Prince

Few artists have created a body of work as rich and varied as Prince. During the ’80s, he emerged as one of the most singular talents of the rock & roll era, capable of seamlessly tying together pop, funk, folk, and rock. Not only did he release a series of groundbreaking albums; he toured frequently, produced albums and wrote songs for many other artists, and recorded hundreds of songs that still lie unreleased in his vaults. With each album he released, Prince has shown remarkable stylistic growth and musical diversity, constantly experimenting with different sounds, textures, and genres. Occasionally, his music can be maddeningly inconsistent because of this eclecticism, but his experiments frequently succeed; no other contemporary artist can blend so many diverse styles into a cohesive whole.

Prince’s first two albums were solid, if unremarkable, late-’70s funk-pop. With 1980’s Dirty Mind, he recorded his first masterpiece, a one-man tour de force of sex and music; it was hard funk, catchy Beatlesque melodies, sweet soul ballads, and rocking guitar pop, all at once. The follow-up, Controversy, was more of the same, but 1999 was brilliant. The album was a monster hit, selling over three million copies, but it was nothing compared to 1984’s Purple Rain.

Purple Rain made Prince a superstar; it eventually sold over ten million copies in the U.S. and spent 24 weeks at number one. Partially recorded with his touring band, the Revolution, the record featured the most pop-oriented music he has ever made. Instead of continuing in this accessible direction, he veered off into the bizarre psycho-psychedelia of Around the World in a Day, which nevertheless sold over two million copies. In 1986, he released the even stranger Parade, which was in its own way as ambitious and intricate as any art rock of the ’60s; however, no art rock was ever grounded with a hit as brilliant as the spare funk of “Kiss.”

By 1987, Prince’s ambitions were growing by leaps and bounds, resulting in the sprawling masterpiece Sign ‘O’ the Times. Prince was set to release the hard funk of The Black Album by the end of the year, yet he withdrew it just before its release, deciding it was too dark and immoral. Instead, he released the confused Lovesexy in 1988, which was a commercial disaster. With the soundtrack to 1989’s Batman he returned to the top of the charts, even if the album was essentially a recap of everything he had done before. The following year he released Graffiti Bridge, the sequel to Purple Rain, which turned out to be a considerable commercial disappointment.

In 1991, Prince formed the New Power Generation, the best and most versatile and talented band he has ever assembled. With their first album, Diamonds and Pearls, Prince reasserted his mastery of contemporary R&B; it was his biggest hit since 1985. The following year, he released his 12th album, which was titled with a cryptic symbol; in 1993, Prince legally changed his name to the symbol. In 1994, after becoming embroiled in contract disagreements with Warner Bros., he independently released the single “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” likely to illustrate what he would be capable of on his own; the song became his biggest hit in years. Later that summer, Warner released the somewhat halfhearted Come under the name of Prince; the record was a moderate success, going gold.

In November 1994, as part of a contractual obligation, Prince agreed to the official release of The Black Album. In early 1995, he immersed himself in another legal battle with Warner, proclaiming himself a slave and refusing to deliver his new record, The Gold Experience, for release. By the end of the summer, a fed-up Warner had negotiated a compromise that guaranteed the album’s release, plus one final record for the label. The Gold Experience was issued in the fall; although it received good reviews and was following a smash single, it failed to catch fire commercially. In the summer of 1996, Prince released Chaos & Disorder, which freed him to become an independent artist. Setting up his own label, NPG (which was distributed by EMI), he resurfaced later that same year with the three-disc Emancipation, which was designed as a magnum opus that would spin off singles for several years and be supported with several tours.
However, even his devoted cult following needed considerable time to digest such an enormous compilation of songs. Once it was clear that Emancipation wasn’t the commercial blockbuster he hoped it would be, Prince assembled a long-awaited collection of outtakes and unreleased material called Crystal Ball in 1998. With Crystal Ball, Prince discovered that it’s much more difficult to get records to an audience than it seems; some fans who pre-ordered their copies through Prince’s website (from which a bonus fifth disc was included) didn’t receive them until months after the set began appearing in stores. Prince then released a new one-man album, New Power Soul, just three months after Crystal Ball; even though it was his most straightforward album since Diamonds and Pearls, it didn’t do well on the charts, partly because many listeners didn’t realize it had been released.

