William Harrison Withers Jr. was an American singer and songwriter. He had several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), "Use Me" (1972), "Lean on Me" (1972), "Lovely Day" (1977) and "Just the Two of Us" (1980). Withers won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for six more.
Meshell Ndegeocello is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, and bassist. She has gone by the name Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur which is used as a writing credit on some of her later work. Her music incorporates a wide variety of influences, including funk, soul, jazz, hip hop, reggae and rock. She has received significant critical acclaim throughout her career, being nominated for eleven Grammy Awards, and winning one. She also has been credited for helping to "spark the neo-soul movement".
Andraé Edward Crouch was an American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, record producer and pastor. Referred to as "the father of modern gospel music" by contemporary Christian and gospel music professionals, Crouch was known for his compositions "The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power", "My Tribute " and "Soon and Very Soon". He collaborated on some of his recordings with famous and popular artists such as Stevie Wonder, El DeBarge, Philip Bailey, Chaka Khan, and Sheila E., as well as the vocal group Take 6, and many popular artists covered his material, including Bob Dylan, Barbara Mandrell, Paul Simon, Elvis Presley and Little Richard. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was known as the "go-to" producer for superstars who sought a gospel choir sound in their recordings; he appeared on a number of recordings, including Michael Jackson's "Man In the Mirror", Madonna's "Like a Prayer", and "The Power", a duet between Elton John and Little Richard. Crouch was noted for his talent of incorporating contemporary secular music styles into the gospel music he grew up with. His efforts in this area helped pave the way for early American contemporary Christian music during the 1960s and 1970s.
Todd Norton Terry is an American DJ, record producer and remixer in the genre of house music. His productions helped define the New York house scene in the 1990s and used extensive samples that blend the sounds of classic disco, the Chicago house sound, and elements of hip-hop. He has remixed a wide variety of artists.
James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III and Terry Steven Lewis are an American R&B/pop songwriting and record production team. They have enjoyed great success since the 1980s with various artists, most intensively with Janet Jackson. They have written 31 top ten hits in the UK and 41 in the US. In 2022, the duo were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence category.
Just Whitney is the fifth studio album by American singer and actress Whitney Houston, released on November 27, 2002, by Arista Records. It was her first studio album to be released after her greatest hits compilation, Whitney: The Greatest Hits (2000), and the follow-up to her multi-platinum fourth studio album, My Love is Your Love (1998). Just Whitney was also Houston's first to be released after re-signing her contract with Arista in 2001 for $100 million - the largest recording contract for a female artist at the time.
Arthur Baker is an American record producer and DJ best known for his work with hip hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa and Planet Patrol, as well as British group New Order. He is also known for remixing the Jill Jones song "Mia Bocca" on the 12" single, taken from her self-titled debut album Jill Jones (1987), released on Prince's Paisley Park Records, as well as remixing the Pet Shop Boys song, "In the Night". His remix of the song was used as the main theme for the BBC TV programme The Clothes Show between 1986 and 1994. He also remixed the "Massive Jungle Mix" for Tina Turner's UK top 40 single "Whatever You Want". Arthur Baker's songs are represented by Downtown Music Publishing.
Marsha Ambrosius-Billups is an English singer and songwriter. She began her musical career as a member of the R&B duo Floetry. Ambrosius released her debut solo album Late Nights & Early Mornings in 2011.
Roger Troutman was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and the founder of the band Zapp who helped spearhead the funk movement and influenced West Coast hip hop due to the scene's heavy sampling of his music.
The Whispers are an American vocal group from Los Angeles, California, who have scored hit records since the late 1960s. They are best known for their two number one R&B singles, "And the Beat Goes On" in 1979 and "Rock Steady" in 1987. The Whispers scored 15 top-ten R&B singles, and 8 top-ten R&B albums with two of them, The Whispers and Love Is Where You Find It, reaching the No. 1 spot. They have earned two platinum and five gold albums by the RIAA.
Claudja Barry is a Jamaican-born Canadian singer. Her successful songs were "Down and Counting", "Boogie Woogie Dancin' Shoes", "Dancing Fever", and others. As an actress, she is known for appearing in the European versions of stage musicals AC/DC and Catch My Soul.
From October 26, 1974 until August 28, 1976, Billboard's Disco Action section published weekly single retail sales charts from various local regions along with Top Audience Response Records in their magazine. Billboard debuted its first national chart devoted exclusively to 12-inch Singles Sales in their issue dated March 16, 1985. This record type is most commonly used in disco and dance music genres where DJs use them to play in discos or dance clubs because of the exclusive extended remixes that are often only made available on this format, but Billboard's 12-inch Single Sales chart ranks releases by artists from all styles of music that release maxi-singles.
Leon Ware was an American songwriter, producer, composer, and singer. Besides a solo career as a performer, Ware was best known for producing hits for other artists including Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Maxwell, Minnie Riperton and Marvin Gaye, co-producing the latter's album, I Want You.
D.C. LaRue is an American singer, songwriter and producer. His music was successful in clubs and on dance music charts worldwide during the 1970s and early 1980s.
Linda Jones was an American soul singer with a strong gospel-influenced style who had the 1967 top 10 R&B hit single, "Hypnotized".
"Everything" is a song by American singer Mary J. Blige. It was written and produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis for Blige's third album, Share My World (1997). The song contains samples from "You Are Everything" (1971) by American soul group The Stylistics and "The Payback" (1973) by American singer James Brown, also incorporating elements from "Sukiyaki" (1961) by Japanese singer Kyu Sakamoto. Due to the inclusion of the samples, Brown, Hachidai Nakamura, Rokusuke Ei, Linda Creed, Thom Bell, John Starks, and Fred Wesley are also credited as songwriters.
Ted Bruner is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, originally from St. Louis, Missouri, United States.
1500 or Nothin' is an American musical ensemble composed of record producers, songwriters, musicians and music videographers, formed in 2006, in Los Angeles, California. With headquarters located in Inglewood, California, 1500 or Nothin' is composed of three internal divisions: 1500 Or Nothin' Music, 1500 Or Nothin' Video, and 1500 Or Nothin' Ancillary. In 2006, 1500 or Nothin' began to create "a variety of music genres including Hip-Hop Rap, Rhythm & Blues, Alternative Rock, Urban and New Adult Contemporary. The collective 1500 or Nothin' has lent their writing, production or instrument skills to records for Justin Timberlake, Asher Roth, Jay-Z, Kanye West, T.I., Bruno Mars and B.o.B.
Crash & Burn is the debut studio album by American singer Traci Braxton. eOne and Soul World released the album October 7, 2014. Braxton had previously released music with her sisters as part of the group The Braxtons. Cliff Jones and David Lindsey were the album's executive producers. Crash & Burn is a R&B album, which Braxton said had influences from adult contemporary music. Critics thought the songs focused on love but Braxton clarified that the lyrics dealt with her attempts to start a solo music career.
Andrew Alexander "Mike" Terry was an American saxophonist, songwriter, arranger, producer and musical director. His baritone sax solos feature on the breakthrough hits of Martha and the Vandellas, and The Supremes. As a member of the Funk Brothers he performed on thousands of Motown recordings from 1960 to 1967, including at least seven US #1 hits. As was Motown's policy at the time, none of the studio musicians were credited by name. Terry was the musical arranger of the 1966 hit "Cool Jerk" by The Capitols, and later became a record producer, with partners including George Clinton, Sidney Barnes, and Jack Ashford.
