Greatest R&B Songwriters. NEVER been done before..

I’ve been thinking, BET should do a celebration of the esteemed line of all the greatest, pure R&B songwriters throughout history with the longest, highest acclaimed, soul-stirring bodies of work in the craft of pure R&B (Rhythm & Blues). In this context, “pure” refers to the songwriters’ song topics generally focusing on content from the original stylings of the craft of R&B—> Love, Sensitivity, and Sensuality. These artists have to unbiasedly meet those criteria.  That would be, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, The Isley Brothers, Earth Wind and Fire,  Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Babyface, Brian McKnight, R. Kelly, Joe (a little under-rated compared to the rest, but belongs in this list), Ne-Yo etc… if there even is a worthy etc. 🙂

In the spirit of these R&B criteria, I am posting one of my favorite R&B songs from each of these R&B greats below in the order in which they became famous(same as above). They basically span the timeline from since R&B music became a part of the commercial music industry, which is an ancillary criterion I used to create this group. By the way, since Joe has been just a little more underrated compared to the others, I’m posting two of my favorite songs of his. I also did this because I honestly couldn’t choose between them.  See? It’s hard with these guys.

By the way, with the exception of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis who are not credited with any hit songs on which they were soloists, I am only posting hit songs on which each great songwriter on this list…sang, even though they’ve written hits for other artists. Again, these eleven R&B greats throughout the history of pure R&B songwriters, have the longest, highest acclaimed, soul-stirring bodies of work in the craft of pure R&B.  Let’s Begin:

1.) Smokey Robinson

2.) Stevie Wonder

3.) Michael Jackson

4.) Lionel Richie

5.) The Isley Brothers

6.) Earth, Wind and Fire

7.) Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis

8.) Babyface

9.) Brian McKnight

10.) R. Kelly

11.) Joe

12.) Ne-Yo

I want to take a moment here to give honorable mention to a legendary R&B songwriting duo–Ashford and Simpson.  I love a bunch of their hits–which spanned three decades (60’s -80’s) of an even longer career. They didn’t make this list, because they’re just not as far reaching in popularity(acclaim) as the other greats. ..As evidenced by the views on YouTube.  Multiple hits from each of the others on this list of the greatest pure R&B songwriters ever, old-to-new, have views in the millions.  Almost all of the views for Ashford and Simpson’s hits are no where near that.

One more mention: Marvin Gaye–a great songwriter–would have made this list had he not passed away so early in his career before he could quite possibly have written more of his infectiously soulful and socially engaging songs.

Now, here are two of my favorites (because I could choose between them) from the R&B songwriting duo, Ashford and Simpson:

And a favorite by R&B Legend Marvin Gaye:

Hope You Enjoyed!

~Kareem G.