10 Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr.

 (born 26 July 1993),

known professionally as Stormzy, is a British rapper. In 2014, he
gained attention on the UK underground music scene through
his Wicked Skengman series of freestyles over
classic grime beats. Stormzy's song "Shut Up", which was initially
released as a freestyle on YouTube, became popular and peaked
at number eight on the UK Singles Chart.

Stormzy won Best Grime Act at the 2014 and 2015 MOBO Awards.
His debut album, Gang Signs & Prayer (2017), was the
first grime album to reach number one on the UK Albums
Chart and won British Album of the Year at the 2018 Brit Awards.

In 2019, Stormzy achieved his first UK number-one single with

"Vossi Bop" and his headline appearance at the 2019 Glastonbury
Festival was widely praised; he wore a Union Jack stab
vest designed by Banksy, in light of the rise in knife crime in
London.

Stormzy has funded the 'Stormzy Scholarship for Black UK

Students' at the University of Cambridge which covers tuition costs
for two students and maintenance grants for up to four years.
3 Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24,
1974) was an American composer, pianist, and leader of a jazz
orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life.

When Edward Ellington was a child, his family showed racial

pride and support in their home, as did many other families.
African Americans in D.C. worked to protect their children from
the era's racial segregation laws.

A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm

recording format, Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than
one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the
largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces
have become standards.

“Ellington composed incessantly to the very last days of his life.

Music was indeed his mistress; it was his total life and his
commitment to it was incomparable and unalterable. In jazz he
was a giant among giants. And in twentieth century music, he
may yet one day be recognized as one of the half-dozen
greatest masters of our time.” 
11 Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer,
songwriter, rapper, record producer and actress. She is often
regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, as well as
being one of the most influential singers of her generation.

Hill is credited for breaking barriers for female rappers,

popularizing melodic rapping and for bringing hip hop and neo
soul to popular music. She is known for being a member
of Fugees and her solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,
which became one of the best-selling albums of all-time. Hill
has won many awards, including eight Grammy Awards, the
most for a female rapper.

In 1996, she responded to a false rumour on The Howard

Stern Show that she had made a racist comment on MTV,
saying "How can I possibly be a racist? My music is universal.
And I believe in God. If I believe in God, then I have to love all
of God's creations. There can be no segregation."
 Celeste Epiphany Waite (born 5 May 1994) is an American-
23 British singer and songwriter. In 2019, she became the fifth artist
to top the BBC's annual Sound of... poll and win the Rising Star
Award at the Brit Awards in the same year. Her debut album Not
Your Muse was released in 2021 and debuted at No. 1 on
the UK Albums Chart. It earned her nominations for Album of
the Year, Best Female Solo Artist and Best New Artist at
the 2021 Brit Awards, as well as the 2021 Mercury Prize. In the
same year, Celeste was also nominated for the Academy Award
for Best Original Song for co-writing "Hear My Voice" from the
film The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020).

Celeste began her career in 2014 providing vocals

for electronic producers such as Avicii, while also self-
publishing content onto SoundCloud on the side. After signing
with Polydor Records in 2018, she released her second
EP Lately (2019).

Celeste's vocals and music are often compared to those of Amy

Winehouse, and Adele. Nick Reilly from NME described Celeste
as a "once-in-a-generation talent" who is "the finest British
soul singer to emerge in years."
25 Laura Mvula (born 23 April 1986) is a British recording artist,
songwriter and composer. A native of Birmingham, Mvula has
gained experience as a young member or leader of a
cappella, jazz/neo-soul, and gospel groups and choirs. She
was classically trained and in 2008 Mvula graduated
from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with a degree
in composition. She worked as a supply music teacher, and
later as a receptionist for the City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra, when she began to write songs.

In 2012, she signed with RCA Records and released

an EP, She, to critical acclaim. Mvula released her debut
studio album, Sing to the Moon (2013), to favourable
reviews, and earning two MOBO awards and a Mercury
Prize nomination. Her second album, The Dreaming
Room (2016), was also received with critical acclaim, and
won the Ivor Novello award and a Mercury Prize nomination.

She stated her influences include Nina Simone, Erykah

Badu, Lauryn Hill, Des'ree, Omar, Miles Davis, John
Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, The Jackson 5, and Diana Ross.
28 John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17,
1967) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.
Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his
career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes and
was at the forefront of free jazz. He led at least fifty
recording sessions and appeared on many albums by
other musicians, including trumpeter Miles Davis and
pianist Thelonious Monk. He remains one of the most
influential saxophonists in music history.

