Rhythm and Blues

Rhythm and blues (abbr. R&B or RnB) a catchall term invented for industry convenience, originally used in the 1940's by record companies to categorize recordings targeted for urban African Americans. These works incorporated rocking, jazz based music with a heavy pounding beat, expressing African-American experiences of pain in the struggle for freedom and joy.

A typical commercial rhythm and blues music lineup from the 1950s through the 1970s usually consisted of piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, saxophone, and sometimes background vocalists. R&B lyrics focused heavily on the themes of freedom, poverty, aspirations, and sex, the singers usually strive to remain emotionally detached and "cool", the bands dressed in suits, even uniforms, and the music typically followed repetitious stock sequences of chords and structure.

In the 1970s, RnB was used as a catchall term for soul and funk, referring to any music that was made by and for black Americans. In the 80s, a newer styles of R&B emerged. Termed "Contemporary R&B", it combined elements of rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop and dance. Contemporary R&B vocalists include Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.