ABBA were a Swedish pop supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's name is an acronym of the first letters of their first names arranged as a palindrome. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the best-selling music acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1974 to 1982, and again from 2016 to 2022 following their brief reunion.
Whitney Elizabeth Houston was an American singer and actress. Known as "the Voice", she is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of music and one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 220 million records sold worldwide. She influenced many singers in the recording industry, and was known for her powerful, soulful vocals, vocal improvisation skills, use of gospel singing techniques in pop music, and live performances. Houston had 11 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and is the only artist to have seven consecutive number-one singles on the chart. Her accolades include eight Grammy Awards, 16 Billboard Music Awards, two Emmy Awards, and 30 Guinness World Records. Houston's inductions include the Grammy Hall of Fame (twice), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the New Jersey Hall of Fame, and the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress.
The Delfonics were an American R&B/soul vocal group from Philadelphia. The Delfonics were most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their most notable hits include "La-La ", "Didn't I ", "Break Your Promise", "I'm Sorry", and "Ready or Not Here I Come ". Their hit songs were primarily written by lead vocalist and founding member William "Poogie" Hart, and arranger and producer Thom Bell. Wilbert Hart is the last surviving founding member.
The O'Jays are an American R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in 1958 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert, Walter Lee Williams, William Powell, Bobby Massey, and Bill Isles. The O'Jays made their first chart appearance with the minor hit "Lonely Drifter" in 1963, but reached their greatest level of success once the producers Gamble & Huff signed them to their Philadelphia International label in 1972. With Gamble & Huff, the O'Jays emerged at the forefront of Philadelphia soul with Back Stabbers (1972), and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 the following year with "Love Train". Several other US R&B hits followed, and the O'Jays were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2013.
The Pointer Sisters are an American girl group from Oakland, California, which achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Their repertoire has included such diverse genres as R&B, pop, jazz, electronic music, bebop, blues, soul, funk, dance, country, and rock. The Pointer Sisters have won three Grammy Awards and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1994. The group had 13 US top 20 hits between 1973 and 1985.
Wilson Phillips is an American pop vocal group formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The group consists of sisters Carnie and Wendy Wilson, the daughters of Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, and Chynna Phillips, the daughter of John and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & The Papas.
Sade are an English band, formed in London in 1982 and named after their lead singer, Sade Adu. Three members, Paul Anthony Cooke, Stuart Mathewman, and Paul Spencer Denman, are from Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Its music features elements of soul, quiet storm, smooth jazz and sophisti-pop. All of the band's albums, including compilations and a live album, have charted in the US Top Ten.
Marshall Julius Jefferson is an American musician, working in the house music subgenres of Chicago house and deep house.
Angela Laverne Brown known professionally as Angie Stone, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. She rose to fame in the late 1970s as member of the hip hop trio The Sequence. In the early 1990s, she became a member of the R&B trio Vertical Hold. Stone would later release her solo debut Black Diamond (1999) on Arista Records, which was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America and spawned the single "No More Rain ".
Country pop is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres like rock, pop, and country, continuing similar efforts that began in the late 1950s, known originally as the Nashville sound and later on as Countrypolitan. By the mid-1970s, many country artists were transitioning to the pop-country sound, which led to some records charting high on the mainstream top 40 and the Billboard country chart. In turn, many pop and easy listening artists crossed over to country charts during this time. After declining in popularity during the neotraditional movement of the 1980s, country pop had a comeback in the 1990s with a sound that drew more heavily on pop rock and adult contemporary. In the 2010s, country pop metamorphisized again with the addition of hip-hop beats and rap-style phrasing.
Byron Stingily is an American R&B and house-music singer born in Chicago, Illinois, known for his falsetto voice. He is now a part-time principal at a school in Chicago while still performing.
Jamey Johnson is an American country music singer and songwriter.
Breakfast Club is an American musical group. Their biggest hit single was "Right on Track", which peaked at no. 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was remixed for a commercial release in a 12" version for dance and club play by John "Jellybean" Benitez and became a top 10 hit on the Billboard Magazine Hot Dance Club Play chart. After 35 years of absence, in 2022 the band reformed and released a new single called "Could We Not Stop Dancing?" followed by "Fantasy Street" in December 2023.
"You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" is a 1978 song by American disco/R&B singer Sylvester. It was written by James Wirrick and Sylvester, and released by Fantasy Records as the second single from the singer's fourth album, Step II (1978). The song was already a largely popular dance club hit in late 1978, as the B-side of his previous single "Dance (Disco Heat)", before it was officially being released in December. It rose to the number one position on the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. Music critic Robert Christgau has said the song is "one of those surges of sustained, stylized energy that is disco's great gift to pop music".
Richard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop rock singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.
Stargate is a record producing and songwriting team composed of Tor E. Hermansen and Mikkel S. Eriksen, based in Los Angeles, USA. The team's genres include R&B, pop and hip hop. Stargate was established in Trondheim, Norway.
"That's the Way Love Is" is a song by Chicago-based dance trio Ten City, released in 1989 as a single from their debut album, Foundation (1989). The song reached number eight in the UK and number eighteen in West Germany, and was also the group's highest charting single on both the Billboard R&B and dance charts in the US. It peaked at number twelve on the Hot R&B Singles chart, and number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart. Rolling Stone ranked "That's the Way Love Is" number 165 in their list of "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time" in 2022.
Prince released several hundred songs both under his own name and under pseudonyms and/or pen names, as well as writing songs which have been recorded by other artists. Estimates of the actual number of songs written by Prince range anywhere from 500 to well over 1,000. He has released 117 singles, 41 promotional singles, 24 internet singles, and eight internet downloads.
Khalid Donnel Robinson, known mononymously as Khalid, is an American R&B singer and songwriter from El Paso, Texas. He signed with Courtney Stewart's Right Hand Music Group, an imprint of RCA Records to release his 2016 debut single, "Location" and its 2017 follow-up, "Young Dumb & Broke." Both of which peaked within the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, received diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and preceded his debut studio album, American Teen (2017). The album was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA and received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album.
"Get Up" (also known as "Get Up (Everybody)") is a song by American house music singer-songwriter Byron Stingily, formerly of the band Ten City. A massive hit in the clubs, it was released in 1996 by Nervous Records and Manifesto Records, and samples Sylvester's 1978 song "Dance (Disco Heat)". "Get Up" was written by Stingily with the producers, Paul Simpson and Zack Toms. It reached number-one on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1997 and was a top 20 hit in the UK, peaking at number 14, while going right up to number-one on the UK Dance Singles Chart in January 1997. The single has sold 300.000 units worldwide, and in 1998, it was included on Stingily's debut solo album, The Purist. In 2007, new remixes were released.
