Best New Artist

• Terence Trent D'Arby
• Exposé
• Miki Howard
  Miki Howard
  Alicia Michelle "Miki" Howard is an American R&B/jazz singer and actress who had a string of Top 10 hit songs in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Howard's string of hits also included Baby,Be Mine", "Come Share My Love" and "Love Under New Management"...
  
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• Shanice Wilson

Best Music Video

• "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" - 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...
  
  
• "Control
  Control (Janet Jackson song)
  "Control" is the fourth single from Janet Jackson's third album Control. The song was written by Jackson, James Harris III, and Terry Lewis and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Its arrangement, built upon complex rhythmic tracks, showcased state-of-the-art production. The song is about...
  
  " - 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...
  
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• "The Way You Make Me Feel
  The Way You Make Me Feel
  "The Way You Make Me Feel" is a song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. Released by Epic Records in November 1987, it was the third single from Jackson's seventh studio album Bad. Written and composed by Jackson, and produced by Quincy Jones , the song is credited as being a pop and R&B...
  
  " - 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...
  
  
• "Looking for a New Love
  Looking for a New Love
  "Looking for a New Love" is the first single from Jody Watley's eponymous debut album. "Looking for a New Love" became one of the biggest pop and R&B singles of 1987...
  
  " - Jody Watley
  Jody Watley
  Jody Vanessa Watley is an American, singer, songwriter, record producer, and founder of Avitone Records whose music crosses genres from Pop, R&B, Jazz, Dance and Electronic Soul....
  
  

Best R&B Single, Male

• "Bad" - 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...
  
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• "U Got The Look
  U Got the Look
  "U Got the Look" is a song by Prince. It opens the second disc of Prince's 1987 double album Sign “☮” the Times, and became the album's highest charting single. Musically, the song is standard 12-bar blues number with emphasis on live drumming by Sheila E., and a crunchy guitar sound...
  
  " - 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...
  
  
• "Amazing
  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...
  
  " - Luther Vandross
• "Skeletons" - 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...
  
  

Best R&B Album of the Year, Male

• Bad
  Bad (album)
  Bad is the seventh studio album by American songwriter and recording artist Michael Jackson. The album was released on August 31, 1987 by Epic/CBS Records, nearly five years after Jackson's previous studio album, Thriller, which went on to become the world's best-selling album...
  
  - 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...
  
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• Hearsay
  Hearsay (album)
  Hearsay is a 1986 album by R&B musician Alexander O'Neal. The album peaked at #29 on the "Billboard 200" and reached #2 on "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums". The album launched seven charting singles in the UK...
  
  - Alexander O'Neal
  Alexander O'Neal
  Alexander O'Neal is an American R&B singer. He is best-known for the songs "If You Were Here Tonight" and "Fake", and the duets with Cherrelle, "Saturday Love" and "Never Knew Love Like This".-Biography:...
  
  
• Sign o' the Times - 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...
  
  
• Characters - 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...
  
  

• Touch the World
  Earth, Wind & Fire
  Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...
  
   - Earth, Wind, and Fire
• All Our Love - Gladys Knight and the Pips
• The Big Throwdown
  LeVert
  LeVert is a R&B/pop music singing group, formed in Ohio in 1984, comprising Sean and Gerald Levert, the sons of O'Jays founder Eddie Levert, as well as Marc Gordon.-Biography:The group released their first single, "I'm Still", for Harry Coombes' Tempre label...
  
  - LeVert
  LeVert
  LeVert is a R&B/pop music singing group, formed in Ohio in 1984, comprising Sean and Gerald Levert, the sons of O'Jays founder Eddie Levert, as well as Marc Gordon.-Biography:The group released their first single, "I'm Still", for Harry Coombes' Tempre label...
  
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• Just Gets Better With Time
  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:...
  
  - 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:...
  
  

• Everlasting
  Natalie Cole
  Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
  
  - Natalie Cole
  Natalie Cole
  Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
  
  
• Whitney
  Whitney (album)
  Whitney is the second studio album by American pop/R&B singer Whitney Houston, released in the United States on June 2, 1987 by Arista Records as the follow-up to her best selling debut album, Whitney Houston. The album met the expectations of many people and was sensationally popular after its...
  
  - 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...
  