A year later, with “1999″ predictably an end-of-the-millennium anthem, Prince issued the remix collection 1999 (The New Master). A collection of Warner Bros.-era leftovers, Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale, followed that summer, and in the fall Prince returned on Arista with the all-star Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic.

In the fall of 2001 he released the controversial Rainbow Children, a jazz-infused circus of sound trumpeting his conversion to the Jehovah’s Witnesses that left many longtime fans out in the cold. He further isolated himself with 2003’s N.E.W.S., a four-song set of instrumental jams that sounded a lot more fun to play than to listen to. Prince rebounded in 2003 with the chart-topping Musicology, a return to form that found the artist back in the Top Ten, even garnering a Grammy nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 2005. In early 2006 he was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, performing two songs with a new protégée, R&B singer Tamar. A four-song appearance at the Brit Awards with Wendy, Lisa, and Sheila E. followed. Both appearances previewed tracks from 3121, which hit number one on the album charts soon after its release in March 2006. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Donny Hathaway

by Steve Huey

Donny Hathaway was one of the brightest new voices in soul music at the dawn of the ’70s, possessed of a smooth, gospel-inflected romantic croon that was also at home on fiery protest material. Hathaway achieved his greatest commercial success as Roberta Flack’s duet partner of choice, but sadly he’s equally remembered for the tragic circumstances of his death — an apparent suicide at age 33. Hathaway was born October 1, 1945, in Chicago, but moved to St. Louis when he was very young, and began singing in church with his grandmother at the scant age of three. He began playing piano at a young age, and by high school, he was impressive enough to win a full-ride fine arts scholarship to Howard University to study music in 1964. While in college, he performed with a cocktail jazz outfit called the Ric Powell Trio, and wound up leaving school after three years to pursue job opportunities he was already being offered in the record industry.

Hathaway first worked behind the scenes as a producer, arranger, songwriter, and session pianist/keyboardist. He supported the likes of Aretha Franklin, Jerry Butler, and the Staple Singers, among many others, and joined the Mayfield Singers, a studio backing group that supported Curtis Mayfield’s Impressions. Hathaway soon became a house producer at Mayfield’s Curtom label, and in 1969 cut his first single, a duet with June Conquest called “I Thank You Baby.” From there he signed with Atco as a solo artist, and released his debut single, the inner-city lament “The Ghetto, Pt. 1,” toward the end of the year. While it failed to reach the Top 20 on the R&B charts, “The Ghetto” still ranks as a classic soul message track, and has been sampled by numerous hip-hop artists. “The Ghetto” set the stage for Hathaway’s acclaimed debut LP, Everything Is Everything, which was released in early 1970. In 1971, he released his eponymous second album and recorded a duet with former Howard classmate Roberta Flack, covering James Taylor’s “You’ve Got a Friend.” It was a significant hit, reaching the Top Ten on the R&B charts, and sparked a full album of duets, Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, which was released in 1972. The soft, romantic ballad “Where Is the Love?” topped the R&B charts, went Top Five on the pop side, and won a Grammy, and the accompanying album went gold.

