Aretha Louise Franklin was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the "Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With global sales of over 75 million records, Franklin is one of the world's best-selling music artists.
Gladys Maria Knight, known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, and author. A seven-time Grammy Award-winner, Knight is known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her group The Pips, which also included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins William Guest and Edward Patten.
Fantasia Monique Barrino, known professionally by her mononym Fantasia, is an American R&B singer. She rose to fame as the winner of the third season of the reality television series American Idol in 2004. Following her victory, she released her debut single, "I Believe", which debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Subsequently, she released her debut album, Free Yourself, which went on to be certified Platinum by the RIAA and earned Barrino three Grammy nominations in 2006.
LaToya Renee London is an American R&B and soul singer and stage actress who was fourth-place finalist on the third season of American Idol. Her debut album, Love & Life, was released in September 2005 and spawned a number of moderate R&B chart hits. She has concentrated on stage work, including originating and performing the role of Nettie in the national tour of the Broadway musical The Color Purple from 2007 to 2010, for which she won an Ovation Award. She was the lead in the U.S. regional debut of The Bodyguard, a musical based on the 1992 film.
Jennifer Kate Hudson, also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer and actress. Throughout her career, Hudson has received various accolades for both her music and acting, including an Academy Award, two Grammy Awards, a Daytime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2020.
James Edward Cleveland was an American gospel singer, musician, and composer. Known as the King of Gospel, Cleveland was a driving force behind the creation of the modern gospel sound by incorporating traditional black gospel, soul, pop, and jazz in arrangements for mass choirs. Throughout his career, Cleveland appeared on hundreds of recordings and earned four Grammy Awards. He was the first gospel musician to earn a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1984. For his trailblazing accomplishments, he is regarded by many as one of the greatest gospel singers who ever lived. He is best known for his gospel classics "Lord, Help Me to Hold Out", "Peace Be Still", "I Don't Feel No Ways Tired", “Where Is Your Faith", "The Love of God", "God Has Smiled on Me", and his rendition of Gladys Knight & The Pips' "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me."
Van Allen Clinton McCoy was an American musician, record producer, arranger, songwriter, singer and orchestra conductor. He is known for his 1975 internationally successful song "The Hustle". He has approximately 700 song copyrights to his credit, and for producing songs by such recording artists as Gladys Knight & the Pips, The Stylistics, Aretha Franklin, Brenda & the Tabulations, David Ruffin, Peaches & Herb, Lesley Gore and Stacy Lattisaw.
Blue Magic is an American R&B and soul group, and one of the more popular Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. Founded in 1972, the group's original members included lead singer Ted Mills with Vernon Sawyer, Wendell Sawyer, Keith Beaton, and Richard Pratt. Their most notable songs included smooth soul ballads such as "Sideshow", "Spell", "What’s Come Over Me", "Three Ring Circus", and "Stop to Start".
"Midnight Train to Georgia" is a song by Gladys Knight & the Pips, their second release after departing Motown Records for Buddah Records. Written by Jim Weatherly, and included on the Pips' 1973 LP Imagination, "Midnight Train to Georgia" became the group's first single to top the Billboard Hot 100. It also won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus and has become Knight's signature song.
Classic Soul Ballads is a 16-volume soul CD-set, released by Time–Life Records in 2005, featuring 264 songs from the 1960s through the 1990s. It was not sold in stores, but sold directly by Time–Life.
VH1 debuted the first annual VH1 Divas concert in 1998. VH1 Divas Live was created to support the channel's Save The Music Foundation and subsequent concerts in the series have also benefited that foundation. The VH1 Divas concerts aired annually from 1998 to 2004. After a five-year hiatus, the series returned in 2009 with a younger-skewed revamp. In 2010 the concert saluted the troops and in 2011 it celebrated soul music, doubling the previous year's ratings. After a dance music-focused 2012 edition aired live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on December 16, 2012, the show took another hiatus before being revived on December 5, 2016, at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, New York with a holiday theme and achieved its highest ratings in over a decade.
American Idol Season 5: Encores is compilation album released on May 23, 2006 and contains one cover song from each of the top 12 finalists during season 5 of the television show American Idol. It is the only American Idol album that does not feature an ensemble track by all the contestants, and is the first year in which several individual finalists made the popular music charts. The album sold over 154,000 units in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, behind the Disney Channel Original Movie's High School Musical Soundtrack and the Dixie Chicks' Taking the Long Way, thus becoming the best-selling debut any American Idol compilation disk. It was also number two on Top Soundtracks, number four on Top Digital Albums and number six on Top Internet.
American Idols Live! Tour 2006 was a summer concert tour in the United States featuring the top 10 contestants of the fifth season of American Idol, which aired in 2006. It was sponsored by Kellogg Pop-Tarts. The tour started on July 5 and ended on September 24 covering 60 dates, the biggest tour thus far. Initially 39 dates were planned, but 21 extra dates were later added due to demand. It followed in the tradition of other American Idol summer tours following the completion of each season in May.
The Dresden Soul Symphony is a German concert show. The musicians reinterpret soul hits and combine them with classical music. The musical ensemble contains the singers Joy Denalane, Bilal, Tweet and Dwele; the radio orchestra of the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk; four backing vocalists; the MDR children's choir and four instrumentalists, who do not belong to the orchestra. The performance venue of the show is Dresden, Germany. The premiere was on April 26, 2008.
"Share Your Love with Me" is a song written by Alfred Braggs and Deadric Malone. It was originally recorded by blues singer Bobby "Blue" Bland. Over the years, the song has been covered by various artists, most notably Aretha Franklin who won a Grammy Award for her 1969 rendition. Other artists who covered the song include The Band in 1973, Kenny Rogers in 1981, and most recently, Van Morrison in 2016.
Billboard Hot Soul Hits is a series of compilation albums released by Rhino Records in 1995, compiling 50 hit soul music recordings, which were popular in the 1970s. Five albums were released, containing ten songs from a specific year from 1970 through 1974.
Women & Songs: Beginnings is the first of an eventual two releases in the Women & Songs "Beginnings" series.
Benjamin Wright, Jr. is an American producer and composer.
Soul Train: The Dance Years is a series of compilation albums released by Rhino Records in 1999 and 2000, and spun off from the long-running syndicated television series Soul Train.
Leah LaBelle Vladowski was an American singer. She rose to prominence in 2004 as a contestant on the third season of American Idol, placing twelfth in the season finals. In 2007, LaBelle began recording covers of R&B and soul music for her YouTube channel. These videos led to work as a backing vocalist starting in 2008 and a record deal in 2011 with Epic in partnership with I Am Other and So So Def Recordings. LaBelle released a sampler, three singles, and a posthumous extended play (EP).
