Portal:Rhythm and blues

Wikipedia's Rhythm and Blues Portal

Introduction

Ruth Brown was known as the "Queen of R&B".^[1]

Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to African Americans, at a time when "rocking, jazz based music ... [with a] heavy, insistent beat" was starting to become more popular. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands usually consisted of a piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, one or more saxophones, and sometimes background vocalists. R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African American history and experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy, as well as triumphs and failures in terms of societal racism, oppression, relationships, economics, and aspirations.

The term "rhythm and blues" has undergone a number of shifts in meaning. In the early 1950s, it was frequently applied to blues records. Starting in the mid-1950s, after this style of music had contributed to the development of rock and roll, the term "R&B" became used in a wider context. It referred to music styles that developed from and incorporated electric blues, as well as gospel and soul. By the 1970s, the term "rhythm and blues" had changed once again and was used as a blanket term for soul and funk. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

edit

Selected article

Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite is the debut album of American R&B and neo soul musician Maxwell released April 2, 1996, on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place between 1994 and 1995 at CRC Studios in Chicago and at Electric Lady Studios, RPM, Sorcerer and Chung King Studios in New York City. The album contains elements of R&B, funk, jazz and smooth soul, as well as featuring prominent classic influences in sound and musical style. A concept album, Urban Hang Suite is composed of a song cycle that focuses on an adult romance from first encounter to its conclusion, examining the concept with balladry and slow jams. The album's themes include love, sex, marriage, monogamy and spirituality. The concept was based on Maxwell's own personal experience.

After it was presented to Columbia label executives in 1995, Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite was shelved for nearly a year, partly due to doubts of its sales potential, before being released to generally positive reviews and considerable commercial success. In spite of an initial lack of mainstream interest, the album experienced a boost in sales with the help of the single "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)", which sold 500,000 copies within a year. Despite some negative criticism towards its lyrical substance, music writers lauded the album's vintage overtones and Maxwell's songwriting, and it was viewed as a departure from the hip hop-oriented contemporary R&B of the time. Urban Hang Suite earned Maxwell several accolades and comparisons to soul singer Marvin Gaye, and within a year it sold one million copies in the U.S..

The album had a considerable impact on Maxwell's career. Its success helped elevate his reputation to that of a sex symbol as well as a serious performer on the music scene. Maxwell has been credited with shaping the "neo soul" movement that rose to prominence during the late 1990s. Along with D'Angelo's debut album Brown Sugar (1995), Urban Hang Suite has been recognized by writers for helping provide commercial visibility to the neo soul genre, a musical style that focuses on classic influences rather than the mainstream sound of its contemporary R&B counterpart. It has been cited as Maxwell's greatest work and remains as his best-selling release. In 2002, the album was certified double platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), following sales in excess of two million copies.

Read more...

More articles

edit

Topics

edit

Featured Articles

Featured articles: "Baby Boy" · "Déjà Vu" · "Halo" · "Irreplaceable" · Janet Jackson · Michael Jackson · Mariah Carey · Sly & the Family Stone · Sons of Soul · The Supremes · Thriller · The Way I See It

Good articles: Afrodisiac · "Burn" · "Caught Up" · Christina Milian · Confessions · "Forgive Me" · FutureSex/LoveSounds · "Get Me Bodied" · "Green Light" · House of Music ·I Want You · LeToya Luckett · Let's Get It On · "Lose My Breath" · Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite · Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music · "My Boo" · My World · "Naughty Girl" · Nina Simone · Off the Wall · "Ring the Alarm" · Soul Food Taqueria · There's a Riot Goin' On · "Untitled (How Does It Feel)"· Voodoo · "We Belong Together" · "What Goes Around.../...Comes Around" · Winter in America · "Yeah!"

edit

WikiProjects

WikiProject R&B and Soul Music

Parentage

WikiProject Music
- WikiProject Music/Music genres task force

Selected biography - show another

(L–R): Ballard, Wilson, and Ross performing "My World Is Empty Without You" on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1966

The Supremes were an American girl group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959 as the Primettes. The premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful American vocal group, with twelve number 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Most of these hits were written and produced by Motown's main songwriting and production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland. The breakthrough by the Supremes is considered to have made it possible for future African-American R&B and soul musicians to find mainstream success. Billboard ranked the Supremes as the 16th greatest Hot 100 artist of all time.

Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross, and Betty McGlown, the original members, were all from the Brewster-Douglass public housing project in Detroit. Forming as the Primettes, they were the sister act to the Primes (with Paul Williams and Eddie Kendricks, who went on to form the Temptations). Barbara Martin replaced McGlown in 1960, and the group signed with Motown the following year as the Supremes. Martin left the group in early 1962, and Ross, Ballard, and Wilson continued as a trio. (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

More biographical articles

General images - load new batch

The following are images from various rhythm and blues-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Alicia Keys ranked fifth on Billboard Artist of the Decade list. "No One" ranks No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs of the decade. (from Contemporary R&B)
Image 2The Cleftones during their participation in the doo-wop festival celebrated in May 2010 at the Benedum Center. (from Doo-wop)
Image 3Chris Barber, one of the major figures in the early popularisation of the blues in Britain, playing at the Musikhalle, Hamburg, 1972 (from British rhythm and blues)
Image 4Lead Belly's recordings were major part of British R&B repertoires: he never performed in the UK (from British rhythm and blues)
Image 5The Jam in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1982 (from British rhythm and blues)
Image 6Usher was cited by Billboard as the no. 1 Hot 100 artist of the 2000s decade, with 7 number-one singles that accumulated 42 weeks at the top. (from Contemporary R&B)
Image 7Herman Santiago, original lead singer of the Teenagers (from Doo-wop)
Image 8The Jimi Hendrix Experience performing on Dutch television in 1967 (from British rhythm and blues)
Image 9Led Zeppelin performing at Chicago Stadium in January 1975
Image 10Georgie Fame, leader of one of the most widely influenced R&B groups, in 1968 (from British rhythm and blues)
Image 11The original line up of the Kinks, 1965 (from British rhythm and blues)
Image 12Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings at Middelburg in 2009 (from British rhythm and blues)
Image 13Janet Jackson's Control, released in 1986, was one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the 1980s. (from New jack swing)
Image 14The instruments of the skiffle group the Quarrymen, who would become the Beatles (from British rhythm and blues)
Image 15John Lee Hooker, whose visit to England was the anticipated R&B event of 1964, shown in 1978 (from British rhythm and blues)
Image 16Alexis Korner in Hamburg in 1972 (from British rhythm and blues)
Image 17Kathy Young with the Earth Angels performing Kathy's hit "A Thousand Stars" during the festival of this genre celebrated at the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in May 2010 (from Doo-wop)
Image 18Beyoncé was named by Billboard the most successful female act of the 2000s. (from Contemporary R&B)
Image 19The Ramones in Toronto (1976) (from Doo-wop)
Image 20The Moonglows, 1956 (from Doo-wop)
Image 21The Animals in 1964 (from British rhythm and blues)
Image 22Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac onstage in 1970 (from British rhythm and blues)
Image 23Muddy Waters, a major influence on the movement, pictured in 1971 (from British rhythm and blues)