Barry Eugene White was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring R&B, soul, funk, and disco songs such as his two biggest hits: "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" and "You're the First, the Last, My Everything".
Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She was discovered as a teenager by record producer Irv Gotti, and signed with his label Murder Inc. Records, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings in 2002. That same year, she guest appeared on the singles "What's Luv?" by Fat Joe, and "Always on Time" by labelmate Ja Rule, which peaked at numbers two and one on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively; the latter, with her 2002 debut single "Foolish", made her the first female artist to occupy the top two positions the chart simultaneously.
Mary Christine Brockert, known professionally as Teena Marie, was an American soul and R&B singer, songwriter, and producer. She was known by her childhood nickname Tina before taking the stage name Teena Marie and later acquired the nickname Lady T, given to her by her collaborator and friend Rick James.
Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven "Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four "Back to Life". They have won two Grammy Awards, and have been nominated for five Brit Awards—twice for Best British Group.
Kym Mazelle is an American singer. She is regarded as a pioneer of house music in the United Kingdom and Europe. Her music combines R&B, soul, funk, house music, dance, and pop. She is credited as "The First Lady of House Music".
Caron Melina Wheeler is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and musician. Born and raised in London, she performed in various singing competitions as a teenager and began her recording career as one of the founding members of Brown Sugar. She was also one of the founding members of the female backing vocalist group Afrodiziak. She officially rose to fame in the late 1980s as the lead singer of R&B group Soul II Soul. Managed by her bandmate, Jazzie B, the group became one of London's best-selling groups in the 1990s. Their debut album, Club Classics Vol. One (1989), which established them as a global success worldwide, earned two Grammy Awards and featured the UK and Billboard number-one singles "Keep On Movin'" and "Back to Life ".
Charlotte Kelly is a British singer-songwriter, composer, arranger, and record producer. Kelly rose to fame in the mid-1990s as one of the lead singers of British R&B group Soul II Soul, one of London's best-selling groups of all time. She performed lead vocals on their single "I Care" for their fourth studio album Volume V: Believe (1995). She continued to record and perform with the group until the release of their final studio album Time for Change (1997). During their hiatus, Kelly released her debut solo album Just Another Girl (1998), which sold exclusively in Japan. She released her second album Charlotte (1999), which included dance hit "Skin".
InI was an American hip hop group that formed in 1990 and broke up in 1997. The group was composed of members Rob-O, Grap Luva, Ras G a.k.a. I Love H.I.M., Marco Polo, and DJ Boodakhan.
Jazmine Marie Sullivan is an American R&B singer and songwriter. She has won two Grammy Awards, a Billboard Women in Music Award, and two BET Awards over the course of her career. In 2022, Time placed her on their list of the 100 Most Influential People.
Tanya Trotter is an American actress, musician and author. She began her career as a teen actress, appearing in the 1993 film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. She went on to release her debut album Natural Thing (1994), which featured the songs "Through the Rain" and "I'm Gonna Make You Mine". Blount is currently one half of the Grammy-nominated duo The War and Treaty.
Margaret Marie Joseph is an American R&B, soul and gospel singer. Her greatest success came in the 1970s with a duet with Blue Magic on "What's Come Over Me" and her versions of Paul McCartney's "My Love" and The Supremes' "Stop! In the Name of Love".
Shelina Wade, commonly known as Lina, is an American R&B and soul singer and songwriter.
American R&B/soul singer Chaka Khan has released thirteen albums during her solo career. Her first solo single was "I'm Every Woman", also released in 1978. She has released a total of 46 solo singles throughout her career. Khan has placed four albums in the top twenty of the Billboard albums chart, scored one top 10 and four additional top-40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. On the Billboard R&B Songs chart, Khan hit the top 10 ten times including five number ones (including two as a featured artist. On Billboard's Dance Club Chart, Khan had six number ones and another number one as a featured artist. On the UK Singles Chart, she has scored three top 10s, eight additional top 40 singles.
Dillon & Dickins is a dance music production group based in London, England, and one of the many aliases used by house music producers and DJs Marc Dillon and Patrick Dickins who also founded the dance record company and music publishing company Higher State. Other aliases include the commonly miss-spelt Dillon & Dickens, Dpd, 99 Allstars, Disco Biscuit, Sound Environment, Spacebase, Upstate and their more successful one, Illicit.
"I'm Your Puppet" is a song written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham; the best known version is the one recorded by James & Bobby Purify which reached #5 on the US R&B chart and #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966. The single was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1967. The song was featured on their 1967 album, James & Bobby Purify.
Sail Out is the debut extended play (EP) by American recording artist Jhené Aiko, released on November 12, 2013 through Def Jam Recordings. It was Aiko's first release under the label after leaving her contract with Sony Music in 2003. After leaving Sony Music, Aiko released her first mixtape Sailing Soul(s) (2011), independently; the mixtape featured appearances from well-known artists and was met with generally positive reviews and was nominated for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. . In 2012, Aiko met with American record producer and vice president of A&R at Def Jam No I.D., who ended up signing Aiko to his Artium Records imprint, through Def Jam.
Courtney Shanade Salter, known professionally as Ari Lennox, is an American R&B singer-songwriter from Washington, D.C. She signed with J. Cole's Dreamville Records, an imprint of Interscope Records as the former label's first female artist in 2015. She started gaining recognition after the release of her second extended play (EP) and major label debut, Pho (2016). That same year, she made an uncredited guest appearance on Cole's song "Change". Her debut studio album, Shea Butter Baby (2019), was met with critical praise and lukewarm commercial response.
Volume IV The Classic Singles 88–93 is the first compilation album by British group Soul II Soul, released in 1993. Along with the band's biggest hit singles released up to 1993, the album also includes one new song, "Wish".
Victoria Wilson-James is an American-born British singer, songwriter and record producer. Born and raised in Gary, Indiana, she performed in various theatre plays and musicals as a teenager. Following the release of her debut single "I Want You in My Movie", she was recruited by Jazzie B to join a newly reformed line-up of R&B group Soul II Soul. Managed by her bandmate, Jazzie B, the group became one of London's best-selling groups of all time. Their second album, Vol. II: 1990 – A New Decade (1990), which achieved gold-status in the US and UK, featured the top-charting single "A Dream's a Dream" with Wilson-James on lead vocals.
Snoh Sheri Nowrozi, better known by her stage name Snoh Aalegra, is a Swedish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, Feels, was released in 2017, followed by Ugh, Those Feels Again in 2019.
