2020 in Review: Popular Artists

90s R&B showcased a variety of talents. Just a short trip through our site and you'll be able to see a showcase of diversity. Guy groups, girl groups, solo artists, balladeers, new jack swing, soul singers. There's so much that elevates R&B to higher levels.

Looking at what was popular on the site, it's probably no shock that the most popular type of artists on the site are the R&B guy groups. More than anything, 90s R&B was known for its harmonizing groups of men who grew up singing in the church or in school together.

Here's a look at the five artists on the site that resonated most with our visitors.

Jeff Redd

The most popular artist on R&B Haven is surprisingly Jeff Redd. Jeff Redd is another of those artists that holds a close place with R&B Haven as he was one of the first artists we interviewed on the site. You can check out our interview with Jeff Redd and see his thoughts on the evolution of R&B. While Jeff Redd released an album in the early 90s (and had another shelved), his strongest influences were in his production and understanding of the industry. Jeff Redd is credited with having discovered Mary J Blige.

A Few Good Men

We've been seeing a lot of A Few Good Men lately. Not only did we recently spotlight their song Tonite as our song of the week, but we reviewed the LaFace Christmas album which featured several tracks by A Few Good Men. These guys had such talent as seen on beautiful tracks like Have I Never. Unfortunately as groups like Boyz II Men and Dru Hill surged, A Few Good Men just never got the chance to continue.

Goodfellaz

Goodfellaz is another artist that holds a special place in our hearts here at the Haven. As we brought R&B Haven back to life this year, we noticed that Goodfellaz was attracting a fair amount of interest. We reached out to founding member Angel Vasquez and had the opportunity to interview him about the group and his time in TKA as well. We're still working on refining the interview to post it on the site, but his love for R&B was great. The group had a fun personality and released the popular track Sugar Honey Iced Tea.

Adriana Evans

The fourth most popular artist on the site is Adriana Evans. Evans is a cool artist as she really got in at the forefront of the Neo-Soul movement. Her self-titled debut album is an experience like nothing else, and deserves to be on everybody's playlists. As the only woman to make the site's most popular artists, she must be doing something right.

No Question

Strangely, we had no bias in influencing the artists that were popular this year for us, but many of them have connections to R&B Haven. The fifth most popular artist on R&B Haven was the group No Question. A member of our site interviewed Nick J of the group back in 2009, providing details on the group's origins and what it was like performing in Philadelphia. You can read our interview with No Question to learn more on the group's past.

There you have it. In a world of Toni Braxtons, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men and Brian McKnight, it seems the smaller artists are the ones who have pushed through and found the spotlight. And honestly, I love seeing that. Our goal with R&B Haven has always been about exposing more people to classic R&B music. And that classic music is more than just the big names that were on the radio.