109 Fun Facts About R&B

Which Billboard writer, later Aretha Franklin's producer, is credited with coining 'rhythm and blues' to replace 'race music'?

Jerry Wexler proposed the term as a Billboard reporter because, as he wrote, the old label 'didn't sit well', and in June 1949 the magazine put his new name on its chart.

What was Billboard's first chart of records popular with African American listeners, from 1942, called?

Harlem Hit Parade took its name from what it counted, the 'most popular records in Harlem'; Billboard retitled the chart Race Records in 1945 and Rhythm & Blues in 1949.

Ruth Brown's string of 1950s hits earned which label the nickname 'the house that Ruth built'?

Atlantic leaned on Brown's hits through the 1950s, yet she later had to press the label for back royalties, a fight that led to the founding of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1988.

Which singer nicknamed 'The Genius' pioneered soul in the 1950s and was later played by Jamie Foxx?

Ray Charles built 'I Got a Woman' on a gospel tune he heard on the radio, giving it secular words, and that blend became one of the prototypes for soul music.

The Genius's first Billboard 200 number one, in 1962, was a collection of what kind of songs?

Country and western standards sung his way won airplay on both country and R&B stations, and the album knocked the West Side Story soundtrack off the top of the chart.

Sam Cooke, the voice of 'A Change Is Gonna Come', died in 1964 after being shot by whom?

A motel manager, Bertha Franklin, said she fired in self-defence, and a coroner's jury ruled the shooting justifiable homicide; some of Cooke's family and friends have rejected that account.

Which singer known as 'Mr. Excitement' had hits with 'Lonely Teardrops' and 'Higher and Higher'?

Jackie Wilson suffered a heart attack on stage in 1975 while singing 'Lonely Teardrops' and collapsed mid-song; he never performed again and spent his last years in care.

Which ballad, recorded in 1960, became Etta James's signature song?

At Last began as a big-band number written for a 1941 Glenn Miller film; James's recording, the title track of her debut album, turned it into the song she is remembered for.

Which was Motown's first Hot 100 number one?

Please Mr. Postman began as a blues song that the Marvelettes' Georgia Dobbins reworked for the schoolmates' Motown audition; the Beatles and the Carpenters later covered it.

By what name did the Detroit house at 2648 West Grand Boulevard, Motown's first headquarters, become known?

Hitsville U.S.A. was a house with a photography studio at the back when Gordy bought it in 1959; he turned that into the recording studio and moved his family in upstairs.

Which Motown songwriting team wrote ten of the Supremes' twelve Hot 100 number ones?

Holland–Dozier–Holland left Motown in early 1968 after a dispute over royalties and profit sharing, and the Supremes topped the Hot 100 only twice more.

Which album won Stevie Wonder his third Album of the Year Grammy?

Songs in the Key of Life won in 1977; the year before, Paul Simon had accepted the same award by jokingly thanking Wonder for not releasing an album that year.

The 1972 hit 'Superstition' is famous for the sound of which keyboard instrument?

Hohner Clavinet riffs drive a song Wonder had promised to guitarist Jeff Beck; when Beck's album was delayed, Motown issued Wonder's own version first and it went to number one.

Aretha Franklin's 'Respect' was first recorded in 1965 by which singer, its credited writer?

Otis Redding sang it as a man's plea for respect when he comes home; Franklin's cover turned the song around and added the 'sock it to me' lines.

In 1987 Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into which institution?

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honours reached her in the hall's second year: Keith Richards inducted her, and her brother Cecil and Clive Davis accepted on her behalf.

How did the singer of '(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay', the first posthumous Hot 100 No. 1, die?

A plane crash in a Wisconsin lake killed him three days after he taped the song; guitarist Steve Cropper finished the mix afterwards, dubbing in the sounds of gulls and waves.

Which Motown singer's 1971 album What's Going On let him break free of the label's production system?

Marvin Gaye had to fight for it: in the usual telling, Berry Gordy dismissed the title track and Gaye refused to record anything more until Motown released it.

The 'Prince of Motown' was shot dead in 1984 by whom, one day before his 45th birthday?

His father shot him with a revolver that the singer himself had given him, after an argument between the two turned into a physical fight at the family home.

