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Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award
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Ruth Brown
Ruth Brown (January 30, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American R&B; singer, and actress noted for bringing a popular music style to rhythm and blues in a series of hit songs for fledgling Atlantic Records in the 1950s, such as "So Long", ...
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Etta James
Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins on January 25, 1938) is an American blues, soul, R&B;, rock & roll, gospel and jazz singer and songwriter. James is the winner of four Grammys and seventeen Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll...
Mary Wells
Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer who defined the early sound of Motown Records in the early sixties. Along with The Miracles, The Temptations, The Supremes, and The Four Tops, Wells was said to have been part...
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Percy Sledge
Percy Sledge (born November 25, 1940) is an American R&B; and soul performer.
Percy Sledge worked in a series of blue-collar jobs in the fields in Leighton, Alabama before taking a job as an orderly at Colbert County Hospital in Sheffield, Alabama....
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Jimmy Scott
Jimmy Scott (July 17, 1925 in Cleveland), aka "Little" Jimmy Scott, is an American jazz vocalist.
Scott has Kallmann's syndrome, a genetic condition. The condition stunted his growth at four feet eleven inches until, at age 37, he grew another 8...
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Charles Brown
Charles Brown (September 13, 1922 – January 21, 1999), born in Texas City, Texas was an American blues singer and pianist whose soft-toned, slow-paced blues-club style influenced the development of blues performance during the 1940s and 1950s. He...
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LaVern Baker
LaVern Baker (November 11, 1929 – March 10, 1997) was an American rhythm and blues singer.
She was born Delores LaVern Baker in Chicago, Illinois. She is occasionally referred to as Delores Williams because of an early marriage to Eugene Williams;...
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The Clovers
The Clovers are an American rhythm & blues group.
The group formed in 1946 at Armstrong High School in Washington, D.C., with members Harold Lucas, Billy Shelton, and Thomas Woods. John "Buddy" Bailey was added soon after, and they began calling...
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Ray Charles
Ray Charles (born Charles Raymond Offenberg, September 13, 1918 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, vocal arranger and conductor who is best- known as organizer and leader of The Ray Charles Singers. The Ray Charles...
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American soul, R&B;, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions and composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super...
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Doc Pomus
Doc Pomus (June 27, 1925 - March 14, 1991) was a twentieth century American blues singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lyricist of many rock and roll hits. Pomus was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the category of non...
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Albert King
Albert King (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992) was an American blues guitarist and singer.
One of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with B. B. King and Freddie King), Albert King stood 6' 4" (192 cm) and weighed 250 lbs (118 kg) and was...
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Jimmy McCracklin
Jimmy McCracklin (born August 13, 1921, St. Louis Missouri) is an American pianist, vocalist, and songwriter. His style contains West Coast blues, Jump blues, and R&B.; Over a career that has spanned seven decades, he says he has written almost a...
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Sam Moore
Samuel David Moore (born October 12, 1935) is an American Southern Soul and Rhythm & Blues (R&B;) singer who was the tenor vocalist for the soul vocal duo Sam & Dave from 1961 through 1981. Sam Moore is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the...
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Maxine Brown
Maxine Ella Brown (born 18 August 1939, in Kingstree, South Carolina) is an American soul singer.
She began singing as a child, performing with two New York based gospel groups when she was a teenager. In 1960, she signed with the small Nomar record...
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The Five Keys
The Five Keys is an American rhythm and blues vocal group that was instrumental in shaping this genre in the 1950s.
It was formed with the original name of Sentimental Four in Newport News, Virginia, U.S., in the late 1940s, and initially consisted...
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The Spaniels
The Spaniels were an American R&B; doo-wop group, best known for the hit "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight".
They have been called the first successful Midwestern R&B; group. Some historians of vocal groups consider Pookie Hudson to be the first...
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Al Hibbler
Al Hibbler (August 16, 1915 - April 24, 2001) was an American vocalist with several pop hits. He is best known for his million selling recording of "Unchained Melody" (1955). Once described by Duke Ellington as "our major asset", the bandleader was...
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Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1940 in Memphis, Tennessee) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist commonly referred to as "The Queen of Soul". Although renowned for her soul recordings, Franklin is also adept at jazz, rock, soul,...
Hank Ballard
Hank Ballard (November 18, 1927 – March 2, 2003), born John Henry Kendricks, was a rhythm and blues singer, the lead vocalist of Hank Ballard and The Midnighters and one of the first proto-rock 'n' roll artists to emerge in the early 1950s. He...
