Content tagged 'Black Music Month'

It’s February, so you know what that means: it’s Black History Month. Mind you, every month is Black History Month here at Rhino, because it’s not like we aren’t constantly spotlighting artists who handily qualify as historic, but this is still a solid opportunity to do a little bit extra. Today we spotlight the Queen of Soul herself, Ms. Aretha Franklin, and we must admit that it’s more than a little bit depressing to realize that this is actually the first time we’ve celebrated Black History Month without Aretha still walking among us. Her absence, however, has only made her legacy grow stro

We’ve only got a few more days left of Black History Month 2019 and only one more official post remaining after this one, which we’ve already designated as another of our Deep Dives. As such, we figured we’d use today’s post to spotlight one of the most notable names within our catalog: the late, great Mr. Otis Redding. It’s no exaggeration to say that Redding was one of the greatest singers in R&B history, and if you think it is, then we’re just going to have to agree to disagree because, well, you’re wrong. Redding wasn’t just a singer, either. He was a brilliant songwriter, producer, and ar

As Black History Month continues to roll ever onward, so too does Rhino’s appreciation of artists within our catalog who fall under the auspice of this particular month. Today’s honoree is a woman who was probably always destined to be an R&B superstar, thanks to the genetic advantage of having Rufus Thomas as her father. We’re talking, of course, about Carla Thomas, but beyond being Rufus’s little girl, she had – and still has – plenty of charisma Today we shine the spotlight on Carla Thomas, who kicked off her career with a huge genetic advantage – she’s the daughter of Rufus Thomas – and a

Some names are so associated with a particular genre that you can’t hear one immediately thinking of the other. Such is the case when it comes to John Coltrane and jazz, which is why Rhino is celebrating his career for one of our Black History Month posts. Born in the appropriately-named city of Hamlet, North Carolina on September 23, 1926, Coltrane experienced the loss of several family members during his childhood, including his father, his grandparents, and one of his aunts, leading him to be raised predominantly by his mother by the time he entered his teens. Coltrane’s career in music beg

It’s National Women’s History Month, and if you’ve been checking out Rhino.com since March began, then you know that we’re making a concerted effort to utilize a number of our regular features as opportunities to spotlight female artists. Today, we’re doing a Deep Dive into the early career of a female vocalist who – although she would eventually break out on her own – started her soon-to-be-super-successful career fronting a girl group. When she was 15, Patricia Holt – soon to be Labelle, but not yet – won a high school talent contest, and her success inspired her to start her own singing gro

Today we remember the late, great R&B singer-songwriter Donny Hathaway, who died on this date in 1979, and we do so by taking a deep dive into his back catalog and taking a look at the soundtrack he recorded for an oft-forgotten ‘70s sequel. Yes, that’s right: Come Back, Charleston Blue was a sequel to the 1970 film Cotton Comes to Harlem , with both films starring Godfrey Cambridge as Gravedigger Jones and Raymond St. Jacques as Coffin Ed Johnson, their characters having originated in a series of novels by author Chester Himes. While Come Back, Charleston Blue might not have found as much acc

As February rolls on, so does Black History Month, but you probably guessed that, since they’re one and the same. What you likely didn’t guess, however, was that we were going to decide to spotlight Leon Ware in today’s piece, since the majority of his back catalog was recorded for other labels, but we’re taking advantage of the fact that he released two LPs on Elektra back in the early ‘80s, so strap in and get ready to learn about Leon! Born in Detroit on February 16, 1940, Ware’s first substantial taste of success came in the late 1960s, when he kicked off his career as a songwriter at Moto

For today’s Deep Dive in honor of Black History Month, we’re diving a little deeper than usual and spotlighting a band that released three albums on Elektra between 1979-1980 and even scored a top-10 hit on Billboard ’s R&B Singles chart, yet they don’t even have their own Wikipedia page. Now we ask you: is that deep, or is that deep?” Formed in Detroit in the late ‘70s, Five Special consisted of – you guessed it – five guys: Bryan Banks, Steve Boyd, Greg Finley, Steve Harris, and Mike Petillo. If anyone within their roster had an existing claim to fame when the group started, it was Bryan Ban

Today we celebrate the birthday of Kim Sledge, one of the members of the legendary singing group Sister Sledge, and we thought we’d honor her by spotlighting some of the singles by Kim and her sisters that didn’t get as much pop airplay in the U.S. as they perhaps should’ve. That’s not to say the songs in this playlist weren’t big hits on the R&B chart, mind you, and in one instance, they had a single that actually hit #1 in the UK but stalled at #75 on the Billboard Hot 100. Basically, we’re just saying that you might want to familiarize – or re-familiarize – yourself with more of Sister Sled

Today we celebrate the birthday of legendary blues musician Buddy Guy, an artist who – it must be said – does not have a great deal of work within the Rhino catalog. He does have one album of note, however, and it’s one that’s well worth spotlighting today. Buddy collaborated a number of times with the equally-legendary Junior Wells, but BUDDY GUY & JUNIOR WELLS PLAY THE BLUES was particularly notable for a couple of different reasons, although they weren’t necessarily all music-related. The process of recording this LP started in Miami in 1970, and although it was a project that also involved