Cheryl James - American rapper and songwriter. She is best known as a member of the American Grammy–award winning female rap trio Salt-N-Pepa, which also includes Pepa and Spinderella.

Michael Brecker - American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of Music in 2004, and was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 2007. Raymond Davis - Original bass singer and one of the […]

Tracey Chapman - American singer-songwriter. Chapman is best known for her hit singles "Fast Car", "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", "Baby Can I Hold You", "Crossroads", and "Give Me One Reason". Chapman was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987.

Lowell Fulson - American blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. He also recorded for contractual reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T-Bone Walker, he was the most important figure in West Coast blues in the 1940s and 1950s. Herb Alpert - American trumpeter who led Herb Alpert & the […]

Gil Heron Scott - American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s.  

Jill Scott - American singer, songwriter, model, poet and actress. Her 2000 debut album, Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1, went platinum, and the follow-ups Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2 and The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3 both achieved gold status. Maya Angelou - American poet, memoirist, and […]

Bill Bland - American singer and songwriter. Tony Williams - American singer and lead vocalist from The Platters. Lenny Mayes - Member of the American soul music vocal group, T Nicholas Caldwell - American singer and co-founder of The Whispers.

Charlie Rouse - American hard bop tenor saxophonist and flautist. Richard "Popcorn" Wylie - American pianist, bandleader, songwriter, occasional singer, and record producer who was influential in the early years of Motown Records and was later known for his work on many records in the Northern soul genre. Donald Myrick - American saxophonist. He was […]

Billie Holiday - American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Ron "Have Mercy" Kersey - American keyboardist, […]

Deke Richards - American songwriter and record producer who was affiliated with Motown. He was a member of both The Clan and The Corporation, the latter a production team that wrote and produced some of The Jackson 5's early hits.

Cleotha Staples - American singer and member of R&B group, Staples Singers.

Herbie Hancock - American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, composer, and occasional actor. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Ron Louis Smith - Trumpet player and songwriter who is perhaps best remembered as an original member of one of the disco era’s biggest and most enduring bands, KC & the Sunshine Band.

Jerry Knight - American R&B vocalist and bassist who reached prominence in the late 1970s and early 1980s, during which he was part of several groups and had a brief solo career.

Mighty Sam McClain - American soul blues singer and songwriter. Jo Jo Benson - American R&B and soul singer better known under his stage name Jo Jo Benson. He was best known for his recordings in the late 1960s with Peggy Scott. Jeff Golub - American jazz guitarist who had a solo career and who […]

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - American singer and multi-instrumentalist from Louisiana known for his work as a blues musician. He spent his career fighting purism by synthesizing traditional blues and country, jazz, Cajun music and R&B. His work also encompasses rock and roll, rock, folk and Texas blues. Clyde Stubblefield - American drummer best known for […]

Bernie Worrell - American keyboardist and record producer best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic.

Luther Vandross - American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is noted for his sweet and soulful vocals. Pop Winans - American gospel music singer and band manager. Winans was best known as the manager of the gospel group The Winans during its early years in the 1980s and as the patriarch of the Winans […]

Bobby McClure - American soul singer. Forrest - American singer, based in the Netherlands. Robert Knight - American singer, best known for his 1967 recording of the song "Everlasting Love".

Charles Mingus - American jazz double bassist, pianist, composer, and bandleader.

Bobbi Humphrey - American jazz flautist and singer who plays jazz fusion, funk, and soul-jazz. Ella Fitzgerald - American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly […]

D.C. Larue - American singer, songwriter and producer. His music was successful in clubs and on dance music charts worldwide during the 1970s and early 1980s. Mike Francis - Italian singer and composer, born in Florence, Italy. Internationally, he was best known for his 1984 hit, "Survivor", and his collaborations with American singer Amii Stewart. […]

Ann Peebles - American singer and songwriter who gained celebrity for her Memphis soul albums of the 1970s for Hi Records. Two of her most popular songs are "I Can't Stand the Rain", which she wrote with her husband Don Bryant and radio broadcaster Bernie Miller, and "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down". Cuba Gooding […]

Too Short - American rapper and record producer. Steve Khan - American jazz guitarist.

Duke Ellington - American composer, pianist, and leader of a jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Toots Thielemans - Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for his chromatic harmonica playing, as well as his guitar, whistling skills, and composing. Dave Valentin - American Latin jazz flautist of Puerto Rican descent. […]