Also in 1972, Hathaway branched out into soundtrack work, recording the theme song for the TV series Maude and scoring the film Come Back Charleston Blue. However, in the midst of his blossoming success, he was also battling severe bouts of depression, which occasionally required him to be hospitalized. His mood swings also affected his partnership with Flack, which began to crumble in 1973. Hathaway released one more album that year, the ambitious Extension of a Man, and then retreated from the spotlight; over the next few years, he performed only in small clubs. In 1977, Hathaway patched things up with Flack and temporarily left the hospital to record another duet, “The Closer I Get to You,” for her Blue Lights in the Basement album. The song was a smash, becoming the pair’s second R&B number one in 1978, and also climbing to number two on the pop charts. Sessions for a second album of duets were underway when, on January 13, 1979, Hathaway was found dead on the sidewalk below the 15th-floor window of his room in New York’s Essex House. The glass had been neatly removed from the window, and there were no signs of struggle, leading investigators to rule Hathaway’s death a suicide; his friends were mystified, considering that his career had just started to pick up again, and Flack was devastated. Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway was released in 1980, and both of the completed duets — “Back Together Again” and “You Are My Heaven” — became posthumous hits. In 1990, Hathaway’s daughter Lalah launched a solo career.

Percy Sledge

Percy Sledge will forever be associated with “When a Man Loves a Woman,” a pleading, soulful ballad he sang with wrenching, convincing anguish and passion. Sledge sang all of his songs that way, delivering them in a powerful rush where he quickly changed from soulful belting to quavering, tearful pleas. It was a voice that made him one of the key figures of deep Southern soul during the late ’60s. Sledge recorded at Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama, where he frequently sang songs written by Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn. Not only did he sing deep soul, but Sledge was among the pioneers of country-soul, singing songs by Charlie Rich and Kris Kristofferson in a gritty, passionate style. During the ’70s, his commercial success quickly faded away, but Sledge continued to tour and record into the ’90s.

While he worked as a hospital nurse in the early ’60s, Sledge began his professional music career as a member of the Southern soul vocal group the Esquires Combo. On the advice of local disc jockey Quin Ivy, he went solo in 1966. Ivy fancied himself a record producer and he agreed to help shape Sledge’s song “When a Man Loves a Woman” into a full-fledged single, hiring Spooner Oldham to play a distinctive, legato organ phrase. Ivy released the single independently and quickly licensed it to Atlantic Records, who quickly bought out Sledge’s contract. “When a Man Loves a Woman” became a huge hit in the summer of 1966, topping both the pop and R&B charts. It was quickly followed that year by two Top Ten R&B hits, “Warm and Tender Love” and “It Tears Me Up,” which were both in the vein of his first hit. Although few of his subsequent singles were hits — only “Take Time to Know Her” reached the R&B Top Ten in 1968 — many of the songs, which were often written by Dan Penn and/or Oldham, were acknowledged as classics among soul aficionados.

Despite his strong reputation among deep soul fans, Sledge’s sales had declined considerably by the early ’70s, and he headed out on the club circuit in America and England. In 1974, he left Atlantic for Capricorn Records, where he surprisingly returned to the R&B Top 20 with “I’ll Be Your Everything.” Instead of re-igniting his career, the single was a last gasp, as far as chart success was concerned. Over the next two decades he continued to tour, and in the late ’80s, “When a Man Loves a Woman” experienced a resurgence in popularity, due to its inclusion in movie soundtracks and in television commercials. Following its appearance in a 1987 Levi commercial in the U.K., the single was re-released and climbed to number two. Two years later, he won the Rhythm and Blues Foundation’s Career Achievement Award. Sledge was able to turn this revived popularity into a successful career by touring constantly, playing over 100 shows a year into the ’90s. In 1994, he released Blue Night, his first collection of new material in over a decade, to uniformly positive reviews. (Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

Percy’s 1967 hit “Take time To Know Her, ” was a prime example of the role Percy played as an innovator of the Country/Soul music movement. In the late 1970’s, other good examples are Percy’s own renditions of Ray Price’s “For The Good Times, or Charley Pride’s “Kiss An Angel Good Morning”. In 1979, Percy Sledge made updated recordings of all of his hits on the state-of-the-art equipment at Gusto King Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Those songs, along with many other classic pop, country, soul and R&B recordings by Percy Sledge, round out a special era by “The Golden Voice Of Soul” and he never sounded better.

