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<title>Top Soul/R&amp;B Artists on Rhapsody Online</title>
<dateCreated>Sun Nov 29 23:40:10 PST 2009</dateCreated>
<dateModified>Sun Nov 29 23:40:10 PST 2009</dateModified>
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<outline type="include" text="Michael Jackson" description="It doesn't really matter if Michael Jackson bullied the world's media into calling him the King of Pop in the early 1990s or if they just started using that sobriquet on their own. Either way, he earned it. Whether singing &quot;I Want You Back&quot; as the 11-year-old frontman of the Jackson 5, breaking the MTV color line with the explosive &quot;Billie Jean&quot; or defending the world's downtrodden and misunderstood (himself, that is), Jackson set the standard for pop singing, songwriting, dancing and, let's face it, weirdness for the better part of a quarter century. He came of age in the Jackson 5, then moonwalked out of the family's clutches and into his own universe with three groundbreaking albums made with producer Quincy Jones. &lt;i&gt;Off the Wall&lt;/i&gt;, &lt;i&gt;Thriller&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;Bad&lt;/i&gt; blended soul, funk and rock influences into a taut dance-pop that transformed the sound of radio for the rest of the century. Singers and producers from Madonna to Timbaland are still trying to catch up. Prosecutors and paparazzi have been playing catch-up, too, with some of Jackson's questionable life choices, and since the late 1990s, he has seemingly spent more time in the tabloids than on the pop charts. On June 25th, 2009, Michael Jackson passed away at the age of 50.
- Matty Karas" category="Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/michael-jackson/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Beyonce" description="Beyonce Knowles, the leader of Destiny's Child, always knew she wanted to be a star. She formed the first incarnation of Destiny's Child in 1990 -- when she was 9 years old. By 2001, the group began to dissolve. Knowles nabbed a lead role in Mike Myers' &lt;I&gt;Austin Powers: Goldmember&lt;/I&gt;; an appearance in MTV's &lt;I&gt;Carmen: A Hip Hopera&lt;/I&gt; cemented her reputation as a formidable entertainer. Her solo debut, &lt;I&gt;Dangerously in Love&lt;/I&gt;, came out in 2003. The first single, &quot;Crazy in Love,&quot; was a duet with beau Jay-Z that zoomed to the top of the charts. &lt;I&gt;B'Day&lt;/I&gt;, her stunning 2006 sophomore turn, featured hits like &quot;Deja Vu&quot; and &quot;Ring the Alarm.&quot; Later that year, Beyonce starred as Deena Jones in the Oscar-winning movie musical &lt;I&gt;Dreamgirls&lt;/I&gt;. In 2007, Beyonce made a Latin-crossover attempt, dueting with Shakira on &quot;Beautiful Liar&quot; and releasing a deluxe edition of &lt;I&gt;B'Day&lt;/I&gt;, featuring &quot;Amor Gitano&quot; with Mexican crooner Alejandro Fernandez and a Spanish version of the anthem &quot;Irreplaceable.&quot; For her third studio album, &lt;I&gt;I Am ... Sasha Fierce&lt;/I&gt;, Beyonce split herself into two personae -- the tender, traditional Beyonce and the club diva Sasha Fierce.
- Linda Ryan" category="Contemporary R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/beyonce/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Pink" description="If cultivating an iconoclast status is a career, then Pink is one serious go-getter. Since her 2000 debut, the husky-voiced singer has overhauled her sound several times, changed her hair color even more, married motocross star Carey Hart and taken George Bush to task. Then there's &quot;Stupid Girls,&quot; the 2006 single in which Pink skewered tabloid perennials like Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton. Born Alecia Moore, she started dancing and singing backup at club nights in Philadelphia at age 13 and eventually went solo with &lt;I&gt;Can't Take Me Home&lt;/I&gt;. Pink recruited Linda Perry to co-write her second album, 2001's &lt;I&gt;M!ssundaztood&lt;/I&gt;, a collection of soulful pop-rock that spawned the hit &quot;Get the Party Started.&quot; She then collaborated with Rancid's Tim Armstrong on 2003's &lt;I&gt;Try This&lt;/I&gt;. The album didn't do well, and Pink took some time off to regroup and get married, getting back to the business of spitfire sass with 2006's &lt;I&gt;I'm Not Dead&lt;/I&gt;. She has produced many of her own albums, built side careers in both songwriting and horror-film acting, and won a pair of Grammy Awards -- experiences that all informed the outspoken &lt;I&gt;Funhouse&lt;/I&gt; in 2008.
- Rachel Devitt" category="Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/pink/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Mariah Carey" description="Say what you may about her fashion sense or &quot;diva-tude,&quot; but there is no doubt that Mariah Carey defined 1990s urban pop music. Carey ruled the charts during the Clinton decade -- her 1990 self-titled debut album alone spawned four No. 1 hit singles, and she would have 11 more before the new millennium. Over the years, artists from Christina Aguilera to Ciara would name her as an influence. Her albums are always expertly crafted and performed, making her &lt;I&gt;MTV Unplugged&lt;/I&gt; EP a surprisingly warm change of pace. Her dominance of the charts in the 1990s earned her the title of Billboard's Artist of the Decade. Despite heavily publicized personal trials in the early part of the new century, Carey returned to the forefront of modern music with &lt;I&gt;The Emancipation of Mimi&lt;/I&gt;, which spawned her 16th and 17th No. 1 hits. In 2008, Mariah returned with the hit single &quot;Touch My Body&quot; and the subsequent album, &lt;I&gt;E=MC2&lt;/I&gt;. The single pushed her past Elvis into second place (behind the Beatles) for the most No. 1 singles for an artist in the modern era.
- Rachel Landy" category="Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/mariah-carey/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Maxwell" description="A solo vocalist from Brooklyn, N.Y., Maxwell found massive critical and commercial success with his 1996 debut album &lt;i&gt;Urban Hang Suite&lt;/i&gt;. Preferring to focus on romance and true love rather than conquests and player bravado, his blend of heartfelt lyricism and hip-hop-infused production proved a surefire hit. The record went Platinum, and Maxwell received a Grammy nomination as well as awards from Soul Train and Rolling Stone. He returned with &lt;i&gt;Embrya&lt;/i&gt; in '98, and is slated to release his third LP in early 2001.
