1.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
2.
R. Kelly
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Robert Sylvester Kelly, known professionally as R. Kelly, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former professional basketball player. A native of Chicago, Illinois, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s, in 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play. In 1998, Kelly won three Grammy Awards for I Believe I Can Fly and his distinctive sound and style has influenced numerous hip hop and contemporary R&B artists. Kelly became the first musician to play basketball, when he was signed in 1997. Kelly has written, produced, and remixed songs and albums for artists, including Aaliyahs 1994 debut album Age Aint Nothing. In 1996, Kelly was nominated for a Grammy for writing Michael Jacksons song You Are Not Alone. In 2002 and 2004, Kelly released collaboration albums with rapper Jay-Z and has been a guest vocalist for other hip hop artists like Nas, Sean Combs, in March 2011, R. Kelly was named the most successful R&B artist of the last 25 years by Billboard. Kelly has released 12 solo studio albums, and sold over 100 million records worldwide making him the most successful R&B male artist of the 1990s and he has been credited for helping redefine R&B and hip hop, earning the nicknames King of R&B and King of Pop-Soul. He is listed by Billboard as the most successful R&B/Hip Hop artist of the past 25 years and also the most successful R&B artist in history. Throughout his career, Kelly has won awards, including a Guinness World Records as well as countless of other awards like Grammy, BET, Soul Train, Billboard, NAACP. Robert Sylvester Kelly was born on January 8,1967 at Chicago Lying-in Hospital in Hyde Park, Kelly is the third of four children. Kellys single mother, Joanne, was a singer, Kellys father was absent throughout his sons life. Kellys family lived in the Ida B, wells Homes public housing project in Chicagos Bronzeville neighborhood. Lena McLin described Kellys childhood home, It was bare, there was no father there, I knew that, and they had very little. Kelly began singing in the choir at age eight. Kelly grew up in a full of women, whom he said would act differently when his mother. At a young age Kelly was often abused by a woman who was at least ten years older than himself. I was too afraid and too ashamed, Kelly wrote in his autobiography about why he never told anyone, at age 11, he was shot in the shoulder while riding his bike home, the bullet is reportedly still lodged in his shoulder
3.
TP-2.com
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TP-2. com is the fourth studio album by American R&B singer-songwriter R. Kelly, released on November 7,2000 by Jive Records. The album was most notable for two #1 R&B hits, the tribute song I Wish, and the remix of the party anthem, Fiesta, the latter duet inspired the two to create the collaborative project The Best of Both Worlds. Another notable single was the risque Feelin On Yo Booty, the album has since been certified 4× Platinum. The album was Kellys second album to peak at #1 on the Billboard 200, TP-2. com was the number-one R&B Album on the Billboard Year-End chart for 2001. The albums eponymous title website, tp-2. com, was out of service in 2001. TP-2. com received mostly positive reviews music critics. Billboard wrote, Not to be outdone by the generation of singers he has influenced, the Village Voice wrote, TP-2. com is a magnum opus of the genre, milking both Kellys recent reflection and his baser inclinations for all theyre worth. Wall of Sound wrote, All in all, the production is sharp, with some fairly clever vocal, Billboard magazine ranked TP-2. com at number 94 on the magazines Top 200 Albums of the Decade. TP-2. com debuted number one on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, the album went on to sell over four million copies. All songs written by R. Kelly
4.
