Sr., she first recorded with a group, the Pleasures, in 1964-65...
  
  
• Etta James
  Etta James
  Etta James is an American blues, soul, rhythm and blues , rock and roll, gospel and jazz singer. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer...
  
  
• Leela James
  Leela James
  Leela James is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter. James cites singers James Brown, Roberta Flack, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, Gladys Knight, Mavis Staples, and Stevie Wonder as her influences...
  
  
• The JB's
• Mable John
  Mable John
  Mable John is an American blues vocalist and was the first female signed by Berry Gordy to Motown's Tamla label.- Biography :...
  
  
• Ruby Johnson
  Ruby Johnson
  Ruby Johnson was an American soul singer best known for her recordings on the Volt label in the late 1960s.-Life and career:...
  
  
• L.V. Johnson
  L.V. Johnson
  L.V. Johnson was an American Chicago blues and soul-blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his renditions of "Don't Cha Mess With My Money, My Honey Or My Woman" and "Recipe"...
  
  
• Syl Johnson
  Syl Johnson
  Syl Johnson is an American blues and soul singer and record producer.-Biography:Born Sylvester Thompson in Holly Springs, Mississippi, United States, Johnson sang and played with blues artists Magic Sam, Billy Boy Arnold, Junior Wells and Howlin' Wolf in the 1950s, before recording with Jimmy Reed...
  
  
• Syleena Johnson
  Syleena Johnson
  Syleena Johnson is a Grammy award-nominated American R&B and soul singer-songwriter and actress.-Biography:...
  
  
• Sharon Jones
• Jacksoul
  Jacksoul
  jacksoul, sometimes stylized as jackSOUL, was a Canadian soul and R&B band. Based in Toronto, the band was fronted by singer Haydain Neale, and was best known for their hits "Can't Stop" and "Still Believe in Love"....
  
  
• I.V.O
• Jaya Ramsey

K

• R.Kelly
• Eddie Kendricks
  Eddie Kendricks
  Eddie Kendricks was an American singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group The Temptations, and was one of their lead singers from 1960 until 1971. His was the lead voice on such famous songs as "The Way You Do The Things...
  
  
• Alicia Keys
  Alicia Keys
  Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...
  
  
• 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...
  
  
• Kindred the Family Soul
  Kindred the Family Soul
  Kindred the Family Soul, also referred to as Kindred, are an American R&B, soul, and neo soul duo consisting of the married couple of Fatin Dantzler and Aja Graydon...
  
  
• Ben E. King
  Ben E. King
  Benjamin Earl King , better known as Ben E. King, is an American soul singer. He is perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me", a U.S...
  
  
• Beverley Knight
  Beverley Knight
  Beverley Knight MBE is a British soul and R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer who released her debut album in 1995. Heavily influenced by soul greats such as Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin, Knight has released six studio albums to date...
  
  
• Carole King
  Carole King
  Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
  
  
• The Knight Brothers
  Knight Brothers
  The Knight Brothers were a soul music duo, comprising Richard Dunbar and Jimmy Diggs ....
  
  
• Gladys Knight & the Pips
  Gladys Knight & the Pips
  Gladys Knight & The Pips were an R&B/soul family musical act from Atlanta, Georgia, active from 1953 to 1989. The group was best known for their string of hit singles on Motown's "Soul" record label and Buddah Records from 1967 to 1975, including "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight...
  
  
• Jean Knight
  Jean Knight
  Jean Knight is an African-American soul/R&B/funk singer, best known for her 1971 Stax Records hit single, "Mr. Big Stuff".-Early years:...
  
  
• Mbou Ivo
• Kyla
  Kyla
  Melanie Hernandez Calumpad Alvarez , better known by her stage name Kyla, is an R&B singer, songwriter, producer, TV host, and occasional actress from the Philippines....
  
  

L

• Patti LaBelle
  Patti LaBelle
  Patricia Louise Holte-Edwards , better known under the stage name, Patti LaBelle, is a Grammy Award winning American singer, author and actress who has spent over 50 years in the music industry...
  
  
• Labelle
  Labelle
  Labelle is an American all female singing group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The group was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl groups in the Philadelphia/Trenton areas, the Ordettes and the Del-Capris, forming as a new version of the former group, later changing...
  
