Mary Jane Blige is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Awards, twelve NAACP Image Awards, and twelve Billboard Music Awards, including the Billboard Icon Award. She has been nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and two Academy Awards, including one for her supporting role in the film Mudbound (2017) and another for its original song "Mighty River", becoming the first person nominated for acting and songwriting in the same year.
Mya Marie Harrison is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer, and actress. Classified as a "triple threat entertainer," she was born in Washington D.C. and studied ballet, jazz, and tap dance as a child. Her career began in television as a dance posse member, performing on BET's Teen Summit. She signed with record executive A. Haqq Islam's University Records, an imprint of Interscope Records to release her eponymous debut studio album (1998), which lyrically explored romance and coming-of-age scenarios. Met with critical and commercial success, the album was led by her first single, "It's All About Me", which peaked within the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Her collaborative singles — "Girls Dem Sugar", "Ghetto Supastar ", and "Take Me There" — were also met with commercial success.
The Way It Is is the debut studio album by American singer Keyshia Cole, released on June 21, 2005, through A&M Records and Interscope Records. The album features guest appearances from Jadakiss, Juelz Santana, Metro City and Eve. Cole co-wrote every song on the album, and also worked with a number of producers and writers, including Ron Fair, Sean Garrett, Kerry "Krucial" Brothers, Polow da Don, John Legend, Alicia Keys and Kanye West. The Way It Is is an R&B album, with some tracks having hip hop and hip hop soul sensibilities. Lyrically, the album speaks of romantic relationships.
"Take Me as I Am" is a song by American singer Mary J. Blige. It was written by Jordan "Infinity" Suecof and Thabiso "Tab" Nkhereanye along with three members of the writing collective The Clutch, Ezekiel Lewis, Candice Nelson, and singer Keri Hilson, for her seventh studio album, The Breakthrough (2005). Production was helmed by Infinity and Ron Fair, with co-production from Tal Herzberg. The song contains samples from "Garden of Peace" (1979) by American jazz musician Lonnie Liston Smith. Due to the inclusion of the sample, he is also credited as songwriter.
Victoria Monét McCants is an American singer and songwriter. First gaining recognition for her songwriting work, Monét pursued a recording career with the release of a series of extended plays (EPs); her fifth, Jaguar (2020) was met with critical acclaim. Her debut studio album, Jaguar II (2023) became her commercial breakthrough and was supported by the hit single, "On My Mama", which peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a Grammy Award nomination for Record of the Year. The nomination was among seven she received at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, from which she won Best New Artist, Best R&B Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.
Christopher Joseph Gallant III, better known as Gallant, is an American singer and songwriter from Columbia, Maryland, signed to Mind of a Genius Records and Warner Bros. Records. He first began to gain recognition after self-releasing his debut EP, Zebra in 2014. His debut studio album, Ology, was released worldwide in April 2016 to critical acclaim, earning him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album.
Summer Marjani Walker is an American R&B singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, she signed with the local record label Love Renaissance, an imprint of Interscope Records in late 2017. The following year, she released her debut commercial mixtape Last Day of Summer (2018), supported by its lead single, "Girls Need Love." The song became her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and spawned a remix featuring Canadian rapper Drake. Her debut studio album, Over It (2019) was met with critical and commercial success, peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 chart—briefly breaking the record for the biggest debut streaming week for a female R&B artist—and receiving double platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Giveon Dezmann Evans, known mononymously as Giveon, is an American R&B singer. He rose to prominence with his collaboration with Drake on their 2020 single, "Chicago Freestyle". In the same year, Giveon released the EPs, Take Time and When It's All Said and Done, the former was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, and the latter reaching the Top 10 on the US Top R&B Albums chart. He released "Heartbreak Anniversary", as the second single from Take Time, which reached the Top 40 in the US and was certified Platinum by RIAA. In 2021, Giveon was featured alongside Daniel Caesar on the Justin Bieber single "Peaches", which debuted at number one on the Billboard Global 200 and US Billboard Hot 100 charts. In 2022, he released his debut studio album Give or Take.
Cassandra Kouremenos, known professionally as KALLITECHNIS, a Canadian musician from Montreal, Quebec, whose single "Gifted" received a Juno Award nomination for Contemporary R&B/Soul Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2022.
This article summarizes the events, album releases, and album release dates in hip hop music for the year 2023.
Leven Kali is a Dutch-born American singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work on Beyoncé's Renaissance and Drake's More Life.
Jaguar II is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Victoria Monét. It was released on August 25, 2023, through Lovett Music and RCA Records. The album was supported by four singles: "Smoke" with Lucky Daye, "Party Girls" with Buju Banton, "On My Mama", and "Alright".
American recording artist Mya has appeared in fifty-five music videos; thirty-four as a lead artist, twelve as a featured artist and nine as a guest or cameo appearance. With her videogenic charm, right from beginning MTV embraced Mya and her music videos. Cynthia Fuchs of Popmatters noted in the singer's early videos: she wore modest costumes and looked polite, even demure.
Christmas with Brandy is the eighth studio album by American singer Brandy Norwood. It was released on November 10, 2023, through her own label Brand Nu, Inc. and Motown. A follow-up to her 2020 album B7, it marked her first Christmas album as well as her debut release with Motown. Chielfy produced by Theron "Neff-U" Feemster," with additional production from DJ Camper, Kyle Mann, and Nasri Atweh and Adam Messinger from The Messengers, Christmas with Brandy consists of twelve tracks, featuring six original songs co-penned by Norwood and six cover versions of Christmas standards songs.
This article summarizes the events, album releases, and album release dates in rhythm and blues for the year 2024.
This article summarizes the events, album releases, and album release dates in rhythm and blues for the year 2022.
The Avila Brothers, composed of Bobby Ross Avila and Issiah J. Avila, are an American R&B producing and songwriting duo best known for their numerous contributions to Usher projects, including 2004 album Confessions. The brothers later won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album for their contributions to Chaka Khan album Funk This.
Brandon Hodge is an American R&B producer and songwriter known for his production/songwriting work with TGT members Tyrese Gibson and Tank, as well as writing and/or producing R&B hits "No Limit", "Love 'Em All", "U + Me ", and "Lean Into It".
Mel & Mus are a Grammy-nominated Dutch songwriting and production duo best known for writing and producing the R&B/hip-hop hits "Don't Think They Know", "Barbie Dreams" and "Good Good".
This article summarizes the events, album releases, and album release dates in rhythm and blues for the year 2021.
