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...

In its original form, 702 was comprised of the Grinstead sisters, LeMisha, Irish and Orish. While students at Cheyenne High School in Las Vegas, the girls would go to the lobby of Caesars Palace during boxing matches and...

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.

Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1958. He is the 5th in a family of six sons and attended North Central High School.

Babyface got his nickname when playing in a funk band with Boots...

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 group Brownstone was originally comprised of Nicole 'Nicci' Gilbert, Charmayne 'Maxee' Maxwell and Monica 'Mimi' Doby. They met one another after going to various auditions around Los Angeles and formed a group. The ...

Chantay Savage grew up in Chicago, Illinois and was the daughter of a jazz musician. Savage started her music career at an open mic contest which she won eight times and used to get gigs and to work as a session musician...

Troy Christopher Williams was born in 1967 in The Bronx, New York. Signed to Uptown Records, Williams first appeared on the scene in the late 1980s.

In 1989, Williams released his first album, Adventures in Par...

Dave Hollister, cousin of music act K-Ci and JoJo, started developing fame as a musician in the early 1990s. Some of his biggest early appearances were with 2Pac on tracks like 'Brenda's Got A Baby.'

His next b...

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...

Donnell Jones was the son of a pastor and spent a lot of his childhood acting out in church. At eleven, his mother bought him a keyboard and he taught himself to play. With his father's influence as a gospel singer, Jone...

Dru Hill was founded by Tamir 'Nokio' Ruffin in Baltimore in 1992. The group consisted of himself, lead singer Mark 'Sisqo' Andrews, Larry 'Jazz' Anthony and James 'Woody' Green. The group got their chance at success in ...

Eldra Patrick 'El' DeBarge was born in 1961 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

El was part of a musically rich family which was discovered by Jermaine Jackson and signed to Motown. The group, known as DeBarge, had seve...

En Vogue formed in 1988 in Oakland, California. The members of the group were former Miss Black California Cindy Herron, Maxine Jones, Dawn Robinson and Terry Ellis. The group formed when producers denzil Foster and Thom...

H-Town formed in Houston, Texas and consists of members Keven 'Dino' Conner, his fraternal twin Shazam and their friend Darryl 'G.I.' Jackson. For a long time, H-Town failed to find a break. They performed all kinds of g...

Immature was created by record producer Chris Stokes. Its members were Marques 'Batman' Houston, Jerome 'Young Rome' Jones, and Kelton 'LDB' Kessee. All three of the group's members were born in 1981 and are native of Lo...

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...

Jesse Powell was born in 1971 in Gary, Indiana. He grew up honing his musical abilities by singing with his family and in local talent shows. In 1993, Powell met producer Carl Roland in Kansas City and they traveled to L...

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...

Kevon Edmonds was born in Indianapolis, Indiana and is the brother of famous producer/songwriter/singer Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds. Growing up, Kevon Edmonds shied away from the church choir, preferring to sing for his o...

Keyshia Miesha Cole was born in 1981 in Oakland, California. Her mother was African-American and her father was Italian-American. However, Keyshia's father is dead and her mother suffered a drug addiction that forced Keyshia to be adopte...

Kut Klose was an R&B trio that formed in Atlanta, Georgia. The three females that made up the group were Athena Cage, Lavonn Battle and Tabitha Duncan. The girls were discovered by Keith Sweat who heavily produced their ...

LSG, short for LeVert, Sweat, Gill was an R&B trio comprised of Gerald LeVert, Keith Sweat and Johnny Gill. The group took three big names in R&B and merged them together into one. In order to get an idea of the impressiveness of the gro...

Marc Dorsey came onto the scene in a big way in 1994 with a soulful rendition of The Stylistics "People Make The World Go Round" in the opening scene of Spike Lee's Crooklyn. The track was also released as a single and reached #65 on the...

Mariah Carey was born in Long Island, New York to the former opera singer Patricia Hickey and Alfred Roy Carey. Her mother is Irish American and her father is of African-American and Venezuelan descent. The third and you...

Mary J Blige was born in 1971 in the Bronx, New York. Mary's father left her family when she was only four years old, leaving her, her sister and their mother to fend for themselves. The family moved to Yonkers a few yea...

Milira got her start after winning a singing contest at the legendary Apollo Theater. Her success helped her get a recording contract with the Motown distributed Apollo record lbabel.

Her debut album, the self-...

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...

Regina Belle was born in 1963 in Englewood, New Jersey. Engaged in music from a young age, she sang gospel music, and studied trombone, tuba and steel drums. Belle attended Rutgers University where she studied opera and ...

Sam Salter grew up singing gospel music at Faithful Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles. Growing up, Salter won several local talent shows, featuring a soulful sound that was influenced by Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonde...

Silk came out on the scene in 1992 and is comprised of members Timothy Cameron, Jimmy Gates Jr., Jonathen Rasboro, Gary Jenkins and Gary Glenn. The popular singer, Keith Sweat had been the one to discover the group.

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...

Tevin Campbell was born in 1976 in Dallas, Texas. He first appeared on the scene in the hit single 'Tommorow (A Better You Better Me)' which was released in 1989 and reached #1 on the R&B charts in 1990. The single was t...

TLC formed in 1991 and was originally called 2nd Nature. The group originated in Atlanta, Georgia and was originally comprised of Tionne 'T-Boz' Watkins, Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes and Crystal Jones.

In 1991, Jones ...

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...

U.N.V. or, Universal Nubian Voices, was a male quartet that came onto the scene in 1993 out of Lansing, Michigan with their debut album, Something's Goin On. The group was comprised of brothers John Pow...

The group Xscape formed in the early 1990s and was composed of sisters LaTocha 'Meatball' (born in 1973) and Tamika 'Juicy' (1975) Scott, as well as Kandi Burruss (1976) and Tameka 'Tiny' Cottle (1975). The Scott sister'...