Curtis Mayfield

Rhythm and blues singer, songwriter, and producer. Born June 3, 1942, in Chicago, Illinois. In his four decades in the music business, Mayfield helped bring a unique racial consciousness to popular music and introduced an innovative sound that greatly influenced following generations of musicians.

Mayfield began singing by the age of seven; he also taught himself to play guitar, led his own gospel and soul group, the Alphatones, and began composing music and writing lyrics before he was a teenager. In 1956, Mayfield moved with his family to the North Side of Chicago, where he met the singer Jerry Butler while performing in a church choir. Butler convinced the 14-year-old Mayfield to join his soul band, then called the Roosters. Two years later, after renaming itself the Impressions, the group scored a No. 11 hit with “For Your Precious Love.”

After Butler left the Impressions to pursue a solo career, the group reformed with Mayfield as its leader. Mayfield wrote the songs, produced the records, played guitar and sang lead. During the 1960s, the heyday of the Impressions, the group brought its potent mixture of gospel, soul, and doo-wop to a total of 14 Top 10 recordings, including “Gypsy Woman” and “It’s All Right.” In 1964, with the hit song “Keep on Pushing,” Mayfield became one of the first R&B singer-songwriters to bring a racial and political consciousness to his music. “Keep on Pushing,” along with other inspirational anthems such as “People Get Ready” and “I’m So Proud,” established Mayfield as one of the pioneers of soul music and as a singular voice of the civil rights movement.
In 1970, Mayfield began a solo career, recording a series of albums and working as a producer for artists like Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight and the Pips. His most memorable solo project was the classic 1972 funk album Superfly, the soundtrack to the hit “blaxploitation” film of the same name. Superfly was the No. 1 album on the pop charts for four weeks and solidified Mayfield’s legacy as one of the late-20th century’s most innovative songwriters and performers.

Though his popularity began to fade in the late 1970s with the rise of disco, Mayfield continued to record hopeful, inspirational music and tour actively in the United States, Europe, and Japan. In 1990, during an outdoor concert in Brooklyn, New York, a lighting scaffold fell on Mayfield; the accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. The amazingly indefatigable musician continued to compose and record music, learning to sing while lying flat on his back and letting gravity create the necessary pressure on his lungs. In 1996, the year after he received a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement, Mayfield released his final album, New World Order.

In the years following his accident, Mayfield’s health had continued to deteriorate, and in 1998 his right leg was amputated due to complications from diabetes. On December 26, 1999, Mayfield died at the age of 57. A two-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (he gained admission with the Impressions in 1991 and as a solo performer in 1999), Mayfield had been living in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife, Altheida. He had 10 children and seven grandchildren.

His influence on other performers was undeniable. As early as the 1960s, performers like Sam Cooke, James Brown, and Marvin Gaye had followed Mayfield’s lead and brought a new kind of social awareness to their music. In the 1990s, he inspired two different tribute albums (including 1994’s All Men are Brothers: A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield, featuring Whitney Houston, Elton John, the Isley Brothers, and Aretha Franklin) and his songs were sampled or covered by a host of performers, from rappers like Snoop Doggy Dogg, L.L. Cool J, Coolio, and Dr. Dre to singers like Herbie Hancock, Deneice Williams, En Vogue, and Mary J. Blige.

© Crystal Reference 2003. www.crystalreference.com

Stevie Wonder

When one is called upon to define musical genius, few would have any difficulty associating Stevie Wonders’ creativity with the term. His ability to “see” the world’s ugly inhabitants as well as the world’s beautifulness and then transcribing what he has “seen” is nothing short of genius. My first contact with this genius was back in the early 70’s. Even though I remembered such songs as “Fingertips”, “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Sylvia”, it wasn’t until the release of Where I’m Coming From and Music of My Mind that I came to realize that in the embodiment of Stevie was exactly “where I was coming from”. It was like he was writing words from my mind and putting them to music. Stevie represented, during that time period, my emotional self. He represented in the words that he wrote the human encounter’s that I would make during the coming decades. These words as they related to his personal life, mirrored to some extent, my life. The struggle to live and love poetically prosed. His genius was the wave that I rode. It was the wave that many of us rode.

