Jerry Butler, a legendary soul singer with the Impressions, died on Feb. 20. He was 85. He had reportedly been battling ...

Ironic, then, that such a shift seems to have been ushered in by a death — not of R&B proper, mind you, but of one of its greatest modern pacesetters: The Weeknd. Since 2011, the persona inhabited by ...

Jerry Butler, a legendary soul singer with the Impressions, died on Feb. 20. He was 85. He had reportedly been battling ...

Welcome to The State of R&B, ESSENCE’s look at the past, present and future of rhythm and blues. In this piece, writer Jaelani Turner-Williams addresses claims that today’s R&B is too sexual. R&B’s ...

The R&B world suffered its share of heartbreak and loss in 2025. The genre lost multiple legendary performers, but it was hit hard by the loss of some who were lost far too soon. While all death is ...

SZA beat out Coco Jones, Halle, Victoria Monét and Robert Glasper, who were also vying for the category Kevin Winter/Getty SZA got emotional as she took the stage at the 2024 Grammys to accept the ...

Welcome to The State of R&B, ESSENCE’s look at the past, present and future of rhythm and blues. In this piece, ESSENCE editors Jasmine Browley and Brooklyn White investigate the R&B bags secured—and ...

The so-called death of R&B has been a topic of conversation for nearly a decade now. The discussion periodically gains steam, somewhat arbitrarily. It’s been the chatter of many Clubhouse rooms as of ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Tank was nervous after sending his manager a preview of “When We” — he’d never released a song that explicit. “He’s like, ‘You’re crazy, but it’s jammin’!’” the R&B singer recalled.

Many contemporary albums arrive with less than a week’s notice, but Jhene Aiko started to roll-out her new full-length, Chilombo, months ago. She released four different tracks to stoke anticipation, ...