What Black music artists do you all feel are the vanguards of the culture of Black music?

Robert Johnson

Louis Armstrong

Billie Holliday

Cab Calloway

Ethal Waters

Muddy Waters

Miles Davis

BB King

Billy Ecstine

Louis Jordan

Chuck Berry

Little Richard

Sam Cooke

Ray Charles

Berry Gordy

James Brown

Jimi Hendrix

Atha Franklin

Diana Ross

Al Green

Stevie Wonder

Marvin Gaye

Barry hite

George Clinton

Sly Stone

Patti LaBelle

Michael Jackson

Prince

Tupac

Notorious BIG

Mahalia Jackson

Thomas A. Dorsey

Clara Ward

Roberta Martin

Rosetta Tharp

The Dixie Hummingbirds

Sam Cooke

Little Richard

Fats Domino

Screaming Jay Hawkins

Dizzie Gillispie

Duke Ellington

Sarah Vaughn

Nina Simone

Etta James

Ella Fitzgerald

Charlie Parker

Jackie Wilson

Marvin gaye

James brown

Stevie Wonder

Aretha Franklin

Diana Ross

Dionne Warwick

Sly Stone

Michael Jackson

Prince

George Clinton

The Temptations

Ruth Brown

ray Charles

lavern baker

Solomon Burke

Otis Redding

Wilson Pickett

Van. Hunt.

RnBAmbassador said:

Using this definition:

Using this definition . . .

In rough chronological order, trying not to repeat --

Jazz * Jelly Roll Morton * Thelonious Monk * Dizzy Gillespie * John Coltrane * Sun Ra * Ornette Coleman

R&B/Soul (50s-70s) * Isaac Hayes * John Lee Hooker * Shuggie Otis * Smokey Robinson


R&B/Soul (80s-90s) * Teddy Riley


R&B/Soul (21st Century): * Me'Shell Ndegeocello * Van Hunt * Bilal * Janelle Monae * Erykah Badu (could have fit her in above but fits more squarely here)

Hip-Hop (1970s - Present) * Kool Herc * Run-DMC * Public Enemy * De La Soul * Prince Paul * A Tribe Called Quest * Dr. Dre * Digable Planets * Madlib * MF Doom (at least 1 or 2 hot MCs right now should be paying him royalties)

popgodazipa said:

RnBAmbassador said:

What Black music artists do you all feel are the vanguards of the culture of Black music?

Not trolling but seriously...do we need a Black Music Month?

In the sense that virtually all of the music that dominates our culture now IS "black music," maybe you're right; maybe it is repetitive.

But there is reason to celebrate it, insofar as the history of Black Music is in many ways American history.

Charlie Pride

Carolina Chocolate Drops

Johnny Mathis

Bettye LaVette

Al Green

Ed Motta

Bobby McFerrin

Shamekia Copeland

Johnny Ventura

André Watts

Buckwheat Zydeco

Jonathan Butler

Oumou Sangare

Fishbone

Naturally 7

Harleighblu

Sharon Jones

Tania León

Esperanza Spalding

Stanley Clarke

Ebony Hillbillies

Joan Armatrading

Tracy Chapman

Omara Portuondo

TTD/Sananda

Mel Waiters

Al Jarreau

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Stefon Harris & Blackout

Cassandra Wilson

Herbie Hancock

Audra McDonald

Marcus Miller

Rev. KM Williams