  
• Major Lance
  Major Lance
  Major Lance was an American R&B singer. After a number of US hits in the 1960s, including "The Monkey Time" and "Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um", he became an iconic figure in Britain in the 1970s among followers of Northern soul.-Life:Major Lance was born in Winterville, Mississippi...
  
  
• Amel Larrieux
  Amel Larrieux
  Amel Larrieux is an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter and keyboardist. Larrieux rose to fame in the mid 1990s as a founding member of the duo Groove Theory along with Bryce Wilson. After leaving the group in 1999, she released her debut solo album Infinite Possibilities the following year on...
  
  
• Denise LaSalle
  Denise LaSalle
  Denise LaSalle is an American R&B/soul and blues singer, songwriter, and record producer.-Career:...
  
  
• Bettye LaVette
  Bettye LaVette
  Bettye LaVette is an American soul singer-songwriter who made her first record at sixteen, but achieved only intermittent fame until 2005, with her album, I've Got My Own Hell to Raise...
  
  
• Linda Jones
  Linda Jones
  Linda Jones was an American soul singer.Jones was born in Newark, New Jersey. She started singing in her family's gospel group the Jones Singers at the age of six...
  
  
• Ledisi
  Ledisi
  Ledisi Anibade Young is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Her first name means "to bring forth" or "to come here" in Yoruba. Ledisi is known for her jazz influenced vocals. In 1995, Ledisi formed the group known as Anibade. After unsuccessfully trying to get the group signed to a major...
  
  
• John Legend
  John Legend
  John Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career...
  
  
• Lemar
  Lemar
  Lemar Obika , professionally known simply as Lemar, is an English recording artist. Obika has had a run of chart success in the UK, Europe and Australia...
  
  
• Ramsey Lewis
  Ramsey Lewis
  Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis, Jr. is an American jazz composer, pianist and radio personality. Ramsey Lewis has recorded over 80 albums and has received seven gold records and three Grammy Awards so far in his career.-Biography:...
  
  
• Little Anthony and the Imperials
• Little Milton
  Little Milton
  James Milton Campbell, Jr. , better known as Little Milton, was an American electric blues, rhythm and blues, and soul singer and guitarist, best known for his hit records "Grits Ain't Groceries" and "We're Gonna Make It."-Biography:Milton was born James Milton Campbell, Jr., in the Mississippi...
  
  
• Mary Love
  Mary Love
  Mary Love, born as Mary Ann Allen or Mary Ann Varney , and later known as Mary Love Comer, is an American soul and gospel singer, and Christian evangelist....
  
  
• Cheryl Lynn
  Cheryl Lynn
  Lynda Cheryl Smith , known better by her professional name Cheryl Lynn, is a female African-American disco, R&B and soul singer known best for her 1978 disco song, "Got to Be Real".-Early career:...
  
  

M

• Veronica Maggio
  Veronica Maggio
  Veronica Sandra Karin Maggio is a Swedish singer of Swedish and Italian origin. She won the category "Årets nykomling" in the Grammisgalan 2007....
  
  
• Sananda Maitreya
  Sananda Maitreya
  Sananda Francesco Maitreya , better known by his former stage name Terence Trent D'Arby, is an American singer-songwriter who came to fame with his album Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D'Arby, released in July 1987, which included the singles "Wishing Well" and "Sign Your Name"...
  
  
• Teena Marie
  Teena Marie
  Mary Christine Brockert, better known by her stage name Teena Marie, was an American singer, songwriter and producer...
  
  
• Clayton Mark
  Clayton Mark
  Clayton Mark , one of the pioneer makers of steel pipe in the United States, was an industrialist in the Chicagoland area who founded the Mark Manufacturing Company in 1888, a firm for the fabrication and sale of water-well supplies. Mark founded Marktown, a planned worker community in Northwest...
  
  
• Martha & the Vandellas
• The Marvelettes
  The Marvelettes
  The Marvelettes were an American singing girl group on the Tamla label. Motown's first successful female vocal group, the Marvelettes are most notable for recording the company's first #1 Pop hit, "Please Mr...
  
