Best R&B/Urban Contemporary Song of The Year

• "Giving You The Best That I Got
  Giving You the Best That I Got
  Giving You The Best That I Got is the third album by the American R&B/soul singer Anita Baker. It was Baker's first and only #1 Pop album in the US, the second #1 R&B Album, and was certified 3x platinum in 1989 by the RIAA....
  
  " - Anita Baker
  Anita Baker
  Anita Baker is an American R&B/soul jazz singer-songwriter. To date, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards, and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit....
  
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• "Don't Be Cruel
  Don't Be Cruel
  -Legacy:"Don't Be Cruel" went on to become Presley's biggest selling single recorded in 1956, with sales over six million by 1961. It became a regular feature of his live sets until his death in 1977, and was often coupled with "Jailhouse Rock" or "Teddy Bear" during performances from 1969.Many...
  
  " - Bobby Brown
  Bobby Brown
  Robert Barisford "Bobby" Brown is an American R&B singer-songwriter, occasional rapper, and dancer. After success in pop group New Edition, Brown began his solo career in 1987 and had a string of Top 10 Billboard hits, culminating in a Grammy Award. He was a pioneer of New Jack Swing music, a...
  
  
• "Man in the Mirror
  Man in the Mirror
  "Man in the Mirror" is a song recorded by Michael Jackson and written and composed by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett. It peaked at number one in the United States when released as a single in January 1988 off his seventh solo album, Bad. It is one of Jackson's most critically acclaimed songs and...
  
  " - Michael Jackson
  Michael Jackson
  Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
  
  
• "I Want Her
  I Want Her
  "I Want Her" is a 1987 single from R&B singer Keith Sweat. As the first single from his debut album, Make It Last Forever, it reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart for three weeks. and became the most successful number one single...
  
  " - Keith Sweat
  Keith Sweat
  Keith Sweat is an American R&B/soul, singer-songwriter, record producer, radio personality and a major contributor to the new jack swing era.-Music career:...
  
  

Best R&B/Urban Contemporary New Artist

• Al B. Sure!
  Al B. Sure!
  Albert Jason Brown III is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He grew up in Leonia, New Jersey and Mount Vernon, New York. During the late 1980s under the stage name Al B...
  
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• Guy
  Guy (band)
  Guy are a hip hop, R&B and soul band most closely associated with the new jack swing style of the 1980s and 1990s.-Origins :Guy was formed in Harlem, New York in 1987 by R&B singer-songwriters Aaron Hall, young musician/record producer Teddy Riley and Timmy Gatling...
  
  
• Karyn White
  Karyn White
  Karyn White was a new jack swing singer who became popular during the late 1980s.-Biography:White was born in Los Angeles,to the parentage of Vivian and Clarence White. She is the youngest of five children...
  
  
• BeBe & CeCe Winans
  BeBe & CeCe Winans
  BeBe & CeCe Winans are an American Gospel music brother and sister duo. BeBe and CeCe Winans are the seventh and eighth of "Mom" and "Pop" Winans' ten children, most of whom have had successful Gospel music careers.-Musical career:...
  
  

• "Parents Just Don't Understand
  Parents Just Don't Understand
  "Parents Just Don't Understand" is the second single from DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's second studio album, He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance in 1989, one of only two songs to ever do so before the award was discontinued in 1991. It peaked at...
  
  " - DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
• "Man in the Mirror
  Man in the Mirror
  "Man in the Mirror" is a song recorded by Michael Jackson and written and composed by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett. It peaked at number one in the United States when released as a single in January 1988 off his seventh solo album, Bad. It is one of Jackson's most critically acclaimed songs and...
  
  " - Michael Jackson
  Michael Jackson
  Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
  
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• "Wild, Wild West" - Kool Moe Dee
  Kool Moe Dee
  Mohandas Dewese , better known as Kool Moe Dee, is an American Hip Hop MC prominent in the late 1970s through the early 1990s. He was born in Manhattan, New York...
  
  
• "Skeletons" - Stevie Wonder
  Stevie Wonder
  Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
  
  

• "My Prerogative
  My Prerogative
  "My Prerogative" is a song by American recording artist Bobby Brown from his second solo studio album, Don't Be Cruel. It was released on October 11, 1988 as the second single from the album. After recording sessions for the album were completed, Brown and producer Gene Griffin travelled to New...
  
  " - Bobby Brown
  Bobby Brown
  Robert Barisford "Bobby" Brown is an American R&B singer-songwriter, occasional rapper, and dancer. After success in pop group New Edition, Brown began his solo career in 1987 and had a string of Top 10 Billboard hits, culminating in a Grammy Award. He was a pioneer of New Jack Swing music, a...
  