Contemporary R&B
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Contemporary R&B, also known as simply R&B, is a music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop and dance. The genre features a record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, an occasional saxophone-laced beat to give a jazz feel. Electronic influences are becoming a trend and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness. Contemporary R&B vocalists are often known for their use of melisma, popularized by such as Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Craig David, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston. That same year, Teddy Riley began producing R&B recordings that included hip hop influences and this combination of R&B style and hip hop rhythms was termed new jack swing and was applied to artists such as Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat, Al B. Guy, Jodeci and Bell Biv DeVoe, the style became less popular by the end of the 1990s, but later experienced a resurgence. In 1990 Mariah Carey released Vision of Love as her debut single and it was immensely popular peaking at number 1 in many worldwide charts including the Billboard Hot 100, and it propelled Mariahs carrier. The song is said to have popularized the use of melisma. During the mid-1990s, Whitney Houstons The Bodyguard, Original Soundtrack Album sold over 40 million copies becoming the best-selling soundtrack of all time. Janet Jacksons self-titled fifth studio album janet. which came after her historic multimillion-dollar contract with Virgin Records, sold over twenty million copies worldwide. Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey recorded several Billboard Hot 100 No.1 hits, including One Sweet Day, Carey also released a remix of her 1995 single Fantasy, with Ol Dirty Bastard as a feature, a collaboration format that was unheard of at this point. Carey, Boyz II Men and TLC released albums in 1994 and 1995—Daydream, II and CrazySexyCool. In the late 1990s, neo soul, which added 1970s soul influences to the hip hop soul blend, arose, led by such as DAngelo, Erykah Badu. Hill and Missy Elliott further blurred the line between R&B and hip hop by recording both styles, beginning in 1995, the Grammy Awards enacted the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, with II by Boyz II Men becoming the first recipient. The award was received by TLC for CrazySexyCool in 1996, Tony Rich for Words in 1997, Erykah Badu for Baduizm in 1998. At the end of 1999, Billboard magazine ranked Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson as the first, simultaneously, in the second half of the 1990s, The Neptunes and Timbaland set influential precedence on contemporary R&B and hip hop music. R&B acts such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Usher, in 2001, Alicia Keys released Fallin as her debut single. It peaking at one on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Top 40
5.
Soul music
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Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It combines elements of African-American gospel music, rhythm and blues, Soul music became popular for dancing and listening in the United States, where record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Soul also became popular around the world, directly influencing rock music, catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body moves, are an important feature of soul music. Other characteristics are a call and response between the lead vocalist and the chorus and a tense vocal sound. The style also occasionally uses improvisational additions, twirls and auxiliary sounds, Soul music reflected the African-American identity and it stressed the importance of an African-American culture. The new-found African-American consciousness led to new styles of music, which boasted pride in being black, Soul music dominated the U. S. R&B chart in the 1960s, and many recordings crossed over into the pop charts in the U. S. By 1968, the music genre had begun to splinter. Some soul artists developed funk music, while other singers and groups developed slicker, more sophisticated, by the early 1970s, soul music had been influenced by psychedelic rock and other genres, leading to psychedelic soul. The United States saw the development of neo soul around 1994, there are also several other subgenres and offshoots of soul music. The term soul had been used among African-American musicians to emphasize the feeling of being an African-American in the United States, according to another source, Soul music was the result of the urbanization and commercialization of rhythm and blues in the 60s. The phrase soul music itself, referring to music with secular lyrics, is first attested in 1961. The term soul in African-American parlance has connotations of African-American pride, gospel groups in the 1940s and 1950s occasionally used the term as part of their name. The jazz style that derived from gospel came to be called soul jazz, important innovators whose recordings in the 1950s contributed to the emergence of soul music included Clyde McPhatter, Hank Ballard, and Etta James. Ray Charles is often cited as popularizing the genre with his string of hits starting with 1954s I Got a Woman. Singer Bobby Womack said, Ray was the genius and he turned the world onto soul music. Charles was open in acknowledging the influence of Pilgrim Travelers vocalist Jesse Whitaker on his singing style, little Richard and James Brown were equally influential. Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson are also acknowledged as soul forefathers. Cooke became popular as the singer of gospel group The Soul Stirrers
6.
