In 1948, a single phrase reshaped the American music landscape, replacing the industry term race music with rhythm and blues. Jerry Wexler, a writer for Billboard magazine, coined this new label to describe recordings marketed to African American audiences, marking a pivotal shift in how the industry categorized black music. Before this change, record companies had used terms like sepia series, but the new designation captured the heavy, insistent beat that was becoming popular. The term was not merely a label; it was a commercial strategy that acknowledged the growing power of African American communities in urban centers. By the late 1940s, the music industry was ready to embrace a sound that blended jazz, blues, and gospel into something entirely new. This shift laid the groundwork for a genre that would eventually influence rock and roll, soul, and funk, creating a legacy that continues to this day. The term rhythm and blues became a catchall for any music made by and for black Americans, excluding classical and religious music unless it achieved massive commercial success. This rebranding allowed the music to reach wider audiences while maintaining its cultural roots.
The Electric Pulse of The Forties
The electric guitar emerged as a lead instrument in the late 1940s, transforming the sound of rhythm and blues from acoustic blues to a grittier, more urban style. Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five dominated the charts in 1948, with three songs in the top five, all driven by boogie-woogie rhythms that had gained prominence during the decade. Jordan's band, consisting of saxophone, trumpet, piano, bass, and drums, created a sound that Robert Palmer described as urbane and rocking. Meanwhile, Big Joe Turner and Wynonie Harris were pushing the boundaries of jump blues, creating a style that would soon be called rhythm and blues. In 1949, Paul Williams and his Hucklebuckers released The Huckle-Buck, a song described as dirty boogie due to its risqué and raunchy nature. The concerts were sweaty riotous affairs, often shut down for being too wild. The lyrics, written by Roy Alfred, were mildly sexually suggestive, and the dance associated with the song was considered very nasty by some teenagers. This era saw the rise of independent record labels like Savoy, King, Imperial, Specialty, Chess, and Atlantic, which became the primary vehicles for distributing this new sound. The music was no longer just for black audiences; it was beginning to cross over, setting the stage for the cultural revolution of the 1950s.
The Cuban Rhythm Connection
Afro-Cuban rhythmic motifs began to infiltrate African American music in the 1800s, but it was in New Orleans during the late 1940s that these influences became central to the development of rhythm and blues. The habanera rhythm, also known as the Spanish tinge, was considered an essential ingredient of jazz by pioneers like Jelly Roll Morton. In New Orleans, musicians such as Professor Longhair and Earl Palmer began incorporating Cuban instruments like the conga drum, bongos, and claves into their recordings. Longhair's style, known locally as rumba-boogie, blended Afro-Cuban rhythms with traditional blues, creating a unique sound that would influence generations of musicians. The syncopated, straight subdivision feel of Cuban music took root in New Orleans R&B, replacing the triplet or shuffle feel that had dominated earlier styles. This rhythmic transformation was not just a musical experiment; it was a re-Africanization of American popular music. The electric blues cats were well aware of Latin music, and there was definitely such a thing as rhumba blues. Artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf played it, and the clave pattern became a mainstay in the genre. By the 1960s, with Cuba the object of a United States embargo, the island nation had been forgotten as a source of music, but its rhythmic legacy remained embedded in the DNA of rhythm and blues.
In the early 1950s, rhythm and blues began to cross over from African American markets to white teenage audiences, marking a significant shift in the genre's commercial reach. By 1952, 40% of sales at Dolphin's of Hollywood record shop, located in an African American area of Los Angeles, were to white customers. This trend spread across the country as white teens turned their musical taste toward rhythm and blues. Alan Freed, a Cleveland DJ, started a late-night radio show called The Moondog Rock Roll House Party in 1951, where he began referring to rhythm and blues as rock and roll. Freed's show helped popularize the music among white teenagers, and his promotional efforts were so effective that Chess Records gave him part of the writing credit for Chuck Berry's Maybellene. The music industry was unprepared for the cultural impact of this crossover. In 1956, an R&B Top Stars of '56 tour took place, featuring headliners like Al Hibbler, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and Carl Perkins. The tour ended in a near riot in Columbia, South Carolina, and in Annapolis, Maryland, 50,000 to 70,000 people tried to attend a sold-out performance with only 8,000 seats. The white bandleader Bill Black, who had helped start Elvis Presley's career, had a hit among black listeners with Smokie, Part 2, which reached number one on the R&B charts and sold over one million copies. This era marked the beginning of a new chapter in American music, where the lines between black and white audiences began to blur.
