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Isaac Lee Hayes (born Aug 20, 1942, in Covington, Tennessee - died Aug 10, 2008, in Memphis, Tennessee) was an influential soul singer, songwriter, musician, producer, arranger, and actor. One of the key creative forces behind Memphis' Stax Records, Hayes began his recording career in 1962, soon playing saxophone for The Bar-Kays. Hayes and writing partner David Porter would pen numerous hits for Stax artists such as Sam & Dave ("Hold On! I'm Comin'", "Soul Man") and Carla Thomas ("B-A-B-Y") during the mid-1960s. Read more on Last.fm

Niomi Arleen McLean-Daley (born; 26 April 1981) and popularly known as Ms. Dynamite is a double Brit Award and three time MOBO Awards winning R&B, UK garage, and hip hop singer and rapper. Ms. Dynamite was born and raised in Archway, London, England, to a Scottish mother and a Jamaican father. She grew up listening to reggae and hip hop music. Though she wanted to become a schoolteacher or social worker, her biggest aspiration was to be a musician. She is the eldest of eleven siblings, one of whom is a grime artist known as Akala. Read more on Last.fm

Nubya Nyasha Garcia (born 1991) is a British jazz musician, saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Garcia was born in 1991 in Camden Town, London to a Guyanese mother, a former civil servant, and a British Trinidadian filmmaker father, the youngest of four siblings. Her uncle is John R. Rickford, who is the J. E. Wallace Sterling Professor of Linguistics and the Humanities at Stanford University. Garcia followed her three older siblings to the local Saturday music center at the age of 5 Read more on Last.fm

Life began for Kamasi Washington on February 18, 1981 in Los Angeles, California. In the Washington family music was more of a prerequisite than a privilege. But Kamasi never saw it that way, his love for music began at first sound. His father, Rickey Washington is a professional saxophonist by night and a high school music teacher by day. Kamasi’s mother, Valerie Washington is an accomplished flutist who fell in love with the world of science and became a high school chemistry teacher after her stint as a genetic researcher. Read more on Last.fm

Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet, and then co-founded the jazz fusion band Weather Report. He has recorded over 20 albums as a bandleader. Shorter was born in Newark, New Jersey, and attended Newark Arts High School. Read more on Last.fm

Caribbean-Belgian composer, producer and musician Nala Sinephro fuses meditative sounds, jazz sensibilities, folk and field recordings. Her musical practice is rooted in the study of frequency and geometry and guided by the premise that sound moves matter. Read more on Last.fm

Fruko y sus Tesos is a salsa group from Colombia which enjoys immense popularity throughout Latin America. It was formed in 1970 by Ernesto Fruko Estrada who modeled it after the New York salsa sound of the Fania All-Stars, one of the leading salsa groups at the time. A favorite of Salsa DJ's around the Globe. Some have referred to Fruko y sus Tesos as Colombia's most important export. Among the group's best known hits are Pura Candela, Los Charcos Read more on Last.fm

Severino "Sivuca" Dias de Oliveira (26 March 1930, Itabaiana, Paraíba, Brazil — 14 December 2006, João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil) was a Brazilian accordionist and guitarist. He is best known internationally for his work with Scandinavian jazz musicians in the 1980s. His most famous songs are the Brazilian popular classic "João e Maria" with lyrics by Chico Buarque and the accordion standard "Feira de Mangaio". He is also famous for his use of makeshift instruments playing alongside conventional ones and for his versatility Read more on Last.fm

The Pharcyde (pronounced "far side") is an American alternative hip-hop group, formed in 1989, from South Central Los Angeles. The original four members of the group are Imani (Emandu Wilcox), Slimkid3 (Trevant Hardson), Bootie Brown (Romye Robinson), and Fatlip (Derrick Stewart). DJ Mark Luv was the group's first disc jockey (DJ), followed by producer J-Swift and then J Dilla. The group is perhaps best known for the hit singles "Drop", "Passin' Me By" and "Runnin''", as well as their first album, Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde. Read more on Last.fm

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