Soul star Al Green took up which role at a Memphis church in 1976?

Pastor Green kept singing pop until 1979, when he fell from a stage during a concert, took it as a message from God and turned to his church and to gospel records.

Which Al Green song topped the Hot 100 in 1972?

Let's Stay Together was cut for Memphis's Hi Records with producer Willie Mitchell, who had coached Green to stop copying other soul stars and find a voice of his own.

Barry White's 1974 number-one instrumental hit was credited to which 40-piece ensemble he conducted?

Love Unlimited Orchestra was put together in 1972 to back White's female vocal trio, Love Unlimited; its instrumental 'Love's Theme' first appeared on one of the trio's albums.

In which city did Maurice White start the Salty Peppers, the band he renamed Earth, Wind & Fire?

Chicago was where White, a Chess Records session drummer, started the group in 1969; after moving to Los Angeles he renamed it for the elements of his astrological sign, Sagittarius.

Which singer led Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes on 'If You Don't Know Me by Now' before going solo?

Teddy Pendergrass joined as the group's drummer in 1970; when Harold Melvin heard him sing along during a show, he moved him up front as lead singer.

Chaka Khan first found fame in the 1970s as lead vocalist of which funk band?

Rufus grew out of the rock band the American Breed and broke through in 1974 with 'Tell Me Something Good', a song written by Stevie Wonder.

Chaka Khan's debut solo single 'I'm Every Woman' later became a pop hit for which singer?

Whitney Houston had sung backing vocals for Khan as a 16-year-old session singer, and near the end of her cover she calls out Khan's name in tribute.

Which single topped the Hot 100 in 1984 while Prince also had the US No. 1 film and album?

When Doves Cry has no bass line: Prince took it out before release, an unusual choice for a dance track, and it still finished as Billboard's number-one single of the year.

Which producer, leader of the group Guy and later Blackstreet, is called the inventor of new jack swing?

Teddy Riley's sound got its name from a 1987 Village Voice profile of him, in which the writer Barry Michael Cooper coined the phrase 'new jack swing'.

Which 1980s Janet Jackson albums with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis made her a global star?

Control and Rhythm Nation 1814 were both made in Minneapolis after she severed business ties with her father, who had managed her; Control's lyrics tell that story.

Anita Baker rose to fame in 1986 with which platinum album, home to the Grammy-winning 'Sweet Love'?

Rapture came after a setback: the label that dropped her band Chapter 8 doubted she had star potential, and Baker went home to Detroit to wait tables and work in a law office.

Sade, the band behind 'Smooth Operator', formed in 1982 in which city?

London's Latin soul band Pride was where it began: singer Sade Adu and three bandmates broke away to write their own songs, and played their first show as Pride's support act.

Luther Vandross won the 2004 Grammy for Song of the Year for which ballad?

Dance with My Father recalls childhood memories of dancing with his parents; Vandross was eight when his dad died, and a stroke struck the singer weeks before the song came out.

Which sporting event heard the 1991 'Star-Spangled Banner' later sold as a top-20 charity single?

The Super Bowl in Tampa was played during the Gulf War, and the recording was sold to raise funds for the troops and their families; reissued in 2001, it climbed to number six.

As of 2025, 'I Will Always Love You', from The Bodyguard soundtrack, holds which Guinness-recognised record?

Best-selling single by a woman: Guinness credits it with over 24 million copies, though it began as a 1974 country single written and recorded by Dolly Parton.

Boyz II Men's 'End of the Road' spent 13 weeks at number one, beating an 11-week run by which star?

Elvis Presley's double-sided 'Don't Be Cruel' and 'Hound Dog' had held the top spot for 11 weeks in 1956; the new record fell within months, and the group later matched and then retook it.

Boyz II Men spent a then-record 16 weeks at number one with 'One Sweet Day', a 1995 duet with which singer?

Mariah Carey was writing a song about the death of producer David Cole when she found the group had a near-identical one about their late tour manager, so they merged the two.

Which TLC album received a diamond certification from the RIAA?

CrazySexyCool was selling by the million when TLC filed for bankruptcy in July 1995, declaring debts of $3.5 million.

