Yolanda Adams

Yolanda Adams (born on August 27, 1961) is an American Grammy- and Dove-award-winning Gospel music singer and radio show host. As of September 2009, she had sold 4.5 million albums since 1991 in the United States, according to SoundScan.On December 11, 2009 Billboard Magazine named her the #1 Gospel Artist of the last decade.In the same chart, her album “Mountain High…Valley Low” was acknowledged as the best gospel album.

In 2000, Adams released a Christmas album, and in 2001 she released a live album (The Experience). The Experience netted Adams a second Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album. Believe, which included the hit “Never Give Up” was released in 2001 and reached gold status according to the RIAA. She would later go on to perform this song at “The Salute to Gospel Music” at the White House during President George W. Bush’s administration. In 2001, Adams also released a compilation CD entitled The Divas Of Gospel; it included the legendary Grammy Award Winner Albertina Walker, who is considered the “queen of gospel music.”

Adams recorded a song for the 2003 film, Honey titled “I Believe” that played during the last scene in the final dance. Adams was also a judge for the 2nd annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists’ careers.

 

James Brown

James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. Eventually referred to as The Godfather of Soul, Brown started singing in gospel groups and worked his way on up.He has been recognized as one of the most iconic figures in the 20th century popular music and was renowned for his vocals and feverish dancing. He was also called “the hardest-working man in show business”.

Brown’s career spanned decades, and profoundly influenced the development of many different musical genres.Brown moves on a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly Africanised approach to music making.Brown performed in concerts, first making his rounds across the “chitlin’ circuit”, and then across the country and later around the world, along with appearing in shows on television and in movies. Although he contributed much to the music world through his hitmaking, Brown holds the record as the artist who charted the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100 without ever hitting number one on that chart.

A trademark feature of Brown’s stage shows, usually during the song “Please, Please, Please”, involved Brown dropping to his knees while clutching the microphone stand in his hands, prompting the show’s MC to come out, drape a cape over Brown’s shoulders and escort him off the stage after he had worked himself to exhaustion during his performance. As Brown was escorted off the stage by the MC, Brown’s vocal group, The Famous Flames, continued singing the background vocals “Please, please don’t go-oh-oh”. Brown would then shake off the cape and stagger back to the microphone to perform an encore. Brown’s routine was inspired by a similar one used by the professional wrestler Gorgeous George.

Brown performs a version of the cape routine over the closing credits of the film Blues Brothers 2000. During the 49th Annual Grammy Awards presentation held on February 11, 2007, James Brown’s famous cape was draped over a microphone at the end of a montage by Danny Ray (his M.C. for over 30 years), in honor of notable persons in the music industry, including Brown, who died during the previous year. Earlier that evening, Christina Aguilera delivered an impassioned performance of one of Brown’s hits, “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” followed by a standing ovation, while Chris Brown performed a dance routine in honor of James Brown.

 

Beyonce

Beyoncé Knowles ( born September 4, 1981), often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American R&B recording artist, actress and fashion designer. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny’s Child, one of the world’s best-selling girl groups of all time.  During the hiatus of Destiny’s Child, Knowles released her debut solo album Dangerously in Love in 2003 became one of the most successful albums of that year, earning her a then record-tying five Grammy Awards. Her second solo album, B’Day in 2006 debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Her third solo album I Am… Sasha Fierce was released in 2008, and earned her six Grammys at the 52nd Grammy Awards, breaking the record for most Grammy Awards  won by a female artist in one night.

Apart from her work in music, Knowles has also launched a career in acting. In 2004, Knowles and her mother introduced their family’s fashion line, House of Deréon; Knowles has also endorsed brands such as Pepsi, Tommy Hilfiger, Armani and L’Oréal. She also has two perfumes out. In June 2010, Knowles was ranked second on Forbes list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world, and first on its list of the Most Powerful and Influential musicians in the world.

Knowles has earned numerous awards and accolades. She is one of the most honored artists by the Grammys, and third among female artists, with a total of 16 Grammy Awards – 13 as a solo artist and 3 as a member of Destiny’s Child. Knowles was ranked the 4th Artist of the 2000s decade by Billboard and was listed the most successful female artist of the decade, as well as the top radio artist of the decade. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), also listed Knowles as the top certified artist of the decade. In the United States alone, Knowles has sold over 11.2 million albums and nearly 25 million singles as of May 2010. As of September 2009, she has sold 75 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. As on June 26,2011 she has become the first and only female artist as well as African American artist to ever headline England’s Glastonbury Festival (World’s biggest greenfield music and performing arts festival and a template for all the festivals that have come after it.)