  
• Johnny Mathis
  Johnny Mathis
  John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
  
  
• Maxwell
  Maxwell (musician)
  Maxwell , is an American R&B, funk and neo soul musician. He played an important role in the development of the soul sub-genre, neo-soul.-Early life:...
  
  
• Curtis Mayfield
  Curtis Mayfield
  Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
  
  
• Toussaint McCall
  Toussaint McCall
  Toussaint McCall is an American R&B singer and organist.His one major success was with "Nothing Takes the Place of You", which reached #5 in the US R&B chart, issued on Ronn Records in 1967...
  
  
• George McCrae
  George McCrae
  George McCrae is an American soul and disco singer, most famous for his 1974 hit "Rock Your Baby".-Early life and career:...
  
  
• Gwen McCrae
  Gwen McCrae
  Gwen McCrae is an American R&B singer, best known for her March, 1975 hit "Rockin' Chair".-Career:...
  
  
• Mel and Tim
  Mel and Tim
  Mel and Tim were an American soul music duo active in the 1960s and early 1970s, and best known for the hit, "Backfield in Motion" . They are also well known for: "Hope, Life's Goal" and "Starting All Over Again" .-Career:...
  
  
• Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
  Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
  Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes were an American singing group, one of the most popular Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. The group's repertoire included soul, R&B, doo-wop, and disco...
  
  
• The Meters
  The Meters
  The Meters are an American funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Meters performed and recorded their own music from the late 1960s until 1977...
  
  
• Garnet Mimms
  Garnet Mimms
  Garnet Mimms is an American singer, influential in soul music and rhythm and blues...
  
  
• Michael Jackson
  Michael Jackson
  Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
  
  
• Michael McDonald
  Michael McDonald (singer)
  Michael McDonald is a five-time Grammy Award winning American singer and songwriter. McDonald is known for a soulful baritone singing style and a multi-octave range. He began his career singing back-up vocals with Steely Dan...
  
  
• The Miracles
  The Miracles
  The Miracles are an American rhythm and blues group from Detroit, Michigan, notable as the first successful group act for Berry Gordy's Motown Record Corporation . Their single "Shop Around" was Motown's first million-selling hit record, and the group went on to become one of Motown's signature...
  
  
• Jackie Mittoo
  Jackie Mittoo
  Jackie Mittoo was a Jamaican keyboardist, songwriter and musical director. He was a founding member of The Skatalites and was a mentor to many younger performers, primarily through his work as musical director for the Studio One record label.-Biography:He was born Donat Roy Mittoo in Browns Town,...
  
  
• Monica
• Janelle Monae
  Janelle Monáe
  Janelle Monáe is an American R&B/soul musician signed to Bad Boy Records and Atlantic Records.Monáe debuted with a conceptual EP, Metropolis: Suite I ...
  
  
• Dorothy Moore
  Dorothy Moore
  Dorothy Moore is an American pop, R&B, and soul singer best known for her 1976 hit song, "Misty Blue".-Career:...
  
  
• Teedra Moses
  Teedra Moses
  Teedra Moses is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter.-Biography:Teedra Moses was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a gospel singing mother, Shirley Moses. She later moved to California with her mother and three siblings after her parents' separation...
  
  
• Jason Mraz
  Jason Mraz
  Jason Thomas Mraz , also known as Mr. AZ and Mr. Raz, is an American singer-songwriter. Mraz released his debut album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, which contained the hit single "The Remedy ", in 2002, but it was not until the release of his second album, "Mr. A-Z", in 2005, that Mraz achieved...
  
  
• Musiq Soulchild
• Jackie Moore
  Jackie Moore
  Jackie Moore is an American R&B singer. She is most well known for her gold single 1970 song "Precious, Precious," which reached #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on March 6, 1971. This disc sold over one million copies, and received a gold disc awarded by the R.I.A.A...
  
  

P

• The Parliaments
  The Parliaments
  The Parliaments were a doo-wop quintet from Plainfield, New Jersey, formed in the back room of a barbershop in the late 1950s and named after the cigarette brand. After some early personnel changes their lineup solidified with George Clinton, Ray Davis, Fuzzy Haskins, Calvin Simon, and Grady Thomas...
  
