List of 2015 Pop Music Rhythm and Blues Music

Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born into a musical family on 9 August 1963, in Newark, New Jersey, the daughter of gospel star Cissy Houston, cousin of singing star Dionne Warwick and goddaughter of soul legend Aretha Franklin. She began singing in the choir at her church, The New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, as a young child and by the age of 15 was singing backing vocals professionally with her mother on Chaka Khan's 1978 hit, 'I'm Every Woman'. She went on to provide backing vocals for Lou Rawls, Jermaine Jackson and her own mother and worked briefly as a model, appearing on the cover of 'Seventeen' magazine in 1981.

She began working as a featured vocalist for the New York-based funk band Material and it was the quality of her vocal work with them that attracted the attention of the major record labels, including Arista with whom she signed in 1983 and where she stayed for the rest of her career. Her debut album, 'Whitney Houston', was released in 1985 and became the biggest-selling album by a debut artist. Several hit singles, including 'Saving All My Love For You', 'How Will I Know', 'You Give Good Love', and 'The Greatest Love of All', were released from the album, setting her up for a Beatles-beating seven consecutive US number ones. The album itself sold 3 million copies in its first year in the US and went on to sell 25 million worldwide, winning her the first of her six Grammies.

The 1987 follow-up album, 'Whitney', which included the hits 'Where Do Broken Hearts Go' and 'I Wanna Dance With Somebody', built on her success but it was the 1992 film The Bodyguard (1992) that sealed her place as one of the best-selling artists of all time. While the movie itself and her performance in it were not highly praised, the soundtrack album and her cover of the Dolly Parton song 'I Will Always Love You' topped the singles and albums charts for months and sold 44 million copies around the world. That same year she married ex-New Edition singer Bobby Brown with whom she had her only child, their daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown in March 1993. Her 2009 comeback album 'I Look To You' was positively received and sold well, her final acting performance was in Sparkle (2012) (a remake of the 1976 movie, Sparkle (1976)) Whitney Elizabeth Houston was an American singer,actress, producer, and model. In 2009, Guinness World Records cited her as the most awarded female act of all time.

Whitney Houston Live: Her Greatest Performances, the six-time Grammy-award winning singer's firstever live album, has made impressive Billboard chart debuts today, entering at #1 on the Billboard R&B chart, #2 on the R&B/Hip Hop chart and #17 on the Top 200, following its release Nov. 10 release on Sony Legacy Recordings. Available as a DVD and CD, the package features Houston's most memorable live performances from her storied career, reinforcing her as one of the greatest vocalists of all time. Both the audio and visual content have undergone state of the art restoration and remastering and the package has earned glowing media acclaim as well. USA TODAY called Houston "…The greatest pop-soul singer of her generation" and the LA TIMES said "…an exceptionally expressive song interpreter and a magnetic personality in concert." NEWSDAY stated that "Whitney Houston Live: Her Greatest Performances is the legendary performer at her best, singing live" and BET praised, "Whitney Houston was not only one of the greatest singers of all time, she was a legendary performer as well."Whitney Houston, the multimillion-selling singer who emerged in the 1980s as one of her generation's greatest R & B voices.

The term Rhythm and Blues, RnB, was first used by Billboard magazine in the late 1940's. RnB was an African-American urban sound that evolved from blues and jazz. In the late 1940's RnB was described as rocking and jazz based with a heavy and insistent beat. RnB was becoming popular
because of it dance ability. By 1949 the term had replaced Billboard's category Harlem Hit Parade. By the 1950's RnB was starting to define the sound of Rock n Roll. In the early fifties Little Richard started recording for RCA Records and by the mid fifties had hits with "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally." Fats Domino had a hit with "Ain't That a Shame." Bo Diddly and Chuck Berry would influence and create beats that became mainstays in Rock n Roll.

Rhythm performer and recording artist in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Ray Charles pioneered a
new style of music that became known as soul," a blend of gospel music, blues, and jazz that brought him worldwide fame. Ray Charles and blues (RnB), which combines soulful singing and a strong backbeat, was the most popular music created by and for African Americans between the end of World War II (1941- 45) and the early 1960s. Such Georgia artists as Ray Charles, Little Richard, and James Brown rank among the most influential and innovative R&B performers.