Prince

Prince  Nelson (born June 7, 1958), better known as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He has also been known under the unpronounceable symbol, which he used between 1993 and 2000. During that period he was frequently referred to in the media as “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince”, often abbreviated to “TAFKAP”, or simply “The Artist”.

Prince has so far produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career, to date. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of the instruments on his recordings.In addition, Prince has been a “talent promoter” for the careers of Sheila E., Carmen Electra, The Time and Vanity 6,and has written songs for these artists and others (including Chaka Khan, The Bangles, and Sinéad O’Connor).

Prince also has several hundred unreleased songs in his “vault”. He has won seven Grammy Awards,a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the first year he was eligible. Rolling Stone has ranked Prince No.27 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Prince’s music has been influenced by rock, R&B, soul, funk, rap, blues, New Wave, electronica, disco, psychedelia, folk, jazz, and pop. Prince pioneered the “Minneapolis sound”, a hybrid mixture of funk, rock, pop, R&B and New Wave that has influenced many other musicians. Prince has a wide vocal range and is known for his flamboyant stage presence and costumes.

Prince was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame on December 7, 2010.On February 12, 2011, Prince presented Barbra Streisand with an award and donated $1.5 million to charities. He is also not amused about Glee covering his hit “Kiss”.On the May 18, 2011, it was announced that Prince would be headlining Hop Farm Festival on July 3, 2011, marking his first UK show since 2007 and his first ever UK festival appearance.

Regina Carter

Regina Carter (born August 6, 1966, Detroit, Michigan) is an jazz violinist. Carter began as a classical violinist at the age of four, studying the Suzuki Method until she was nine. She is the cousin of famous jazz saxophonist James Carter. Carter attended Cass Technical High School with a close friend, jazz singer Carla Cook, who introduced her to the likes of Ella Fitzgerald. In high school, Carter performed with the Detroit Civic Orchestra, played in a pop-funk group named Brainstorm, and studied jazz with Marcus Belgrave.

Carter received a degree in music from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan and studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Bostonbefore forging her jazz career in 1987.  Active as an educator, mentor, and proponent of the Suzuki method, Carter has taught at numerous institutions, including at Berklee College of Music, and two appearances at Stanford Jazz Workshop.She currently performs at the head of a quintet. In May 2006, she was touring with Mark Krose (clarinet), Xavier Davis (piano), Alvester Garnett (drums)(still with her in 2011), and Matt Parish (Upright bass). Regina Carter was awarded a MacArthur Fellows Program grant, also known as a “genius grant,” in September 2006.

James DePreist

James Anderson DePreist (born November 21, 1936; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American conductor. He is currently the director of conducting and orchestral studies at the Juilliard School and laureate music director of the Oregon Symphony. He is the nephew of contralto Marian Anderson, his mother’s sister. He has served for more than three decades in multiple roles as Music Director of Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, the Malmö Symphony Orchestra in Sweden, Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Oregon Symphony.

DePreist has been awarded thirteen honorary doctorates. He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. He was named the Laureate Music Director for the Oregon Symphony. He is a recipient of the Insignia of Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland, the Medal of the City of Québec and an Officer of the Order of Cultural Merit of Monaco. He received the Ditson Conductor’s Award in 2000. In 2005, President George W. Bush presented him with the National Medal of Arts, the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence

DePreist also conducted the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra to provide the music for both the anime and the live action drama. DePreist is widely credited with raising the international profile of the Oregon Symphony. To celebrate his 20th anniversary with the Oregon Symphony, a supporter contributed one million dollars for a five-year recording project. DePreist has over 50 recordings to his credit.

Marian Anderson

Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897 – April 8, 1993) was an African-American contralto and one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century. Most of her singing career was spent performing in concert and recital in major music venues and with major orchestras throughout the United States and Europe between 1925 and 1965.