Urban contemporary gospel
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Musically, it follows the trends in secular urban contemporary music. Urban/contemporary gospel is a recent subgenre of gospel music, Christian hip hop is a subtype of urban/contemporary gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, the radio format is pitched primarily to African-American young adults. Protestant hymns and African-American spirituals make up the source material for traditional black gospel music. Urban/contemporary gospel has kept the focus of the traditional black gospel music. Urban/contemporary gospel derives primarily from traditional black music, with strong influence from. Due to strong racial divisions in 20th century American culture, urban/contemporary gospel developed specifically out of the African-American musical traditions, the equivalent music from white American culture is contemporary Christian music. Although the racial lines have blurred in some areas, particularly with urban musical styles, during the 1970s, hit songs like Edwin Hawkinss Oh Happy Day and Andrae Crouchs Take Me Back were significant milestones in the development of urban/contemporary gospel music. Andrae Crouch is called the godfather of contemporary gospel, artists in the urban/contemporary styles have taken a variety of approaches to address these concerns from their fan bases. Artists in this genre are expected to convey a committed Protestant Christian religious viewpoint, the secular version of this music is urban contemporary music, which is musically indistinguishable, but which takes non-religious subjects for its lyrical content. Urban/contemporary gospel music is characterized by dominant vocals, usually performed by a soloist, common instruments include drums, electric guitar, bass guitar, and keyboards. The lyrics very often have an explicitly Christian nature, although inspirational songs feature lyrics that can be construed as secular in meaning. For example, a song about a love for his son may be interpreted as God the Fathers love for God the Son. This lyrical ambiguity echoes the double-voicedness of 19th century spirituals, common themes include hope, deliverance, love, and healing. In comparison with hymns, which are generally of a statelier measure, gospel songs are expected to have a refrain. Compared to modern praise and worship music, urban/contemporary gospel typically has a faster tempo, like traditional black gospel music, the performers emotional connection to the audience and the lyrical content of the song is valued highly. The genre includes Christian hip hop, which has lyrics with Christian ideals, perhaps the most significant musical influences on urban/contemporary gospel are hip hop and R&B. Like contemporary gospel, R&B developed from black gospel music
7.
Jive Records
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Jive Records was an American record label under the RCA Music Group formed in 1981 by Zomba Records. Formerly headquartered in New York City, the label was best known for a string of successes with hip hop artists in the 1980s, and also in teen pop and boy bands during the 1990s, jIVEs best-selling artists worldwide were the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and Britney Spears. Today, the Jive brand is being used under the Sony Music France division under the name JIVE Epic France. In 1971, South African musicians Clive Calder and Ralph Simon began a publishing and it was named Zomba Records and relocated to London, England, four years later, their first client was a young Robert Mutt Lange. Zomba originally wanted to record labels, choosing instead to focus on their songwriters and producers while allowing other established labels to release the material. Later that decade, the opened offices in the US. In 1981, Zomba formed JIVE Records, whose operations began with the release of British dance and pop music such as Q-Feel, A Flock of Seagulls and its name was inspired by township JIVE, a type of music that originated in South Africa. Davis had hoped that Zombas connection with Mutt Lange would help alleviate the difficulties Arista was having finding potentially successful rock acts. By 1982, Calder was introduced to Barry Weiss, a college graduate who took Calder out to hip-hop clubs in New York City for his job interview with Zomba. He was immediately impressed, Together, they began grooming musicians for what would eventually become Whodini, after two days, the group created and recorded its hit single Magics Wand. While the group would eventually leave JIVE, the success allowed the label to focus on hip-hop artists throughout the 1980s. In 1987, JIVE cut distribution ties with Arista, effectively separating them from Daviss authority, who eschewed hip-hop. As the 1980s drew to a close, the label entered a deal with RCA Records, by the late 1990s, JIVE began signing pop acts Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and Britney Spears. All three achieved massive success as the 2000s dawned, becoming the three best-selling acts in the labels history, in 1991, Barry Weiss became CEO and president of JIVE Records. After two decades, he left JIVE in March 2011 for Universal Music Group, the company was later reorganized with some artists moving to a restructured Epic Records, while others stayed with JIVE as it moved under the RCA Music Group. In April 2011, it was reported that Jay-Z had outbid executives at JIVE to acquire independent record label Block Starz Music. On October 7,2011, it was announced that JIVE, along with Arista and J Records would be shut down to refresh, all artists on those labels were moved to RCA Records. JIVE Records remains active in France as JIVE Epic, serving as the label for international pop
8.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
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