En Vogue, the quartet formed in Oakland, reached number two on the Hot 100 in 1990 with which debut single?

Hold On opens with an a cappella burst of the Motown standard 'Who's Lovin' You', showing off voices its producers had picked from auditions that drew about 3,000 women.

The duo behind the 1998 number-one ballad 'All My Life' were half of which R&B quartet?

Jodeci was two pairs of brothers from Charlotte, North Carolina, who drove to New York with a 29-song demo tape and came away signed to Uptown Records.

Mary J. Blige's 1992 debut, credited with bringing hip-hop soul to the mainstream, is called what?

What's the 411? grew from a tape Blige made at 17 in a shopping-mall recording booth; it found its way to Uptown Records, which signed her.

Toni Braxton's biggest hit, 'Un-Break My Heart', was written by which songwriter?

Diane Warren recalls that Braxton hated the song and did not want to record it; label boss L.A. Reid talked her into it, and it became her signature hit.

Which producer co-wrote Boyz II Men's record-setting 'End of the Road'?

Babyface owes his stage name to funk bassist Bootsy Collins, who tagged him with it because of his youthful looks.

'The Boy Is Mine', a 1998 number one, was a duet between Monica and which singer?

Brandy and Monica turned press talk of a feud between them into a duet about fighting over a man; it gave both singers their first Hot 100 number one and stayed there for 13 weeks.

The singer of 'Have You Ever?' starred in which UPN sitcom from 1996 to 2001?

Moesha was made as a pilot for CBS, which turned it down; UPN picked it up as a mid-season replacement and it became the young network's biggest hit.

Which 1990 debut single began one diva's run of five straight Hot 100 number ones?

Vision of Love has been called 'the Magna Carta of melisma': its long vocal runs are credited with making the technique a standard move for a generation of R&B and pop singers.

Which rapper featured on the 1995 'Fantasy' remix that introduced its singer's hip-hop-flavoured sound?

Ol' Dirty Bastard was her own choice, and it worried her label: executives feared the collaboration was too sharp a change of style and would alienate her audience.

Whose 1998 solo debut made her the first woman to win five Grammys in one night?

Lauryn Hill recorded most of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill at Tuff Gong, the Kingston studio built by Bob Marley, and it also made her the first rapper to win Album of the Year.

Which lead single from Erykah Badu's 1997 debut album won her a Grammy and topped the R&B chart?

On & On followed a 19-song demo Badu cut with her cousin, which caught the ear of label boss Kedar Massenburg; he signed her and released the single on his own Kedar Records.

D'Angelo's 1995 debut, credited with launching the neo-soul movement, is called what?

Brown Sugar came out before its genre had a name: record executive Kedar Massenburg coined 'neo soul' in the late 1990s to market the wave of artists that followed.

Which producer supplied 'Yeah!', the late addition that became the first of four number ones from Usher's Confessions?

Lil Jon was called in after Usher's label felt the finished album lacked a lead single; the song he supplied spent 12 weeks at number one before Usher's own 'Burn' replaced it.

Alicia Keys's debut album, which earned her five Grammys and contained 'Fallin'', is titled what?

Songs in A Minor was rejected by Columbia, which had signed Keys at 15; Clive Davis bought out her contract and released the album on his new label, J Records.

Destiny's Child began in Houston in 1990 under which name, the first of several?

Girl's Tyme lost on the TV talent show Star Search, a defeat Beyoncé later revisited by opening her song 'Flawless' with a clip from the broadcast.

Which was the first single from Beyoncé's 2003 solo debut album?

Crazy in Love takes its horn hook from the Chi-Lites' 1970 song 'Are You My Woman? (Tell Me So)', which earned the group's Eugene Record a writing credit on her hit.

Ne-Yo first got noticed for writing which 2004 hit for Mario?

Let Me Love You spent nine weeks at number one, and its success won Ne-Yo, until then an unknown songwriter, a recording contract of his own with Def Jam.

Rihanna was declared a National Hero of which country in 2021?

Barbados honoured her on the night it removed Queen Elizabeth II as head of state and became a republic; the prime minister declared it during the ceremony itself.

The Weeknd's 2011 mixtapes, beginning with House of Balloons, were remastered and compiled into which 2012 album?