When he introduced the albums Talking Book and Innervisions, he rose the wave to another level. He was now speaking of the people’s struggle to be free. To be treated as human beings. To be respected as human beings. He was articulating the ideologies of Malcolm, Gil, et al; through the genius of his writings.

I would be remiss if I did not mention another example of his genius. Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants which had to have been his most ambitious work ever, was not well received by the general populace, due in large part because it was off the beaten path. But Stevie knew where he was going, and so did I.. Journey was a preface to our current environmental predicament. It was eloquently phrased with reminders that we must stop taking the things that give us life for granted. Of the many albums that Stevie has produced over the many years, I have found that Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants was his best work ever.

Sam Cooke

Sam Cooke was born in Chicago, Illinois on January 22, 1931. He was one of eight children of Charles Cook Sr., who was a Baptist minister. When Sam sang as a little boy in church, everyone made note that his voice had “something special”. He sang in Church and in local gospel choirs until a group called the Highway Q.C.’s asked him to sing with them at various venues. By the time Cooke reached 20, his voice was a finely honed instrument and he was noted for bringing the spirit up in church-goers.

When Sam replaced R.H. Harris, the legendary lead singer for the extremely popular gospel group called ‘The Soul Stirrers’, it was the beginning of Sam’s meteoric rise. Cooke sang with the group for six years, traveling back and forth across the country and gained a wealth of knowledge regarding how black people were treated. His refusal to sing at a segregated concert led to what many have described as one of the first real efforts in civil disobedience and helped usher in the new Civil Rights Movement.

After several Gospel Albums, Sam decided it was time to crossover from gospel (And against almost everyone’s wishes.) to record some soul and rhythm & blues. Because of his good looks and intonation he was an instant success. His first single released in 1957 was “You Send Me” and sold over a million copies, which made Sam an “overnight success” in the business. He was on his way to becoming the biggest voice on the radio. Record producers vied to sign him to a contract. In 1960, Cooke became the first major black artist to sign with RCA Records. Sam was not happy with the deal and when the time was right, decided to start his own publishing company (KAGS Music) to keep control over his music and his own record company (SAR/Derby) to keep control of his money.

Sam married his high school sweetheart, Barbara Campbell, in 1959 and had they had three children. Tragically, Vincent their youngest, drowned in their swimming pool at age four in June 1964.

On the night of December 11, 1964, Cooke was set up to be robbed of Christmas money he’d withdrawn earlier in the day for gifts. After the robbery, he was murdered by Motel Manager - Bertha Franklin, who’d shot and killed a man six months earlier at the same motel. That night, Sam picked up Elisa Boyer, a call-girl (known for “rolling drunks” and escaping with whatever she could when they were passed out, or knocked out.) in a bar at a restaurant. They went to a seedy motel in Watts and registered as Mr. and Mrs. Sam Cooke. After going into the room, Cooke was clubbed in the head and knocked out momentarily. Boyer grabbed his clothes and ran to the motel office to split the money with Bertha Franklin.

When Cooke came to he was disoriented, pant-less and wallet-less. He stumbled to the motel office and saw Boyer and Franklin counting his money ($2,500. in 1960 dollars was a LOT) through the window. He demanded his pants, money and wallet back. When they didn’t open the door, Cooke knocked on it as hard as he could and it came off the hinges. When he got up off the floor, Mrs. Franklin shot him then instructed Boyer to run down the street and call police from a phone booth. Boyer told them a phony story about a rape and left the scene and subsequently disappeared. Sam was dead when the police arrived and since Boyer had stolen his wallet they had no idea who it was and took it as a routine justified homicide in the ghetto.