- Brolin Winning" category="Neo-Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/maxwell/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Van Morrison" description="Van Morrison stands out in the youth-obsessed, disposable world of modern pop music. A grouchy fireplug of a man, he has earned a loyal following that's always kept guessing as to what direction he'll take next. Since the beginning, Morrison has ignored all fly-by-night fads and in doing so has amassed a timeless body of work. Coming out of Them's primal R&amp;B-fueled Garage Rock, Morrison's 1968 &lt;I&gt;Astral Weeks&lt;/I&gt; was a daring, exploratory work that painted a bleak picture of the acid generation, while &lt;i&gt;Moondance&lt;/i&gt; (1970) was a breezy celebration of life. These albums have set the stage for an artist who freely mixes soul, folk, blues, jazz, and his native Celtic influences into highly personal, idiosyncratic music. Only a handful of his later albums are masterpieces on the level of &lt;i&gt;No Guru, No Method, No Teacher&lt;/i&gt; (1986), but each release contains at least one brilliant track. A private man, Van Morrison is more comfortable talking about heroes such as Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, or Jerry Lee Lewis than himself.
- Nick Dedina" category="Classic Rock" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/van-morrison/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jordin Sparks" description="You might call Jordin Sparks an amateur talent contest professional, although prodigy is perhaps more accurate. In 2007, the 17-year-old Sparks won &lt;I&gt;American Idol&lt;/I&gt;. But before that, she appeared twice on &lt;I&gt;America's Most Talented Kids&lt;/I&gt;, received two awards from the Gospel Music Association Academy and finished second at Music in the Rockies, a competition for aspiring contemporary Christian artists. The year before she won &lt;I&gt;Idol&lt;/I&gt;, the multitalented Sparks also won Torrid's search for the &quot;Next Plus Size Model&quot; and appeared in a &lt;I&gt;Seventeen&lt;/I&gt; magazine ad for the clothing line. So winning &lt;I&gt;Idol&lt;/I&gt; was just the big, fat cherry on top of a talent show sundae -- and the culmination of a life spent working towards performance career.&lt;p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
The child of NFL player Phillippi Sparks (formerly of the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys), the baby-faced belter grew up singing and doing children's theater. She got a string of gigs singing the national anthem at professional sporting events in her home state of Arizona, toured with CCM star Michael W. Smith and recorded an EP (2003's &lt;I&gt;For Now&lt;/I&gt;) at age 13. Despite all her experience, Sparks did not initially make the cut when she auditioned for &lt;I&gt;Idol&lt;/I&gt; in Los Angeles. She did, however, win the local Arizona Idol contest, which earned her the right to audition again in Seattle and, eventually, to become the youngest ever &lt;I&gt;American Idol&lt;/I&gt;. Following her win, she toured with the other &lt;I&gt;Idols&lt;/I&gt; and began work on her debut album.
- Rachel Devitt" category="Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jordin-sparks/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Rihanna" description="Talent and a dose of good luck got Barbados-born Rihanna signed to Def Jam when she was 16 years old. She was discovered by producer Evan Rogers during his island visit in 2003, and went on to impress Def Jam CEO Jay-Z so much that he grabbed her for a multi-album contract. The singer's first single, &quot;Pon de Replay,&quot; was released in June 2005, with the full album &lt;I&gt;Music of the Sun&lt;/I&gt; dropping a month later. But her big break came in 2006 with the release of the single &quot;S.O.S.&quot; and the subsequent album &lt;I&gt;A Girl Like Me&lt;/I&gt;. The single, which sampled Soft Cell's &quot;Tainted Love,&quot; was one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially popular songs of that year. Though Rihanna had basically moved away from dancehall, she was moving toward a new aesthetic that married R&amp;amp;B, synth-pop and hip-hop. She continued in this direction with 2007's &lt;I&gt;Good Girl Gone Bad&lt;/I&gt;, which featured the infectious singles &quot;Umbrella&quot; and &quot;Shut Up and Drive.&quot; In early 2009, she was assaulted by then-boyfriend Chris Brown en route to a pre-Grammys party; that November, she released &lt;I&gt;Rated R&lt;/I&gt;, a highly personal album with an unmistakable darkness.
- Sam Chennault" category="Contemporary R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/rihanna/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Stevie Wonder" description="At any given hour, on any college campus anywhere, it is possible to hear &quot;Superstition&quot; blaring out of a fresh-faced funk newcomer's dorm room. Despite other artists' attempts at appropriating his style, Wonder is undoubtedly one of the most individual and astounding songwriters of our time, composing on such a grand scale that albums flow with harmonious ease, incorporating jazz, reggae, fusion, rock, funk and soul. He may have seemed like just a singles artist when performing his Motown hits during his teens, but on albums like &lt;I&gt;Talking Book&lt;/I&gt;, &lt;I&gt;Innervisions&lt;/I&gt; and &lt;I&gt;Songs in the Key of Life&lt;/I&gt; Wonder proved to be a complex and complete artist, painting colorful political, spiritual and soulful journeys with a variety of guest artists and his own multi-instrumental skills. His voice, harmonica and keyboards are as instantly recognizable as his trademark sway, able to make you laugh and boogie with joy, or cry over the unbridled emotion of his compositions. In late 2005, he released &lt;i&gt;A Time To Love&lt;/i&gt;, his first new album in ten years. It was praised by critics and fans alike, further cementing his status as a musical legend who still has more magic to share.
- Jessy Terry" category="Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/stevie-wonder/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Jackson 5" description="The Jackson 5's bubblegum-flavored soul helped Motown usher in the 1970s with a string of chart toppers that included hits such as &quot;ABC,&quot; &quot;I Want You Back&quot; and &quot;The Love You Save.&quot; Raised in Gary, Indiana by devout Jehovah's Witnesses, the brothers endured the kind of strict upbringing that groomed them perfectly for the &quot;Motown machine.&quot; And what a well-oiled machine it was! The Jackson 5's likenesses could be found on everything from lunchboxes to dolls to Saturday Morning cartoons. But by 1974, the machine showed signs of wear and tear: songs weren't charting as highly as they had previously, and demand for Jackson 5 merchandise was drying up. The machine broke down completely when, frustrated by Motown's refusal to allow the brothers to write or choose their own material, the Jackson 5 parted ways with the label and signed with Epic. Motown won a breach of contract suit, thus retaining the rights to the name Jackson 5. The brothers changed their named to the Jacksons. The Jackson 5 were inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame in 1997.
- Linda Ryan" category="Motown" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-jackson-5/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Prince" description="In this age of musical genre ghetto-ization, Prince stands alone. The Artist can get funky, he can rock up a storm, he can croon a soulful ballad, he can spin out webs of jazz piano, he can hip and he can hop. He can do it all, often brilliantly. Prince takes chances and often fails -- especially on the (hopefully abandoned) film front -- but every one of his albums is chock full of gems. Prince hasn't sustained the massive popularity he earned in the &lt;I&gt;Purple Rain&lt;/I&gt;-crazed '80s, but that seems due more to bad publicity surrounding his tabloid lifestyle than his musical output. He can't hide the fact that he is an odd, fuzzy little man, but genius doesn't come in perfect packages. While legions of Prince's contemporaries crash and burn, he sits in his Minneapolis tower and continues to expand the boundaries of popular music.
