WGeorge Washington Benson is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist.
WSam Butera was an American tenor saxophonist best noted for his collaborations with Louis Prima and Keely Smith. Butera is frequently regarded as a crossover artist who performed with equal ease in both R&B and the post-big band pop style of jazz that permeated the early Vegas nightclub scene.
WArthur William "Big Boy" Crudup was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known, outside blues circles, for his songs "That's All Right" (1946), "My Baby Left Me" and "So Glad You're Mine", later recorded by Elvis Presley and other artists.
WCurtis Ousley, known professionally as King Curtis, was an American saxophonist who played rhythm and blues, jazz, and rock and roll. A bandleader, band member, and session musician, he was also a musical director and record producer. Adept at tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, he played riffs and solos on hit singles such as "Respect" by Aretha Franklin (1965), and "Yakety Yak" by The Coasters (1958) and his own "Memphis Soul Stew" (1967).
WWilliam Thomas "Champion Jack" Dupree was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer. His nickname was derived from his early career as a boxer.
WThe Five Keys were an American rhythm and blues vocal group who were instrumental in shaping this genre in the 1950s.
WJohn Raymond David Griff was a Canadian country music singer and songwriter, born in Vancouver and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His songwriting credits reached over 2500 songs, many of which were recorded by Nashville's top recording artists.
WJimmie Hugh Loden, known professionally as Sonny James, was an American country music singer and songwriter best known for his 1957 hit, "Young Love". Dubbed the "Southern Gentleman" for his congenial manner, his greatest success came from ballads about the trials of love. James had 72 country and pop charted releases from 1953 to 1983, including an unprecedented five-year streak of 16 straight Billboard No. 1 singles among his 26 No. 1 hits. Twenty-one of his albums reached the country top ten from 1964 to 1976. James was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1961 and co-hosted the first Country Music Association Awards Show in 1967. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
WJonah Jones was a jazz trumpeter who created concise versions of jazz and swing and jazz standards that appealed to a mass audience. In the jazz community, he is known for his work with Stuff Smith. He was sometimes referred to as "King Louis II", a reference to Louis Armstrong. Jones started playing alto saxophone at the age of 12 in the Booker T. Washington Community Center band in Louisville, Kentucky, before quickly transitioning to trumpet, where he excelled.
WMickey & Sylvia was an American R&B duo composed of Mickey Baker and Sylvia Vanterpool, who later became Sylvia Robinson. They are best known for their number-one R&B single "Love Is Strange" in 1957.
WJohn Lester Nash Jr. was an American singer-songwriter, best known in the United States for his 1972 hit "I Can See Clearly Now". Primarily a reggae and pop singer, he was one of the first non-Jamaican artists to record reggae music in Kingston.
WWillie Lee Perryman, usually known professionally as Piano Red and later in life as Dr. Feelgood, was an American blues musician, the first to hit the pop music charts. He was a self-taught pianist who played in the barrelhouse blues style. His performing and recording careers emerged during the period of transition from completely segregated "race music" to rhythm and blues, which was marketed to both white and black audiences. Some music historians credit Perryman's 1950 recording "Rocking With Red" for the popularization of the term rock and roll in Atlanta. His simple, hard-pounding left hand and his percussive right hand, coupled with his cheerful shout, brought him considerable success over three decades.
WJohn Alvin Ray was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blues-influenced music, and his animated stage personality. Tony Bennett called Ray the "father of rock and roll", and historians have noted him as a pioneering figure in the development of the genre.
WBertice Reading was an American-born actress, singer and revue artiste, based in England for most of her career.
WCharles Allan Rich was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. His eclectic style of music was often difficult to classify, encompassing the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, soul, and gospel genres.
WAlbert Omega Sears was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and bandleader, sometimes credited as Big Al Sears.
WSaunders Teddell, or Saunders Terrell, known as Sonny Terry, was an American Piedmont blues and folk musician, who was known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers and occasionally imitations of trains and fox hunts.
WJustin Wayne Tubb was an American country music singer and songwriter. Born in San Antonio, Texas, United States, he was the oldest son of country singer Ernest Tubb, known for popular songs like "Walking the Floor Over You".