Black History
Black trailblazers in music through the years: Kendrick Lamar, Whitney Houston, Beyoncé, more
Songstress and international sensation Ella Fitzgerald earned the title of Queen of Jazz with songs such as “Dream a Little Dream of Me,” “Cheek to Cheek” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).” She was the first Black woman to receive a Grammy at the inaugural awards ceremony in 1959 and went on to earn 12 more throughout the span of her music career. In 1992, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H. W. Bush. Fitzgerald died at age 79 in 1996.
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When she was cast as the lead in Verdi’s “Un ballo in maschera,” contralto Marian Anderson became the first African American person to sing with the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1955. She received the Congressional Gold Medal from President Jimmy Carter in 1978. In 1993, she died at age 96.
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Jazz vocalist Billie Holiday was one of the first Black women to work with a white orchestra when she paired with clarinetist, composer and bandleader Artie Shaw in 1938. In 1939, she debuted her rendition of “Strange Fruit” at Cafe Society, New York’s first integrated club. She died in 1959 at age 44 and received posthumous honors including Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “With her luminous voice, Billie Holiday changed jazz forever,” the Rock Hall’s website states.
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Louis Armstrong, also known as “Satchmo,” is considered one of the founding fathers of jazz. The New Orleans-born trumpet player, singer and composer worked alongside many of the music greats of the time and released enduring hits including “What a Wonderful World.” With his recognizable scratchy vibrato, he quickly gained popularity in the music industry and had a career that spanned nearly 50 years. Armstrong died aged 69 in 1971.
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Sister Rosetta Tharpe is undoubtedly the mother of rock ‘n’ roll. Her innovation of mixing gospel sounds with emerging rhythms pioneered the template for many artists to later resemble. Decades after her death at 58 years old in 1973, she was posthumously inducted into the Rock Hall as an “early influence,” described as “the first guitar heroine of rock & roll.”
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“Genius” Ray Charles, who was in the inaugural class of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, was one of the earliest pioneers of soul music. The 17-time Grammy winner’s top tunes include titles “Hit the Road Jack,” “I’ve Got A Woman” and “Georgia On My Mind.” He lost his sight as a child, but that did not stop his skills on the piano. Charles died in 2004, at age 73.
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Jimi Hendrix, considered one of the best guitarists of all time, could boast that he was a self-taught musician. The posthumous Rock Hall inductee (as part of The Jimi Hendrix Experience), who’d worked with the Isley Brothers and Little Richard before his eponymous group, is credited with revolutionizing the the late ’60s psychedelic rock movement. In just over three years, he released three best-selling albums — but his burgeoning career was cut short when he died at age 27 in 1970.
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The “Father of Rock and Roll,” Chuck Berry, helped shape the genre with enduring songs such as “Johnny B. Goode,” “Maybellene” and “Rock and Roll Music.” Thus, it was only appropriate for him to be among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock Hall in 1986. In 2017, Berry died at age 90.
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A wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom! Little Richard, known as the architect of rock ‘n’ roll, brought life to the genre with eyeliner, flamboyant outfits and exuberant energy in the 1950s. The musician, appropriately inducted into the Rock Hall as part of its inaugural class, blurred gender lines while releasing hit songs like “Tutti Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally.” Little Richard was 87 when he died in 2020.
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Jazz legend Miles Davis didn’t need a Juilliard degree to his name to become one of the genre’s most influential musicians. The trumpeter, perhaps best known for his 1959 album “Kind of Blue,” played alongside fellow renowned instrumentalists John Coltrane, Paul Chambers, Chick Corea and Red Garland, among others, over the years. He died at age 65 in 1991, a year after he was honored with a lifetime achievement Grammy Award.
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When Isaac Hayes’ “Theme from Shaft” won the best original song Oscar in 1972, he became the first Black person to win in a non-acting category at the Academy Awards. An inductee into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Hayes also saw his songwriting recognized by the Grammy Hall of Fame when Sam and Dave’s “Soul Man” was inducted in 1999. The Library of Congress also selected the chart-topping hit for preservation in the National Recording Registry. He was 65 years old when he died in 2008.
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Michael Jackson is among the top-selling artists of all time, per the Record Industry Association of America. Jackson and his brothers made history in 1970 when the Jackson 5 became the first group to have their first four singles hit No. 1. As a solo artist, the singer would become known as the King of Pop and was globally renowned for his artistry, including the Moonwalk dance and “Thriller,” considered one of the greatest albums of all time.Jackson’s legacy, however, is marred by sexual misconduct allegations that have surfaced over the years.
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Funk music pioneer James Brown was honored as part of the Rock Hall’s inaugural class in 1986. The “Live at the Apollo” musician went on to be honored with a number of lifetime achievement awards, including from the Grammys. Brown died at age 73 in 2006.
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The inimitable Whitney Houston, a crossover star known for her astounding singing talent (see: “I Will Always Love You”), saw her work with the 1992 film “The Bodyguard” become one of her most commercially successful ventures. She made her acting debut in the film, but more importantly, she produced the soundtrack and sang half of the songs; it earned the album of the year Grammy and is reportedly the best-selling soundtrack of all time. The pop legend was 48 years old when she died in 2012.
