also known as R&B, is a music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, pop, soul, funk, and

hip hop the abbreviation "R&B" originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African-American music originating after the decline of disco in the 1980s. Some sources refer to the style as urban contemporary

R&B history

As the disco era came to a close, a new generation of producers began adding synthesizers and slick drum machine beats to African-American music. Michael Jackson was among the first post-disco black musicians to cross over to mainstream audiences. In its early years, mainstream R&B was very pop-oriented. Notable 1980s R&B musicians include Luther Vandross, the SOS Band, Mtume, Freddie Jackson, DeBarge, Loose Ends, Stephanie Mills, and Marvin Gaye.

Tina Turner made a comeback during the second half of the 1980s, while Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson broke into the pop music charts with a series of hits. Richard J. Ripani wrote that Janet Jackson's third studio album Control (1986) was "important to the development of R&B for a number of reasons", as she and her producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, "crafted a new sound that fuses the rhythmic elements of funk and disco, along with heavy doses of synthesizers, percussion, sound effects, and a rap music sensibility. Ripani wrote that "the success of Control led to the incorporation of stylistic traits of rap over the next few years, and Janet Jackson was to continue to be one of the leaders in that development."That same year, Teddy Riley began producing R&B recordings that included hip hop influences. This combination of R&B style and hip hop rhythms was termed new jack swing, and was applied to artists such as Bobby Brown,
Keith Sweat, Al B. Sure!, Guy, Jodeci, and Bell Biv DeVoe

Beyonc Knowles
Is an american signer of R&B music. Her first album solo was named Dangerously in Love and was realised in 2003. In this album are included the most known songs of her Crazy in love,Baby boy and Naughty girl She mined five Grammy awards in just one night.

Subgenres of R&B
Soul:
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. Music artists: Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Al green, Johnny Taylor

Reggae:
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. music style that originated following on the development of ska, rock steady and rhythm and blues Music Artists: Bob Marley, Steve Barrow, Lincoln Barrington "Sugar" Minot.

Motown:
Motown music is a musical genre that blends the sounds of rhythm and blues (R&B)and pop music styles. It is played with a variety of musical instruments, from electric to acoustic. Music artists: The Supremes, the four tops.

Jazz:
Jazz is a musical tradition and style of music that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities

Funk:
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Music artists: James Brown, George Clinton, The fantastic four

Hip hop:
Hip hop music is a musical genre that developed as part of hip hop culture, and is defined by four key stylistic elements: rapping, DJ, sampling ,and beat boxing Music Artists: MC hammer, Beastie boys

The public perception of R&B

Rhythm and blues, popularly known as R&B used to be more popular with the African American races in the 1940s/1950s as it had originated from the area. However through the decades more and more artists had begun to contribute to the R&B genre was considered as a popular genre with both black and white audiences. R&B has a mainstream appeal to the audiences.

Predictions for the future

R&B seems to be a popular music genre that nearly everyone seems to like a bit of. Even though there are now many other genres over shadowing R&B, it still seems that the R&B genre in the media is more heard and seen than the other genres. Many artists today such as Ne-Yo, Rihanna and Jennifer Hudson still seem continue the popularity of R&B today. Even though many peoples taste isn't R&B, there are still many audiences that listen to R&B.