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• Sharp
  Angela Winbush
  Angela Winbush is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter who rose to fame first in the 1980s R&B duo René & Angela, also scoring hits as a solo artist.-Early life and career:...
  
  - Angela Winbush
  Angela Winbush
  Angela Winbush is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter who rose to fame first in the 1980s R&B duo René & Angela, also scoring hits as a solo artist.-Early life and career:...
  
  
• Jody Watley
  Jody Watley (album)
  Jody Watley is the self-titled debut album by American pop singer Jody Watley, released in 1987 . Although very successful as part of the R&B trio Shalamar, the impact of this solo debut made Watley a cultural style icon in R&B, pop, and dance music...
  
  - Jody Watley

Best Single, Group or Band

• "Always
  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...
  
  " - 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...
  
  
• "System of Survival" - Earth, Wind, and Fire
• "Casanova
  Casanova (song)
  "Casanova" was the Norwegian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977, performed in Norwegian by Anita Skorgan.The song is an up-tempo number, with Skorgan describing her husband, who is absent at the time. She is uncomplimentary about this, singing that he sees himself as a Casanova or a Don Juan...
  
  " - LeVert
  LeVert
  LeVert is a R&B/pop music singing group, formed in Ohio in 1984, comprising Sean and Gerald Levert, the sons of O'Jays founder Eddie Levert, as well as Marc Gordon.-Biography:The group released their first single, "I'm Still", for Harry Coombes' Tempre label...
  
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• "Rock Steady
  Rock Steady (The Whispers song)
  "Rock Steady" was a single released by American R&B group The Whispers, from their eighteenth studio album, Just Gets Better with Time ....
  
  " - 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:...
  
  

Best Rap Album

• Paid in Full
  Paid in Full (album)
  Paid in Full is the debut album of American hip hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, released July 7, 1987, on the Island-subsidiary label 4th & B'way Records. The duo recorded the album at hip hop producer Marley Marl's home studio and Power Play Studios in New York City, following Rakim's response to Eric...
  
  - Eric B. & Rakim
  Eric B. & Rakim
  Eric B. & Rakim were a hip-hop duo composed of DJ Eric Barrier and MC Rakim .Hailing from Long Island, New York, the pair are generally considered by hip hop enthusiasts to be one of the most influential and innovative groups in the genre...
  
  
• Living Large
  Living Large
  -Reception:The album was released in 1987 for Uptown Records and was produced by names such as DJ Eddie F , Teddy Riley , and Marley Marl . The album was a success for the group making it to #92 on the Billboard 200 and #10 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart...
  
  - Heavy D. & the Boyz
• Bigger and Deffer
  Bigger and Deffer
  Bigger And Deffer , is the second studio album by rapper LL Cool J and is remembered most for containing the first commercially successful "rap ballad", "I Need Love". It also contains the single "Go Cut Creator Go", which paid homage to his DJ, and the breakthrough single in the U.K. "I'm Bad"...
  
  - L.L. Cool J.*
• Open Sesame
  Open Sesame (Whodini album)
  Open Sesame, released during 1987, was the fourth album by American hip hop group Whodini. This album spawned the single, "Be Yourself." The album was certified gold by the RIAA.- Track listing :- References :...
  
  - Whodini
  Whodini
  Whodini is a hip hop group that was formed in 1981. The Brooklyn, New York-based trio consisted of vocalist and main lyricist Jalil Hutchins; co-vocalist John Fletcher, aka Ecstasy ; and turntable artist DJ Drew Carter, aka Grandmaster Dee.-Early years:Whodini was among the first hip-hop groups to...
  
  

• If I Be Lifted - Reverend Milton Brunson and The Thompson Community Singers
• Go Tell Somebody
  Go Tell Somebody (album)
  Go Tell Somebody, released in 1986 on Light Records, is a gospel music album by American contemporary gospel music group Commissioned.-Chart rankings and awards:Domestically, the album peaked at #2 on the US Billboard Top Gospel albums chart....
  
  - Commissioned
  Commissioned (gospel group)
  Commissioned is an American Gospel group. The group recorded twelve albums over a period of seventeen years.-Group composition:Originally from Detroit, Michigan, the six original members were Fred Hammond, Mitchell Jones, Keith Staten, Karl Reid, Michael Brooks, and Michael Williams formed a...
  
