Black History Month

So I had this idea a few months back to do a series focusing on black singers and musicians during the month of February, seeing as it is Black History Month. Well I know I'm a few days late getting started (I was getting over a cold for the last few days), but I figure I can do a little catch up. So here goes my feature of 28 notable black singers and musicians. Granted, this is by no means a comprehensive list, and this is not a list ranking the artists against each other. This is just a daily feature. You might ask why I decided to focus on singers/musicians. The answer is, I feel that America pretty much owes its musical heritage to black singers and musicians. Any modern form of music heard today can pretty much be traced back to Gospel, Blues, Soul, Jazz, and R&B. For that reason, I want to spend the month honoring these contributions and some of the artists who made and are still making them.