Today is the 11th 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 arguably one of the most dynamic and exciting artists out there today
- Bad Brains‘ founder and frontman H.R., who also celebrates his 69th birthday today
Acclaimed singer/songwriter, pop star and actor Brandy Norwood, better known as Brandy celebrates her 46th birthday today. Norwood has sold over 40 million records globally, with a little under 9 million albums sold domestically. 1993’s self-titled debut sold o ver 6 million records alone. Her 1998 debut with Monica, “The Boy is Mine,” was the song of the summer and was one of the best-selling female duets ever — and earned her a Grammy.
Her sophomore album, 1998’s Never Say Never sold over 16 million copies globally. But for those of y’all, who forgot about that, you may know of her for her acting roles, including the UPN sitcom Moesha, 1997’s television film Cinderella, 1998’s I Know What You Did Last Summer, and BET‘s The Game. She also had a stint on Broadway.
Happy birthday, Brandy!