  
• Heart and Soul - The Clark Sisters
  The Clark Sisters
  The Clark Sisters are an American gospel vocal group consisting of four sisters:Jacky Clark Chisholm, Elbernita "Twinkie" Clark, Dorinda Clark-Cole, and Karen Clark Sheard. A fifth sister, Denise Clark Bradford, no longer performs with the group. The Clark Sisters are the daughters of legendary...
  
  
• Decisions - The Winans
  The Winans
  The Winans are an American Gospel music quartet from Detroit, Michigan consisting of brothers Marvin, Carvin, Michael and Ronald Winans.-Members:Please refer to the Winans family page for more detail on the individual members.-Origins:...
  
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• Following Jesus - Vaneessa Bell Armstrong*
• Her Very Best
  Shirley Caesar
  Shirley Ann Caesar is an American Gospel music singer, songwriter and recording artist whose career has spanned six decades...
  
  - Shirley Caesar
  Shirley Caesar
  Shirley Ann Caesar is an American Gospel music singer, songwriter and recording artist whose career has spanned six decades...
  
  
• One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism
  One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism
  One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism is a 1987 gospel album recorded by Aretha Franklin, for Arista Records. Recorded at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, over the course of three nights , One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism became an album that combined the gospel talents of Aretha, her...
  
  - 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...
  
  
• Soul Survivor, Al Green
  Al Green
  Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together"...
  
  

• Johnathan Butler - Johnathan Butler
• The Other Side of Round Midnight - Dexter Gordon
  Dexter Gordon
  Dexter Gordon was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and an Academy Award-nominated actor . He is regarded as one of the first and most important musicians to adapt the bebop musical language of people like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell to the tenor saxophone...
  
  
• Najee's Theme - Najee
  Najee
  Jerome Najee Rasheed , known professionally as Najee, is an urban jazz saxophonist and flautist.He attended New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where he studied with George Russell and Jaki Byard....
  
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• A Change of Heart - David Sanborn
  David Sanborn
  David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
  
  

• Collaboration - 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....
  
   & Earl Klugh
  Earl Klugh
  Earl Klugh is an American smooth jazz/crossover jazz/jazz fusion guitarist and composer.At the age of 13, Klugh was captivated by the guitar playing of Chet Atkins when Atkins made an appearance on the Perry Como Show. Klugh was a performing guest on several of Atkins' albums...
  
  
• Go - Hiroshima
  Hiroshima (band)
  Hiroshima is an American jazz fusion/smooth jazz band formed in 1974 by Sansei Japanese American Dan Kuramoto , Peter Hata , June Kuramoto , Johnny Mori , Dave Iwataki and Danny Yamamoto...
  
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• Life Flight - Freddie Hubbard
  Freddie Hubbard
  Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...
  
  
• Still Life (Talking) - Pat Metheney Group

Performers

• Alexander O’Neal
• Natalie Cole
  Natalie Cole
  Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
  
  
• 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...
  
  
• The Whispers
• 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...
  
  
• LL Cool J.
• Hiroshima
  Hiroshima (band)
  Hiroshima is an American jazz fusion/smooth jazz band formed in 1974 by Sansei Japanese American Dan Kuramoto , Peter Hata , June Kuramoto , Johnny Mori , Dave Iwataki and Danny Yamamoto...
  
   & 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...
  
  
• Gladys Knight & The Pips Tribute: 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...
  
  , Stephanie Mills
  Stephanie Mills
  Stephanie Dorthea Mills is an American R&B and soul singer, and a former Broadway star.-Career:Mills began her career appearing in her first play at the age of nine. Two years later, Mills won Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater a record six times...
  
  , Angela Winbush
  Angela Winbush
  Angela Winbush is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter who rose to fame first in the 1980s R&B duo René & Angela, also scoring hits as a solo artist.-Early life and career:...
  
  , & Ronald Isley
  Ronald Isley
  Ronald Isley is an American singer and is known as the lead singer and founding member of the family music group The Isley Brothers.-Career:...
  
  
• 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....
  
   & 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...
  
  
• 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...
  
   & the Edwin Hawkins Singers
• 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...