Surging employment during World War II accelerated the migration of the rural poor to cities and helped create a younger, more urban black audience. By 1946 the decade-long dominance of swing music was fading, but the demand for exciting dance music remained. Early RnB artists broke away from the big band formula by typically performing in small combos and emphasizing blues -style vocals and song structures. Saxophone and piano were still prominent, but electric guitar and bass added volume and intensity, making the new sound ideal for radio and jukeboxes. Billboard magazine coined the term rhythm and blues to rename its "race records" chart in 1949, reflecting changes in the social status, economic power, and musical tastes of African Americans. Promoted by new, independently owned record labels and radio stations marketed to blacks, R&B also captured the imagination of young white audiences and led directly to the popularity of rock and roll.

James Brown, and Aretha Franklin, was instrumental in pioneering soul music, a dynamic blend of gospel and rhythm and blues. Two of Brown's singles in 1965, Papa's Got a Brand New Bag-Part 1" and I Got You (I Feel Good)," were milestones of the genre. James Brown and Aretha Franklin
performer has been more influential than singer and bandleader James Brown. Brought up in Augusta, Brown became known as the "hardest- working man in show business" for his relentless
touring and explosive stage performances. His first hit was "Please, Please, Please" (1956). His million-selling Live at the Apollo album (1963) achieved unprecedented crossover success.

Starting with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)" in 1965, Brown evolved a new, funky style that emphasized intense rhythmic interplay between vocals, horns, guitar, and
drums. He was a constant presence on both R&B and pop charts through the social turmoil of the
1960s and early 1970s and achieved recognition not only as a performer but also as a symbol of
black pride and self-sufficiency.In 1986 Ray Charles, Little Richard, and James Brown were
among the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.The end of the
classic R&B period was marked by Billboard magazine's short-lived decision to combine its
pop and R&B charts in 1963. Since then "R&B" has been used more broadly to encompass a range of black musical genres, including soul, funk, disco, and rap.

Pop music (a term that originally derives from an abbreviation of "popular") is usually understood
to be commercially recorded music, often oriented towards a youth market, usually consisting of
relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes. Pop music has absorbed influences from most other forms of popular music, but as a genre is particularly associated with the rock and roll and later rock style. The phrase "pop music" was first coined around the middle of the 1920's, it meant a piece of music had "popular" appeal. Numerous things that took place during the recordings of the 20's could be seen as being the start of the modern day pop music industry, which includes rhythm and blues music, as well as, country, folk, and others.Pop music has been a profitable industry in America since the 19th century, but Early Pop/Rock is a style that took shape in the post- rock & roll era, once the more conservative elements of the record industry had come to terms with the new musical landscape. Popular culture is distributed across many forms of mass communication including newspapers, magazines, radio, television, movies, music, books and cheap novels, comics and cartoons, and advertising. It contrasts with high cultural art forms, such as opera, classical music and artworks, traditional theater and literature. In mass communication, the term popular culture refers to messages that make limited intellectual and aesthetic demands through content that is designed to amuse and entertain audiences.

Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of Katherine
and Joe Jackson's nine children. At the age of 5, Jackson began performing with his older brothers
in a music group coached by their steelworker father. In 1968, Motown Records signed the group,
which became known as the Jackson 5, and Michael Jackson, a natural showman, emerged as the lead singer and star. The Jackson 5's first album, released in 1969, featured the hit "I Want You
Back," and the group's brand of pop-soul-R&B music made them an immediate success. Their
musical popularity even led to their starring in their own TV cartoon series in the early 1970s.

Jackson released his first solo album, "Got to Be There," in 1972, while continuing to sing with
his brothers. Six years later, in 1978, he made his big-screen debut as the Scarecrow in "The
Wiz," an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. Directed by Quincy Jones, the film
starred an all-black cast that included singer Diana Ross as Dorothy. Jones collaborated with
Jackson on his 1979 album "Off the Wall," which sold some 7 million copies worldwide. The pair
teamed up again for Jackson's now-iconic 1982 album, "Thriller," which went on to sell 50
million copies around the globe, making it the best-selling studio album of all time. "Thriller"
is credited with jump-starting the era of music videos and playing a key role in the rise of then-fledging cable TV network MTV, which launched in 1981.With his record-breaking album
Thriller and such international hit singles as "Billie Jean" and "Beat It," Michael Jackson became the quintessential '80s pop star. Jackson's ability to blend r&b with pop, rock guitars with dance beats, combined with his cross-format radio success and innovative videos to create a pop music template that is still with us today.

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