Sunday, April 4, 2010

The Top 10 White Musical Artist That People Thought Were Black?

If you look up the phrase Blue Eyed Soul in wikipedia it means rhythm and blues or soul music performed by white artists but it goes a little bit deeper than that. The root of all popular american musical styles is the blues of course but this post shows that the stereotype of white performers simply copying and doing bad impressions of Black artist is a little far fetched. The African-American experience is definitely the innovator but the interpetation of some of these melanin deficient performers is a good tribute to there darker skin heroes!

Top 10 Best White Performers Doing Black Music Are!!

tina marie greatest hits

TEENA MARIE A protege of The Superfreak himself mr Rick James (bitch) with her professional outing singing a duet with freaky rick on the unforgettable Fire And Desire. She went on to have other hits on Black Radio that were extremely popular with the Black Family reunions in the early 80's with Square Biz, and A Sucker For Your Love. Ironically she was so BLACK sounding that she never crossed over back to white shes always been like a special ivory skinned soul singer thats always been a fav of Black people shes like our own special treasure! Major props to the queen of white funk and soul be sure to get the CD or MP3s for Ten Marie Greatest Hits

macolm mcdonald doobie

Malcom Mcdonald Hear him talk and he sounds like a regular white guy hear him sing and he sounds like a big black guy. He is best known for his legendary hit I Keep Forgetting which was made even more popular by being sampled by Warren G and Nate Dog for there 90's hit Regulate before success as solo blueeyed soul act he was leader singer of the Doobie Brothers on such memorable tracks like Taking It To The Streets and What a Fool Believes Malcolm looks like Kenny Rogers but sings like Barry White in a husky baritone, be sure to get that CD of his best here Michael Mcdonald Greatest Hits

bobby caldwell

Bobby Caldwell This is the shocker to most people under 30, when the hear the song they know What You Want Do (You Do For Love) sampled, remade, sung on the apollo amateuer night etc. and they assume its a classic soul song by a black singer but its not the original performer is Bobbie Caldwell who is white as the whitest whiteman you can find. 32 years after its 1978 release people still assume hes black.. LOL its He may be known for this one hit wonder only but man its a big one and supremely influential on future acts like Robin Thicke (who will get to later) and back to other black performers who influenced him, this is the great example of unintenional cross over, boby didnt know this would be accepted and loved by urban fans but it did by accident and not by some clever marketing scene it justs good pop/soul music. check out Bobby Caldwel CD


hall and oates

Hall And Oates From Philly Pa and one of the most successful pop duos in the history of recorded music, you get the feeling they spent there young years listening to a ton of Gamble And Huff produced music of the Ojays, Teddy Pendergrass and others, Hall and Oats (and that porn star looking mustache) were as popular and respected by the R&B soul crowd as much as the Pop crowd which you rarely see that type of appreciation. I was listening to black radio in the 80's and heard HAO in heavy rotation and requested. The hits are limitless I Cant Go For That, Out Of Touch, or the great ballads One On One, Sarah Smile if you dont have them on your playlist then you dont know shit about music get it Hale And Oats Greatest Hits

The Rest of the List!

5. Christina Augerilia
I am aware that she has a latin father, which technically makes her ethnic and not lily-white but she wasnt raised in this afro-carribean environment but as a regular white girl in Pittsburgh, PA and showed an amazing gift early on the Mickey Mouse club with Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake it was HER singing lead mostly. When they first signed her and she did by the numbers teen pop but has burst out with critically acclaimed jams like Aint No Other Man (where she sounds like she challenging Martha Wash or any other 300 pound big black woman ironcally in a little white girls body) and my fav is Beautiful her grammy nominated Ballad. Britnay and her peers may stick to mindless pop but Chrissy is on to something and i expect a long lusturous career for her! Christina Aguilera Best Of A Decade

6. Tom Tom Club
An off shoot of the punk group Talking Heads with there bassist Tina Weymouth and her husband Chris Frantz did a tribute to the funk sound they love and influenced by Roger Troutmans classic More Bounce they came up with Genius Of Love and it used Bernie Worrell of P-Funk fame on the keyboards, and Bootsy Collins. This early 80's experiment has survived the test of time sampled by too many rappers to name get this one. TomTom Club 1981 CD Reissue

7. Lisa Stansfield
She had a huge hit on black radio in 1989 with Been Around The World (and I, I, I, cant find my baby) and shocked all her fans when they found out that there new favorite singer wasnt a black woman in her 30's but a English white lady in her early 20's at the time singing very black she had a few more minor hits but All ARound the way is her magnus opus TomTom Club 1981 CD Reissue

8. Taylor Dayne
Her dance floor big lunged super hitTell It To My Heart in the 80's killed black and pop radio but she never seemed to blow up to the level of her talent she had a few more hits like I'll Always Love You, and her remake of the Barry White classic Cant Get Enough OF Your Love Babe Tailor Dayne is underappreciated by history. Taylor Dane Best Hits

taylor dane

9. Kraftwerk
There German robot music is so influential that 99% of the hip-hop music lover market have no idea who they are but the template for miami-bass which was later slowed down and called double time crunk has all the elements of 4 aryan looking dudes from Duestchland. In interviews they said that the Beach Boys created songs that sounded like California and Kraftwerk made songs that sounded like GERMANY with the technology and big industry! They succeeded with the 1974 underground cult hit Autobahn and the break out 1977 Trans Euro Express. They kept scroging with break dance favorites Numbers and Tour De France who would think some stiff german guys may be the biggest influcence on modern southern rap/crunk when you listen to 1982 Planet Rock By Afrika Bambatta or 2004 One two step by Ciara and 2010 Low by Ludacris its got elements of Krafwerk all over it get this Kartwerk Trans-Euope Express

10. Robin Thicke
The Most successful white artist singing black at the moment, he reminded people of a smooth Marvin Gaye type thing with his hit Lost Without You and then came back with a strong second album that included Magic Touch and a 3rd release has kept him hot with Sex Therapy I guess you could say robyn thick is the white version of Maxwell, who wouldve thought the son of the father on Growing Pains would score so much credibility with a smooth black sound! Kartwerk Trans-Euope Express

others receiving votes

Eminem - If we are talking the rap game he has no peer among white rappers none got this live
Annie Lennox - Most famous as the vocalist of the Eurythmics in Sweet Dreams.
The Rascals - Good Love and Groovin From the late 60's they tore it up.
Steve Winwood - His early Spencer Davis Group stuff "Give Me SOme Loving" stuff is special
Elvis - You always gotta mention him, his Sun Records stuff 1954-58 great blues covers
The Everly Brothers - Another classic 50's duo. You Lost That Loving Feeling sounds Black

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts with Thumbnails