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The Staple Singers
The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B; singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples (1914-2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (born 1934), Pervis (born 1935), Yvonne (b. 1936), and Mavis (b....
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Bobby Bland
Robert Calvin Bland (born January 27, 1930) better known as Bobby “Blue” Bland, is an American singer of blues and soul. He is an original member of The Beale Streeters. and is sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues". Along with such...
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Paul Williams
Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams (1915 – 2002) was an American blues and rhythm and blues saxophonist and composer. In his Honkers and Shouters, Arnold Shaw credits Williams as one of the first to employ the honking tenor sax solo that became the hallmark...
Nellie Lutcher
Nellie Lutcher (October 15, 1912 - June 8, 2007) was an African-American R&B; and jazz singer and pianist, who achieved prominence in the late 1940s and early 1950s. She was most recognizable for her distinctive voice, particularly her phrasing and...
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Jesse Stone
Jesse Stone (born Atchison, Kansas, 16 November 1901 - died Altamonte Springs, Florida, 1 April 1999) was an American rhythm and blues musician and songwriter whose influence spanned a wide range of genres. He also used the pseudonyms Charles...
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Ella Johnson
Ella Johnson (1918—16 February 2004) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues vocalist.
Born in Darlington, South Carolina, she joined her brother Buddy Johnson in New York as a teenager, where he was leading a popular band at the Savoy Ballroom....
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Rufus Thomas
Rufus Thomas, Jr. (March 27, 1917 – December 15, 2001) was a rhythm and blues, funk and soul singer and comedian from Memphis, Tennessee, who recorded on Sun Records in the 1950s and on Stax Records in the 1960s and 1970s. He was the father of soul...
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The Dells
The Dells are an R&B; musical group who were one of the few groups to span music genres resulting in successful recordings surpassing more than four decades. Formed in 1952 after attending high school together, the Dells' repertoire has included doo...
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Chuck Jackson
Chuck Jackson (born July 22, 1937) is an R&B; singer who was one of the first artists to successfully record material by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. He has performed with moderate success since 1961. His hits include "I Don't Want to Cry," "Any...
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James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006), originally James Joseph Brown, Jr., also known as "The Godfather of Soul", was an American entertainer. He is recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century popular music and...
Hadda Brooks
Hadda Brooks (October 29, 1916 – November 21, 2002), was a noted American pianist, vocalist and composer. Her first single, "Swingin' the Boogie", which she composed, was issued in 1945. She was billed as "Queen of the Boogie." Highlights of her...
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Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke (born March 21, 1940) is an American Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter. During the half-century that he has performed, he has drawn from his roots: gospel, soul, and blues, as well as developing his own style in a time when R&B;,...
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Wilson Pickett
Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American R&B;/rock and roll and soul singer and songwriter known for his raw, raspy, passionate vocal delivery.
A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over...
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Erskine Hawkins
Erskine Ramsay Hawkins (July 26, 1914—November 11, 1993) was a trumpet player and big band leader from Birmingham, Alabama, dubbed "The 20th Century Gabriel". He is most remembered for composing the jazz standard "Tuxedo Junction" (1939) with...
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David "Panama" Francis
David "Panama" Francis (December 21, 1918 in Miami, Florida – November 13, 2001 in Orlando, Florida) was an American swing jazz drummer.
He began performing at the age of eight, and booked his first night club at the age of thirteen. His career took...
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Lowell Fulson
Lowell Fulson (March 31, 1921 – March 7, 1999) was a big-voiced blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. Fulson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He also recorded for business reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T...
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Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon (August 8, 1920 – September 18, 1997) was an American blues singer.
James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio...
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Carla Thomas
Carla Thomas (born December 21, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee) is often referred to as the Queen of Memphis Soul.
Carla Thomas was born on December 21, 1942, in the Foote Homes Housing Project in Memphis, Tennessee. Her parents, the late Rufus and...
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Floyd Dixon
For the American football player see Floyd Dixon (American football)
Floyd Dixon (February 8, 1929 – July 26, 2006) was an American rhythm and blues pianist and singer.
Dixon was born Jay Riggins Jr. in Marshall, Texas. He was influenced by blues,...
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Little Anthony & The Imperials
Little Anthony & The Imperials is a rhythm and blues/soul/doo-wop vocal group from New York, first active in the 1950s. Lead singer Jerome Anthony "Little Anthony" Gourdine was noted for his high-pitched falsetto voice influenced by Jimmy Scott. The...
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Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas) were among the most successful groups of the Motown roster during the period 1963-1967. In contrast to other Motown groups such as The Supremes and The Marvelettes...