  
• "Man in the Mirror
  Man in the Mirror
  "Man in the Mirror" is a song recorded by Michael Jackson and written and composed by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett. It peaked at number one in the United States when released as a single in January 1988 off his seventh solo album, Bad. It is one of Jackson's most critically acclaimed songs and...
  
  ", Michael Jackson
  Michael Jackson
  Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
  
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• "Just Got Paid
  Just Got Paid
  "Just Got Paid" is a 1988 crossover single by singer/songwriter Johnny Kemp. The song made it to number one on the U.S. R&B singles and dance charts and reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100...
  
  " - Johnny Kemp
  Johnny Kemp
  Johnny Kemp is a Bahamian R&B singer and dancer. He began singing in nightclubs in the Bahamas at 13. He moved to New York in 1979 with the band "Kinky Fox." His self-titled debut album came out in 1986 and he scored a minor hit with "Just Another Lover." True success came the following year,...
  
  
• "Make It Last Forever
  Make It Last Forever (song)
  "Make It Last Forever" is a 1988 single by Keith Sweat and Jacci McGhee. The single peaked at #59 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a hit on the Hot Black Singles chart, where it peaked at #2. Years later, the song would be covered by Chanté Moore and her husband, Kenny Lattimore...
  
  " - Keith Sweat
  Keith Sweat
  Keith Sweat is an American R&B/soul, singer-songwriter, record producer, radio personality and a major contributor to the new jack swing era.-Music career:...
  
   (ft. Jacci McGhee)

• Guy
  Guy (album)
  -Album:-Singles:"—" denotes releases that did not chart.-Personnel:Information taken from Allmusic.*arranging – Gene Griffin, Teddy Riley*assistant engineering – Franklin D., Alan Friedman, Alan Gregorie, Jay Henry, Dennis Mitchell, Mario Salvati...
  
   - Guy
  Guy (band)
  Guy are a hip hop, R&B and soul band most closely associated with the new jack swing style of the 1980s and 1990s.-Origins :Guy was formed in Harlem, New York in 1987 by R&B singer-songwriters Aaron Hall, young musician/record producer Teddy Riley and Timmy Gatling...
  
  
• Just Coolin - Levert
  LeVert
  LeVert is a R&B/pop music singing group, formed in Ohio in 1984, comprising Sean and Gerald Levert, the sons of O'Jays founder Eddie Levert, as well as Marc Gordon.-Biography:The group released their first single, "I'm Still", for Harry Coombes' Tempre label...
  
  
• Heartbreak - New Edition
  New Edition
  New Edition is an R&B group formed in Boston in 1978. The group reached its height of popularity during the 1980s. They were the progenitors of the boy band movement of the 1980s and 1990s and led the way for groups like New Kids on the Block, Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync...
  
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• Who?- Tony, Toni, Tone

Best R&B/Urban Contemporary Single, Female

• "Giving You The Best That I Got
  Giving You the Best That I Got
  Giving You The Best That I Got is the third album by the American R&B/soul singer Anita Baker. It was Baker's first and only #1 Pop album in the US, the second #1 R&B Album, and was certified 3x platinum in 1989 by the RIAA....
  
  " - Anita Baker
  Anita Baker
  Anita Baker is an American R&B/soul jazz singer-songwriter. To date, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards, and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit....
  
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• "Where Do Broken Hearts Go
  Where Do Broken Hearts Go
  "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" is the fourth single from Whitney Houston's second album, Whitney. The ballad was released in February 1988. The song was written by Frank Wildhorn and Chuck Jackson. Wildhorn approached Jackson about the opportunity to write for Whitney Houston...
  
  "? - Whitney Houston
  Whitney Houston
  Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
  
  
• "Superwoman
  Superwoman
  Superwoman is the name given to several fictional characters published over the years by DC Comics, most of them being, like the popular Supergirl, a woman with powers similar to those of DC's highly popular Superman. The name "Superwoman" was originally copyrighted by Detective Comics in an effort...
  
  " - Karyn White
  Karyn White
  Karyn White was a new jack swing singer who became popular during the late 1980s.-Biography:White was born in Los Angeles,to the parentage of Vivian and Clarence White. She is the youngest of five children...
  
  
• "The Right Stuff" - Vanessa Williams
  Vanessa L. Williams
  Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...
  
  

Best R&B/Urban Contemporary Album of the Year, Female

• Giving You The Best That I Got
  Giving You the Best That I Got
  Giving You The Best That I Got is the third album by the American R&B/soul singer Anita Baker. It was Baker's first and only #1 Pop album in the US, the second #1 R&B Album, and was certified 3x platinum in 1989 by the RIAA....
  
   - Anita Baker
  Anita Baker
  Anita Baker is an American R&B/soul jazz singer-songwriter. To date, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards, and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit....
  
