Ruben Studdard is an American singer and actor. He rose to fame as winner of the second season of American Idol and received a Grammy Award nomination in 2003 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his recording of "Superstar." In the years following Idol, Studdard has released seven studio albums, including his platinum-selling debut, Soulful, and the top-selling gospel follow-up, I Need an Angel. He is most well known for his recording career, which has produced hits including "Flying Without Wings," "Sorry 2004," and "Change Me," but he has also segued into television and stage work. Most notably, he starred as Fats Waller in a national tour revival of Ain't Misbehavin', which spawned a Grammy-nominated soundtrack.
Free Yourself is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Fantasia, which was released on November 23, 2004. The album sold 240,000 units in its first week, reaching number eight on the Billboard 200 chart. The album is certified platinum in the United States and has been nominated for ten awards, including three Grammy Awards.
American singer Mariah Carey has released 86 official singles, 22 promotional singles, and has made 30 guest appearances. Her self-titled debut album in 1990 yielded four number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, the first being "Vision of Love", a song credited with revolutionizing the usage of distinguished vocal stylings, predominantly the practice of melisma, and effectively influencing virtually every female R&B performer since the 1990s. Subsequent singles "Emotions" (1991) and Carey's cover of the Jackson 5 track, "I'll Be There" (1992) continued the singer's streak of US number-one singles, with the latter becoming her fourth chart-topper in Canada and first in the Netherlands. With the release of Carey's third studio album, Music Box (1993), the singer's international popularity surged upon release of "Hero" and the album's third single, her cover of Harry Nilsson's "Without You", which became the singer's first number-one single in several countries across Europe.
"Nobody's Supposed to Be Here" is the lead single released by Canadian recording artist Deborah Cox from her second studio album One Wish (1998). It is Cox's most successful song, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks, and spending a then-record 14 weeks at number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In 2017, Billboard ranked the song at number five on its "Greatest of All Time Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs" chart. It is written and produced by Anthony "Shep" Crawford.
"Change Me" is the first single from Ruben Studdard's third album The Return. The song is produced by The Underdogs and written by Luke Boyd, Tank, Steve Russell, Damon Thomas, Harvey Mason, Jr., and Antonio Dixon. The song follows Ruben complaining about his girlfriend trying to change what he's become. The song peaked at number 94 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number eighteen on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
"Dance with My Father" is the RIAA Gold-certified title track to singer and songwriter Luther Vandross' 13th studio album. With Richard Marx, Vandross wrote the song based on his personal experience. The lyrics recall childhood memories with Vandross' father, who used to dance with him and his mother.
"Sorry 2004" is a song recorded by the American R&B singer Ruben Studdard. It was released as a single from his first album Soulful.
"Superstar" is a 1969 song written by Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell with a songwriting credit also given to Delaney Bramlett that has been a hit for many artists in different genres and interpretations in the years since; the best-known versions are by the Carpenters in 1971, and by Luther Vandross in 1983.
"Dontchange" is the second and last single from Musiq Soulchild's second album Juslisen. It was released on October 29, 2002, as a 12" single, after being serviced to radios in July 2002.
American R&B group TLC has released five studio albums, 13 compilation albums, six video albums, 25 singles, 11 promotional singles, and 24 music videos.
"Saturday Love" is a song performed by American R&B singers Cherrelle and Alexander O'Neal. It was released in October 1985. The song peaked at #2 on the US R&B chart, and became a moderate pop hit peaking at #26 on the US Hot 100 in the spring of 1986. It reached #6 on the UK singles chart, and #7 on the Irish Singles Chart. The song is where Cherrelle Eden got her name. The song appeared on Cherrelle's gold album, High Priority, on Tabu Records and included an extended spoken dialogue introduction skit set in a bar.
The discography of American R&B and soul singer Keke Wyatt consists of five studio albums, two unreleased albums, twelve singles, four collaborations and nine music videos. Wyatt has had three record deals with MCA Records, Shanachie Records and her own record label Aratek Entertainment distributed through INgrooves Music Group.
"Automatically Sunshine" is a song written by Smokey Robinson and released as a single by Motown singing group The Supremes as the second single from their popular album Floy Joy in 1972.
"So Amazing" is a 1983 song by Dionne Warwick. It was written by Luther Vandross and Marcus Miller and produced by the former for her studio album How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye (1983). Three years later, Vandross himself covered the song for his fifth studio album Give Me the Reason (1986). Released as a single, it entered the top 40 on the UK Singles Chart and earned a Soul Train Music Award nomination in 1988.
American singer Keyshia Cole has released seven studio albums, one extended play, two mixtapes, 24 singles and thirty-one music videos. Cole's debut single, "Never", peaked at number 71 on the United States Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and became Cole's first entry on a national record chart. She was later featured on "Let's Get Blown", a 2004 single by American West Coast hip hop rapper Snoop Dogg – it peaked at number 54 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Cole released her debut album The Way It Is on June 21, 2005 through A&M Records. The album debuted at number six on the US Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 89,000 copies. The Way It Is was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album produced the four singles "I Changed My Mind", "(I Just Want It) To Be Over", "I Should Have Cheated", and "Love", of two of which reached the top ten of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Rapper and singer Nicki Minaj has released four studio albums, three compilation albums, three mixtapes, 120 singles, and 18 promotional singles.
American singer and songwriter Jazmine Sullivan has released four studio albums, one compilation album and 15 singles. Sullivan signed a record deal with J Records in 2008, and released her debut album Fearless in 2008. The album was immediately certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America while debuting at number one. Fearless has spent 12 weeks atop the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums since its US release. The album's first single, "Need U Bad", also reached number thirty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and became her first number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The second single, "Bust Your Windows", was released in September 2008 and reached the charts in the US and the UK. It also became her second top forty in the US. "Lions, Tigers & Bears" was released as the third single off the album in late 2008 and became her third top ten in the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in the US. In 2009, it was confirmed Jazmine would open for American singer Ne-Yo's tour. In February that same year, she released the fourth and final single, "Dream Big".
"Lay with You" is the second single by American R&B singer El DeBarge, featuring R&B singer Faith Evans, from the fifth studio album, Second Chance (2010). The song was released on October 25, 2010 through Geffen Records. It was written by E.J. Coulter and Michael Flowers and produced by Michael "Mike City" Flowers. The music video was released on November 8, 2010 on El DeBarge's VEVO account.
The discography of American R&B and jazz singer Chanté Moore consists of six studio albums, two collaborative albums, twenty-three singles, twenty collaborations and eleven music videos. Moore has had four record deals with MCA Records, Arista Records/LaFace Records, Peak Records and Shanachie Records, before founding CM7 Records.
Barbadian singer Rihanna has released 52 singles as lead artist, 18 singles as a featured artist, 2 charity singles, and 4 promotional singles. One of the best-selling artists of all time, her albums and singles sales as of 2018 stood at 250 million. In the United States, Rihanna has amassed 14 number-one songs and 31 top-ten songs on the Billboard Hot 100. She has tallied 60 weeks at number one and is the artist with the most weeks in the top ten (360). The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) recognized Rihanna as the top-selling female digital singles artist, with 151.5 million certified units as of November 2021.