  
• Billy Paul
  Billy Paul
  Billy Paul is a Grammy Award winning American soul singer, most known for his 1972 number-one single, "Me and Mrs. Jones" as well as the 1973 album and single "War of the Gods" which blends his more conventional pop, soul and funk styles with electronic and psychedelic influences...
  
  
• Freda Payne
  Freda Payne
  Freda Charcilia Payne Some sources give a birth year of 1945, but this appears to be an error as all sources agree that she is older than her sister Scherrie, born 1944. is an American singer and actress best known for her million selling, 1970 hit single, "Band of Gold". She was also an actress in...
  
  
• Peaches & Herb
  Peaches & Herb
  Peaches & Herb was an American vocalist duo, once comprising Herb Fame and Francine "Peaches" Hurd Barker...
  
  
• Ann Peebles
  Ann Peebles
  Ann Peebles is an African American singer-songwriter who gained celebrity for her Memphis soul albums of the 1970s on the Hi Records label...
  
  
• Teddy Pendergrass
  Teddy Pendergrass
  Theodore DeReese "Teddy" Pendergrass was an American R&B/soul singer and songwriter. Pendergrass first rose to fame as lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes in the 1970s before a successful solo career at the end of the decade...
  
  
• Wilson Pickett
  Wilson Pickett
  Wilson Pickett was an American R&B/Soul singer and songwriter.A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100...
  
  
• Plan B
• The Pointer Sisters
• Billy Preston
  Billy Preston
  William Everett "Billy" Preston was a musician who gained notoriety and fame, first as a session musician for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and The Beatles, and later finding fame as a solo artist with hits such as "Space Race", "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from...
  
  
• Kelly Price
  Kelly Price
  Kelly Price is an American R&B and soul singer, formerly on the Def Soul label.-Life and music career:Kelly Cherelle Price was born in Queens, New York. She was first discovered by Mariah Carey in February 1992 and subsequently introduced to Sony Columbia's then CEO Tommy Mottola...
  
  
• Prince
  Prince (musician)
  Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
  
  

R

• Bonnie Raitt
  Bonnie Raitt
  Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
  
  
• Lou Rawls
  Lou Rawls
  Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game"...
  
  
• Otis Redding
  Otis Redding
  Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
  
  
• Della Reese
  Della Reese
  Delloreese Patricia Early, known professionally as Della Reese , is an American actress, singer, game show panelist of the 1970s, one-time talk-show hostess and ordained minister. She started her career in the 1950s as a gospel, pop and jazz singer, scoring a hit with her 1959 single "Don't You...
  
  
• Wendy Rene
  Wendy Rene
  Wendy Rene is a soul/R&B singer and songwriter. In her early teens, she was a member of the singing group The Drapels and was signed with Stax Records...
  
  
• Lionel Richie
  Lionel Richie
  Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Since 1968, he has been a member of the musical group Commodores signed to Motown Records...
  
  
• The Righteous Brothers
  The Righteous Brothers
  The Righteous Brothers were the musical duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. They recorded from 1963 through 1975, and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003...
  
  
• Minnie Riperton
  Minnie Riperton
  Minnie Julia Riperton was an American singer-songwriter best known for her 1975 single "Lovin' You". She was married to songwriter and music producer Richard Rudolph from 1972 until her death in the summer of 1979. They had two children - music engineer Marc Rudolph and actress/comedienne Maya...
  
  
• Smokey Robinson
  Smokey Robinson
  William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
  
  
• Tad Robinson
  Tad Robinson
  Tad Robinson is an American soul blues singer.Robinson was born and raised in New York City, United States, attending school at Indiana University's school of music and graduating in 1980...
  
  
• Nile Rodgers
  Nile Rodgers
  Nile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...
  
  
• Nick Rolfe
• Diana Ross
  Diana Ross
  Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
  
  
• David Ruffin
  David Ruffin
  Davis Eli "David" Ruffin was an American soul singer and musician most famous for his work as one of the lead singers of the Temptations from 1964 to 1968...
  
  
• Rufus
  Rufus
  Rufus may refer to:People * Milan Rúfus , Slovak poet and writer* Rufus * Rufus , consul in 457* Several Saints Rufus* Rufus , French actor...
  
