rhythm and blues | Musicosity

rhythm and blues

Gary "U.S." Bonds

Gary "U.S." Bonds (born Gary Anderson, 6 June 1939) is an American rhythm and blues and rock 'n' roll singer. He is also a prolific songwriter. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Bonds was living in Norfolk, Virginia in the 1950's when he began singing publicly in church, and with a group called The Turks. He joined record producer Frank Guida's small Legrand label and Guida changed his name to U.S. Bonds in hopes that it would be confused with a public service announcement advertising the sale of government bonds and thus get more airtime.

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Jon B

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Jon B. (born Jonathan David Buck November 11, 1974 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island) is a Grammy nominated American R&B singer and songwriter. He is also referred to as Boogotti. Raised in Altadena, California, Buck was born to a musical family, where his father David, is a professor of music, mother Linda, a concert pianist and his siblings Deborah, is a violinist and his brother Kevin, a cellist. He first started singing at the age of four, and learned piano and keyboard by nine. By 16, he played bass and drums as well.

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The Platters

The Platters were a successful black vocal group of the early rock n roll era. Their distinctive sound was a bridge between the pre-rock n roll Tin Pan Alley tradition of the Ink Spots and the Mills Brothers and the explosion of teenage music in the mid 1950s. The most successful incarnation of the group comprised lead tenor Tony Williams, David Lynch, Paul Robi, Herb Reed, and Zola Taylor. The group formed in Los Angeles in 1953, initially managed by Ralph Bass.

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Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Raitt, (born November 8, 1949) is an American blues and R&B singer, songwriter, and guitarist who was born in Burbank, California, the daughter of Broadway musical star John Raitt. Raitt began playing guitar at an early age, something not a lot of her high school girlfriends did. "I had played a little at school and at camp," she later recalled in a July 2002 interview. "My parents would drag me out to perform for my family, like all parents do, but it was a hobby—nothing more...I think people must wonder how a white girl like me became a blues guitarist.

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Sheila E.

Sheila Escovedo is the daughter of percussionist Pete Escovedo, with whom she frequently performs. Sheila E's uncle is Alejandro Escovedo, formerly with Delphine Neid's first-wave punk rock group The Nuns, Rank and File and The True Believers, followed by a solo career. The late Tito Puente was Escovedo's godfather. She is also niece to Javier Escovedo, founder of seminal San Diego punk act, The Zeros. Another uncle, Mario Escovedo, fronted long-running indie rockers, The Dragons. Escovedo is of Mexican, African American, and Creole heritage. Coke Escovedo was also her uncle.

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Sweet Honey In The Rock

Sweet Honey in the Rock is an all-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble that has been producing music for more than thirty years. Although the members of the group have changed over time, the music of Sweet Honey in the Rock has consistently combined contemporary rhythms and narratives with a musical style rooted in the gospel music, spirituals and hymns of the Black church. Sweet Honey in the Rock was founded in 1973 by Bernice Johnson Reagon who formed the group out of the strongest singers from a vocal workshop she was teaching with the D.

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Honeyz

The Honeyz were a London-based R&B girl group formed in 1997 that originally consisted of bandmembers Heavenli Abdi, Naima Belkhiati and Célena Cherry. In 1999 Heavenli Abdi left the group and was replaced by Mariama Goodman before returning to the band in 2000 after Mariama left. Before their split in 2002 the Honeyz released seven singles, 5 of which were Top 10. In 2005 they band reformed but member Naima Belkhiati left shortly after and was replaced by Célena's cousin Candace Cherry. Mariama Goodman briefly returned to the band after Heavenli Abdi (now Roberts) left due to pregnancy.

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Freda Payne

Freda Charcelia Payne (born September 19, 1942 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American singer and actress. As a teenager, she attended the Institute of Musical Arts; she soon began singing radio commercial jingles and took part in (and won many of) local TV and radio talent shows. In 1963, she moved to New York City and worked with many different singers including Quincy Jones, Pearl Bailey, and Bill Cosby.

Read more about Freda Payne on Last.fm.

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