Rhythm and Blues

O.V. Wright was a blues musician from Lenow, Tennessee who was highly regarded amongst his peers.  Wright started singing in the church as a kid, and by high school, he was the lead singer of the gospel group The Sunset Travelers.   After…

Robert Nighthawk (a.k.a. Robert Lee Mccoy) was a blues musician from Helena, Arkansas who started recording in the 1930s.  He continued to record sporadically up until the '60s, but Nighthawk made most of his impact off wax.  He was a…

Junior Wells was a blues musician and a harmonica player from Chicago, Illinois.  As a child, he grew up in Memphis, and he learned how to play the harmonica from his cousin Junior Parker, a blues musician from Mississippi.  As a teenager,…

Junior Parker is a blues singer who was born on a plantation near Bobo, Cahoma County, Mississippi.   As a child, he sang in various gospel groups, and after he moved to Memphis, Tennessee with his mother, he began his blues career.  In the…

Little Anthony and The Imperials are a doo-wop group from Brooklyn, New York.  Sometime in the '50s, when Little Anthony was in high school, he sang in a doo-wop group called The Duponts.  When the group broke up, Anthony joined another…

Bobby Hebb was a soul singer from Nashville, Tennessee.  In 1960, he released his debut single, "Night Train to Memphis."   In 1963, Hebb wrote "Sunny;" the song that would ultimately change his life.   According to Hebb, he wrote "Sunny"…

Ricky Allen was a blues singer from Nashville, Tennessee.  He started singing in church choirs throughout Nashville before he moved to Chicago in 1958.   In Chicago, he transitioned into the Blues scene.  In 1961, he released his debut…

Don Bryant is a rhythm and blues singer and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee.  In 1969, he released his debut album, Precious Soul, on Hi Records.  The album featured songs like "Try Me," "Funky Broadway," and "Can I Change My Mind." …