In 1957, Coltrane had a religious experience that may

have helped him overcome the heroin addiction and
alcoholism he had struggled with since 1948. In the liner
notes of A Love Supreme, Coltrane states that in 1957
he experienced "by the grace of God, a spiritual
awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more
productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked
to be given the means and privilege to make others
happy through music."
17 James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25,
2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer,
musician, record producer, and bandleader. The central
figure of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century
music, he is often referred to by the nicknames "Godfather
of Soul", "Mr. Dynamite", and "Soul Brother No. 1". In a
career that lasted over 50 years, he influenced the
development of several music genres.

Responding to pressure from black activists, to take a

bigger stance on their issues and from footage of black on
black crime committed in inner cities, Brown wrote the lyrics
to the song "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud".
Released late that summer, the song's lyrics helped to
make it an anthem for the civil rights movement. Brown
only performed the song sporadically following its initial
release and later stated he had regrets about recording it,
saying in 1984, "Now 'Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm
Proud' has done more for the black race than any other
record, but if I had my choice, I wouldn't have done it,
because I don't like defining anyone by race. To teach race
is to teach separatism."
29 Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter,
known for her hits "Fast Car", "Give Me One Reason", "Talkin' 'bout a
Revolution", and "Baby Can I Hold You". She is a multi-platinum and four-
time Grammy Award–winning artist. Chapman was signed to Elektra
Records in 1987. The following year she released her debut album, Tracy
Chapman, which became a worldwide success. The album earned Chapman
six Grammy Award nominations, including Album of the Year, three of which
she won: Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her single
"Fast Car", and Best Contemporary Folk Album.

Chapman performed at a tribute concert in honour of South African activist

and leader Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday, an event which raised money for
South Africa's Anti-Apartheid Movement and several children's
charities. Chapman has been involved with Cleveland's elementary schools,
producing an educational music video highlighting achievements in African-
American history.

“I'm fortunate that I've been able to do my work and be involved in certain
organizations, certain endeavours, and offered some assistance in some way.
Whether that is about raising money or helping to raise awareness, just
being another body to show some force and conviction for a particular idea.
Finding out where the need is – and if someone thinks you're going to be
helpful, then helping.”
2 Florence Beatrice Price (April 9, 1887 – June 3, 1953) was an
American classical composer, pianist, organist and music teacher. Price is
noted as the first African-American woman to be recognized as
a symphonic composer, and the first to have a composition played by a
major orchestra. Price composed numerous works: four symphonies, four
concertos, as well as choral works, plus art songs, and music for chamber
and solo instruments.

After a series of racial incidents in Little Rock, particularly a lynching of a

black man in 1927, the Price family decided to leave. Like many black
families living in the Deep South, they moved north in the Great
Migration to escape segregation conditions, and settled in Chicago, a major
industrial city.

Even though her training was steeped in European tradition, Price's music
consists of mostly the American idiom and reveals her Southern roots.
Being a committed Christian, she frequently used the music of the African-
American church as material for her arrangements. Price began to
incorporate elements of African-American spirituals, emphasizing the
rhythm and syncopation of the spirituals rather than just using the text. Her
melodies were blues-inspired and mixed with more traditional,
European Romantic techniques. The weaving of tradition and modernism
reflected the way life was for African Americans in large cities at the time.
14 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (15 August 1875 – 1 September 1912) was an
English composer and conductor. Of mixed race birth, Coleridge-Taylor
achieved such success that he was referred to by white New York musicians
as the "African Mahler" when he had three tours of the United States in the
early 1900s.  

Taylor was brought up in Croydon. There were numerous musicians on his

mother's side and her father played the violin. He started teaching it to
Coleridge when he was young. His ability was obvious when young, and his
grandfather paid for the boy to have violin lessons. The extended family
arranged for Taylor to study at the Royal College of Music, beginning at the
age of 15. He changed from violin to composition, working under
professor Charles Villiers Stanford. After completing his degree, Taylor
became a professional musician.

In 1904, on his first tour to the United States, Coleridge-Taylor was received
by President Theodore Roosevelt at the White House, a rare event in those
days for a man of African descent. His music was widely performed and he
had great support among African Americans. Coleridge-Taylor sought to
draw from traditional African music and integrate it into the classical
tradition, which he considered Johannes Brahms to have done
with Hungarian music and Antonín Dvořák with Bohemian music.