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• Tracy Chapman
  Tracy Chapman (album)
  Tracy Chapman is the self-titled debut album by singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman, released in 1988.-History:Tracy Chapman hit #1 on both the US & UK album charts. The album was critically acclaimed and helped to launch the 1990s female singer-songwriter movement, which included artists like Tori...
  
   - Tracy Chapman
  Tracy Chapman
  Tracy Chapman is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her singles "Fast Car", "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", "Baby Can I Hold You", "Give Me One Reason" and "Telling Stories". She is a multi-platinum and four-time Grammy Award-winning artist.-Biography:Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland,...
  
  
• Stronger Than Pride
  Stronger Than Pride
  Stronger Than Pride is the third studio album by the English group Sade. It was released in the United Kingdom on 14 May 1988 and in the United States on 4 June 1988 by Epic Records.-Track listing:...
  
   - Sade
  Sade (band)
  Sade is a British smooth jazz band that formed in 1983, named for Nigerian lead singer Sade Adu. Their music features elements of R&B, soul, jazz, and soft rock....
  
  
• The Right Stuff
  The Right Stuff (album)
  The Right Stuff is the debut album of Vanessa L. Williams released in 1988. The albums and its singles were well received by both the Urban and Pop markets...
  
   - Vanessa Williams
  Vanessa L. Williams
  Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...
  
  

• "It Takes Two
  It Takes Two (Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock song)
  "It Takes Two" is a 1988 hip hop song by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock and produced by Teddy Riley that was later certified platinum. The song samples heavily from Lyn Collins' 1972 song "Think ", using multiple drum breaks, the well known "Woo! Yeah!" sample, as well as the lyric sung by Collins which...
  
  " - Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock
  Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock
  Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock are a hip-hop duo from Harlem, New York who are best known for their hit "It Takes Two." The duo consists of Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock .- Career :Their first U.S...
  
  
• "Da Butt" - E.U.*
• "Groove Me" - Guy
  Guy (band)
  Guy are a hip hop, R&B and soul band most closely associated with the new jack swing style of the 1980s and 1990s.-Origins :Guy was formed in Harlem, New York in 1987 by R&B singer-songwriters Aaron Hall, young musician/record producer Teddy Riley and Timmy Gatling...
  
  
• "Can You Stand the Rain?" - New Edition
  New Edition
  New Edition is an R&B group formed in Boston in 1978. The group reached its height of popularity during the 1980s. They were the progenitors of the boy band movement of the 1980s and 1990s and led the way for groups like New Kids on the Block, Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync...
  
  

• Live in Chicago - Shirley Caesar
  Shirley Caesar
  Shirley Ann Caesar is an American Gospel music singer, songwriter and recording artist whose career has spanned six decades...
  
  
• Conqueror - The Clark Sisters
  The Clark Sisters
  The Clark Sisters are an American gospel vocal group consisting of four sisters:Jacky Clark Chisholm, Elbernita "Twinkie" Clark, Dorinda Clark-Cole, and Karen Clark Sheard. A fifth sister, Denise Clark Bradford, no longer performs with the group. The Clark Sisters are the daughters of legendary...
  
  
• Inspired - James Cleveland
  James Cleveland
  The Reverend Dr. James Cleveland was a gospel singer, arranger, composer and, most significantly, the driving force behind the creation of the modern gospel sound, bringing the stylistic daring of hard gospel and jazz and pop music influences to arrangements for mass choirs...
  
  
• Take 6 - Take 6
  Take 6
  Take 6 is an American a cappella gospel music sextet formed in 1980 on the campus of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. The group sings in a contemporary style, integrating R&B and jazz influences into their devotional songs and has 10 Grammy wins, 10 Dove Awards, one Soul Train Award and two...
  
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Best Jazz Album

• Silhouette - Kenny G
  Kenny G
  Kenneth Bruce Gorelick , better known by his stage name Kenny G, is an American, adult contemporary and smooth jazz saxophonist. His fourth album, Duotones, brought him breakthrough success in 1986...
  
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• Simple Pleasures - Bobby McFerrin
  Bobby McFerrin
  Robert "Bobby" McFerrin, Jr. is an American vocalist and conductor. He is best known for his 1988 hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy". He is a ten-time Grammy Award winner.-Life:...
  
  
• Day by Day - Najee
  Najee
  Jerome Najee Rasheed , known professionally as Najee, is an urban jazz saxophonist and flautist.He attended New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where he studied with George Russell and Jaki Byard....
  
  
• Stronger Than Pride - Sade
  Sade (band)
  Sade is a British smooth jazz band that formed in 1983, named for Nigerian lead singer Sade Adu. Their music features elements of R&B, soul, jazz, and soft rock....
  