- Nick Dedina" category="Funk" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/prince/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="R. Kelly" description="Let's just put it this way: R. Kelly's voice is smooth. His songs are so sensual that he's turned into a virtual relationship soundtrack, from your first meeting to your first night together, to a broken heart and through a tearful breakup. He's got a song for each stage, touching the depths of your soul with his acrobatic voice that glides from a sultry whisper to a high falsetto wail. Hints of Marvin Gaye and Smokey Robinson peak through his soul-tinged voice, but his production and style are all his own, from bass-heavy hip-hop to crisp romantic ballads. Kelly is a talented multi-instrumentalist and arranger, not to mention a certified hit maker; see the chart-topping &quot;Ignition (Remix)&quot; and &quot;I Believe I Can Fly&quot; as well as his writing and production credits for other singers. Not many R&amp;B singers could get away with &quot;Trapped in the Closet,&quot; his 35-minute pop opera that defies dramatic structure, radio formatting and just plain good sense. Kels not only pulled it off, but he made it one of the biggest singles of that 2005 summer. After 15 years and 10 albums, including the 2007 offering &lt;i&gt;Double Up&lt;/i&gt; and another thrilling (and equally bewildering) 10 chapters of &quot;Trapped in the Closet,&quot; there is little doubt that R. Kelly is one of the most accomplished R&amp;B singers of his generation.
- Jessy Terry" category="Contemporary R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/r-kelly/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Earth, Wind &amp; Fire" description="One of the premier soul groups of the 1970s, Earth Wind &amp; Fire fused a deep knowledge of the African-American musical tradition with an uplifting, spiritual idealism. To sum up the breadth of their sound is impossible, simply because the group's versatility was awe-inspiring. They played powerhouse Funk anthems, Latin-inflected R&amp;B grooves, shimmering Pop-Soul, and ballads that tugged the heartstrings while sending the spirit soaring across the sky. Their impeccable horn harmonies rivaled the JB's (James Brown's backing band) while Johnny Graham's sweet R&amp;B stylings conveyed worlds of emotion. Bandleader, drummer, and premier songwriter Maurice White infused the music with African rhythm, often featuring the kalimba, or thumb-piano, while the band brought jazz and Latin polyrhythms to the heart of deep funk territory. And their three distinctive vocalists inspired near-religious adoration: Philip Bailey's soaring falsetto, Maurice White's soulful growl, and Jessica Cleaves' natural, unadorned alto. This is music for the mind, the body, and the soul.
- Jessy Terry" category="Funk" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/earth-wind-fire/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Akon" description="An R&amp;B singer originally from Senegal, Akon first came to America when he was seven years old. The son of well-known African percussionist Mor Thiam, he was exposed to lots of music at a young age, learning multiple instruments as a child before getting into hip-hop. His appreciation for rap music is evident on his self-titled debut album, especially in the overall production. And, unlike most of today's R&amp;B vocalists, Akon eschews the shirtless bravado and bedroom scenarios and instead deals with inner-city strife. This focus, as well as his plaintive voice, led him to collaborate with hip-hop royalty such as Young Jeezy (&quot;Soul Survivor&quot;), Styles P (&quot;Locked Up&quot;) and Eminem (&quot;Smack That&quot;). And while his gritty subject matter appeals to the streets, his hooks are so sweet that they may leave listeners toothless. Akon's sophomore album, 2006's &lt;I&gt;Konvicted&lt;/I&gt;, cemented his spot as one of urban music's most important singers. Two years later, after a mix tape presciently titled &lt;I&gt;Black President&lt;/I&gt;, he released his third official studio album, &lt;I&gt;Freedom&lt;/I&gt;, which found him breaking out in search of broader pop accessibility.
- Brolin Winning" category="Contemporary R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/akon/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Whitney Houston" description="Although she mostly makes news these days for the drama in her private
life, Whitney Houston was the first of the modern R&amp;B divas, one of the
most successful singers in the history of popular music. Houston got her
start singing gospel with her mother, Cissy, while her pop chops were
influenced by cousin Dionne Warwick. Whitney began her professional
music career with the experimental jazz ensemble Material. When Clive
Davis offered her a contract in 1983, the woman who would become the
first artist to have seven consecutive No. 1 singles finally launched
her pop career. By 1987's &lt;I&gt;Whitney&lt;/I&gt;, Houston was a full-fledged
star. After 1990's &lt;I&gt;I'm Your Baby Tonight&lt;/I&gt;, she virtually abandoned
an album career in favor of phenomenally successful singles, some (like
the Dolly Parton cover &quot;I Will Always Love You&quot;) attached to films in
which Houston starred and some the kind of stuff only she could pull off
(who else could make &quot;The Star-Spangled Banner&quot; a hit single?). By the
end of the '90s, Houston had gotten together with (and split from)
husband Bobby Brown several times, stopped showing up for gigs and spent
time in rehab. But fans still hold out hope for a comeback.
- Rachel Devitt" category="Contemporary R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/whitney-houston/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Mary J. Blige" description="When &lt;i&gt;What's the 411&lt;/i&gt; dropped in 1992, critics and everyone else hailed Mary J. Blige as the voice of R&amp;B's future. That's a pretty heavy reputation to live up to (Lauryn Hill might agree with that), but Mary J. has kept up her end of the bargain pretty well. While she could have rested on her laurels and kept the same pop-friendly sound from album to album, she branched out with &lt;i&gt;Mary&lt;/i&gt; (1999), trying out some classier material that showed off her voice and turned her image radically around from her previous ghetto sister style. &lt;i&gt;No More Drama&lt;/i&gt; (2001) may seem like another about-face, but it's not: the material's strong and Blige sounds as good as ever.
- Sarah Bardeen" category="Contemporary R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/mary-j-blige/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Sade" description="Sade hit the Day-Glo mid-1980s like a cool, monochromatic breeze. The singer updated the classic continental style of Audrey Hepburn and married it with a vocal approach that was more whisper than growl. It's always worked, though, since Sade's icy vocal style brings out the stoic yet emotionally scarred nature of her well-crafted torch songs. Much of the credit goes to her ever-tight, streamlined band, who have a knack for seamlessly mixing smooth jazz and soul styles. After a fine debut and the excellent &lt;I&gt;Promise&lt;/I&gt; (1985), her approach shifted as she began to mix overly repetitive light funk workouts with darker mood pieces; so while &lt;I&gt;Stronger Than Pride&lt;/I&gt; and &lt;I&gt;Love Deluxe&lt;/I&gt; each contain a bit of filler, strong tracks abound. &lt;I&gt;Lover's Rock&lt;/I&gt; (2000) is her best since &lt;I&gt;Promise&lt;/I&gt;, and it proves that Sade doesn't have to compete with changing fashion or styles. She is a genre of one.
