George Washington Benson is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist.
Corey Glover is an American singer, guitarist and actor. He is the lead vocalist of the rock band Living Colour and has toured as the vocalist for the funk band Galactic. As an actor, he played Francis in the 1986 war movie Platoon.
Michael Franti is an American rapper, musician, poet, activist, documentarian, and singer-songwriter, known for his participation in many musical projects, most with a political and social emphasis, including the Beatnigs and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. He is the creator and lead vocalist of his current independent project, Michael Franti & Spearhead, a band that blends hip hop with a variety of other styles including funk, reggae, jazz, folk, and rock. He is also an outspoken supporter for a wide spectrum of peace and social justice issues, and he is especially an advocate for peace in the Middle East.
Eli 'Paperboy' Reed is an American singer and songwriter. After graduating from Brookline [Massachusetts] High School in 2002 he moved to Clarksdale, Mississippi and immersed himself in the juke joint culture of the Deep South. After spending a year in Clarksdale he enrolled at The University of Chicago to study sociology. While in Chicago he hosted a radio show called 'We Got More Soul' on the college station WHPK and played organ and piano in the South Side Chicago church of the famed Soul/Gospel singer Mitty Collier. After one year of study in Chicago he returned home to Boston to focus on music, recording his first album Sings Walkin' & Talkin' & Other Smash Hits!
André Lauren Benjamin, better known as André 3000, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. He is best known for being a part of southern hip hop duo Outkast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi. Many publications, such as Billboard and Showbiz Cheatsheet have listed André 3000 as one of the top 10 rappers of all time. As an actor, Benjamin has made appearances in several films and television series, including Families, The Shield, Be Cool, Revolver, Semi-Pro, Four Brothers, and in the lead role of Jimi Hendrix in All Is by My Side. He currently plays Fredwynn on the AMC anthology series, Dispatches from Elsewhere.
Sandra Cristina Frederico de Sá is a Brazilian singer and songwriter.
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music. He first achieved success and recognition with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-inducted group The Impressions during the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and 1960s, and later worked as a solo artist.
Jason Thomas Mraz is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. In 2002 he released his debut studio album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, which contained the single 'The Remedy ' that reached number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, his first top-40 hit in the US. His second album, Mr. A-Z, released in 2005, peaked at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and sold over 100,000 copies in the US. In 2008 Mraz released his third studio album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. It debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 and was an international commercial success primarily due to the hit 'I'm Yours'. The song peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving him his first top ten single, spent a then-record 76 weeks on the Hot 100, and was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2019. His fourth album, Love Is a Four Letter Word, peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200, his highest-charting album to date.
David Clayton-Thomas is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the American band Blood, Sweat & Tears. Clayton-Thomas has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and in 2007 his jazz/rock composition 'Spinning Wheel' was enshrined in the Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame. In 2010 Clayton-Thomas received his star on Canada's Walk of Fame.
Freddie King was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the 'Three Kings of the Blues Guitar'. Mostly known for his soulful and powerful voice and distinctive guitar playing, King had a major influence on electric blues music and on many later blues guitarists.
Prince Rogers Nelson, known simply as Prince, or , was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, actor, and director. Widely regarded as one of the greatest musicians of his generation, he often played most or all instruments on his recordings. He was known for his flamboyant and androgynous persona, eclectic work, and wide vocal range, which included a far-reaching falsetto and high-pitched screams.
Mary Christine Brockert, known professionally as Teena Marie, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, arranger, and producer. She was known by her childhood nickname Tina before taking the stage name Teena Marie and later acquired the nickname Lady Tee, given to her by her collaborator and friend, Rick James.
Izear Luster 'Ike' Turner Jr. was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. An early pioneer of 1950s rock and roll, he is best known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s with his then-wife Tina Turner as the leader of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue.
Brian Patrick Carroll, known professionally as Buckethead, is an American musician, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He received critical acclaim for his innovative electric guitar playing. His music spans genres, including progressive metal, funk, blues, bluegrass, ambient, and avant-garde music. He performs primarily as a solo artist, although he collaborated with a wide variety of artists such as Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, Iggy Pop, Les Claypool, Serj Tankian, Bill Moseley, Mike Patton, Viggo Mortensen, That 1 Guy, Bassnectar, and Skating Polly. He was also a member of Guns N' Roses from 2000 to 2004. He has 315 studio albums, four special releases, and one EP. He performed on more than fifty albums by other artists.
Sylvester Stewart, better known by his stage name Sly Stone, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the development of funk with his pioneering fusion of soul, rock, psychedelia and gospel in the 1960s and 1970s. Crawdaddy! has called him 'the founder of progressive soul'.
William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. is an American film composer, jazz composer, record producer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a bassist. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonist David Sanborn, among others.
James Ambrose Johnson Jr., better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in his teen years. He was in various bands before entering the U.S. Navy to avoid being drafted into the army. In 1964, James deserted to Toronto, Canada, where he formed the rock band the Mynah Birds, who eventually signed a recording deal with Motown Records in 1966. James' career with the group halted after military authorities discovered his whereabouts and eventually convicted and sentenced James to a one-year prison term related to the desertion charges. After being released, James moved to California, where he started a variety of rock and funk groups in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
William Earl 'Bootsy' Collins is an American musician, singer and songwriter.
Tal Wilkenfeld is an Australian singer, songwriter, bassist and guitarist whose career began performing alongside artists including Jeff Beck, Prince, Eric Clapton, Herbie Hancock and Mick Jagger. In 2008, Wilkenfeld was voted 'The Year's Most Exciting New Player' by Bass Player magazine readers' choice poll. In 2013, Wilkenfeld was awarded Bass Player Magazine's 'Young Gun Award' by Don Was, where she performed 'Chelsea Hotel' by Leonard Cohen.
Krzysztof January Krawczyk was a Polish baritone pop singer, guitarist and composer. He was the vocalist of a popular Polish band, Trubadurzy, from 1963 to 1973 when he started his solo career. His creative activity in the area of music was characterized by a combination of various music genres such as rock and roll, country music and rhythm & blues. His album To co w życiu ważne reached number one on the Polish Music Charts.
Tim Maia was a Brazilian musician, songwriter, and businessman known for his iconoclastic, ironic, outspoken, and humorous musical style. Maia contributed to Brazilian music within a wide variety of musical genres, including soul, funk, bossa nova, disco, romantic ballads, pop, rock, jazz, baião and música popular brasileira (MPB). He introduced the soul style on the Brazilian musical scene. Along with Jorge Ben, Maia pioneered MPB's samba rock genre, combining samba, soul, and funk. He is recognized as one of the biggest icons in Brazilian music.
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, record producer, and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is often referred to by the honorific nicknames 'Godfather of Soul', 'Mr. Dynamite', and 'Soul Brother No. 1'. In a career that lasted over 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres. Brown was one of the first ten inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural induction in New York on January 23, 1986.
Louis Johnson was an American bass guitarist. Johnson was best known for his group the Brothers Johnson and his session playing on several hit albums of the 1970s and 1980s, including the best selling album of all time, Michael Jackson's Thriller.
Stephen Ray Vaughan was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock band Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career only spanned seven years, he is considered to be one of the most iconic and influential musicians in the history of blues music, and one of the greatest guitarists of all time.
OutKast's official music video for Hey Ya!.