Black Music Month: Celebs Reveal Favorite R&B Group

by darlene donloe

    June is Black Music Month and what better time to celebrate its rich history.
For centuries, Black musicians, singers, writers and producers have made incredible contributions to the music industry.
    This is the month set aside to pay homage to all those individuals who, through their music, have made us smile, laugh, cry, dance, tap our feet, clap our hands and swivel our hips.
    I caught up with some celebrities and asked them, “Who is your favorite R&B group of all time?”

KEM – I gotta say The Gap Band

KEM

DEREK LUKE – (Hawthorne) New Edition

LANCE GROSS – (House of Payne) Jodeci

HAROLD WHEELER – (Dancing With the Stars) Earth Wind & Fire

DEBBIE ALLEN – (Fame/Twist) Temptations/Supremes

TEVIN CAMPBELL – (R&B artist) The Temptations

KAREN MALINA WHITE – (Cosby/Malcolm & Eddie) The Isley Brothers

BLAIR UNDERWOOD – (The Event) The Jacksons

BLAIR UNDERWOOD

ISAIAH MUSTAFA – (Old Spice/Madea) The Jacksons, that’s easy. I know everything there is to know about the Jacksons.

ISAIAH MUSTAFA

LORETTA DEVINE – (Grey’s Anatomy/Jumping the Broom) I don’t have a group, but I like Beyonce, Ledisi and Adele

TASHA SMITH – (Jumping the Broom) The Isley Bros.

POOCH  HALL – (The Game) New Edition

PAULA PATTON – (Jumping the Broom) Supremes

MALIK YOBA – (Alphas/Why Did I Get Married Too?) The Commodores with Lionel Richie

TESSA THOMPSON - (For Colored Girls) James Brown & The JBs

NICOLE ARI PARKER – (Soul Food/ 35 & Ticking) Commodores and Boyz II Men

DAWNN LEWIS – (A Different World) Earth Wind & Fire

CLIFTON POWELL – (Ray/Norbit) Temptations and Delfonics

SALLY RICHARDSON WHITFIELD – (I Am Legend/I Will Follow/Eureka) Earth Wind & Fire

SALLI  RICHARDSON WHITFIELD

DONDRE WHITFIELD – (35 & Ticking/Two Can Play That Game) Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5

VANESSA WILLIAMS – (Soul Food) Michael Jackson and Earth Wind and Fire

GBENGA AKINNAGBE - (The Good Wife, Nurse Jackie) – Mint Condition

ROGER GUENVEUR SMITH - (Juan and John/Mooz-Lum) Bob Marley and the Wailers

ROGER GUENVEUR SMITH

QASIM BASIR - (Mooz-Lum director) Boyz II Men

DORIAN MISSICK - (The Cape) Earth, Wind & Fire

JB SMOOVE - (Hall Pass)  Jodeci

KYM WHITLEY - (I Love You, Man/Along Came Polly) Surface

KYM WHITLEY

VIVICA FOX -  (Kill Bill, Vol. 1/Independence Day) Jodeci

AVANT - (R&B singer) The Temptations. They know what it took to sell that brand. My uncle got me turned on to music.

JENIFER LEWIS - (Strong Medicine/The Princess and the Frog)  The O’Jays or Spinners.  The songs were great. Everything is great about them.  They had the colors and the levels.  The songs struck your soul. Mighty Love and Sadie, Stairway to Heaven. Whoo!

NATE PARKER - (The Great Debaters/The Secret Life of Bees) New Edition

JAMES EARL JELKS - (The Break of Noon) I’m a Charlie Wilson fan, so The Gap Band. Burn Rubber is something else.

Darlene Donloe is a seasoned entertainment and travel journalist whose work has appeared in People, Ebony, Essence, Black Meetings & Tourism, LA Watts Times, Los Angeles Sentinel, EMMY, The Hollywood Reporter, Rhythm & Business, Billboard, Grammy, CYH, BlackVoices.com and more.