- Nick Dedina" category="Quiet Storm" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/sade/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Lily Allen" description="Lily Allen is the precocious daughter of actor/comedian Keith Allen and film producer mom, Alison Owen. Despite a privileged background, Allen was somewhat of a handful growing up, often running away and getting expelled from various schools. By 15, Allen knew school wasn't for her, so she dropped out and eventually started working on music. Lily's sound draws on her parent's music collection, which included such groundbreaking, female-fronted acts as Rip, Rig and Panic, the Slits and Blondie. But her fondness for hip-hop and urban storytellers also shines through both in her style of delivery and in her rock steady beats. Allen's reputation as a formidable voice from the street grew via her myspace page, and that led to her deal with Parlaphone. In late 2006, Allen's single &quot;Smile&quot; hit No. 1 on the UK charts. In 2007, Allen's debut album, &lt;I&gt;Alright, Still&lt;/I&gt;, was released in the U.S., followed by &lt;i&gt;It's Not Me, It's You&lt;/i&gt; in February 2009.
- Linda Ryan" category="Indie Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/lily-allen/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Ne-Yo" description="Considering his gorgeous voice and boyish good looks, it's surprising that Ne-Yo started his career as a songwriter for some of the biggest names in R&amp;amp;B. But after years of paying his dues under Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans and B2K, the Las Vegas singer finally branched out on his own in late 2005 with the single &quot;Stay,&quot; featuring Peedi Peedi. In early 2006 he dropped his subsequent Def Jam debut, &lt;I&gt;In My Own Words&lt;/I&gt;, yielding three Top 40 singles, the most popular of which was &quot;So Sick.&quot; In 2006 Ne-Yo was R&amp;amp;B's King Midas, writing songs for Beyonce (the smash hit &quot;Irreplaceable&quot;) as well as working on new projects by Usher, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Chris Brown and Whitney Houston. It's amazing that he found time to work on his sophomore solo album, but 2007's &lt;I&gt;Because of You&lt;/I&gt; was every bit as irresistible as his freshman effort. His success granted him license to get melancholy on 2008's &lt;I&gt;Year of the Gentleman&lt;/I&gt; -- it was his party, after all, and he could cry if he wanted to.
- Sam Chennault" category="Contemporary R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/ne-yo/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Bee Gees" description="The Bee Gees made whiney falsetto hip, wide polyester collars the height of high-rolling fashion, and defined cool for an entire generation. A '70s supergroup who actually began as a brothers act in 1959, the Bee Gees have proven remarkably versatile throughout their long career, unafraid to experiment with everything from country to R&amp;B to straight pop balladry. They scored a number of hits during the 1960s and early '70s with shimmering hits like &quot;I've Got to Get a Message to You&quot; and &quot;How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.&quot; Some of the Bee Gees' most memorable tracks stemmed from the height of the disco era, culminating in 1977's &lt;i&gt;Saturday Night Fever&lt;/i&gt; soundtrack with tunes like &quot;Night Fever,&quot; &quot;How Deep is Your Love,&quot; and of course, &quot;Stayin' Alive.&quot; Lush harmonies, symphonic arrangements, and a tendency to reinvent themselves when the going gets tough have made this band one of the longest-running pop acts around.
- Sarah Bardeen" category="Disco" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/thebeegees/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Usher" description="By the time he entered puberty, Usher had a record deal and a gold album. By the time he graduated high school, he was one of the most visible artists in R&amp;B. Armed with a smooth voice, Usher specializes in saccharine-sweet profusions of love and desire; pop melodramatic ballads; and floor-rattling club jams. Between 1994 and 2004, he released six albums, appeared in several films, earned multiple platinum records and collaborated with a wide variety of top-shelf artists. However, 2004 was the year he reached the upper echelons of superstardom, thanks to the infectious, chart-topping single &quot;Yeah&quot; produced by Lil' Jon. His subsequent album, &lt;i&gt;Confessions&lt;/i&gt;, netted him three Grammys and sold 11 million copies worldwide. In the four years that followed &lt;i&gt;Confessions&lt;/i&gt;' release, Usher found himself embroiled in a series of minor though widely publicized controversies surrounding his mother, who was also his manager until Usher &quot;resigned her.&quot; This effectively kept the singer in the spotlight, and his 2008 single &quot;Love in the Club,&quot; which promoted public sex, was a ubiquitous summer jam. The following album, &lt;i&gt;Hear I Stand&lt;/i&gt;, didn't reflect much artistic growth, banking instead on the themes and sounds that have made Usher one of the world's biggest pop stars.
- Kali Holloway" category="Contemporary R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/usher/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Pussycat Dolls" description="Pussycat Dolls began as the stars of a burlesque show in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, swelling their ranks and polishing their rep with guest appearances from the likes of Christina Aguilera, Carmen Electra and Gwen Stefani. They burst onto the national scene in 2005, after recruiting ex-Eden's Crush member Nicole Scherzinger and unleashing the instantly ubiquitous single &quot;Don't Cha&quot; (previously recorded by Cee-Lo and Tori Alamaze), featuring a verse from Busta Rhymes. They kept up the sassy, saucy act with their full-length debut, &lt;I&gt;PCD&lt;/I&gt;, produced by industry heavyweights Timbaland and will.i.am. After Scherzinger flirted with a solo career that never quite took off, the Dolls regrouped for 2008's &lt;I&gt;Doll Domination&lt;/I&gt;.
- Philip Sherburne" category="Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/pussycat-dolls/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Keri Hilson" description="Keri Hilson may be a new name to most of us, but this Atlanta native has been working her way up to being a key player behind the scenes in R&amp;B, pop and hip-hop for years. A member of the Clutch collective of writers and producers, Hilson has been racking up songwriting credits for other artists since 2001, including Ciara (&quot;Ooh Baby&quot;), Usher (&quot;Love in this Club, Part II&quot;) and Mary J. Blige (&quot;Take Me as I Am&quot;). Along the way, she also got quite a reputation as a backup singer, finally breaking out from the background in 2004 with a featured guest spot on Xzibit's &quot;Hey Now (Mean Muggin).&quot; Hilson had a banner year in 2006-2007: She appeared in the video for Nelly Furtado's &quot;Promiscuous,&quot; co-wrote and sang backup on most of Britney Spears's &lt;I&gt;Blackout&lt;/I&gt;, appeared on and helped write Timbaland's &lt;I&gt;Shock Value&lt;/I&gt; and signed with Timbaland's Mosley Music Group. Hilson released her debut album on Interscope in December 2008.
