Today is the 22nd day of Black History Month. 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.
So far I’ve talked about:
- Rick James, who was born 76 years ago on February 1
- OutKast‘s Big Boi, who celebrated his 49th birthday on February 1
- Sister Rosetta Tharpe
- John Lee Hooker
- Patti LaBelle
- The Temptations‘ second and longest tenured lead vocalist Dennis Edwards, who was born 81 years ago on February 4
- Tina Turner
- Aretha Franklin
- Bobby Brown, who celebrated his 55th birthday on February 5
- Bob Marley, who was born 79 years ago on February 6
- The Supremes
- J. Dilla, who was born 50 years ago on February 7
- Queen Latifah
- Black Moon, DJ Evil Dee and Buckshot
- Dionne Warwick
- Big Mama Thornton
- Evelyn “Champagne” King
- Bad Brains
- Fishbone
- Grace Jones
- TLC
- Maceo Parker, who celebrated his 81st birthday on February 14
- SWV
- Meshell Ndegeocello
- Ice T, who celebrated his 66th birthday on February 16
- Dr. Dre, who celebrated his 59th birthday on February 18
- Seal, who celebrated his 61st birthday on February 19
- The great Smokey Robinson also celebrated his 84th birthday on February 19
- John Coltrane
- Nina Simone, who was born 91 years ago on February 21
- Chaka Khan
Today, I wanted to focus a bit on the Queen of Hip-Hop soul, Mary J. Blige. If you came of age in the 90s as I did, Blige’s work is an integral part of the musical soundtrack of your teens and twenties. You’ve fallen in love or were nursing heartbreak with her tunes being played.
And if you grew up in the hood, Blige reminded of your neighbor over in 2J or in 15C that you had an unrequited crush on.
Blige is one of the most unique and unflinchingly honest voices in R&B, soul and pop — and I think that’s why her fans adore her so much.
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