The coroner’s inquest was a slam dunk … not one pertinent question asked by an investigator, or back round check of Bertha Franklin’s shooting past. They simply took her made up story for what actually happened. Sam’s murder was just chalked up to just another unidentified “rapist” killed in Watts. Until the next Monday morning when a reporter found out Sam Cooke was signed in to the motel registry as himself and that one of the world’s greatest talents and a true human being was dead, under shady circumstances that might never be covered by the media, since it’s been 45 years.

IMDb Mini Biography By: D. G. Balazs

Otis Redding

One of the most influential soul singers of the 1960s, Otis Redding exemplified to many listeners the power of Southern “deep soul” — hoarse, gritty vocals, brassy arrangements, and an emotional way with both party tunes and aching ballads. He was also the most consistent exponent of the Stax sound, cutting his records at the Memphis label/studios that did much to update R&B into modern soul. His death at the age of 26 was tragic not just because he seemed on the verge of breaking through to a wide pop audience (which he would indeed do with his posthumous number one single, “[Sittin’ On] The Dock of the Bay”). It was also unfortunate because, as “Dock of the Bay” demonstrated, he was also at a point of artistic breakthrough in terms of the expression and sophistication of his songwriting and singing.

Although Redding at his peak was viewed as a consummate, versatile showman, he began his recording career in the early ’60s as a Little Richard-styled shouter. The Georgian was working in the band of guitarist Johnny Jenkins at the time, and in 1962 he took advantage of an opportunity to record the ballad “These Arms of Mine” at a Jenkins session. When it became an R&B hit, Redding’s solo career was truly on its way, though the hits didn’t really start to fly until 1965 and 1966, when “Mr. Pitiful,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” “I Can’t Turn You Loose,” a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction,” and “Respect” (later turned into a huge pop smash by Aretha Franklin) were all big sellers.

Redding wrote much of his own material, sometimes with the assistance of Booker T. & the MG’s guitarist Steve Cropper. Yet at the time, Redding’s success was primarily confined to the soul market; his singles charted only mildly on the pop listings. He was nonetheless tremendously respected by many white groups, particularly the Rolling Stones, who covered Redding’s “That’s How Strong My Love Is” and “Pain in My Heart.” (Redding also returned the favor with “Satisfaction.”)

One of Redding’s biggest hits was a duet with fellow Stax star Carla Thomas, “Tramp,” in 1967. That was the same year he began to show signs of making major inroads into the white audience, particularly with a well-received performance at the Monterey Pop Festival (also issued on record). Redding’s biggest triumph, however, came just days before his death, when he recorded the wistful “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” which represented a significant leap as far as examination of more intensely personal emotions. Also highlighted by crisp Cropper guitar leads and dignified horns, it rose to the top of the pop charts in early 1968.

Redding, however, had perished in a plane crash in Wisconsin on December 10, 1967, in an accident that also took the lives of four members from his backup band, the Bar-Kays. A few other singles became posthumous hits, and a good amount of other unreleased material was issued in the wake of his death. These releases weren’t purely exploitative in nature, in fact containing some pretty interesting music, and little that could be considered embarrassing. What Redding might have achieved, or what directions he might have explored, are among the countless tantalizing “what if” questions in rock & roll history. As it is, he did record a considerable wealth of music at Stax, which is now available on thoughtfully archived reissues.

James Brown

Mr. James Brown’s dynamic showmanship remains timeless. His style has been celebrated throughout generations. As one of the most sampled artists to date, he has more honors attached to his name than any other performer in music history.

Mr. Brown is a three-figure hitmaker with 114 total entries on Billboard’s R&B singles charts and 94 that made the Hot 100 singles chart. Seventeen of these hits reached number one, a feat topped only by Stevie Wonder and Louis Jordan. Mr. Brown is still putting that “Good Foot” forward with new recordings and protoges such as Derrick Monk, Laurice Monica and Roosevelt Johnson.

Mr. Brown’s life history contains many triumphs over adversity.