- Rachel Devitt" category="Contemporary R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/keri-hilson/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Marvin Gaye" description="Perhaps the pervasive element of tragedy that ruled Marvin Gaye's life accounts for the profound intimacy found in his songs. He scored dozens of hits for Motown in the 1960s both as a solo act (&quot;How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You),&quot; &quot;I Heard it Through the Grapevine&quot;) and singing duets (&quot;Ain't No Mountain High Enough&quot;). A late-decade period of depression and solitude ended with &lt;I&gt;What's Going On?&lt;/I&gt; (1971). That album eschewed the pop frivolity of Gaye's earlier work, grappling with such issues as the Vietnam War, poverty and the ecology. Its success allowed him to create increasingly personal records. &lt;I&gt;Let's Get It On&lt;/I&gt; was perhaps the most explicitly sexual album of its era; the double LP &lt;I&gt;Here My Dear&lt;/I&gt; recounted the disintegration of his marriage in such detail that his wife considered suing for privacy invasion. Gaye's final chart topper was &quot;Sexual Healing&quot; (1983), a luscious ballad that simmered erotically beneath Gaye's velvet-lined vocals. His unexpected death in 1984 at the hands of his father renewed interest in his life, music and legacy.
- Kali Holloway" category="Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/marvin-gaye/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Justin Timberlake" description="From his adolescence on Disney's &lt;I&gt;The Mickey Mouse Club&lt;/I&gt; through
his coming of age in the hugely popular boy band *NSYNC, Justin
Timberlake became one of the 1990s' biggest heartthrobs, and everything
from his romance with Britney Spears to his love of fast cars turned
into headline fodder. Unlike so many ex-boy band boys before (and after)
him, *NSYNC's most popular member managed to parlay his teen-idol status
into credible adult stardom. And how: Two phenomenally successful albums
and four Grammys into his solo career, Justin Timberlake is arguably the
world's most celebrated pop star; his frequent collaborations with
super-producers like the Neptunes and Timbaland and his undeniable knack
for white-hot blue-eyed soul-pop have earned the respect of the hip-hop
community, while his dreamy looks and wounded-puppy falsetto still make
the little girls ... and their sisters ... and their mothers swoon.
Wardrobe malfunctions? Messy breakups? JT skates past them all, a
designer fedora cocked to one side. Not too shabby for a former child
star from Millington, Tennessee, who got his start singing country
(and losing) on &lt;I&gt;Star Search&lt;/I&gt;.
- Rachel Devitt" category="Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/justin-timberlake/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Janet Jackson" description="While the rest of her illustrious family was making music history, Janet
Jackson spent her childhood on sitcoms. Under her father Joe's
supervision, she released two unsuccessful albums in the early '80s. At
18, she eloped with James DeDarge, but annulled the marriage the next
year. She called on producer/writer team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to
record her true debut, the phenomenally successful &lt;I&gt;Control&lt;/I&gt;. By
the time she followed that up with &lt;I&gt;Rhythm Nation 1814&lt;/I&gt; in 1989,
Michael's little sister had recreated herself as a sexy (but sweet),
self-sufficient pop success in her own right. A bracing combination of
dance pop, modern R&amp;B and hip-hop that buoyed Jackson's thin voice, it
set the stage for the rest of her career. With her 1993 self-titled
album, she properly introduced the world to Janet the romantic sex
kitten, a persona she's brought back with each subsequent album. Since
then, other facets of Janet's life (her physique, breakdowns and, yes,
wardrobe malfunctions) have often earned more notice than her music, but
a steady flow of successful, diverse singles shows Janet continuing to
explore her musical identity while her siblings continue to get more
eccentric.
- Rachel Devitt" category="Contemporary R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/janet-jackson/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Hall &amp; Oates" description="There was a time in the early 1980s when the breezy pop of Hall and Oates was inescapable. Next to The Righteous Brothers, the duo is probably the most famous Blue-Eyed Soul group in the world. They hold the record for most Top-40 hits as a duo with twenty-nine -- as many as the number of years the group has been around. The band started in the late 1960s in Philadelphia with a sound that drew from folk and rock, but especially from Soul, particularly from the sounds of Gamble and Huff's Philly International Records. Based around Daryl Hall's sweet expressive tenor and John Oates' backup vocals and guitar work, their early hits &quot;She's Gone&quot; and &quot;Sarah Smile&quot; didn't give any real indication of the chart dominance the band would have begin in 1980 when their album &lt;i&gt;Voices&lt;/i&gt; started a string of hits that didn't diminish for another five years.
- Tom Heyman" category="Blue-Eyed Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/hall-oates/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="John Legend" description="An accomplished singer, musician, songwriter and producer, John Legend (ne Stephens) has been making music since his early childhood. Influenced by a musical family, the young Legend embraced gospel, classic soul and hip-hop, and the fusion of all three epitomizes his unique sound. His first major break came from erstwhile Fugee Lauryn Hill, when he played piano on her mega-hit single &quot;Everything Is Everything.&quot; But it was Kanye West who really put him on the map, recruiting him to play and sing on the multiplatinum album &lt;I&gt;The College Dropout&lt;/I&gt;. After releasing several self-made CDs, Legend dropped his highly anticipated major label debut &lt;I&gt;Get Lifted&lt;/I&gt; in early 2005. The single &quot;Ordinary People&quot; is the sort of sweet lovers' lullaby that will haunt Valentine's Day for years to come, and it solidified Legend's status as one of R&amp;B's most promising young talents. For his next project, 2006's &lt;I&gt;Once Again&lt;/I&gt;, Legend refined his brand of martini soul, plucking elements of classic pop and '70s soul for an album that was every bit as popular and as satisfying as its predecessor. The 2008 release &lt;I&gt;Evolver&lt;/I&gt; found the singer employing a more modern sound.
- Sam Chennault" category="Neo-Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/john-legend/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Sean Kingston" description="One of the newest generation of celebrities to generate buzz before their first single is even released, Sean Kingston (born Kisean Anderson) got his first break on MySpace. The 17-year-old was visiting Dr. Dre's page one day and saw that American producer J.R. Rotem had started a new label and was looking to sign artists. Several instances of online harassment later, Kinsgston had secured an audition with Rotem, who found himself impressed by Kingston's croon and his heartfelt, G-rated lyrics. He signed him on the spot. Kingston's bicultural upbringing informs his sound: born in Miami and raised both there and in Jamaica, the singer is equally versed in mainstream rap and dancehall, though his first hit owes a debt, amazingly, to doo-wop. But Kingston, for all his fresh-faced appearance, isn't without connections: his grandfather was Jamaican producer Jack Ruby. Despite his pedigree, Kingston has seen his share of difficulties as well: his mother and sister were thrown in jail for tax evasion when he was just 14-years-old, leaving the boy temporarily homeless.