  
• Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels
  Mitch Ryder
  William S. Levise, Jr , better known by his stage name Mitch Ryder, is an American musician who has recorded over two dozen albums in more than four decades.-Career:...
  
  

S

• Sade
  Sade (band)
  Sade is a British smooth jazz band that formed in 1983, named for Nigerian lead singer Sade Adu. Their music features elements of R&B, soul, jazz, and soft rock....
  
  
• Sam & Dave
  Sam & Dave
  Sam & Dave were an American soul and rhythm and blues duo who performed together from 1961 through 1981. The tenor voice was Samuel David Moore , and the baritone/tenor voice was Dave Prater .Sam & Dave are members of...
  
  
• Sam Cooke
  Sam Cooke
  Samuel Cook, , better known under the stage name Sam Cooke, was an American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocal abilities and...
  
  
• Seal
  Seal (musician)
  Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel , known simply as Seal, is a British soul and R&B singer-songwriter, of Nigerian and Brazilian background. Seal has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1992, four Grammy Awards, and an...
  
  
• Guy Sebastian
  Guy Sebastian
  Guy Theodore Sebastian is an Australian pop, R&B, and soul singer-songwriter who was the first winner of Australian Idol in 2003. He is currently a judge on the Australian version of The X Factor. Sebastian has released six top ten platinum/multi platinum albums, including a number-one and...
  
  
• Jill Scott
  Jill Scott
  Jill Scott is an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter, poet, and actress. In 2007, Scott made her cinematic debut in the films Hounddog and in Tyler Perry's feature film, Why Did I Get Married? That year, her third studio album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3, was released on...
  
  
• The Shirelles
  The Shirelles
  The Shirelles were an African-American girl group that achieved popularity in the early 1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens , Doris Coley , Addie "Micki" Harris , and Beverly Lee...
  
  
• Joe Simon
  Joe Simon (musician)
  Joe Simon is an American chart-topping, Grammy Award winning, soul and R&B musician. Amongst other chart singles, Simon secured three number one hits on the US Billboard R&B chart between 1969 and 1975.-Career:...
  
  
• Nina Simone
  Nina Simone
  Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
  
  
• Percy Sledge
  Percy Sledge
  Percy Sledge is an American R&B and soul performer who recorded the hit "When a Man Loves a Woman" in 1966.-Early career:...
  
  
• Sly & the Family Stone
  Sly & the Family Stone
  Sly and the Family Stone were an American rock, funk, and soul band from San Francisco, California. Active from 1966 to 1983, the band was pivotal in the development of soul, funk, and psychedelic music...
  
  
• O.C. Smith
• Jordin Sparks
  Jordin Sparks
  Jordin Brianna Sparks is an American pop / R&B singer-songwriter and actress. She hails from Glendale, Arizona who rose to fame as the winner of the sixth season of American Idol. Sparks won when she was 17 years old, making her the youngest winner in Idol history...
  
  
• The Spinners
  The Spinners (U.S. band)
  The Spinners is a soul music vocal group, active for over 50 years, and with a long run of pop and R&B hits especially during the 1970s. The group, originating from Detroit, still tours regularly ....
  
  
• Dusty Springfield
  Dusty Springfield
  Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
  
  
• The Staple Singers
  The Staple Singers
  The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples , the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha , Pervis , Yvonne , and Mavis...
  
  
• Patrick Stump
  Patrick Stump
  Patrick Vaughn Stump is an American singer-songwriter, composer, record producer, and music critic. He is the composer, lead singer, and multi-instrumentalist of Fall Out Boy, an American rock band from Wilmette, Illinois, and is also a solo artist...
  
  
• The Stylistics
  The Stylistics
  The Stylistics are a soul music vocal group, and were one of the best-known Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. They formed in 1968, and were composed of lead Russell Thompkins, Jr., Herbie Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith, and James Dunn. All of their US hits were ballads, graced by the...
  
  
• The Supremes
  The Supremes
  The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
  
  
• Edwin Starr
  Edwin Starr
  Edwin Starr was an American soul music singer. Starr is most famous for his Norman Whitfield produced singles of the 1970s, most notably the number one hit "War".-Biography:...
  
  
• Angie Stone
  Angie Stone
  Angie Stone is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She has been nominated for three Grammy Award. She is more successful on the charts R&B charts, with four Top 10 albums, forms including a number one album and 10 singles on the R&B chart,...
  