Trilogy put a price on music he had first given away: the mixtapes were free downloads in 2011, and the album added remixed versions and previously unreleased songs.

Frank Ocean joined which Los Angeles hip-hop collective before releasing Nostalgia, Ultra?

Odd Future became his crew while Def Jam, which had signed him, left him waiting; so he released Nostalgia, Ultra himself, as a free download.

SZA signed to which label in 2013, later releasing her acclaimed debut Ctrl there?

Top Dawg Entertainment heard her after a 2011 show featuring Kendrick Lamar, where a friend pressed her early songs on the label's president; she became its first female signing.

Silk Sonic, whose 'Leave the Door Open' topped the Hot 100, pairs Bruno Mars with which artist?

Anderson .Paak became friends with Mars while touring with him in 2017; funk veteran Bootsy Collins, who narrates their album, came up with the name Silk Sonic.

What does the stage name H.E.R. stand for?

Having Everything Revealed was an ironic choice: she released her 2016 debut EP anonymously, keeping her identity hidden so that listeners would judge only the music.

Which song was an R&B number one for Big Mama Thornton in 1953, before Elvis Presley recorded it?

Hound Dog spent seven weeks at number one on the R&B chart for Big Mama Thornton and sold over 500,000 copies, yet it was the only hit of her career.

During which song did Michael Jackson first moonwalk in public, on the 1983 TV special Motown 25?

Billie Jean was the only non-Motown song performed on Motown 25. Jackson had practised the backwards glide in his kitchen before unveiling it on the show.

Which Quentin Tarantino film gave SZA the title of her first Hot 100 number one, in 2023?

Kill Bill mirrors the films' plot, with SZA imagining revenge on an ex. It waited eight weeks at number two before a Doja Cat remix pushed it to the top.

In 2021 Billboard named which Weeknd single the top Hot 100 song of all time, displacing The Twist?

Blinding Lights stayed on the Hot 100 for 90 weeks, including a full year inside the top ten, which carried it past Chubby Checker's 1960 dance hit.

Which Rick James hit of 1981 supplied the riff that MC Hammer sampled for U Can't Touch This?

Super Freak led Rick James to sue MC Hammer for a songwriting credit, and winning it brought James the only Grammy of his career, for Best R&B Song.

Luther Vandross got an early break singing backing vocals on Young Americans, an album by which British star?

David Bowie also took the then-unknown singer on tour as a backing vocalist and reworked a Luther Vandross tune into the album track Fascination.

Which singer was 44 when What's Love Got to Do with It gave her a first solo number one?

Tina Turner was then the oldest solo woman to top the Hot 100. It remained her only solo American number one, and its title later named the 1993 film of her life.

Which R&B singer sang the hit duet versions of Disney's Beauty and the Beast and A Whole New World?

Peabo Bryson won a Grammy for each, first with Celine Dion and then with Regina Belle. A Whole New World became the first song from an animated film to top the Hot 100.

Which Beyoncé album arrived in 2016 alongside an hour-long HBO film and became her sixth straight chart-topper?

Lemonade made Beyoncé the first artist whose first six studio albums all debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Its 65-minute companion film premiered on HBO.

Which Kool & the Gang hit did American radio play in 1981 to welcome the hostages home from Iran?

Celebration was Kool & the Gang's only Hot 100 number one, holding the top for two weeks in February 1981 until Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 replaced it.

Which family group had the first hit with Twist and Shout, a year before the Beatles covered it?

The Isley Brothers reworked a flop first recorded by the Top Notes, and the Beatles based their own version on it for their debut album, Please Please Me.

Which Ben E. King song returned to the American top ten in 1986 after a film borrowed its title?

Stand by Me first peaked at number four in 1961, then reached number nine 25 years later as the theme of the film that took its name.

A Seat at the Table, a 2016 number one album with the single Cranes in the Sky, is by which singer?

Solange hit number one months after her sister Beyoncé, making them the first sisters who are both solo artists to top the Billboard 200 in the same calendar year.

Which singer closed the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics with a performance of his number one All Night Long?

Lionel Richie had launched his solo career away from the Commodores in 1982, and All Night Long topped the pop, R&B and adult contemporary charts.