- Sarah Bardeen" category="Dancehall" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/sean-kingston/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Alicia Keys" description="Alicia Keys seemingly came out of nowhere in the summer of 2001, storming up the charts with her braids and heaping servings of soul. But Keys is no pre-fab diva; she's been studying music since age five and began writing songs at age 14. She wrote (or co-wrote) and produced most of the songs on her debut, &lt;i&gt;Songs in a Minor&lt;/i&gt;, and subsequent singles have proven she's no one-hit wonder. She took home five Grammy Awards in 2002 (including Best New Artist and Song of the Year), and returned triumphantly with &lt;i&gt;The Diary of Alicia Keys&lt;/i&gt; the following year, racking up more hit singles (&quot;You Don't Know My Name,&quot; &quot;If I Ain't Got You&quot;), and winning four more Grammys. 2007's &lt;i&gt;As I Am&lt;/i&gt; spawned the unstoppable &quot;No One&quot; and the Prince-infused &quot;Like You'll Never See Me Again.&quot; One of the most talented and likeable R&amp;B superstars in the game today, Keys shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon." category="Neo-Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/alicia-keys/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="The Temptations" description="The Supremes may have moved more product, but it was the Temptations who showed that a Motown act could do anything they set their pitch-perfect pipes to. Who else but the Temptations could release the peerless teen love ballad &quot;My Girl&quot; and the cinematic, psychedelic funk of &quot;Papa Was a Rolling Stone&quot;? They could be soft and sensual, gruff and grounded, or raw and rocking -- and pull each off beautifully. The grim reaper and drugs have not been kind to the Temptations, and only one original member carries on in their name. Their last few recordings can't match the brilliance of their 1960s to mid-1970s releases, but the band's sound remains more soulful than any young, ultraslick vocal group out there.
- Nick Dedina" category="Motown" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/the-temptations/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Ray LaMontagne" description="Musical epiphanies often happen to people at the most random moments. Dave Matthews once confessed that his came when he was eating a hot dog at the legendary Pink's in Hollywood when a Paul Williams song came on the radio and from then on he knew what he was going to do with the rest of his life. Roger McGuinn of the Byrds admits that after watching George Harrison play an electric 12-string guitar in &lt;I&gt;A Hard Day's Night&lt;/I&gt;, that he suddenly knew that the magic sounding, jangly chime was gong to be his trademark sound. For Ray LaMontagne, the calling came over the speakers of a shoe factory he was working in. More specifically, it was &quot;Tree Top Flyer&quot; by Stephen Stills that stopped him dead in his tracks when he knew that he had to leave his job and pursue a singing/songwriting career. Having grown up in a nomadic family, it wasn't too unfamiliar for LaMontagne to suddenly pick up and start over, which is exactly what he did. Ten recorded demo songs later, he was inking a deal with Chrysalis Music Publishing before teaming up with Hollywood producer Ethan Johns to cut his debut album &lt;I&gt;Trouble&lt;/I&gt; which was almost instantly nabbed by RCA Records in 2004. Although LaMontagne is often compared to Tim Buckley, his voice sounds not unlike a young Van Morrison or even Ryan Adams.
- Eric Shea" category="Adult Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/ray-lamontagne/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Kristinia DeBarge" description="Everything is in place for Kristinia Debarge to be a huge pop star. She's got the pedigree: her dad (James DeBarge) and his siblings made up hit '80s R&amp;B outfit DeBarge. She's got the right formula for a sizzling debut: Babyface (who discovered the young singer and helped her win a Def Jam contract) wrote and produced much of it. And most of all, if her debut single is any indication, she's got the talent: &quot;Goodbye&quot; is a burning hot, dance-pop kiss-off that borrows from Steam's 1969 classic &quot;Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.&quot;
- Rachel Devitt" category="Dance Pop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/kristinia-debarge/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Chris Brown" description="Coming from a small town in Virginia, underage R&amp;B crooner Chris Brown hit the scene in the summer of 2005, teaming up with Scott Storch and Juelz Santana for the club-friendly single &quot;Run It!&quot; Flexing a vocal style akin to Usher (or a young Michael Jackson), he released his debut self-titled LP later that year.
- Brolin Winning" category="Contemporary R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/chris-brown/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Ray Charles" description="Heaven and earth battle it out in the music of Ray Charles, who combined gospel with the best of secular music and helped give birth to soul, rock, and hard bop. His early work showed the silky influences of the Nat &quot;King&quot; Cole trio and the piano blues great Charles Brown. Charles combined their sophisticated styles with R&amp;B and gritty gospel to create his signature sound: hard, snappy piano combined with exquisite vocals that fall somewhere between a preacher gone bad and a yearning romantic balladeer. Charles absorbed styles like a sponge: big band jazz, country and pop were all added to his musical arsenal, and he built up a musical empire that kept him in the public eye for decades up until his untimely death, at the age of 73, in June 2004. Just prior to his passing, Charles cut his first duets record with such fans as Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, and Elton John, which illustrates a multi-generational sampling of the artists who list him as a prime influence. An American institution, Ray Charles' rendition of &quot;Georgia on My Mind&quot; has even become that state's anthem. If only the other 49 states could be as fortunate.
- Nick Dedina" category="Classic R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/ray-charles/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Christina Aguilera" description="A former star of &lt;I&gt;The New Mickey Mouse Club&lt;/I&gt; who hit it big with an innuendo-laden single, then traded in her implicitly not-so-good-girl image for an explicitly not-so-good-girl image. Where have we heard this one before? The child of an Ecuadorian-American father and a Caucasian mother, Christina Aguilera started her career as a professional performer at age ten with a 1990 appearance on &lt;I&gt;Star Search&lt;/I&gt;. Her subsequent &lt;I&gt;Mickey Mouse Club&lt;/I&gt; stint led to Disney using her &quot;Reflection&quot; on the 1998 &lt;I&gt;Mulan&lt;/I&gt; soundtrack, and RCA released her self-titled debut in 1999. Dance-pop smashes like &quot;Genie in a Bottle&quot; and &quot;What a Girl Wants&quot; showcased her big voice, which, along with her Spanish-language version of the album (&lt;I&gt;Mi Reflejo&lt;/I&gt;), set her apart from the late-'90s crowd of pop-star ingenues.&lt;p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
Yet Aguilera was still coming in second to Britney. Her appearance on the sexy 2001 remake of &quot;Lady Marmalade&quot; suggested a way into the spotlight. She radically altered her image for 2002's &lt;I&gt;Stripped&lt;/I&gt; and became Xtina, widely mocked for her look even as her voice proved soulful and mature. But in 2006 she released the acclaimed &lt;I&gt;Back to Basics&lt;/I&gt;, a tribute to the jazz and soul she says inspires her, and cemented her status as a grown-up diva.