  

• It Takes Two
  It Takes Two (album)
  It Takes Two is the debut album released by hip hop duo, Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock. It was released in 1988 for Profile Records and featured production from DJ E-Z Rock, Rob Base, Donald "O" Bowden and Thomas Dean. The singles that were released were "Joy and Pain", "Get on the Dance Floor" and the...
  
   - Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock
  Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock
  Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock are a hip-hop duo from Harlem, New York who are best known for their hit "It Takes Two." The duo consists of Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock .- Career :Their first U.S...
  
  
• He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper
  He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper
  He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper is the second studio album by hip hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince.-Background:The original release of the album on Vinyl LP and Cassette lasts for more than 85 minutes...
  
   - DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince*
• It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
  It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
  It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is the second studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released April 14, 1988, on Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions for the album took place at Chung King Studios, Greene Street Recording, and Sabella Studios in New York City...
  
   - Public Enemy
• A Salt With a Deadly Pepa
  A Salt with a Deadly Pepa
  A Salt With A Deadly Pepa is the second album by female rap trio Salt-N-Pepa, released on Next Plateau Records. The album was certified gold in America, reaching #38 on the Billboard 200 and #8 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Album charts...
  
   - Salt-N-Pepa
  Salt-N-Pepa
  Salt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens and Brooklyn, New York, that was formed in 1985. The group, consisting of Cheryl "Salt" Renee James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and Deidra "DJ Spinderella" Roper, was one of the first all-female rap crews....
  
  

Performances

• Ashford & Simpson
  Ashford & Simpson
  Nickolas Ashford , and Valerie Simpson , were a husband and wife songwriting/production team and recording artists....
  
  
• Sheena Easton
  Sheena Easton
  Sheena Easton is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop...
  
  
• Levert
  LeVert
  LeVert is a R&B/pop music singing group, formed in Ohio in 1984, comprising Sean and Gerald Levert, the sons of O'Jays founder Eddie Levert, as well as Marc Gordon.-Biography:The group released their first single, "I'm Still", for Harry Coombes' Tempre label...
  
   & Heavy D & The Boyz
  Heavy D & the Boyz
  Dwight Arrington Myers , better known as Heavy D, was a Jamaican-born American actor, rapper, record producer, singer and former leader of Heavy D & the Boyz, a hip hop group which included G-Whiz , "Trouble" T. Roy , and Eddie F...
  
  
• Bobby Brown
  Bobby Brown
  Robert Barisford "Bobby" Brown is an American R&B singer-songwriter, occasional rapper, and dancer. After success in pop group New Edition, Brown began his solo career in 1987 and had a string of Top 10 Billboard hits, culminating in a Grammy Award. He was a pioneer of New Jack Swing music, a...
  
  
• Patti LaBelle
  Patti LaBelle
  Patricia Louise Holte-Edwards , better known under the stage name, Patti LaBelle, is a Grammy Award winning American singer, author and actress who has spent over 50 years in the music industry...
  
  
• Dionne Warwick
  Dionne Warwick
  Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
  
  
• Rob Base & New Edition
  New Edition
  New Edition is an R&B group formed in Boston in 1978. The group reached its height of popularity during the 1980s. They were the progenitors of the boy band movement of the 1980s and 1990s and led the way for groups like New Kids on the Block, Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync...
  
  
• Shirley Caesar
  Shirley Caesar
  Shirley Ann Caesar is an American Gospel music singer, songwriter and recording artist whose career has spanned six decades...
  
  , The Clark Sisters
  The Clark Sisters
  The Clark Sisters are an American gospel vocal group consisting of four sisters:Jacky Clark Chisholm, Elbernita "Twinkie" Clark, Dorinda Clark-Cole, and Karen Clark Sheard. A fifth sister, Denise Clark Bradford, no longer performs with the group. The Clark Sisters are the daughters of legendary...
  
  , Thelma Houston
  Thelma Houston
  Thelma Houston is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She scored a number-one hit in 1976 with her cover version of the song "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.-Early life & career:Houston is the daughter of a cotton picking mother...
  
  , BeBe & CeCe Winans
  BeBe & CeCe Winans
  BeBe & CeCe Winans are an American Gospel music brother and sister duo. BeBe and CeCe Winans are the seventh and eighth of "Mom" and "Pop" Winans' ten children, most of whom have had successful Gospel music careers.-Musical career:...
  
  , Vickie Winans
  Vickie Winans
  Vickie Winans is an American Gospel recording artist.-Biography:The seventh of twelve children, Vickie was born in Detroit, Michigan to Mattie A. Bowman, a housewife, and Aaron Bowman, a father who worked at various times as a laborer, contractor, carpenter and mason...
  
   and The Winans
  The Winans
  The Winans are an American Gospel music quartet from Detroit, Michigan consisting of brothers Marvin, Carvin, Michael and Ronald Winans.-Members:Please refer to the Winans family page for more detail on the individual members.-Origins:...