Which producer of Thriller and Off the Wall also conducted the all-star recording of We Are the World?

Quincy Jones recorded the famine-relief single on the night of the 1985 American Music Awards, so many of the day's biggest American stars came straight from the ceremony.

Which former Supreme earned an Oscar nomination for playing Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues?

Diana Ross had never acted in a film before the 1972 biopic, and its soundtrack of Billie Holiday songs gave her a number one album for two weeks.

Which Boston group, later the source of Bell Biv DeVoe, topped the R&B chart in 1983 with Candy Girl?

New Edition so inspired a group of Philadelphia schoolmates that they renamed their act Boyz II Men, after the 1988 New Edition song Boys to Men.

Prince fired Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis from which band after a blizzard made them miss a show?

The Time lost both men when they were snowed in at Atlanta, where they had been producing the S.O.S. Band without Prince's knowledge. One of those tracks became a hit.

Which device gave Zapp frontman Roger Troutman's singing voice its robotic, synthesised sound?

Talk box tubing fed his keyboard's sound into his mouth so he could shape it into words, a trick Roger Troutman repeated on the chorus of 2Pac's California Love.

Which record label, home to Sam & Dave and Booker T. & the M.G.'s, recorded in a converted movie theatre?

Stax kept the old cinema's sloping floor in its Memphis studio, and a museum devoted to the label's music now stands on the site.

Which New York theatre hosted the 1962 James Brown show that he paid to record as a live album?

The Apollo recording went ahead only because James Brown funded it himself after his label boss refused, and the album then spent 66 weeks on the pop chart.

Which 1966 Percy Sledge ballad topped the Hot 100 again 25 years later in a cover by Michael Bolton?

When a Man Loves a Woman was the first number one hit recorded in or around Muscle Shoals, Alabama, leading both the pop and R&B charts for Sledge.

Which Blueberry Hill singer was rumoured dead after Hurricane Katrina before a helicopter rescued him?

Fats Domino had stayed in his New Orleans home because his wife was unwell. Someone spray-painted a farewell message on the house before he turned up safe.

Which Prince-penned hit did Chaka Khan record in 1984 with a Melle Mel rap and Stevie Wonder on harmonica?

I Feel for You opens with Melle Mel stuttering the singer's name, an editing mistake that producer Arif Mardin liked enough to keep.

Which funk bassist gave producer Kenneth Edmonds the nickname Babyface because of his youthful looks?

Bootsy Collins, who made his name with James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic, met Edmonds early in his career, and the teasing tag became his stage name.

Ne-Yo's stage name, coined by a producer, likens him to the hero of which 1999 film?

The Matrix inspired producer Big D Evans, who said the songwriter sees music the way the hero, Neo, sees the simulated world around him.

Which John Legend piano ballad, written for Chrissy Teigen, became his first Hot 100 number one in 2014?

All of Me sat at number two for six weeks before replacing Pharrell Williams's Happy, and its video was filmed in Italy days before the couple's wedding.

Frank Ocean completed his contract with which label by delivering Endless, a day before self-releasing Blonde?

Def Jam received only the 45-minute visual album Endless. Blonde arrived independently the next day and debuted at number one with 275,000 first-week units.

Which co-writer of Ariana Grande's Thank U, Next won the Best New Artist Grammy herself in 2024?

Victoria Monét spent more than a decade writing for other stars before her own debut album, Jaguar II, also won her Best R&B Album that night.

Which Childish Gambino slow jam of 2016 plays near the start of the horror film Get Out?

Redbone earned a Record of the Year nomination and won the Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance, months after Jordan Peele used it early in his film.

Which guitarist from the band the Internet topped the Hot 100 in 2022 with Bad Habit?

Steve Lacy ended the 15-week reign of Harry Styles's As It Was, and Bad Habit led Billboard's rock, alternative and R&B charts at the same moment.

Which webcast series did Timbaland and Swizz Beatz launch on Instagram Live in 2020?

Verzuz began in March 2020 as an Instagram Live battle between its two founders, staged remotely because most Americans were stuck at home.

Which jump blues bandleader, nicknamed the King of the Jukebox, reached number one on the R&B chart 18 times?