  
• Joss Stone
  Joss Stone
  Jocelyn Eve Stoker , better known by her stage name Joss Stone, is an English soul singer-songwriter and actress. Stone rose to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, The Soul Sessions, which made the 2004 Mercury Prize shortlist...
  
  
• Donna Summer
  Donna Summer
  LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
  
  
• Sylvia Striplin
  Sylvia Striplin
  Sylvia Striplin is a New York based jazz, soul and R&B vocalist. Striplin has worked with funk, jazz, R&B and soul, vibraphonist Roy Ayers, who helped her release her 1981 album Give Me Your Love on the Uno Melodic record label. Striplin, along with Marva Hicks found some solo success after being...
  
  
• Bettye Swann
  Bettye Swann
  Bettye Swann is an American soul music singer, best known for her 1967 hit song "Make Me Yours".-Career:...
  
  

T

• Tamia
  Tamia
  Tamia Hill , and known professionally as Tamia, is a four-time Grammy-nominated Canadian R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, composer, model, entrepreneur and philanthropist, as well as an occasional actress.She is best known for her 2000 hit "Stranger In My House" and Fabolous' 2003...
  
  
• Howard Tate
  Howard Tate
  Howard Tate is an American soul music singer and songwriter.-Early life:He moved with his family to Philadelphia in the early 1940s. In his teens, he joined a gospel music group that included Garnet Mimms and, as the Gainors, recorded rhythm and blues sides for Mercury Records and Cameo Records in...
  
  
• Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers
  Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers
  Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers were a soul band from Vancouver, British Columbia. Briefly signed to Motown Records in the late 1960s, they had one top 30 hit single, "Does Your Mama Know About Me". As a producer and solo artist, Bobby Taylor contributed to several other soul recordings, both inside...
  
  
• Johnnie Taylor
  Johnnie Taylor
  Johnnie Harrison Taylor was an American vocalist in a wide variety of genres, from rhythm and blues, soul, blues and gospel to pop, doo-wop and disco.-Early years:...
  
  
• Little Johnny Taylor
  Little Johnny Taylor
  Little Johnny Taylor was an American blues and soul singer, who made recordings throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and continued public performances through the 1980s and 1990s....
  
  
• The Temptations
  The Temptations
  The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...
  
  
• Tammi Terrell
  Tammi Terrell
  Thomasina Winifred Montgomery, known as Tammi Terrell was an American singer-songwriter most notable for her association with Motown and her duets with Marvin Gaye. As a teenager she recorded for the Scepter–Wand, Try Me and Checker record labels. She signed with Motown in April 1965 and enjoyed...
  
  
• Joe Tex
  Joe Tex
  Joseph Arrington, Jr. , better known as "Joe Tex", was an American Southern soul singer-songwriter, most popular during the 1960s and 1970s...
  
  
• Carla Thomas
  Carla Thomas
  Carla Thomas is an American singer, who is often referred to as the Queen of Memphis Soul. She is the daughter of Rufus Thomas.-Childhood:...
  
  
• Irma Thomas
  Irma Thomas
  Irma Thomas is an American Grammy Award-winning soul and rhythm and blues singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans"....
  
  
• Rufus Thomas
  Rufus Thomas
  Rufus Thomas, Jr. was an American rhythm and blues, funk and soul singer and comedian fromMemphis, Tennessee, who recorded on Sun Records in the...
  
  
• Timmy Thomas
  Timmy Thomas
  Timmy Thomas is an American R&B singer, keyboardist, songwriter and record producer, best known for the hit song, "Why Can't We Live Together".-Career:...
  
  
• Justin Timberlake
  Justin Timberlake
  Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...
  
  
• Tower of Power
  Tower of Power
  Tower of Power is an American R&B-based horn section and band, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing for over 43 years. They are best known for their funky soul sound highlighted by a powerful horn section...
  
  
• Doris Troy
  Doris Troy
  Doris Troy was an American R&B singer, known to her many fans as "Mama Soul".She was born as Doris Higginson in The Bronx, the daughter of a Barbadian Pentecostal minister. Her parents disapproved of "subversive" forms of music like rhythm & blues, so she cut her teeth singing in her father's choir...
  
