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...

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...

Adeaze is an R&B duo from New Zealand. Comprised of brothers Nainz and Viiz Tupa'i, the brothers of Adeaze have pursuing their love of music since they were 4 and 5 respectively.

Nainz and Viiz were brought up in the church and...

Adina Howard was born in 1974 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Prior to her music career, she was living in Mesa Arizona, where she met producers Ray Hunter and Ron Keel. Ray had wanted Adina to become a member of a girl group...

Alicia J. Augello-Cook was born in Harlem, New York in 1981, and is known to the world as Alicia Keys. Her parents are Teresa Augello, a woman of Irish and Italian descent, and Craig Cook, a man of Jamaican heritage. Alicia Keys' parents...

All 4 One is a male R&B quartet comprised of Tony Borowiak, Jamie Jones, Delious Kennedy, and Alfred Nevarez, all of whom are from The Antelope Valley in California. Tony, Jamie and Alfred started the group after meeting...

Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas was born in 1980 in Glen Cove, New York. Her parents were both active in the arts, with her mother, Tina Douglas, having worked as a dance teacher, and her father, Ken-Kaide Thomas Douglas as a former singer. ...

The group Az Yet was created over a long period of time. Shawn Rivera and Dion Allen met in 1990 and decided to form a group in Philadelphia. While in search for quality singers to join their group, the two men stumbled ...

B2K was comprised of Omarion (Omari Grandberry, born 1984), Lil Fizz (Dreux Frederick, born 1985), Raz-B (DeMario Thornton, born 1985) and J-Boog (Jarell Houston, born 1985). The group was founded by Chris Stokes who also served as the...

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...

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...

Beyonce Giselle Knowles (known as Beyonce in music) was born in Houston, Texas in 1981 to record manager Matthew Knowles and Tina Beyince, a costume designer. Matthew Knowles is African American while Tina is of Creole descent. Beyonce...

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 Blaque is comprised of Natina Reed (born 1979), Shamari Fears (born 1981) and Brandi Williams (born 1982). The group's name stands for Believing in Life and Achieving a Quest for Unity in Everything, and was or...

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...

Color Me Badd came out of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the early 1990s and was comprised of members Bryan Abrams, Mark Calderon, Kevin Thornton and Sam Watters. The group was discovered by Kool & The Gang's Robert Bell in ...

Michael 'D'Angelo' Archer was born in 1974 in Richmond, Virginia. He released his debut album, Brown Sugar, in 1995. The album slowly generated sales, only proving popular after the hit single 'Lady' began receiving a lo...

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...

The group Destiny's Child has changed immensely over the years, beginning as a duo, eventualy becoming a quartet and later shrinking back down to a trio. The group formed in 1990 in Houston, Texas. It initially was compr...

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...

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...

Francisco Javier Bautista Jr., known in music as Frankie J, was born in Tijuana, Mexico in 1978. Frankie J's native language is Spanish, though he moved to San Diego, California at the age of two when his uncle brought him to America.

Freddie Jackson was born in October of 1956 in Harlem, New York. As Jackson grew up, he sang as a gospel singer at White Rock Baptist Church. At the church, he met Paul Laurence who would become his record producer.

Freddie...

Full Force is an R&B group from Brooklyn, New York. The group is comprised of brothers B-Fine (Brian George), Bow Legged Lou (Lucien George, Jr.), Paul Anthony (Paul Anthony George) and their cousins, Shy Shy (Junior Clark), Curt-T-T (...

Gerald LeVert was born in 1966 in Cleveland, Ohio and was part of a family with rich musical background. His father, Eddie LeVert Sr.'s success constantly loomed over the family as he was the lead singer in the O'Jays.

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...

Gregory Abbott, born in 1954 in New York, traces his roots back to Venezuela, his mother's homeland, and Antigua, his father's. During his early years, Abbott's mother taught him how to play piano and encouraged him to d...

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...

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...

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...

Like many R&B artists, brothers Cedric 'K-Ci' and Joel 'JoJo' Hailey grew up singing in the church. Natives of North Carolina, they met Devante Swing and Mr. Dalvin as teenagers.

The group went to New York where they tried to sel...

Keith Sweat was born in 1961 in Harlem, New York. In 1975, Sweat got his start in music with a Harlem band called 'Jamilah.' The group toured the Tri-State area and helped hone Sweat's singing abilities.

Signed...

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,...

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...

Michael Joseph Jackson was born in 1958 in Gary, Indiana. As the seventh child in the Jackson family, Michael endured a great deal of abuse as a child. His father, Joseph would demand constant music rehearsals from the children and would...

Montell Jordan was born in 1968 in Los Angeles, California. He attended Pepperdine University in California where he received a bachelor's degree in communication and joined Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He spent seven yea...

New Edition started in 1978 and originally comprised of Bobby Brown, Michael Bivins and Ricky Bell. The guys lived in the Orchard Park housing projects in Boston, Massachusetts. The group met a local manager named Brook ...

Next is comprised of R.L. Huggar, and brothers T-Low and Tweety and foremd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. R.L. met the brothers through their uncle who directed a gospel choir.

The group's debut album Rated Next wa...

Omari Ishamel Grandberry, known as Omarion, was born in 1984. He was the lead singer for the hit group B2K until he went solo in 2005.

In 2005, Omarion released his debut album, O. The album had two hit singles with "Touch"...

Prince Rogers Nelson was born in 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Throughout his music career, he has been known as Prince, The Artist Formerly Known as Prince, and simply The Artist. His...

Public Announcement is oftentimes simplified into just R. Kelly. While R. Kelly was the lead singer on the group's debut CD Born Into the 90s the group was very much a sum of all of its parts.

The album, Born I...

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...

Ralph Tresvant was born in 1968 in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Tresvant joined Bobby Brown, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronald DeVoe in a group formed by Maurice Starr. The group was designed to be a 'new edition' of the...

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...

Shanice Lorraine Wilson-Knox was born in 1973 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. From an early age, Shanice was graced with fame, starring in a KFC commercial with Ella Fitzgerald when she was 9.

At the age of 11, Sh...

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.

Take 6 slowly took shape throughout the early to mid 1980s. It first began when Claude McKnight formed an a capella quartet, The Gentlemen's Estate Quartet, at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama in 1980. The group be...

Sananda Maitreya, born under the name Terence Trent Howard, and most well-known by his performing name, Terence Trent D'Arby was born in 1962. Born in Manhattan, New York, D'Arby joined the army after ...

The Force M.D.s (with M.D. standing for musical diversity) were comprised of brothers Stevie D., Antoine "T.C.D." Lundy, their uncle, Jessie Lee Daniels and their friends Trisco Pearson and Charles "Mercury" Nelson. The group formed in...

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 ...

Toni Braxton was born in 1966 in Severn, Maryland. She is the oldest of six children and went to Glen Burnie High School. Her father was a clergyman, and as such, Braxton's first experience was singing with a church choi...

Trey Lorenz was born in 1969 in Florence, South Carolina. He got his start in the music industry as a supporting singer for Mariah Carey during her first tour in 1990. He also provided background vocals on her album Emot...

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...

Usher Raymond IV was born in 1978 to parents Usher Raymond III and Jonetta Patton in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Raised by his mother, he moved to Atlanta Georgia as a child. Getting his start in the church choir, Usher bega...

Whitney Houston was born in 1963 in New Jersey. Her mother, first cousin (Dionne Warwick) and godmother (Aretha Franklin) were all established Gospel/R&B/Soul singers. At the age of eleven, Houston began performing as a ...