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Minneapolis legend Prince, known for his signature flamboyance and instrumental mastery (including his voice), was only 18 when he signed a six-figure record deal with Warner Bros. Records. Six albums later, 1984’s “Purple Rain” became an astounding mainstay on the Billboard 200 chart, and it also won an Oscar to boot. By the time he died in 2016 at age 57, he had released dozens of albums, with many more reportedly left in storage within his Paisley Park home.
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Etta James went through much personal strife in her lifetime but is now known as the “matriarch of blues” and is described by the Rock Hall (into which she was inducted in 1993) as “one of the greatest voices of her century.” The legendary “At Last” singer died in 2012 at age 73.
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Aretha Franklin was a singular force. With a long list of hits including “Respect,” “Chain of Fools” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” her talents led her to a multitude of achievements. The Queen of Soul broke ground as the first female artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Franklin died in 2018 at age 76.
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Charley Pride cemented a trailblazing legacy unlike any entertainer before him. Launching his career in the 1960s, at the height of civil rights movement, Pride was country music’s first Black superstar with songs such as “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'” and “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone.” Pride died in 2020 at 86 years old.
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Harry Belafonte’s talents spanned music, film and activism and was notable for merging his career in the entertainment world with his humanitarianism. He was the first Black Emmy winner, taking home the award for outstanding performance in a variety musical program or series for his TV special “Tonight With Belafonte” in 1960. In 2023, the “King of Calypso” died at age 96.
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Ms. Lauryn Hill has boasting rights as the first album of the year winner for a hip-hop record (1998’s “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”).
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Among her accomplishments, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter is the most-nominated and most awarded artist in Grammy history. Her music career, which has spanned nearly three decades, began as a member of Destiny’s Child, one of the best-selling girl groups of all time, and launched into a record-breaking solo career.In 2025, with her foray into country music through 2024’s “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé became the first Black woman to win a Grammy for a country music song since the Pointer Sisters won in a similar category in 1975. No Black female solo artist had ever won a Grammy for country music prior to this.
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Music titan Jay-Z is a trailblazer in many facets of entertainment and made history as the most Grammy-nominated artist ever with 83 career nominations. The Roc Nation founder has since been surpassed by his wife, Beyoncé, who counted 99 nominations when she finally won album of the year in 2025. In 2017, Jay-Z became the first male rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Four years later, he joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.In 2024, the business mogul was embroiled in legal trouble when he was named in a lawsuit that accused him and Sean “Diddy” Combs of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 — an allegation he has vehemently denied.
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Kendrick Lamar can boast many accolades, including becoming the first non-classical/jazz artist to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in recognition of his 2017 album, “Damn.” It was one of several records that has earned the Compton-born talent a Grammy Award; Lamar has been nominated for a whopping four album of the year trophies in 10 years (not including Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” and the “Black Panther” soundtrack, both of which he’s credited with producing), starting with 2012’s “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City.” Lamar had his hands full at the 2025 Grammys after his Drake diss track “Not Like Us” won in five categories, including the biggest of the night: song of the year and record of the year.
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Legendary producer Quincy Jones has composed, arranged and played across many genres, including working with Ray Charles, writing for Frank Sinatra and co-producing Michael Jackson’s famed “Thriller” album. Over the course of his career, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee accumulated 28 Grammy wins, became the first Black musical director at the Academy Awards and was credited for working on more than 400 albums. He also composed roughly 35 film scores. Jones died in 2024 at 91.
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With high-energy bops like “Work It,” “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” and “Lose Control,” songwriter, rapper and producer Missy Elliott made history as the first female rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019. That same year, she was awarded MTV’s Video Vanguard Award for her stunning music videos.
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Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, paved the way for Lamar’s big 2025 wins at the Grammys; his commentary on systemic racism in the U.S. and the Black Lives Matter movement, delivered in the catchy 2018 chart-topper “This is America,” was the first ever rap song to win in the record of the year and song of the year categories. Glover retired his Childish Gambino stage name in 2024 but is still active as an actor.
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A musical prodigy who can effectively perform as a one-man band, Stevie Wonder signed with Motown Records when he was around 11 years old. The “Superstition” singer and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient is one of the top-selling artists of all time.He is also one of a handful of musicians who can claim three album of the year Grammy wins, and a near-consecutive run at that, with 1973’s “Innervisions,” 1974’s “Fulfillingness’ First Finale” and 1976’s “Songs in the Key of Life.” The latter record was recognized for its historical impact on American history when the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry. Aside from his musical contributions, Wonder is also recognized for his activism; he was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2009.
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Mary J. Blige, also known as the Queen of R&B, has received nominations from Hollywood’s most prestigious awards ceremonies. The Bronx-born singer and actress has been recognized by the Academy Awards (she made history for nominations in both acting and music categories in 2018), Grammy Awards (she counts at least nine wins and dozens of nominations) and Emmys (she earned a trophy in 2022 for her Super Bowl halftime show performance with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent).
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Singer/songwriter and producer John Legend, who released his first album “Get Lifted” in 2004, made history as the first Black EGOT winner in 2018 when he took home an Emmy for “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.” The EGOT club is exclusive to those who earn all four of the major entertainment industry awards: an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.
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Grammy-winning and chart-topping singer Mariah Carey is known for hits like “Always Be My Baby,” “We Belong Together” and her magnum opus “All I Want for Christmas is You.” With her holiday hit lending her the title “Queen of Christmas,” she holds rank as the first artist to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in four different decades.
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