Aaliyah Haughton was born in 1979 in Brooklyn, New York and was raised in Detroit. Aaliyah, which means “Highest Most Exalted,” was the daughter of Michael and Diane Haughton and was very close to her older brother Rasha...

Aaron Hall was born in 1964 in The Bronx, New York. He first established himself in the music industry as a member of the group Guy. The group was comprised of Hall, Teddy riley and Timmy Gatling and later on, Hall's bro...

Alexander O'Neal was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1953. At the age of 20, O'Neal moved to Minneapolis where he played in a variety of musical groups. Alexander O'Neal performed in the groups The Mystics, Enterprise, and Flyte Tyme. ...

Bell Biv DeVoe formed from the members Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins and Ronnie DeVoe of the group New Edition. The group began to form after Bobby Brown left New Edition and became a separate entity after the Heart Break t...

After the trio Guy broke up, Teddy Riley began perfecting his production abilities and founded the group Blackstreet. He created the group in 1994, which was comprised of himself, Chauncey 'Black' Hannibal, Levi Little a...

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...

Brandy Norwood was born in 1979 in McComb, Mississippi. Her family had strong musical ties as her father, Willie Norwood was a pastor, choir director and former R&B singer and her mother was a cousin of blues singer Bo D...

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...

Carl Thomas was born in 1972 in Aurora, Illinois. After attending Aurora East High School, Carl Thomas sang around Chicago and became a member of The Formula. He branched out however, and traveled to New York where he sang at clubs dur...

Craig Ashley David was born in 1981 in Southampton, England. Craig David's parents are Tina, a Jewish shop assistant at Superdrug, and George David, a black Grenadian carpenter. Craig was raised by his mother after his parents separated ...

Eric Benet Jordan was born in 1966 in Wisconsin. His mother's maiden name is his middle name. Growing up, Benet was immersed in music as his father loved classical music and shared the experience with his son.

...

Elgin Baylor Lumpkin, known as Ginuwine, was born in 1970 in Washington, DC. He went to Prince Georges Community College in Largo, Maryland and got a paralegal degree.

His first break into the music industry wa...

At the front of the New Jack movement was the group, Guy, who appeared on the scenes in 1987. The first incarnation of the group was made up of Aaron Hall and Timmy Gatling, both students at HBCU Virginia State Universit...

The trio Intro was comprised of lead singer Kenny Greene, Jeff Sanders and Clinton 'Buddy' Wike. The group's name is actually an acronym, standing for Innovative New Talent Reaching Out.

When the group released...

Jagged Edge formed in Atlanta, Georgia. The group is comprised of identical twins Brandon and Brian Casey, Kyle Norman and Richard Wingo, who was added by recommendation of Kandi Burruss of Xscape. Kandi took the group's...

Janet Damita Jo Jackson was born in 1966 in Gary, Indiana. She was the youngest of nine children to Katherine Esther and Joseph Walter Jackson and was raised in Encino, California. Her brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael ...

The bad boy group Jodeci was made up of two sets of brothers: Cedric 'K-Ci' and Joel 'Jo Jo' Hailey and Dalvin and Donald 'DeVante Swing' DeGrate. All four members of the group had strong ties with the Pentecostal church...

Joe Thomas grew up in Opelika, Alabama and was the son of two preachers. He grew up singing in the choir, playing guitar and eeven directing the choir at his church.

Because of his roots in the church, Joe was in...

Johnny Gill was born on May 22, 1966 in Washington, D.C. The son of a minister, Gill sang in a family gospel group at the age of five.

Gill began his solo career in 1983 when his friend, Stacy Lattisaw convince...

Jonathan 'Jon B' Buck was born in Rhode Island but raised in Pasadena, California. His grandparents owned a record store which guaranteed his immersion in music. He found himself especially listening to The Bee Gees, Ear...

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,...

Mario Dewar Barrett was born in 1986 in Baltimore, Maryland and is known in R&B as Mario. He was raised by his grandmother in various parts of Baltimore, Maryland, as she also helped Mario's mother who was suffering from a drug problem. ...

Maxwell is an R&B neo-soul singer who was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1973. Maxwell is actually the singer's middle name, but he has kept his first and last name private in order to protect his family. His father died ...

Monica Denise Arnold was born on October 24, 1980 in Atlanta. As a child, Monica sang in church like her mother.

Despite her young age, Monica came to prominence at fourteen in the year 1995 when producer Dall...

Mya Harrison was born in 1979 in Washington, D.C. Her mother is an Italian American and her father is a Jamaican American. She grew up in the area and studied singing and dancing.

In 1997, she signed with Haqq ...

Portrait came out of L.A. onto the R&B scene in 1992 riding on the end of the New Jack Swing era. The group's self-titled debut album was released in the same year and featured two hits on the charts. 'Honey Dip' reached...

Robert Sylvester Kelly was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1967. He was the eldest of four children and lived in the Southside Projects. In high school, Kelly performed in talent shows and had his dreams reinforced by a high school music te...

Seal Samuel was born in Paddington, England in 1963. His parents were Adebisi Samuel, Nigerian immigrant and Francis Samuel, an Afro-Brazilian immigrant. While a child, Seal had a battle with lupus erythematosus that lef...

The group Shai was formed by students at Howard University in Washington D.C. Three of its members, Marc Gay, Carl Martin and Darnell Van Rensalier were members of the fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha and the fourth was a good...

Soul For Real formed in 1992 and was comprised of brothers Brian, Chris, Dre, and Jason Dalyrimple. Despite the time of the group's formation, the brothers had grown up singing together in church their entire life.

SWV, or Sisters With Voices formed in 1990 as a group of three school friends. The group consisted of members Cheryl 'Coko' Gamble-Clemons (born 1974), Tamara 'Taj' Johnson-George (1974) and Leanne 'Lele...

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...

Tatyana Ali was born in 1979 in Long Island, New York. Her parents were Sonia, a nurse, and Sheriff Ali, a detective. Her mother was from Panama and her father was of mixed Black/Indian descent.

Ali starte...

Tony! Toni! Tone! formed in Oakland, California and was composed of D'Wayne Wiggins on lead vocals and guitar, his brother Raphael Wiggins (Rapael Saadiq) on lead vocals and bass and cousin Timothy Christian on drums.

Tyrese Gibson was born in Los Angeles, California. He started his trek to stardom at the age of 14 when he won a talent show. He then appeared in a Coca-Cola advertisement, bringing him closer to the public eye. At 17, h...