The Atlantic 2020

Solomon is generally acknowledged as one of the greatest soul singers to emerge during the genre’s golden days. He signed to Atlantic before ‘soul music’ became a bona fide sub-genre of African-American music and it was Solomon who helped define this new movement and he was, in fact, one of the first artists to use ‘soul’ to describe his music. He would eventually be known the world over as ‘The King of Rock and Soul’.

The band’s debut album, WALLY, issued in 1974, was produced by Rick Wakeman and Bob Harris and featured excellent material, including the epic ‘To the Urban Man’. Its release led to the band developing a loyal following on the live circuit assisted by extensive touring in Europe and the USA. Prior to the recording of Wally’s next album keyboard player Paul Gerrett departed and he was replaced by Nick Glennie-Smith. This change in line-up saw the band move further in a progressive direction for the album VALLEY GARDENS, issued in 1975. The album was dominated by the excellent side-long piece ‘The Reason Why’ and also included the track ‘Nez Perc’e’ which was issued as a single and gained some considerable airplay.

John Michael Montgomery is an American country music singer. Montgomery began singing with his brother Eddie, who would later become known as one half of the duo Montgomery Gentry, before beginning his major-label solo career in 1992. He has had more than 30 singles on the Billboard country charts, of which seven have reached number one: "I Love the Way You Love Me", "I Swear", "Be My Baby Tonight", "If You've Got Love", "I Can Love You Like That", "Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)", and "The Little Girl". 13 more have reached the top 10. "I Swear" and "Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)" were named by Billboard as the top country songs of 1994 and 1995, respectively. Montgomery's recordings of "I Swear" and "I Can Love You Like That" were both released concurrently with cover versions by the R&B group All-4-One. Several of Montgomery's singles crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, his highest peak there having been achieved by "Letters from Home" in 2004.

Cissy Houston, Myrna Smith, Sylvia Shemwell, and Estelle Brown had deep separate and shared histories when they became the Sweet Inspirations in 1967. That April, hot off backing Aretha Franklin and Van Morrison at the studio dates that yielded "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and "Brown Eyed Girl," the singers recorded their first session as headliners for Atlantic. The group left Atlantic Recording Studios with ardent interpretations of contemporary material that, depending on the source, either reaffirmed its gospel foundation or took it to church, but none of the resulting songs – all eventual A-sides – truly shook up the charts. This would typify the Sweet Inspirations' four years with the label. Perhaps the women were underserved. Only two of their nine charting singles were written for them, and the one that did best, "Sweet Inspiration" – their lone Top 20 pop and Top Ten soul hit – was dashed off by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham after the songwriting duo watched them attempt to spin gold from straw in the studio. Unfulfilled commercial promise notwithstanding, the group during these years – with Ann Williams replacing Houston in 1969, then leaving her partners a trio the next year – produced a high volume of powerful R&B and gospel.

Kleeer was an American New York City–based funk, disco and post-disco band, which was formed in 1972 under the name The Jam Band, as a backup group to different disco bands and vocalists

The premier blues shouter of the postwar era, Big Joe Turner's roar could rattle the very foundation of any gin joint he sang within – and that's without a microphone. Turner was a resilient figure in the history of blues – he effortlessly spanned boogie-woogie, jump blues, even the first wave of rock & roll, enjoying great success in each genre.Turner, whose powerful physique certainly matched his vocal might, was a product of the swinging, wide-open Kansas City scene. Even in his teens, the big-boned Turner looked entirely mature enough to gain entry to various K.C. niteries. He ended up simultaneously tending bar and singing the blues before hooking up with boogie piano master Pete Johnson during the early '30s. Theirs was a partnership that would endure for 13 years.