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Ray Charles Online

For Students 9th - 10th
This personal website of Ray Charles contains a very interesting autobiography, including discussions with the artist on how he writes and arranges music in his head, how soul music and rock and roll originated, and much more.
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Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: America Rocks and Rolls

For Students 5th - 8th
Read a brief history of rock and roll and its roots. See why this form of music shook the establishment and shattered the idea of conformity.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Floyd Dixon

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Floyd Dixon, an American rhythm and blues (R&B) musician who was one of the principal exponents of the up-tempo blues style known as West Coast jump blues.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Horace Silver

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Horace Silver, an American jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader, exemplary performer of what came to be called the hard bop style of the 1950s and '60s. The style was an extension of...
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Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Teddy Pendergrass

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Teddy Pendergrass, an American rhythm-and-blues singer who embodied the smooth, Philly soul sound of the 1970s as lead vocalist for Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes before embarking on a...
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Guide to Black History: Ike Turner

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Brittanica's Guide to Black History features Ike Turner, an American rhythm-and-blues and soul performer and producer who was best known for his work with Tina Turner. This site, rich in detail and breadth of...
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Guide to Black History: Berry Gordy, Jr.

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Brittanica's Guide to Black History features Berry Gordy, Jr., an American businessman, founder of the Motown Record Corporation (1959), which became the most successful black-owned music company in the...
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: R. Kelly

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features R. Kelly, an American singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who became one of the best-selling rhythm-and-blues (R&B) artists of the 1990s and early 21st century....
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Clyde Mc Phatter

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Clyde McPhatter, an American rhythm-and-blues singer popular in the 1950s whose emotional style anticipated soul music.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Donna Summer

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Donna Summer, an American singer-songwriter considered the "Queen of Disco" but also successful in rhythm and blues, dance music, and pop.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Etta James

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Etta James, a popular American rhythm-and-blues entertainer who in time became a successful ballad singer.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Lloyd Price

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lloyd Price, an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Price made his mark in rock music history with his exuberant tenor and his flair for recasting rhythm and blues as...
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Louis Jordan

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Louis Jordan, an American saxophonist-singer prominent in the 1940s and '50s who was a seminal figure in the development of both rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The bouncing, rhythmic...
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Lou Rawls

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Lou Rawls, an American singer whose smooth baritone adapted easily to jazz, soul, gospel, and rhythm and blues.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Professor Longhair

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Professor Longhair, an American singer and pianist who helped shape the sound of New Orleans rhythm and blues from the mid-1940s.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Sammy Price

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Sammy Price, an American pianist and bandleader, a jazz musician rooted in the old rhythm and blues and boogie-woogie traditions who had a long career as a soloist and accompanist.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Solomon Burke

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Solomon Burke, an American singer whose success in the early 1960s in merging the gospel style of the African American church with rhythm and blues helped to usher in the soul music era.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Timbaland

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Timbaland, an influential American producer and hip-hop and rhythm-and-blues performer who contributed to the chart-scaling success of a host of recording artists in the early 21st century.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Tina Turner

For Students 9th - 10th
This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Tina Turner, an American singer who found success in the rhythm-and-blues, soul, and rock genres in a career that spanned five decades.
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Handout
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: Ike Turner

For Students 9th - 10th
Biographical account of Ike Turner, the American rhythm-and-blues and soul performer, and producer who was best known for his work with Tina Turner.
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Lesson Plan
Varsity Tutors

Varsity Tutors: Web English Teacher: Langston Hughes

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This resource focuses on the works of famous African-American author, Langston Hughes.
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Website
Indiana University

Archives of African American Music and Culture

For Students 9th - 10th
Contains resources on black culture and music from the early 1900s to the present.
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Other

Stax Museum of American Soul Music

For Students 9th - 10th
The Stax Museum of American Soul Music is all about Stax Records, and features a timeline and lists of hit singles.
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Website
Other

The Lost Sessions Musical Museum

For Students 9th - 10th
A personal site providing little-known information and tidbits about famous soul music artists.

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