Some of the best songs to have come our way in the last few decades have undoubtedly come from the R&B music genre. Originally known as Rhythm and Blues, as of recent times it has been shortened to the more widely known and recognized R&B.

Rhythm and Blues music entered the music mainstream in 1940’s and the 1950’s although it became more popular in the 1960’s. R&B music is a great mixture of Jazz, and Blues, with some Gospel thrown in along with a smattering of pop.

There are many R&B artists around these days, and you will be hard pressed to find a radio station that isn’t playing at least one mainstream R&B song during the day (with of course the exception of dedicated radio stations such as the all-classical stations, the all-country stations etc.)

Some of the younger generation of R&B artists include,

• Usher
• R. Kelly
• Babyface
• Aaliyah
• Craig David
• Maria Carey
• Jennifer Lopez
• and Beyonce to name but a very few.

Spanning the decades as it were, you will also find that many an ‘old’ R&B recording artist is still a firm favorite these days as well. These include but are not limited to

• Prince
• Whitney Houston
• Aretha Franklin
• Lionel Richie
• Luther Vandross
• Stevie Wonder
• and Marvin Gaye to name a few older generation artists.

If you recognized any or all of those names, chances are great that you are an R&B fan even if you didn’t know it.

R&B has defined the music tastes of more than one generation of children, and it still continues to do so today. Many of us grew up on the sounds of these artists, and whenever we hear these songs playing, we automatically feel like rocking to the beat of these oldies but goodies. So don’t be afraid to rock to the music of Rhythm and Blues – you grew up on it, I grew up on it, and now another generation of young music aficionados will grow up on it. Long live R&B!