He was born in South Carolina during the Great Depression. As a child, he picked cotton, danced for spare change and shined shoes. At 16, he landed in reform school for three years where he met Bobby Byrd, leader of a gospel group and life-long friend. Mr. Brown tried semi-pro boxing and baseball, but a leg injury put him on the path to pursue music as a career.

James Brown joined his friend Bobby Byrd in a group that sang gospel in and around Toccoa, Georgia. After seeing Hank Ballard and Fats Domino in a blues revue, Byrd and Brown were lured into the realm of secular music. Naming their band the Flames, they formed a tightly knit ensemble of singers, dancers and multi-instrumentalists.

Over the years, while maintaining a grueling touring schedule, James Brown amassed 800 songs in his repertoire.

Mr. Brown became an icon of the music industry. With his signature one-three beat, James Brown directly influenced the evolutionary beat of soul music in the Sixties, funk music in the Seventies and rap music in the Eighties.

Mr. Brown instilled the essence of R&B with recordings under the King and Federal labels throughout the Sixties. With albums such as “Live at the Apollo”, Mr. Brown captured the energy and hysteria generated by his live performances. People who had never seen him in person could hear and feel the excitement of him screaming and hollering until his back was soaking wet. Convinced that such an album would not sell, King Records refused to produce the album.

Mr. Brown put up his own money and recorded the performance at the Apollo Theater in 1962.

Released nearly a year later, “Live At The Apollo” went to Number Two on Billboard’s album chart, an unprecedented feat for a live R&B album. Radio stations played it with a frequency formerly reserved for singles, and attendance at Mr. Brown’s concerts mushroomed.

As the leader of the James Brown Revue (The J.B.’s), James Brown sweated off up to seven pounds a night through captivating performances. His furious regimen of spins, drops, and shtick such as feigning a heart attack thrilled crowds. The ritual donning of capes and skintight rhythm & blues became part of his personal trademark as a performer.

Mr. Brown’s transformation of gospel fervor into the taut, explosive intensity of rhythm & blues, combined with precision choreography and dynamic showmanship, defined the direction of black music from the release of his first R&B hit (”Please Please Please”) in 1956. In 1965, Brown scored his first Top 10 pop single with “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag,” and the hits kept coming one after another for the next decade.

The gospel and blues structure of his early records gave way to rhythmic vocals and a complex funk sound. His innovations during this period had a profound influence on popular music styles around the world, including funk, rock, Afro-pop, disco and eventually rap.

James Brown’s status as “The Godfather of Soul” remains undiminished. He continues to influence new generations of fans who often hear his funk grooves as samples on rap recordings. A charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Mr. Brown added to his collection of accolades when he received a lifetime achievement Grammy Award in 1992.

James, Brown (2006). James Brown - Biography. Retrieved February
7, 2007, from Godfather of Soul Web site: http://www.godfatherofsoul.com/man/biography.html

Al Green

Soul Legend Al Green was born in Forrest City, Arkansas in 1946, and began performing at age nine as part of his father’s gospel group, the Green Brothers. During the 1950’s, the quartet toured the South, but the Green family later moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Al Green formed a new R&B group, Al Green and the Creations. The Creations became the Soul Mates, and in 1968 the group scored an R&B Top 5 single with Back Up Train.

In 1969, Green began a solo career in close collaboration with producer Willie Mitchell, releasing his debut album Green is Blues the following year. His 1970 follow-up Al Green Gets Next to You went gold thanks to the hit single Tired of Being Along, while 1972’s Let’s Stay Together reached the Top 10 when its title track hit No. 1. Another 1972 release I’m Still in Love With You reached No. 4, while 1973’s Call Me contained three Top 10 singles, Her I Am, Call Me and “Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy). Al Green was now an R&B superstar, known for his soulful voice, interesting musical arrangements and energetic live shows.

After the tragic death of his girlfriend Mary Woodson in 1974, Green found God and became a preacher at the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis, where he still preaches to this day. He recorded several gospel albums during the 1970’s and early ’80’s, returning to the mainstream in the late ’80’s with a cover of Put a Little Love in Your Heart with Annie Lennox, and the top 40 R&B single As Long as We’re Together, a duet with Al B. Sure.

