 | | Mya is a dancer turned smooth urban R&B vocalist who released her eponymous debut in the spring of 1998, when she was just 18 years old. |
 | | With their 1992 debut, It's About Time, the all-female new jack swing trio SWV scored a string of Top Ten R&B hits that established them as one of the most popular urban R&B groups of the '90s. |
 | | The female vocal quartet En Vogue was conceived and put together by the production team of Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy, both former members of Club Nouveau. |
 | | Discovered by Michael Bivins of New Edition, 702 is a teenage trio -- Irish, Kameelah, and Lemisha -- who made their recorded debut singing on Subway's hit single "This Lil' Game We Play. |
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 | | With hitmaker Irv Gotti at the helm, Ashanti blasted into the urban music scene in 2002, topping the charts with multiple singles at once. |
 | | The female R&B quartet Xscape debuted singing at producer Jermaine Dupri's birthday party in 1991, and were the recipients of a platinum album just two years later. |
 | | A star in the R&B world before she was even out of her teens, Aaliyah's promising career was tragically cut short by her death in a plane crash at age 22. |
 | | The second R&B artist to sign with Def Jam Recordings, Montell Jordan yielded one of 1995's biggest hits with his debut single, "This Is How We Do It. |
 | | Even before Sisqó became an overnight superstar in summer 2000 with the infamous "Thong Song," he was no stranger to success. |
 | | The R&B trio Blaque (an acronym for "Believe, Life, Achieving, Quest, Unity and Everything") comprised singers Shamari, Natina and Brandi. |
 | | If three's a charm, than Toby Ryan and Robby Pardlo of City High must have known immediately that their group was complete when they were introduced to 18-year-old rapper and singer Claudette Ortiz. |
 | | Featuring R.L. Huggar and brothers Terry "T-Low" Brown and Raphael "Tweet" Brown, contemporary R&B trio Next formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota after they were introduced by the Brown's uncle, a gospel choir director. |
 | | Brothers Dwayne and Raphael Wiggins and cousin Timothy Christian have proven themselves durable guardians of the soul and funk tradition, while also infusing their music with enough contemporary devices to remain popular. |
 | | Active for only a short period of time, 2001-2004, urban boy band B2K enjoyed a lot of success, including the number one single "Bump, Bump, Bump," and was the platform from which group member Omarion launched his solo career. |
 | | In 2002 the successful duo of Missy Elliott and Timbaland presented Tweet, a soulful vocalist with hip-hop savvy and unrestrained sexuality. |
 | | Pop-oriented R&B singer Amerie, the daughter of a Korean mother and an African-American father who was a career military member, grew up on bases from Alaska to Germany. |
 | | Changing Faces is a New York-based urban soul vocal duo much in the vein of similar all-female bands like TLC and SWV. |
 | | Part of the original lineup of the superstar group Destiny's Child, LeToya Luckett, who as a solo artist chose to go by her first name only, didn't just sit around after she and Latavia Roberson left the group shortly after the release of 1999's The Writing's on the Wall (neither singer was seen in the "Say My Name" video, which came as a surprise to both of them). |
 | | Given a high-profile spot on the all-star compilation Roll Wit tha Flava as their first recording opportunity, Zhané lived up to the pressure and came away with one of the hip-hop party anthems of all time, "Hey, Mr. |
 | | In spite of the fact that Faith Evans carved out a lengthy recording career in her own right, her name will forever remain linked in the minds of many to her late husband, the Notorious B. |
 | | Equally rooted in gospel, soul, and hip-hop, 112 were the first and most successful urban vocal group to emerge from Sean "Puffy" Combs' Bad Boy Records roster. |
 | | There's some dispute over who actually discovered Texas child sensation Tevin Campbell. Some accounts credit flutist Bobbi Humphrey, while much of the publicity material credits Quincy Jones. |
 | | Whether she was singing pop-friendly urban soul or acting in her own family-oriented sitcom, Brandy's winningly wholesome persona helped catapult her to stardom during her teenage years. |
 | | As she grew up in Providence, R.I., with her five siblings, Blu Cantrell was toted from one jazz performance to another to watch her mother sing. |
 | | Cedric and Joel Hailey comprise the romantic R&B duo K-Ci & JoJo, who were one of two pairs of brothers that made up the chart-topping '90s group Jodeci. |
 | | A native of Toronto, Deborah Cox began singing for TV commercials at age 12, also entering various talent shows with her mother's help. |
 | | Destiny's Child rose to become one of the most popular female R&B groups of the late '90s, eventually rivaling even TLC in terms of blockbuster commercial success. |
