Valerie Simpson was born on August 26, 1946 in the Bronx. Teaming with husband Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson co-wrote numerous soul hits before the two began a successful performing career of their own in the early 1970’s. Through their 30-year career Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson have become one of the most creative and successful musical couples in recording history. Through their performing, songwriting and producing they have created an extraordinary collection of chart topping hit singles and albums, collecting 22 gold and platinum records and many more than 50 American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Awards. In 1964, Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson met at Harlem’s White Rock Baptist Church in New York City where they connected over their passion for music. After having recorded unsuccessfully as a duo, they joined an aspiring solo artist and former member of the Ikettes, Joshie Jo Armstead, and began to record in collaboration. As staff songwriters for Sceptor Records, Ashford and Simpson wrote Ray Charles’ classic "Let's Go Get Stoned," a number on...
Ethel Waters was born in Chester, Pennsylvania on October 31, 1896. She had a hard life in which she faced rejection from her mother and poverty. Waters' love of singing began as a child when she sang in church choirs but her childhood was cut short when at thirteen she married an abusive man, dropped out of sixth grade, and was divorced a year later. Shortly thereafter, she began working as a maid until two vaudeville producers discovered her while she was singing in a talent contest in 1917. She toured with vaudeville shows, and was billed as "Sweet Mama Stringbean" because of her height and thinness. In 1919, she left the vaudeville circuit and performed in Harlem nightclubs. Two years later she became one of the first black singers to cut a record on the Black Swan Record label with her release of "Down Home Blues" and "Oh, Daddy".
Ross moved to California to launch her solo career. Her reworking of the Ashford and Simpson standard “ain’t no mountain high enough” became their first #1 hit as a solo artist. In 1971, Her first child Rhonda was born later announced as berry Gordy child (the founder of Motown).
Many RnB singers rank among the highest paid celebrities in the world. This isn’t a surprise, as RnB and its various sub-genres have been leading the popular music charts for decades. Big voices and slick dance moves often translate into successful careers and big paychecks. Here is a list of the 10 richest RnB singers in the world, who have earned extensive success through their music, tours and other various ventures.
Hank Williams Jr as we know him was born Hank Randall Williams, born in small town Shreveport, Louisiana, on May 26, 1949. Hank Jr was only three when his father Hank died, but that did not stop his music dream. At just the age of 8 Hank Jr began singing his dad songs on stage. “Williams made his stage debut at the age of 8 and his first appearance at Nashville's famed Grand Ole Opry at age 11. At age 15, Williams had his first Top 5 hit on the country charts. " (http://www.biography.com/) Even though his father was gone, Hank Jr helped carry on his legacy through music. His mother being his biggest supporter, helped him along the way.
Faith Evans was born on June 10, 1973, and grew up in Newark, NJ, where she began singing in church at the mere age of two. A high school honor student, she sang in her school's musical productions before winning a full scholarship to Fordham University. After just one year, though, she left college to put her jazz and classical training to use in the field of contemporary RB. It didn't take her long to find work and over the next few years, she sang backup and wrote songs for artists like Hi-Five, Mary J. Blige, Pebbles, Al B. Sure, Usher, Tony Thompson, and Christopher Williams. Thanks to her work on Blige's 1994 sophomore effort, My Life, Evans met producer/impresario Sean "Puffy" Combs, who signed her to his Bad Boy label. In 1995, Evans released her debut album, Faith, which went platinum on the strength of the hit RB singles "You Used to Love Me" and "Soon as I Get Home." The same year, she met fellow Bad Boy artist the Notorious B.I.G. (some accounts say at a photo shoot, others a phone conversation) and married him after a courtship of just nine days; shortly thereafter, she guested on a remix of his smash single "One More Chance."
Riley B. King better known as B.B. King was born on September 16th 1925 to a family of sharecropping farmers near a small town named Itta Bena in the Mississippi Delta. King's parents Albert and Nora Ella King separated when he was five years old and shortly after his mother moved to Kilmicheal Mississippi where Riley spent most of his time living with is grandmother. By age seven King was now working the field like a grown man. A couple of years later at the age of nine his mother died. King continued to live with his grandmother after his mother had past away. His grandmother was very religious and he attended church services with her. It was in the church where King begins to take an interest in music. He had dreams of becoming a gospel singer and learned how to play basic notes on the guitar from his preacher. In 1940 King's grandmother died and he had trouble making ends meet and eventually went to live with his father. (The King of Blues)
Billie Holiday, born Eleanora Fagan Gough on April 7th, 1915 was born in Baltimore, Maryland. She was raised primarily by her mother Sadie Fagan, Holiday’s father, Clarence Holiday was teenage jazz guitarist in Fletcher Henderson’s band, and he never married her mother and left while his daughter was still a baby. Her mother was also a young teenager at the time, and in 1927 Holiday dropped out of the fifth grade and moved to Harlem with her mother. She helped her mother with domestic work as a cleaner at a bordello, which led to her discovery of jazz, in particular Bessie Smith and Louie Armstrong. Soon she began prostitution with her mother for additional income, and at the age of fourteen, she was arrested along with her mother for prostitution.
Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915 in Baltimore, Maryland. She was born to Sarah Fagan, who was just thirteen years of age when she gave birth to young Billie. Her father was Clarence Holiday, who was also only fifteen at the time of her birth. Also a musician himself, Clarence
The multi talented, Alicia Keys was born Alicia Augello Cook on January 25, 1981, in New York, New York. Growing up, Alicia Keys was raised by her mother, Nikki Augello who was a part-time
The members of the group are Jimmy Page, born on April 9, 1944, Robert Plant, born on August 24, 1948, John Paul Jones, born on January 3, 1946, and John Bonham born on May 31, 1948.
Simpson, Janice C., “Time.” “Yo! Rap Gets on the Map; Led by groups like Public
Billie Holiday was an African-American and she was born in April, 7, 1915 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She had no formal music education when she was step into the stage of the club platform to sing. She had an amazing voice and several producers appreciated her talents and promoted her to become a recognition jazz singer. Her addiction of drugs and alcohol ultimately damaged her liver and heart. She was pledged to guilty in court when the police found a possession of an illegal substance in her New York City apartment. She passed away in the hospital near the Upper East Side due to liver failure.
Billie Holiday’s childhood and early life proved to be just about as interesting and crime-ridden as her life during her singing career. Holiday, her given name being Eleanora Fagan, was born with music in her blood by her alleged birth father, Clarence Holiday, a musician in Baltimore, Maryland. Her mother, Sadie Fagan, was a single woman who was chased out of Baltimore because of her being pregnant with a child and not being married and to do maintenance at Philadelphia General Hospital “where she waited on patients and scru...
Nicki released her first mixtape "Playtime Is Over". A year later, Nicki finally released her debut
Billie was born to the name, Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915. She was born in Philadelphia but grew up in the Fell's Point section of Baltimore. Her mother, was just 13 at the time of her birth; her father, was 15. Holidays' teenage parents, Sadie Harris (aka Fagan) and probable father, Clarence Holiday, never married, and they did not live together for a long time. Clarence, a banjo and guitar player worked with Fletcher Henderson's band in the early 30s. He remains a shady figure who left his family. Clarence would often be away from home, and during the stay with Henderson, which lasted until 1932, the guitarist severed connections with the Fagans. Billie was an angry chile who lived a hard life. She was raped at the age of 10 soon she dropped out of school at an early age and began working as a prostitute with her mother. She was sent to a home for wayward girls, and soon was arrested and served four months in prison for prostitution. “Somebody once said we never know what is enough until we know what’s than enough”(billie holiday)