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Dave Clark
Dave Clark is a Canadian musician from Etobicoke, Ontario.
Clark is a respected studio musician and live performer, and has collaborated with such artists as Charles Spearin, Gord Downie, The Inbreds, Jane Siberry, Julie Doiron, and the Sun Ra...
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The Shirelles
The Shirelles were an American girl group in the early 1960s, and the first to have a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100. The members of the quartet were Shirley Owens (the main lead singer; later known as Shirley Alston, then Shirley Alston...
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Ben E. King
Ben E. King (born Benjamin Earl Nelson, September 28, 1938) is an American soul singer. He is perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me," a U.S. top 10 hit in both 1961 and 1987 and a #1 hit in the UK in 1987, and as one of...
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Otis Blackwell
Otis Blackwell (16 February 1932 – 6 May 2002) was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist whose work significantly influenced rock 'n' roll. His compositions include Little Willie John's "Fever", Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire" and ...
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Clarence Carter
Clarence Carter (born January 14, 1936) is a blind American soul singer and musician.
Born in Montgomery, Alabama on 14 January, 1936, Carter attended the Alabama School for the Blind in Talladega, Alabama, and Alabama State College in Montgomery,...
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The Coasters
The Coasters are an American Rhythm and Blues/rock and roll vocal group that had a string of hits in the late 1950s. Beginning with "Searchin'" and "Young Blood," their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing team of...
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Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis (born John Alexander Veliotes; December 28, 1921) is an American blues and rhythm and blues pianist, vibraphonist, drummer, singer, bandleader, and impresario. Otis was one of the most prominent white figures in the history of Rhythm and...
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Bill Doggett
William Ballard Doggett (February 16, 1916 – November 13, 1996) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues pianist and organist.
He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother, a church pianist, introduced him to music when he was 9 years old....
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Irma Thomas
Irma Thomas (b. February 18, 1941, Ponchatoula, Louisiana) is a Grammy Award winning soul and rhythm and blues singer from New Orleans. She is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans."
Thomas is a contemporary of Aretha Franklin and Etta James, but...
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Jerry Butler
Jerry Butler (born Jerry Butler Jr., December 8, 1939, Sunflower, Mississippi ) is an American soul singer and songwriter, known as "The Ice Man" because of his cool demeanour while singing often intensely emotional lyrics. He is also noted as being...
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Don Covay
Don Covay (born Donald Randolph, 24 March 1938, Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States) is an influential American R&B;/rock and roll/soul music singer and songwriter most active in the 1950s and 1960s, who received a Pioneer Award from the...
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Mable John
Mable John (born November 3, 1930) is an American blues vocalist who was the first female signed by Berry Gordy to Motown's Tamla label.
John was born in Bastrop, Louisiana. At a very young age, she and her parents moved to Arkansas, where her...
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Earl Palmer
Earl Cyril Palmer (October 25, 1924 - September 19, 2008) was an American drummer and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Palmer played on many recording sessions, including Little Richard's first several albums and Tom Waits' 1978 album Blue...
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Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Booker T. & the M.G.'s are an instrumental soul band that was influential in shaping the sound of Southern Soul and Memphis Soul. In the 1960s, as the house band of Stax Records, they played on hundreds of recordings by artists such as Wilson...
Illinois Jacquet
Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet (October 31, 1922–July 22, 2004) was a jazz tenor saxophonist most famous for his solo on "Flying Home", recognized as the first R&B; sax solo.
Although he was a pioneer of the honking tenor sax that became a regular...
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Darlene Love
Darlene Love (née Wright; born July 26, 1941) is an American popular music singer.
Love began her singing with her local church choir in Hawthorne, California. While still in high school (1959) she was invited to join a little-known girl group...
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Inez and Charlie Foxx
Charlie Foxx ( October 23, 1939 – September 18, 1998) and his sister Inez Foxx (born September 9, 1942) were an African-American rhythm and blues and soul duo from Greensboro, North Carolina. Inez sang lead vocal, while Charlie sang back-up and...
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The Marvelettes
The Marvelettes were an American singing girl group on the Tamla label. Motown's first successful female vocal group, the Marvelettes are most notable for recording the company's first US #1 pop hit, "Please Mr. Postman", and for setting the...
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Mabel Scott
Mabel Scott, born (30 April 1915 in Richmond, Virginia, USA; died 19 July 2000 in Los Angeles), was an American gospel music and R&B; vocalist. Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Mabel Scott resided in New York and Cleveland before arriving on the...
