Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter, civil rights activist, actress, and pianist. After signing with Atlantic Records in 1966. Hit songs such as “Respect”, “Chain of Fools”, “Think”, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)”, and “I Say A Little Prayer”, propelled Franklin past her musical peers. By the end of the 1960’s, Aretha Franklin had come to be known as “The Queen of Soul”.
Franklin Received numerous honors throughout her career, including a 1987 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the first female performer to be inducted. She was inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and to the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2008, she was ranked by Rolling Stone as the No. 1 greatest singer of all time.
Source | Wikipedia
James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) Was an American rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame describes him as “arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music”. Some of his well known hits include “Hey Joe”, “All Along The Watchtower” (Originally a Bob Dylan song), and “Purple Haze”, to name a few.
Source | Wikipedia
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Dubbed the “King Of Pop” he was one of the most popular entertainers in the world and one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His hits include “Thriller”, “Bad”, and “Man In The Mirror”, to name a few amongst many. His philanthropy work over the years is numerous as it was not just a matter of giving for him but a personal nature of his to give.
Source | Wikipedia
Madonna Louise Ciccone (born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and business woman. Referred to as the “Queen Of Pop” since the 1980’s. Having sold more than 300 million records worldwide, Madonna is recognized as the best-selling female recording artist of all time by Guiness World Records.
Madonna holds the record for the most number-one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and eight number-one albums on the Billboard 200. With 46 songs topping the Dance Club Songs chart, Madonna became the artist with the most number-one songs on an active Billboard chart, pulling ahead of George Strait with 44 number-one songs on the Hot Country Songs chart. She has also scored 38 top-ten singles on the Hot 100, more than any other artist in history.
Source | Wikipedia
Tupac Amaru Shakur (born Desane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, who is considered by many to have been one of the greatest rappers of all time. His hits include “Dear Mama”, “I Get Around”, “Brenda’s Got A Baby” and “California Love”, to name a few.
Shakur also gained success as an actor, with his roles as Lucky in Poetic Justice (1993), Ezekiel Whitmore in Gridlock’d (1997), all of which garnered praise from critics.
Much of Shakur’s work has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities, and he is considered a symbol of resistance and activism against inequities. His inspiring music and artistic authenticity is just one of the many reasons why his music remains relevant and valuable up unto this day.
Source | Wikipedia
Samuel Cooke (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur.
Influential as both a singer and composer, he is commonly known as the King Of Soul for his distinctive vocals and importance within popular music. His hit songs include “You Send Me”, “A Change Is Gonna Come”, “Wonderful World”, “Chain Gang”, “Twistin’ The Night Away”, and “Bring It On Home To Me”.
His pioneering contributions to soul music contributed to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Billy Preston, and popularized the likes of Otis Redding and James Brown.
Source | Wikipedia
Mary J. Blige (born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper and actress. She started her career as a backing singer on Uptown Records in 1989. She has released 13 studio albums, eight of which have achieved multi-platinum worldwide sales and has won 9 Grammy Awards.
Called the “Queen Of Hip Hop Soul”, Blige is credited with influencing the musical marriage of hip hop and R&B. Ethan Brown of The New Yorker says that albums “What’s the 411?”, and “My Life”, in hindsight, invented “the sample-heavy sound that reinvigorated urban radio and became a blueprint for nineties hip-hop and R&B.” Brown further concludes that Mary’s “duets with the Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man and Ghostface Killah set the trend for collaborations between rappers and R&B songbirds like Mariah Carey”.
Source | Wikipedia
Kris Kross was an American Hip Hop duo formed in the early 1990’s that consisted of Chris “Mac Daddy” Kelly and Chris “Daddy Mac” Smith. The duo was discovered by Jermaine Dupri in 1991 and hit worldwide status the following year with their smash hit debut single, “Jump”, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks and was certified double platinum as a single. They went on to release three studio albums, with their debut album Totally Krossed Out topping the US Billboard 200, and their following albums, Da Bomb and Young, Rich & Dangerous making it to the Top 20. The duo were also noted for their signature fashion style of wearing their clothes backwards.
Source | Wikipedia
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. She was cited as the most awarded female artist of all time by Guiness World Records and remains one of the best selling music artists of all time with 200 million records sold worldwide. She released seven studio albums and two soundtrack albums, all of which have been certified diamond, multi-platinum, platinum, or gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Her first two studio albums, “Whitney Houston” (1985) and “Whitney Houston” (1987), both reached number-one on the Billboard 200 in the United States and became two of the world’s best-selling albums of all time. She became the only artist to have seven consecutive number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, from “Saving All My Love For You” in 1985 to “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” in 1988.
Source | Wikipedia
Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, songwriter, singer, actress, producer and much recently a television host. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album, “All Hail The Queen” the same year, featuring the hit single, “Ladies First”. “Nature Of A Sista” (1991) was her second and final album with Tommy Boy Records.
Her third album, “Black Reign” (1993), spawned the single “U.N.I.T.Y.”, which won a Grammy Award and was successful on the Billboard Hot 100. She then starred in the lead role of “Set It Off” (1996) and released her fourth album, “Order In The Court”, in 1998, with Motown Records.
She has long been considered one of hip-hop’s pioneer feminists. Queen Latifah received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 2006.
Source | Wikipedia
Nina Simone (born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1993 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and activist in the Civil Rights Movement. Her music spanned a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel and pop.
Musicians who have cited Simone as important for their own musical upbringing include Elton John (who named one of his pianos after her), Madonna, Aretha Franklin, Adele, David Bowie, Emeli Sande, Antony and the Johnsons, Dianne Reeves, Sade, Beyonce, Hanis Joplin, Nick Cave and Alicia Keys to name a few.
Simone was the recipient of a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 2000 for her interpretation of “I Loves You Porgy”. She was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2018.
Source | Wikipedia
Robert Nesta Marley, (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer-songwriter who became an international musical and cultural icon, blending mostly reggae, ska, and rocksteady in his compositions. Starting out in 1963 with the group The Wailers, he forged a distinctive songwriting and vocal style that would later resonate with audiences worldwide.
Marley pursued a solo career upon his relocation to England that culminated in the release of the album “Exodus” in 1977, which established his worldwide reputation and elevated his status as one of the world’s best selling artists of all time. Some of his hit singles include, “Exodus”, “Waiting in Vain”, “Jamming”, and “One Love”. The greatest hits album, “Legend, was released in 1984, three years after Marley died. It subsequently became the best-selling reggae album of all time.
Source | Wikipedia
John Winston Ono Lennon (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter and peace activist who co-founded the Beatles, the most commercially successful band in the history of popular music.
Lennon began to record as a solo artist before the band’s break-up in April 1970; in 1969 Lennon formed the Plastic Ono Band out of which songs “Give Peace A Chance” and “Instant Karma!” were released. Lennon subsequently produced albums that included songs such as “Imagine” and “Working Class Hero”.
Lennon disengaged himself from the music business in 1975 to raise his infant son Sean, but re-emerged with Ono in 1980 with the album, “Double Fantasy”. He was shot and killed in the archway of his Manhattan apartment building three weeks after the album was released. He remains an inspiring figure to many in this present day.
Source | Wikipedia
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