 | | Ginuwine was one of R&B's preeminent love men during the '90s heyday of hip-hop soul. Initially teamed with Timbaland, the most innovative producer of the late '90s, Ginuwine's sultry, seductive crooning earned him a substantial female following and made him a regular presence on the R&B charts, even after the futuristic production he favored was eclipsed by the more organic, retro-leaning neo-soul movement. |
 | | Call Lauryn Hill the mother of hip-hop invention; with her 1998 solo debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, the Fugees' most vocal member not only established herself as creative force on her own, but also broke new ground by successfully integrating rap, soul, reggae, and R&B into her own sound. |
 | | After joining Immature/IMx as a young adolescent in the early '90s, vocalist Marques "Batman" Houston crossed over into television as a recurring cast member of Sister Sister and took on production duties with some of his IMx mates (as Platinum Status) for B2K and Destiny's Child. |
 | | One of the top R&B vocal groups of the '90s, Blackstreet was founded by singer, producer, and new jack swing pioneer Teddy Riley after the breakup of his seminal trio Guy. |
 | | Chanté Moore, the daughter of a minister, grew up on gospel music and albums by George Duke and Lee Ritenour, sometimes applying her lyrics to their music. |
 | | Though she sang in musicals and talent shows throughout her childhood, Charlotte, NC native Sunshine Anderson was discovered while she was waiting in line in a cafeteria at North Carolina Central University, the institution where she earned a B. |
 | | If Boyz II Men are portrayed as a clean-cut, wholesome R&B vocal group, then Jodeci's wild, sexual, bad-boy image represents the other side of the coin. |
 | | Former Guy vocalist Aaron Hall made his solo debut in 1993 with The Truth. Although quite erratic, the best songs displayed the confident, authoritative voice and range Hall had demonstrated while with Guy. |
 | | Atlanta R&B vocalist Monica debuted in 1995 with the platinum Top Ten singles "Don't Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days)" and "Before You Walk Out of My Life. |
 | | Born Bobby Wilson in Mississippi but raised in Atlanta, smooth R&B crooner Bobby V -- known as Bobby Valentino until a lawsuit from a British performer of the same name -- had a hard time convincing his skeptical parents that the music business was the place for him. |
 | | Rough-but-smooth male vocal quartet Jagged Edge formed in Atlanta, Georgia, consisting of identical twin brothers Brandon "Case Dinero" Casey and Brian "Brasco" Casey, who had moved from their native Hartford, Connecticut; Kyle Norman (aka "Quick"), whom they'd met through church activities; and Richard Wingo (aka "Wingo Dollar"), a late addition to the group suggested by Xscape's Kandi Burruss, who took their demo to superproducer Jermaine Dupri. |
 | | At the end of 1992, the four-man urban contemporary vocal group Shai shot to the top of the R&B and pop charts with their debut album, . |
 | | Troop was a California teen band that got its start by winning $1000 in a talent show in the mid-'80s. |
 | | High-school friends Larry "Jazz" Anthony, Mark "Sisqó" Andrews, Tamir "Nokio" Ruffin, and James "Woody Rock" Green formed Dru Hill in 1992, named in honor of their Baltimore neighborhood, Druid Hill Park. |
 | | Nivea first made waves when she joined Mystikal for his smash hit "Danger." Her self-titled debut appeared on Jive in 2001 and was reissued the following year, thanks to the success of "Danger" and "Don't Mess with the Radio. |
 | | According to no less an authority than the RIAA, Boyz II Men are the most commercially successful R&B group of all time. |
 | | A native of Canada, contemporary R&B singer and songwriter Tamia got an early start in the music industry, singing on the Rod Temperton-penned "You Put a Move on My Heart," the first single from Quincy Jones' 1994 hit album Q's Jook Joint, when she was only a teenager. |
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 | | This seminal R&B trio was the first group to sport the new jack swing sound, essentially traditional soul vocals melded to hip-hop beats, with credit for the genre's invention going to founder, multi-instrumentalist, and super-producer Teddy Riley. |
 | | R&B singer Kelly Price spent her early years in the music business behind the scenes, lending backing vocals to records from stars including Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, Faith Evans, and Brian McKnight. |
 | | This '90s R&B vocal group should not be confused with the late-'70s Philadelphia band, which was a funk-oriented unit, or the vocal trio Silk from Los Angeles. |
 | | Laid-back Washington, D.C.-based R&B vocalist J. Holiday (born Nahum Grymes) signed to Capitol and released the Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins-produced single "Be with Me" in 2006. |
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