By 1995 Green’s comeback was assured, with the release of Your Heart’s in Good Hands. That same year, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an honor that was well-deserved.

Luther Vandross

He was the heartbeat of R&B during the 1980s and 1990s, yet led a productive singing and songwriting life prior to this preeminence. The soul balladeer’s strong commitment to the art of music continued on its Grammy-winning course even after an acute stroke in 2003 left him severely incapacitated and unable to continue public appearances.

Luther Ronzoni Vandross was born in New York in 1951, the baby of four children. His father, also named Luther, was an upholsterer who died of diabetes when the singer was just 8. Despite this sadness, his mother, a practical nurse, made sure that music was prevalent in the Vandross household, particularly gospel, soul and doo-wop. Luther was influenced by older sister Patricia, who became a member of a doo-wop group called The Crests, and scored with “16 Candles,” a 1958 hit.

In high school Luther formed his own musical group and first started to write and compose. His first big songwriting break came with “Everybody Rejoice (Can You Feel a Brand New Day)” which was used for the Broadway stage and film productions of “The Wiz.” He also sang in the film’s choir selections. In the 1970s, while still working his way up, Luther voiced commercial jingles (Kentucky Fried Chicken) and provided backup vocals on tour and in session work for such notables as David Bowie, Chaka Khan, Barbra Streisand, Carly Simon, Bette Midler and Donna Summer.

After performing with a short-lived singing group called Luther, which was formed to include the talented musicians Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, who later formed the group Chic, Luther returned to the background and took part in various projects for Quincy Jones and others.

Insisting on creative control, Luther had a difficult time finding the right contract for himself in record-making. At age 30 he finally recorded his first solo album with the No. 1 R&B and “Top 20″ pop chartmaker “Never Too Much.” He continued steadily with such albums as “Forever, for Always, for Love” in 1982 and “Give Me the Reasons” (1986), but it wasn’t until 1989 that he had his first “Top 10″ single with “Here and Now” (No. 6) which finally placed him securely on the love song pedestal. Such other No. 1 R&B singles would include “Stop to Love,” “There’s Nothing Better than Love” and “Any Love.” A minimalist stylist whose eloquent, velvety renditions were accentuated by spot-on phrasing and effortless vocal control, his image quickly led to such unwelcome sobriquets as “master of bedroom music” and the restrictive label of being a “ladies only” act.

He was also besieged by a wealth of other personal and health problems. A binge eater, his weight fluctuated throughout his career with his 6′ 3″ frame handling a diversity of 190 to 340 pounds at various stages, aggravated by constant career pressures and a roller coaster personal and romantic life. Moreover, Luther suffered from a mild form of diabetes, the disease that took the life of his father. In 1986, he was the driver in a 1986 car crash that killed one passenger (a close friend) with a charge of vehicular manslaughter finally reduced to reckless driving (speeding).

The 1990s seemed, career-wise, stronger than ever again with a Top 40 hit dueting with Mariah Carey in 1994 on “My Endless Love” and the release of his No. 1 R&B signature version of “Always and Forever” (1994). He also made his motion picture debut with Robert Townsend’s The Meteor Man (1993). Throughout his career Luther continued to write and produce for other artists including Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick, Teddy Pendergrass, Cheryl Lynn and Aretha Franklin. Following his massive April 2003 stroke, he made a phantom return to the spotlight with the release of his 2003 CD “Dance With My Father,” which was recorded prior to his illness. At the awards show, the absent Luther was rewarded with four Grammys, including song of the year. The success also gave him his first No. 1 album on the pop chart and four NAACP Image Awards.

The beloved 54-year-old musician died at JFK Medical Center in Edision, New Jersey, of his lingering complications and was survived by his Evangelist mother Mary Ida Vandross, who was instrumental in promoting her son’s last work to Grammy glory following his severe debilitation.

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