Louis Jordan spent 113 weeks at number one in total, and between July 1946 and May 1947 he held the top spot for 44 consecutive weeks.

Sam Cooke sang lead for which gospel quartet from 1950 before crossing over to pop?

The Soul Stirrers' gospel audience frowned on pop, so Cooke issued his first secular single under the alias Dale Cook. His voice gave him away at once.

The Gap Band, the Wilson brothers' funk group, was named for Greenwood, Archer and Pine streets in which city?

Tulsa's Greenwood district was the prosperous Black Wall Street burned down in the 1921 massacre. The band's long name began as a joke before being cut to its initials.

Which song did Smokey Robinson co-write that became the Temptations' first number one in 1965?

My Girl was written for David Ruffin's voice after Robinson watched the group on a Motown tour, and it gave the Gordy label its first Hot 100 number one.

Which Motown group performed from 1953 until 1997 without a single change of line-up?

Four Tops singers Levi Stubbs, Duke Fakir, Obie Benson and Lawrence Payton stayed together for 44 years, an unbroken run that ended only with Payton's death.

Which hip-hop trio's 1996 album The Score featured Lauryn Hill singing lead on a cover of Killing Me Softly?

Fugees won two Grammys for it: Best Rap Album, plus an R&B performance award for the cover, which Lauryn Hill sang two years before her solo debut.

Which British singer recorded much of Back to Black with the Dap-Kings, the Brooklyn band of Sharon Jones?

Amy Winehouse and producer Mark Ronson used the band to capture a 1960s vocal-group sound, and the Dap-Kings went on to back her on tour.

Which Wilson Pickett hit of 1966 owes its title to a suggestion Aretha Franklin made to its writer?

Mustang Sally was written and first recorded by Mack Rice, who had called it Mustang Mama until Franklin pointed out which name he actually sang in the chorus.

Which broadcaster created Soul Train in 1970 and hosted the dance show for more than two decades?

Don Cornelius hosted until 1993, and Soul Train stayed in national syndication until 2006, by which time more than 1,100 episodes had been made.

Which singer refused to quit his aircraft factory job even after Ain't No Sunshine became a hit in 1971?

Bill Withers thought the music business too fickle to trust, and the cover of his debut album shows him at the factory holding his lunch box.

Which singer's theme for the 1971 film Shaft made him the first Black winner of the Best Original Song Oscar?

Isaac Hayes performed the theme at the 1972 ceremony in a chain mail vest, then changed into a tuxedo before going up to collect the award.

Which bandleader had a prop spaceship called the Mothership land on stage at Parliament-Funkadelic concerts?

George Clinton's original Mothership was reportedly sold for scrap, so the replica he built in the 1990s is the one now displayed by the Smithsonian.

Patti LaBelle's trio topped the Hot 100 in 1975 with which song produced in New Orleans by Allen Toussaint?

Lady Marmalade had the city's funk band the Meters as its backing group, and Patti LaBelle later said she had no idea what the risqué song was about.

Which singer of the 1975 number one Lovin' You is the mother of comedian Maya Rudolph?

Minnie Riperton devised the melody to keep baby Maya amused, and on the album version she can be heard singing her daughter's name as the song ends.

Which 1975 single was Earth, Wind & Fire's only number one on the Billboard Hot 100?

Shining Star came to Maurice White on a night-time stroll during sessions at Caribou Ranch. The band's later favourite September stalled at number eight.

Which singer's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face became a hit after Clint Eastwood used it in a film?

Roberta Flack had recorded it in 1969. Eastwood heard it on his car radio, phoned her at home, and his thriller Play Misty for Me turned it into the top single of 1972.

Which songwriting duo ran the label behind the O'Jays' Love Train and Billy Paul's Me and Mrs. Jones?

Gamble and Huff founded Philadelphia International in 1971 as a rival to Motown, and went on to write and produce 175 gold and platinum records.

Which keyboardist of the 1970s funk band Heatwave later wrote Rock with You and Thriller for Michael Jackson?

Rod Temperton once filleted fish in a Grimsby frozen-food plant. He joined Heatwave through a music-paper advert and wrote its hits Boogie Nights and Always and Forever.