Today is the 25th day of Black History Month. Because the current administration is racist, fascist and wants to deny the existence and histories of anyone that isn’t cis-het and white, there are some important things everyone should remember during this month — and every single month:
- You can’t love Black artists and their work, and not see them as people
- Black lives — and Black art matters
- Black culture is American culture
As we go through the month, I’m going to talk about a collection of Black artists. It’ll be fairly comprehensive and eclectic list — although it won’t be a complete list. Of course, there are some important Black artists, who were also born during Black History Month.
So far, I’ve talked about the following, extraordinary artists:
- Big Boi, who also celebrated his 50th birthday on February 1
- Rick James, who was born 77 years ago on February 1
- James Brown, the legendary Soul Brother #1
- The Temptations‘ Dennis Edward, who also was born 82 years ago on February 3
- Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the godmother of rock ‘n’roll
- Bobby Brown, who also celebrated his 56th birthday on February 5
- The legendary Bob Marley, who was was born 80 years ago on February 6
- James Dewit Yancey, best known to the entire world as J. Dilla, one of the most influential and important hip-hop producers and beatmakers who was born 51 years ago on February 7
- Aretha Franklin, the queen of soul
- Billie Holiday, whose influence on jazz and pop has been towering
- The legendary Roberta Flack, who also celebrated her 88th birthday on February 10
- Janelle Monáe, who’s guably one of the most dynamic and exciting artists out there today
- The legendary The Isley Brothers, who over the course of their eight decade career have written and recorded some of the most beloved, covered and sampled songs ever
- Ella Fitzgerald, arguably one of the greatest and most influential voices ever
- The legendary Maceo Parker, who also celebrated his 82nd birthday on February 14
- Janet Jackson, one of the most commercially successful female artists in recorded history
- Ice T, who also celebrated his 67th birthday on February 16
- The trailblazing Chuck Berry
- Dr. Dre, who also celebrated his 60th birthday on February 18
- Acclaimed British singer/songwriter, musician and producer Seal, who also celebrates his 62nd birthday on February 19
- The great Smokey Robinson, who celebrated his 85th birthday on February 19
- The legendary John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie, one of the pioneers of bebop jazz
- The uncompromising and defiantly Black Nina Simone, who was born 92 years ago on February 21
- Parliament Funkadelic, led by their equally legendary frontman George Clinton
- Patti LaBelle has arguably one of the most unique and powerhouse vocals ever
- Erykah Badu, one of the most dynamic and mesmerizing artists I’ve ever seen live
Bill Withers, who I think was one of this country’s greatest songwriters. As a pop artist Withers’ rise to fame is highly unusual in contemporary pop standards: He had been in the Navy for close to a decade and spent a significant portion of his life working as an assembler for Ford, IBM and Douglas Aircraft Corporation before he wrote and recorded his first two hit songs — at 33.
To me what made Withers’ songs so great, is that they came from profound, lived-in experience. And as a result, he could say the things that you’ve always felt but couldn’t exactly put in words. Always thoughtful, yes. Always crafted, yes. And funky as hell yes.