The Birth of Soul and The Motown Sound
By the early 1960s, the music industry category previously known as rhythm and blues was being called soul music, and similar music by white artists was labeled blue-eyed soul. Motown Records had its first million-selling single in 1960 with the Miracles' Shop Around, and in 1961, Stax Records had its first hit with Carla Thomas's Gee Whiz. The rawer Memphis soul sound introduced by The Mar-Keys' Last Night became a defining characteristic of the era. Sam Cooke's Sar and Berry Gordy's Motown Records debuted in 1959, two black-owned labels that would go on to dominate the music industry. The 1960s saw the rise of artists like Marvin Gaye, whose smooth voice became synonymous with the genre. In 1969, the Grammys added the Rhythm and Blues category, giving academic recognition to the category. The term rhythm and blues was used as a blanket term for soul, funk, and disco by the 1970s. The music industry was evolving rapidly, and the lines between genres were becoming increasingly blurred. The soul movement was not just a musical shift; it was a cultural one, reflecting the struggles and triumphs of African American communities during a time of great social change. The music was a voice for a generation, and it would continue to shape the sound of American popular music for decades to come.
The British Invasion and The Mod Scene
British rhythm and blues and blues rock developed in the early 1960s, largely as a response to the recordings of American artists, often brought over by African American servicemen stationed in Britain or seamen visiting ports such as London, Liverpool, Newcastle, and Belfast. Many bands, particularly in the developing London club scene, tried to emulate black rhythm and blues performers, resulting in a rawer or grittier sound than the more popular beat groups. Geno Washington, an American singer stationed in England with the Air Force, was invited to join what became Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band by guitarist Pete Gage in 1965. The band enjoyed top 40 hit singles and two top 10 albums before splitting up in 1969. White blues rock musicians like Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, Peter Green, and John Mayall adopted an interest in a wider range of rhythm and blues styles. The Rolling Stones became the second most popular UK band after the Beatles and led the British Invasion of the US pop charts. The Rolling Stones covered Bobby Womack & the Valentinos' song It's All Over Now, giving them their first UK number one in 1964. The British mod subculture grew out of rhythm and blues and later soul performed by artists who were not available to the small London clubs where the scene originated. The music of the British mod subculture was very different in tone from that of African American artists, but it remained at the core of their early albums. The British white R&B bands produced music that was very different in tone from that of African American artists, but it was a testament to the global reach of the genre.
The Hip-Hop Fusion and The Modern Era
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, hip-hop started to capture the imagination of America's youth, and rhythm and blues began to become homogenized. A group of high-profile producers were responsible for most R&B hits, and it was hard for R&B artists of the era to sell their music or even have their music heard because of the rise of hip-hop. Some artists adopted a hip-hop image, were marketed as such, and often featured rappers on their songs. Teddy Riley, Guy, Keith Sweat, and Today gained new jack swing hits. In 1990, Billboard reintroduced R&B to categorize all of Black popular music other than hip-hop. Newer artists such as Usher, R. Kelly, Janet Jackson, TLC, Aaliyah, Brandy, Destiny's Child, Tevin Campbell, and Mary J. Blige enjoyed success. L.A. Reid, the CEO of LaFace Records, was responsible for some of R&B's greatest successes in the 1990s in the form of Usher, TLC, and Toni Braxton. Later, Reid successfully marketed Boyz II Men. In 2004, 80% of the songs that topped the R&B charts were also at the top of the Hot 100. That period was the all-time peak for R&B and hip hop on the Billboard Hot 100 and on Top 40 Radio. From about 2005 to 2013, R&B sales declined. However, since 2010, hip-hop has started to take cues from the R&B sound, choosing to adopt a softer, smoother sound that incorporates traditional R&B with rappers such as Drake. This sound has gained in popularity and created great controversy for both hip-hop and R&B as to how to identify it. In 2010, the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame was founded by LaMont ShowBoat Robinson, ensuring the legacy of the genre would be preserved for future generations.