  
• Ike Turner
  Ike Turner
  Isaac Wister Turner was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. In a career that lasted more than half a century, his repertoire included blues, soul, rock, and funk...
  
  
• Tina Turner
  Tina Turner
  Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
  
  
• Tweet
  Tweet (singer)
  Tweet is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter.-Early years:The youngest child of Tom and Shirley Keys, Tweet was born in Rochester, New York on January 21, 1972, and grew up singing in the church along with her parents and her four older siblings...
  
  

W

• Terri Walker
  Terri Walker
  Terri Walker is an English R&B and soul singer–songwriter. Walker has released three albums in the United Kingdom, Untitled, L.O.V.E, and I Am. She also provided the majority of the vocals for Shanks & Bigfoot's debut album Swings & Roundabouts...
  
  
• Jr. Walker & the All Stars
  Jr. Walker & the All Stars
  Junior Walker & the All Stars were signed to the Motown label in the 1960s, and became one of the label's signature acts.-Biography:...
  
  
• War
  War (band)
  War is an American funk band from California, known for the hit songs "Low Rider", "Spill the Wine", "The Cisco Kid" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?". Formed in 1969, War was a musical crossover band which fused elements of rock, funk, jazz, Latin, rhythm and blues, and reggae...
  
  
• Dee Dee Warwick
  Dee Dee Warwick
  Dee Dee Warwick was an American soul singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey as Delia Mae Warrick, she was the sister of Dionne Warwick, niece of Cissy Houston and cousin of Whitney Houston....
  
  
• 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....
  
  
• Justine "Baby" Washington
  Justine Washington
  Justine "Baby" Washington is an American soul music vocalist.-Life and career:Washington was raised in Harlem, New York. In 1956, she joined the vocal group The Hearts, then became s a solo artist the following year. Washington had 16 rhythm and blues chart entries in 15 years, most of them during...
  
  
• Grover Washington jr.
• Johnny "Guitar" Watson
• Mary Wells
  Mary Wells
  Mary Esther Wells was an American singer who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s...
  
  
• Fred Wesley
  Fred Wesley
  Fred Wesley is an American jazz and funk trombonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...
  
  
• Kim Weston
  Kim Weston
  Kim Weston is an American soul singer, and Motown alumna. In the 1960s, Weston scored hits with the songs "Love Me All the Way" and "Take Me in Your Arms ".-Career:...
  
  
• The Whispers
  The Whispers
  The Whispers are a long-established R&B-dance vocal group from Los Angeles, California, with a consistent track record of hit records dating back to the late 1960s.-Career:...
  
  
• 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...
  
  
• Marva Whitney
  Marva Whitney
  Marva Whitney is an African American funk singer. She is considered by many funk enthusiasts to be one of the "rawest" and "brassiest" music divas....
  
  
• Deniece Williams
  Deniece Williams
  June Deniece Chandler known by her stage name Deniece Williams is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s...
  
  
• Jackie Wilson
  Jackie Wilson
  Jack Leroy "Jackie" Wilson, Jr. was an American singer and performer. Known as "Mr. Excitement", Wilson was important in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. He was known as a master showman, and as one of the most dynamic singers and performers in R&B and rock history...
  
  
• Amy Winehouse
  Amy Winehouse
  Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...
  
  
• Bill Withers
  Bill Withers
  William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands"...
  
  
• Brenton Wood
  Brenton Wood
  Brenton Wood is an American singer and songwriter, best known for his two 1967 hit singles: "The Oogum Boogum Song" and "Gimme Little Sign".-Career:...
  
  
• Bobby Womack
  Bobby Womack
  Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...
  
  
• Stevie Wonder
  Stevie Wonder
  Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
  
  
• Betty Wright
  Betty Wright
  Bessie Regina Norris, better known by her stage name, Betty Wright , is a Grammy winning Miami-based soul and R&B singer-songwriter, who won fame in the 1970s with hits such as "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is the Night"...
  
  
• Sandra Wright
• O.V. Wright
  O.V. Wright
  Overton Vertis "O. V." Wright was an American singer who is regarded as one of Southern soul's most authoritative and individual artists...