- Rachel Devitt" category="Teen Beat" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/christina-aguilera/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Adele" description="British soul-pop chanteuse Adele (nee Adele Laurie Blue Adkins) is a stunning young talent with a huge voice. After she recorded a few songs, a friend set up a MySpace page for her in early 2005; record execs discovered her there in their hunt for the &quot;next Lily Allen.&quot; After signing to XL, she suffered from a terribly ill-timed case of writer's block -- that is until she fell in and out of love. A breakup opened the floodgates of emotion and creativity, resulting in her debut album &lt;i&gt;19&lt;/i&gt;. Inspired by great soul dames like Etta James and Billie Holiday and other singers such as Bjork, Jeff Buckley, Dusty Springfield and Jill Scott, Adele's sense of staggering, heartbreaking honesty and artistry are evidence of her superwoman resilience and everywoman experiences.
- Angela Bruno" category="Neo-Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/adele/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Luther Vandross" description="The 1980s were a period of unchecked greed and decadence, when the world donned rose-colored glasses that filtered out the homeless and made the hole in the ozone layer seem patched. All those good feelings and denial of social woes meant that romance was
back in style, and while the glasses clinked and millionaires' bankrolls flourished, so too did music to love by. Luther Vandross was the primary voice who provided the soundtrack for romantic rendezvous in the Reagan era, and by the mid-1980s, merely mentioning his name conjured up images of happy couples sipping Merlot in dimly lit rooms and chuckling at inside jokes -- and, alternately, jilted lovers consoling themselves. Blessed with a voice that was warm and soulful, Vandross' songs dripped with
romance, promised love on the horizon, or turned a teary eye towards duos fading into solitude. When things came crashing in and bleak reality reared its ugly head in the mid-1990s, florid R&amp;B gave way to less sentimental music . Even so, Vandross could always be counted on as the perfect complement to a night spent with a &quot;friend&quot; or the first few nights spent sleeping alone. He passed away on July 2, 2005, at the age of 54." category="Quiet Storm" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/luther-vandross/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Leona Lewis" description="The age when televised talent contests were popular kingmakers has no better poster child than Leona Lewis, an English neo-soul singer and songwriter who won the third series of a British TV talent show called &lt;i&gt;The X Factor&lt;/i&gt; and became a huge international pop star nearly overnight. Lewis began writing songs at 12 and winning local talent contests around London a few years later. Her big pipes earned her an instant following in the UK (here toothsome good looks probably didn't hurt either) before she even released her first single, &quot;A Moment Like This,&quot; in December of 2006. That single set records by being downloaded over 50,000 times in 30 minutes and was followed the next year by her debut LP, &lt;i&gt;Spirit&lt;/i&gt;, which had its songs and producers selected jointly by record moguls Simon Cowell and Clive Davis.
- Nate Cavalieri" category="Neo-Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/leona-lewis/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Lionel Richie" description="Whether singing solo or with the Commodores, Lionel Richie has a warm and instantly recognizable voice that's known mostly for romantic ballads along the lines of &quot;Truly,&quot; &quot;Endless Love&quot; and &quot;Hello.&quot; His consecutive string of hits (nine years straight authoring at least one No. 1 single) remains a pop phenomenon challenged only by songwriter Irving Berlin and singer Mariah Carey. After releasing several hugely successful solo albums in the 1980s, Richie kept a low profile for most of the '90s before attempting a comeback of sorts with the '98 album &lt;I&gt;Time&lt;/I&gt;, and again with &lt;I&gt;Renaissance&lt;/i&gt; in '01, though neither album ignited much interest from the public.
- Linda Ryan" category="Adult Contemporary" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/lionel-richie/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Amy Winehouse" description="If you like your chanteuses liberally doused in Chartreuse, Amy Winehouse is someone to raise a salutatory snifter to. As renowned for her boozing exploits and plunging dress sizes as for her marked musical abilities, the Londoner has risen to prominence on the back of gritty, often bleak autobiographical work. Winehouse readily admits that she writes from direct experience, and with songs that revolve around doomed relationships (&quot;Stronger than Me&quot;), drink (&quot;Rehab&quot;) and recreational drugs (&quot;Addicted&quot;), you soon get the picture. But that aside, it's Winehouse's voice -- which saw her welcomed with open arms by Britain's two premier performance schools -- that forms the foundation of her appeal. By turns as knowing and vulnerable as Billie Holiday's and as streetwise as Ms Dynamite's, it reflects her fluctuating musical fixations (jazz, hip-hop and latterly Motown) and is a perfect tool to deliver her wry and affecting observations on the pratfalls and pain inherent in the pursuit of love. As Winehouse puts it: &quot;I told you I was trouble/ You know that I'm no good&quot; (&quot;You Know I'm No Good&quot;).
- Jamie Dolling" category="Retro Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/amy-winehouse/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jeremih" description="In 2009, R&amp;B crooner Jeremih made a startling discovery. What most people really want for their birthday is the same thing they want on the other 364 days of the year: hot, passionate sex. The, err, thrust of &quot;Birthday Sex&quot; seems like a no-brainer, and Jeremih's discovery quickly reverberated throughout the urban music world. Soon R. Kelly, Fabolous, and Teairra Mari were offering their considerable talents for remixes. Star material or just a novelty, the 21-year-old still owned the airwaves for some time.
- Sam Chennault" category="Soul/R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jeremih/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Jamie Foxx" description="Born in small town Texas and raised by his grandparents, Jamie Foxx found early success on the comedy club circuit, before joining the cast of the Wayans brothers' sketch TV show &lt;I&gt;In Living Color&lt;/I&gt;. He then starred in his own self-titled sitcom for several years before making the switch to feature films. Despite being known primarily as an actor/comedian, his first love was always music, and he actually released a little-heard debut album entitled &lt;I&gt;Peep This&lt;/I&gt; back in 1994. In 2004, he sang the hook on Twista's smash hit &quot;Slow Jamz,&quot; and people everywhere took note of his smooth vocal abilities. That same year he dazzled audiences with his turn as Ray Charles in the biopic &lt;I&gt;Ray&lt;/I&gt;, where he flexed his pipes again, singing all of the songs in the film and taking home a Best Actor Oscar for his performance. One of his tunes from the film was sampled by Kanye West as the basis for &quot;Gold Digger,&quot; another No. 1 hit. In late 2005, he released &lt;I&gt;Unpredictable&lt;/I&gt;, a collection of glossy R&amp;B tracks featuring collabos with Kanye West and Ludacris among others. The album debuted at No. 2 on the charts, and soon rose to the top spot.