Anderson became an important figure in the struggle for black artists to overcome racial prejudice in the United States during the mid twentieth century. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused permission for Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall. With the aid of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., to a crowd of more than 75,000 people and a radio audience in the millions. She continued to break barriers for black artists in the United States, becoming the first African American , to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Anderson was also an important symbol of grace and beauty during the civil rights movement in the 1960s, singing at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. She also worked for several years as a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Committee and as a “goodwill ambassadress” for the United States Department of State. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, Anderson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1978, the National Medal of Arts in 1986, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991.

Kanye West

Kanye West (born June 8, 1977) is  rapper and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z’s album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for plenty of musicians.  West  five albums, all of which have gone platinum, have received numerous awards and critical acclaim. As of 2011, West has won a total of fourteen Grammy awards. All albums have been very commercially successful, with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy becoming his fourth consecutive No.1 album in the U.S. upon release.

West also runs his own record label GOOD Music, home to artists such as John Legend, Common, Big Sean and Kid Cudi. West’s mascot and trademark is “Dropout Bear,” a teddy bear which has appeared on the covers of three of his five albums as well as various single covers and music videos. About.com ranked Kanye West No.8 on their “Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers” list. On May 16, 2008, Kanye West was crowned by MTV as the year’s No.1 “Hottest MC in the Game.” On December 17, 2010, Kanye West was voted as the MTV Man of the Year by MTV.Billboard ranked Kanye West No.3 on their list of Top 10 Producers of the decade.

Whitney Houston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (born August 9, 1963-February 11th,2012) is an American R&B/pop singer and actress. Houston is the most awarded female artist of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 2 Emmy Awards, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards as of 2010. Houston is also one of the world’s best-selling music artists, having sold over 170 million albums and singles worldwide.

As of 2011, Houston has released seven studio albums and three movie soundtrack albums, all of which have had diamond, multi-platinum, platinum, or gold certification. Houston’s 1985 debut album, Whitney Houston, became the best-selling debut album by a female act at the time of its release. Her second studio album, Whitney (1987), became the first album by a female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Houston’s crossover appeal on the popular music charts as well as her prominence on MTV, starting with her video for “How Will I Know”, enabled several African-American female artists to follow in her success.

Houston’s first acting role was as the star of the feature film The Bodyguard (1992). The movie’s original soundtrack won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Its lead single, “I Will Always Love You”, became the best-selling single by a female artist in music history. The album makes her the only female act ranked in the list of the top-10 best-selling albums, at number four. Houston continued to star in movies and contribute to soundtracks, including with the films Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher’s Wife (1996). Three years after the release of her fourth studio album, My Love Is Your Love (1998), she renewed her recording contract with Arista Records.She released her fifth studio album, Just Whitney, in 2002, and the Christmas-themed One Wish: The Holiday Album in 2003. Amid widespread media coverage of personal and professional turmoil, Houston ended her 14-year marriage to singer Bobby Brown in 2006. In 2009, Houston released her seventh studio album, I Look To You.

Raheem DeVaughn

Raheem DeVaughn (born May 5, 1975) is an American singer and songwriter. His debut album, The Love Experience (2005), reached No. 46 on the Billboard 200 album chart. It featured the singles “Guess Who Loves You More” and “You”. His second album Love Behind the Melody was released in January 2008. It features the singles “Woman”, and “Customer”.

DeVaughn has been compared to Dwele, Van Hunt, D’Angelo, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder. DeVaughn has described himself as a “R&B hippie neo-soul rock star,” a take on the difficulty media types have classifying him. Although Jive has been thrown considerable weight behind his recent album, DeVaughn doesn’t leave promotion duties entirely to his label: “I’m my best marketing tool. I’m building the brand Raheem DeVaughn. I have to do it.” He worked on the street to spread the word around, sold mixtapes of unreleased material to build hype, and provided impromptu shows at local venues. In another act of self-promotion, DeVaughn made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in late January, wearing a shirt that read “Grammy Nominated on the front” and “Love Behind the Melody– In Stores Now” on the back. He also appeared on the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live, performing “Woman” on January 18, 2008.

His song “Woman” was featured as iTune’s single of the week the week of January 27, 2008 and received a nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for the 2008 Grammy Awards. In 2008, he was featured on T-Pain’s song; Reality Show from the album Thr33 Ringz. The song also featured Jay Lyriq and Musiq Soulchild. His song “You” was featured in the Grand Theft Auto IV video game. DeVaughn was nominated for “Best R&B Album” in the 2011 Grammy Award.