112 formed in Atlanta, Georgia and was initially a trio comprised of Daron Jones, Michael Keith and Reginald Finley. While the guys were in high school, they called themselves Forte and performed in talent shows at churc...

Anita Baker was born in 1958 in Toledo, Ohio. She grew up in Detroit, Michigan where she sang in the choir. At the age of 16, Anita joined a band, Humanity, which included her friends and performed around the city.

Anthony Hamilton was born in 1971 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He left North Carolina in 1993 and moved to New York City where he signed onto Uptown Records.

During the 1990s, he struggled to make an impact on the industry. He...

The Philadelphia quartet, Boyz II Men also seen as Boyz 2 Men, Boys II Men and Boys 2 Men, formed at the High School of the Creative and Performing Arts in 1988. It star...

Brian McKnight was born in Buffalo, New York. He had strong musical roots, singing in the church choir and acting as a bandleader in high school. While in his early teens, he began penning instrumentals. He formed his ow...

Deborah Cox was born in 1974 in Toronto, Ontario. Her parents are Guyanese but she has never met her biological father.

Deborah Cox got her start in the music industry as a backup vocalist for Celine Dion and get...

Andwele Gardner, known as Dwele to the music world, was born in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of ten, Dwele's life was hit hard when his father was murdered outside of his home, and Dwele turned to songwriting. He briefly attended Wayne ...

Erica 'Erykah Badu' Wright was born in 1971 in Texas. Badu was a dance student at Booker T. Washington High in Dallas where she received the nickname “MC Apples” and was a member of a freestyle female rap duo.

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Hi-Five formed in 1990 in Waco, Texas and was comprised of members Tony Thompson, Roderick Clark, marcus Sanders, Russell Neal, and Toriano Easley. They were signed to Jive Records who helped them release their first alb...

John Stephens was born in 1978 in Cleveland, Ohio and is known in the music industry as John Legend. When he was three years old, John began to receive piano lessons from his grandmother and by seven, he was singing along in the church c...

Lauryn Hill was born in 1975 in New Jersey. She attended Columbus High School and was an active student, performing in talent shows. She acted in the TV show As The World Turns when sixteen, and had a role in Sister Act ...

Luther Vandross Jr. was born in 1951 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York. When Vandross was eight, his father died of diabetes. At thirteen, Vandross and his family moved to the Bronx. At roughly the same time,...

Taalib Johnson, known by his stage name of Musiq Soulchild, was born in 1977 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The eldest of nine children, Musiq's always been the black sheep of his family as he paves his own path. He never finished high s...

Raheem DeVaughn was born in New Jersey to cellist Abdul Wadud and his mother Imani Smith. He grew up in Maryland where he showed a love for music at an early age. He got his first experience in the musician lifestyle when he'd visit his ...

Jerome 'Rome' Woods was born in Benton Harbor, Michigan in 1970. As a child he would sing along to his mother's soul records and joined the local church choir. While in high school, he joined an R&B cover group, Fire & I...

Durrell Babbs, known to the music world as Tank, was born on January 1, 1976 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He grew up in Clinton, Maryland, a suburb on the outskirts of Washington, D.C. Living in Maryland, Tank worked his musical chomps in th...

Voices of Theory was a latino R&B group that came from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The group was comprised of Mechi Cebollero, James Cartagena, Hector Ramos, David Cordova and Mike Galvis.

Hailing from Philadelphia, the group w...