- Brolin Winning" category="Contemporary R&amp;B" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/jamie-foxx/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Aretha Franklin" description="More than any other Soul performer (or such Jazz-Blues belters as Dinah Washington), Aretha Franklin brought impassioned Gospel singing to American popular music. Never as subdued as the subtler Sam Cooke, Franklin belts out profane R&amp;B songs with enough sacred lung power to send the sound waves all the way up to the heavens. Franklin doesn't go over the top, though, always staying in the realm of good taste and sensitive delivery. As she proved during her greatest period, the late '60 Atlantic Recordings, Franklin blows the roof off your house with so much class that you don't want her to stop until she has reduced your love shack to a pile of splinters. Who else could outdo Otis Redding and turn &quot;Respect&quot; into an eternal anthem of racial and sexual pride that even middle-class white men embrace? Franklin's voice has weathered the decades very well but her arrangements and material are often beneath her. You can't go wrong with any of her recent Gospel recordings and 1998's &lt;i&gt;A Rose is Still A Rose&lt;/i&gt; embraced hip-hop production with great success. Aretha Franklin remains a vital part of the modern music scene.
- Nick Dedina" category="Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/aretha-franklin/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Zero 7" description="Studio assistants turned superstars, London's Henry Bins and Sam Hardaker are now finding their cool and sexy tunes played all over the world. Prior to their highly acclaimed debut album, &lt;i&gt;Simple Things&lt;/i&gt;, Zero 7 started making waves with a series of EPs and remixes, including Radiohead's &quot;Climbing Up The Walls&quot; and Lenny Kravitz's &quot;If You Can't Say No.&quot; Soul vocalists Mozez, Sia Fuller, and Sophie Barker take their downtempo sound into the mainstream, yet their music shows no inclination to sell out.
- Nicholas Baker" category="Trip-Hop" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/zero-7/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Al Green" description="Hailing from a background steeped in Gospel, Al Green came onto the scene in the early 1970s. A consistent hitmaker and the embodiment of all that is both holy and secular, Green's career marked a popular return to grassroots soul music. The simple arrangements put the musical focus squarely on Green's silky cries, sensuous moans and breathtaking falsetto. In the late '70s a series of events led Green to reevaluate his career and his faith, and he decided to leave the world of secular music. He turned to preaching and became an ordained pastor. With a few exceptions, Green's music has since become hymn-related and formulaic. But hits like &quot;Let's Stay Together&quot; and a reworked &quot;How Can You Mend a Broken Heart&quot; helped define pure soul music.
- Jon Pruett" category="Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/al-green/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Seal" description="In this age when marketers prefer to direct music at narrow audiences, Seal combines pop, R&amp;B, hip-hop and moody rock with a down-tempo dance vibe. The wide appeal and wide range of his sound is, in many ways, a product of the British singer's multifaceted background. Born Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Ongowe' Bongota Adelo Samuel to a Nigerian father and Brazilian mother, Seal earned a degree in architecture and worked as a leather clothing designer before joining the English funk band Push in the 1980s and, later, a blues band in Thailand. His most fortuitous collaboration was with house and techno producer Adamski, with whom Seal created 1990's &quot;Killer.&quot; The No. 1 hit earned him a solo record contract. His eponymous 1991 debut produced the smash hit &quot;Crazy,&quot; as well as a fruitful partnership between Seal and famed producer Trevor Horn. Over the next 16 years, Seal released four more albums, including his (also eponymous) 1994 sophomore effort (which featured &lt;I&gt;Batman Forever&lt;/I&gt; hit &quot;Kiss from a Rose&quot;) and 2007's &lt;I&gt;System&lt;/I&gt; (which featured a duet with wife Heidi Klum). Like Sade, his fellow uni-named Brit, Seal takes long breaks between recordings, letting his hits build over time.
- Rachel Devitt" category="Adult Alternative" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/seal/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Duffy" description="When little Aimee Anne Duffy's father cued up a VHS tape with archaic episodes of the Brit music showcase program &lt;I&gt;Ready Steady Go!&lt;/I&gt;, the grainy performances of the Beatles and Stones left an indelible impression. By the time she was 15, she was singing in bands herself, and at 23 she had truncated her name, buddied up to Suede guitarist Bernard Butler and signed to A&amp;M. She instantly captured the manic adoration of the British media, who heralded the Welsh singer as the most recent in a line of playful, soul-inspired pop singers like Amy Winehouse. Her music certainly hitches itself to the Winehouse wagon with its ice-cold '60s grooves and Dusty Springfield influence, but Duffy's squeaky-clean image makes her a curious foil.
- Nate Cavalieri" category="Retro Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/duffy/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="Otis Redding" description="Probably &lt;I&gt;the&lt;/I&gt; voice of Southern Soul music and one of the greatest vocalists of all time, Otis Redding was, and continues to be, an inspiration to any musician with a desire to move people with music (and any listener not made out of stone). Neither as smooth as Marvin Gaye or Sam Cooke nor as funky as James Brown, Redding was a big, sweaty man who put every ounce into his performances: you can hear every mistake he ever made in his voice when he cries and screams his way through &quot;I've Been Loving You Too Long&quot; and virtually every other song he recorded. Backed by a top form Booker T. and the MG's, his Stax recordings still crackle with the energy and fire of the South. The sad justice in his passing, shortly after leaving a sea of flush-faced hippies gawking at the Monterey Pop Festival, is that he had just unwittingly cemented his status in both the rock and Soul worlds. His passing, at a criminally young twenty-six years of age, managed to both seal the end of the Soul singer era and leave a vacant space in music that has yet to be filled.
- Jon Pruett" category="Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/otis-redding/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
<outline type="include" text="George Michael" description="George Michael's brand of over-sexed, white boy soul defined the fantasy life of an entire generation of teenage girls. From the poppy, bubblegum lyricism of Wham! to later, more ambient fare, Michael has always had a finger on the pulse of pop (despite some lengthy hiatuses), sliding his silken vocals into a series of arousing, danceable albums.
- Mike McGuirk" category="Blue-Eyed Soul" url="http://feeds.rhapsody.com/george-michael/data.opml?rws=%2Fsoul-r-b%2Fartist-chart.opml" />
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