This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Brownie McGhee, an American blues singer, guitarist, pianist, songwriter, and longtime partner of the vocalist and harmonica player Sonny Terry.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Celia Cruz, a Cuban singer who reigned for decades as the "Queen of Salsa Music," electrifying audiences with her wide-ranging, soulful voice and rhythmically compelling style.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Clyde McPhatter, an American rhythm-and-blues singer popular in the 1950s whose emotional style anticipated soul music.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Dinah Washington, a black American blues singer noted for her excellent voice control and unique gospel-influenced delivery.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Donna Summer, an American singer-songwriter considered the "Queen of Disco" but also successful in rhythm and blues, dance music, and pop.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Elmore James, an American blues singer-guitarist noted for the urgent intensity of his singing and guitar playing. He was a significant influence on the development of rock music.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Etta James, a popular American rhythm-and-blues entertainer who in time became a successful ballad singer.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Hattie McDaniel, an American actress and singer who became the first African-American to be honored with an Academy Award.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jackie Wilson, an American singer who was a pioneering exponent of the fusion of 1950s doo-wop, rock, and blues styles into the soul music of the 1960s.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Janet Jackson, an American singer and actress whose increasingly mature version of dance-pop music made her one of the most popular recording artists of the 1980s and '90s.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jennifer Hudson, an American actress and singer who won an Academy Award for best-supporting actress for her role in Dreamgirls (2006).

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Jimmy Reed, an American singer, harmonica player, and guitarist who was one of the most popular blues musicians of the post-World War II era.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Kathleen Battle, an American opera singer, among the finest coloratura sopranos of her time.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Leadbelly, an American folk-blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose ability to perform a vast repertoire of songs, in conjunction with his notoriously violent life, made him a legend.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lionel Hampton, an American jazz musician and bandleader, known for the rhythmic vitality of his playing and his showmanship as a performer. Best known for his work on the vibraphone,...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Little Walter, an African-American blues singer and harmonica virtuoso, one of the most influential harmonica improvisers of the late 20th century.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lloyd Price, an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Price made his mark in rock music history with his exuberant tenor and his flair for recasting rhythm and blues as...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lonnie Johnson, a prolific black American musician, singer, and songwriter, one of the first major blues and jazz guitarists.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Louis Jordan, an American saxophonist-singer prominent in the 1940s and '50s who was a seminal figure in the development of both rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The bouncing, rhythmic...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lou Rawls, an American singer whose smooth baritone adapted easily to jazz, soul, gospel, and rhythm and blues.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Mariah Carey, an American pop singer, noted for her remarkable vocal range. She was one of the most successful female performers of the 1990s.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Marvin Gaye, an American soul singer-songwriter-producer who, to a large extent, ushered in the era of artist-controlled popular music of the 1970s. Gaye's father was a storefront...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Matilda Sissieretta Jones, an opera singer who was considered the greatest black American in her field in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Mississippi John Hurt, an American country-blues singer and guitarist who first recorded in the late 1920s but whose greatest fame and influence came when he was rediscovered in the early...