Etta James

Etta James
Few R&B singers have endured tragic travails on the monumental level that Etta James has and remain on earth to talk about it. The lady's no shrinking violet; her autobiography, -Rage to Survive, describes her past (including numerous drug addictions) in sordid detail.

Solomon Burke
While Solomon Burke never made a major impact upon the pop audience -- he never, in fact, had a Top 20 hit -- he was an important early soul pioneer. On his '60s singles for Atlantic, he brought a country influence into R&B with emotional phrasing and intricately constructed...

Paolo Nutini
In much the same way that José González is from Sweden and not Spain, Paolo Nutini is not a smooth Italian pop star, but a soul-influenced adult alternative singer and songwriter from the exceedingly not continental town of Paisley, Scotland.