Nine Black Musicians Who Revolutionized the Field

Just just a minute, consider your best-loved contemporary artist or band. Have you thought of one? Now consider what it is about their music that appeals to you. Is it the guitar’s tone? Is it the words that the performer screams? Or does this musician stand out because of an intriguing fusion of genres? Now pause for a second and consider which artists—and which artists affect you—may have, in a sense, “set the stage” for you.

While it’s wonderful for artists to live “in the now,” it’s equally critical that we recognize and value the music of the past. Some of the first “movers and shakers” that helped build and mold the music business into what it is today are these pioneers who battled fiercely to pave the path.

Nine Black artists who revolutionized the music business are listed below.

Louis Armstrong

Jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong, also simply known as “Satchmo,” was a talented musician whose singing voice surpassed the richness of his tone. His broad vibrato and exceptional scatting technique made him sound like a trumpeter in some aspects of his singing. Other very skilled singers like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby were affected by Armstrong’s distinctive vocal style.

The 1938 version of “When the Saints Go Marching In” by Armstrong and his orchestra is regarded as one of the most well-known renditions of the song, despite the fact that the original writer of the song is unknown. Armstrong was noteworthy for being the first to release a recording of the song as a jazz standard, even though it had only ever been sung as a traditional gospel song. Armstrong is credited by many admirers with placing the song and jazz music in general “on the map.”

COOKE, SAM

Sam Cooke was a singer and composer in the soul, R&B, and gospel genres. He is frequently called the “Father of Soul Music.” Cooke, a lifelong singer, rose to prominence as the lead vocalist of the Soul Stirrers, a band he had grown up loving. By his late 20s, Cooke was putting out solo albums. Pop and gospel music crossed paths as Cooke honed his own style. In the eight years of his rather brief professional career, Cooke recorded 29 songs that were included in the Top 40 Billboard Pop Singles.

“A Change is Gonna Come,” a song from 1964, spent seven weeks on the charts before peaking at number 31 in 1965. In reaction to Bob Dylan’s song “Blowin’ in the Wind,” Cooke composed “A Change is Gonna Come.” However, Cooke and a few companions were refused away at a motel that was reserved for “whites only,” which served as the idea for the theme of this song. One of Cooke’s most political songs, it almost became an anthem for civil rights. Jon Bon Jovi and Bettye LaVette sang the song during former President Barack Obama’s inauguration event.

James Brown

James Brown, a composer and performer of funk and soul music, gained notoriety as one of the most identifiable artists in his field, earning him the moniker “Godfather of Soul.” Brown reportedly had a turbulent upbringing and was expelled from school at the age of 12 for having “insufficient clothing.” Brown started directing his energies into music at this point and joined the church choir. After receiving an invitation to join The Gospel Starlighters from a buddy named Bobby Byrd, Brown accepted. The trio had many Billboard Top 40 hit songs and was eventually renamed the Famous Flames. Numerous upcoming musicians were influenced by Brown, most notably the teenage Michael Jackson. Jackson said that Brown was one of his greatest inspirations after Brown passed away in 2006, saying he had “never seen a performer like James Brown and right then and there [he] knew that was what [he] wanted to do for the rest of [his] life.”

In the course of his lengthy and fruitful career, Brown has released a number of hit songs on his own. Brown composed, sung, and produced “I Got You (I Feel Good),” one of his most well-known songs. During his lengthy career, which spanned from 1944 to 2006 (the year of his death), “I Got You (I Feel Good)” was unquestionably Brown’s most successful charting tune. His song spent a total of 12 weeks on the Billboard HOT 100 chart, peaking at #3 for 7 of those weeks.

James Etta

Six-time Grammy Award winner Etta James performed in a variety of genres, including gospel, blues, rock & roll, jazz, R&B, and soul. James was a young prodigy who started vocal training at the age of five. Despite her early age, James was noted for having a very strong voice. She mostly sang on the radio and in churches. James started recording a song called “The Wallflower” when she was only 16 years old. This song served as the foundation for her enormous hit song library. James was renowned for her ability to give her vocals a certain flair. She was cited as stating, “My mother always taught me that you can still make a song uniquely your own, even if it had been performed a thousand times. I hope I was able to do that.

James has numerous chart-topping songs during her professional career. Her 1962 hit song “Something’s Got a Hold on Me” peaked at #37 after charting on the Billboard 100 for 12 weeks in a row. Even more astonishingly, the song peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot R&B Sides. Because of how well-liked the song was, a number of other well-known musicians recorded and performed versions of it. Ike & Tina Turner in 1964, The Kingsmen in 1965, and pop superstar Christina Aguilera in 2010 were among the performers that covered the song.

The Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix was a psychedelic rock and blues musician who was also a vocalist, composer, and—most famously—a guitarist. Hendrix has dabbled with playing his guitar in unusual ways. For example, despite being left-handed, he would sometimes just play a right-handed instrument backwards. Hendrix did, however, create his characteristic sound when he started experimenting with the tone and effects of his guitar. His exploratory curiosity led him to create what is basically a new guitar style.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Hendrix’s band, went on to write several well-known songs. A notable track from the psychedelic rock ensemble is “Purple Haze,” a 1967 record that was honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame induction in 2000. Hendrix plays his guitar throughout the song with a lot of intentional distortion.

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin, dubbed the “Queen of Soul,” was a singer, songwriter, and pianist who performed R&B and soul music. Franklin started her gospel singing career in the choir at her church. At the age of twelve, she started traveling the nation to perform at churches, accompanied by her father. She got the idea to pursue a pop music career from performer Sam Cooke, whom she met on one of the tours. She became one of the best-selling musicians in the world today, having secured her first (big) record deal with Columbia Records when she was only eighteen years old.

She has a huge repertoire of well-known songs, including smash classics like “Chain of Fools” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) Natural Woman.” “Respect,” a 1967 version of a song written, performed, and published by soul artist Otis Redding only two years earlier, is one of her most popular songs ever. The song’s original version was noticeably less well-liked than Franklin’s rendition. Her upbeat new arrangement and passionate delivery of the lyrics have contributed to the song’s ongoing status as a “feminist anthem.”

Stevie Wonder

Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, keyboardist, harmonicist, and record producer Stevie Wonder’s style is a synthesis of jazz, soul, R&B, funk, gospel, and progressive music. Wonder had visual loss soon after birth and was subsequently classified as legally blind. Wonder said in a 2010 CNN interview that he and his physicians believe his blindness results from being born six weeks early and being kept in an oxygen incubator with a high temperature—a setting that has been shown to create health problems in newborns. Wonder, real name Stevland Judkins, became known professionally as “Little Stevie Wonder” when he secured a record deal with Motown Records at the age of twelve. In 1962, he released “The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie Wonder,” his first album. Since then, he has put out 22 additional albums. When synthesizers weren’t considered “real instruments,” Wonder was among the first musicians to contribute to the Moog synthesizer’s rise in popularity. The synthesizer is a relatively common instrument in almost all musical genres nowadays.

Wonder’s career got off when he became the youngest solo artist to ever reach the top of the Billboard 100 chart at the age of 13. He has had ten top-charting pop hits and twenty top-charting R&B singles in his career. The 1972 hit “Superstition,” which debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 the following year, is among his most well-known tunes. Additionally, the song came in at number 73 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004.

Jackson Michael

Michael Jackson, often referred to as the “King of Pop,” was a pop and R&B performer, dancer, singer, and composer. He began his career at the early age of five when he joined his siblings in a group named The Jackson 5. The group’s melodic vocals and quick dancing skills helped them become well-known in their local community, country, and eventually worldwide. Many of his siblings left to seek professions as single people as adults, but Jackon’s was unquestionably one of the most prosperous.

Michael Jackson proceeded to compose and execute a number of the most beloved pop tunes. Among the many powerful songs from his sixth studio album, “Thriller,” are “Beat It,” “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” and of course the album’s title track and its epic music video, “Thriller.” Even more remarkable, “Billie Jean,” the album’s second song, peaked at number two on the Billboard Top 100 list in 1983. A Guinness World Records study states that “Thriller” is the album with the highest global sales volume.

Prince

Prince was a phenomenally successful guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer, and recorder. His music was cross-genre, including elements of hip-hop, synth-pop, R&B, funk, rock, and soul. Prince gained notoriety for his androgynous look, which at the time drew harsh criticism. It was noteworthy that singer Rick James said he thought Prince was a “mentally disturbed young man.” Prince have issued a number of songs over his career that attracted criticism because of their explicit content. One of Prince’s songs served as the impetus for the Parent Music Resource Center (PMRC) to compile the “Filthy Fifteen” list of unsuitable tracks and advocate for the stickering of albums considered unsuitable for younger audiences with a parental recommendation. Prince’s popularity continued to rise in spite of the list’s unfavorable associations and the warning labels. Numerous contemporary musicians, including Alicia Keys, Bruno Mars, Andre 3000, and The Weeknd, have been inspired by his music and persona.

Numerous chart-topping singles were recorded by Prince over his career. The 1984 power ballad “Purple Rain,” which reached at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, was one of his greatest hits. The combination of Prince’s intense guitar solo and poignant, almost melancholic vocal performance is what makes this song so unforgettable. Warner Bros. Pictures made a movie titled “Purple Rain” with Prince and songs from the album after the release of the record with the same name. With a global box office total of $68,392,997, the movie was deemed successful.