Black Pioneers of the Music Industry
The Most Successful African-Americans, Black Britons and Africans
Aug 22, 2009
Music has been an arena where Black people have shone, but a select few have broken records and transformed the international music scene, and some have left an indelible mark still felt after their deaths.
Beyonce Knowles - Pop and RnB
Singer and song writer Beyonce Knowles is the most high profile Black woman in music today. The 27-year-old Houston native was originally the lead singer of girl group Destiny's Child, who sold over 50 million records worldwide.
After the group split, Knowles became the most successful female artist of the 90's with the most US number ones, sold over 20 million records and is the first African-American and second woman to be named Songwriter of the Year by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
"To underestimate Knowles...is to find yourself on the business end of a No. 1 song. (Destiny’s Child is the most successful female RnB group in history.) Yet none of this involved Beyoncé cursing, committing infidelity, or breaking any laws, even in character. She is pop’s A student, and it has done her a world of commercial good... Young black female singers rarely get past the red rope and into the Genius Lounge..." ("The Queen: Beyonce At Last", The New Yorker, February 9, 2009)
Fela Kuti - Afro Beat
As the creator of Afro-beat, a fusion of African, Jazz and Highlife music, Fela Anikulapo Kuti was a music revolutionary whose influence on Africa and the West was unprecedented.
Born in Nigeria in 1938 and prominent in the 60s, 70s and 80s, Kuti and his band's politically conscious sound which criticised the Nigerian government in songs like Zombie and Unknown Soldier kept him in conflict with the authorities but thrilled Africans and the West, captivating millions including Paul McCartney and James Brown with his pertinent lyrics and explosive live shows.
A proficient saxophonist, keyboardist and guitarist and a prolific producer releasing over 70 albums, his African, American and European tours were seminal and his music is now been embraced by a new generation.
"It's almost impossible to overstate the impact and importance of...Fela to the global musical village: producer, arranger, musician, political radical, outlaw [and] showman par excellence...Fela...was more than a simply a pop star, he was the voice of Nigeria's have-nots, a cultural rebel. His death on August 3, 1997...deeply affected musicians and fans internationally, as a musical and sociopolitical voice was silenced." ("Fela Kuti: Biography", Starpulse.com, Undated).
Jay Z - Hip Hop
Hip Hop culture has transformed international music, dance, art, fashion and language. Emerging from African-American neighbourhoods in the 70s, its influence stretches from Ghana to Japan.
Today, Hip Hop's biggest rapper is Jay Z. Born Shawn Carter in a poor neighbood in New York in 1969, Jay Z has sold 26 million units in the US alone and his 1998 number one album Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life propelled him into mainstream consciousness. Now the biggest selling African-American rapper alive, Jay Z and his wife Beyonce Knowles are Hip Hop and RnB's most successful couple.
"Since 1998, Jay Z has been the most consistently excellent MC in the game, and it seems like he's at his apex every year. He is one of only a handful of MCs whose flow is so potent that his tongue can effortlessly glide over any track and still destroy a verse with line-for-line firepower...Dude is in a class by himself." ("The Greatest MCs of All Time", MTV.com, 2006)
Leona Lewis - Pop
Since winning Britain's X Factor in 2006, 24-year-old Leona Lewis's 2007 first album Spirit became the fastest selling debut in the UK. The album also topped the US charts, making her the first British solo artist to do so with a debut release.
Its first single A Moment Like This set a world record after selling 50,000 units in 30 minutes. The second single Bleeding Love is the biggest selling single of the 21st century by a female artist and reached number one in over 30 countries.
Vibe magazine describes her as "a balladeer with grace, vivacity, and dignity… and a strong lithe tone that could peel paint…" ("Leona Lewis' Bleeding Love is Best-Selling Single of 2008", StarPulse.com, October 22, 2008)
Michael Jackson - King of Pop
Michael Jackson's domination of music in the 80s and 90s and his profile as the first and only globally recognisable pop star helped paved the way for Black artists to be accessible to mainstream audiences.
Born in Indiana in 1958 and one of nine children, his musical start was with his brothers in the Jackson Five, who became the first act in recording history to have their first four singles get to number one.
Jackson went solo in 1979, but it was his third album, 1982's Thriller that made him a global superstar. It sold over 100 million units worldwide, the biggest selling album of all time, was the first album to spawn seven hit singles including Billie Jean and Beat It, and its signature music video transformed the medium and made Jackson the first Black solo artist to be featured on MTV. After Thriller's release, Jackson was nominated for 12 Grammys and won an unprecedented eight in one night.
"For a record industry stuck on the border between the ruins of punk and the chic regions of synthesizer pop, Thriller was a thorough restoration of confidence, a rejuvenation" wrote Time Magazine in 1984. "Thriller brought black music back to mainstream radio...[Jackson] is the biggest thing since the Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most popular black singer ever."
Two days after his death in June, 2009, The New York Times paid tribute to Jackson's popularity saying "Fame on the level that Mr. Jackson achieved is all but impossible for pop culture heroes today, and quite likely it will never be possible again."
Sources:
- Fela Kuti: The Big Fela, Observer Music Monthly, August 24, 2004
See also: Black Pioneers of the Sporting World and Black Pioneers of Film and Television
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