Celebrating Philadelphia’s place in Black music history through 13 essential artists

Black musicians and producers from Philadelphia have consistently pushed boundaries over the decades, establishing the city as a vital creative and commercial force in soul, R & B, hip-hop, and more.

New Orleans is recognized as the birthplace of jazz, and Memphis, the birthplace of rhythm and blues. 

The roots of the blues run from the Mississippi Delta north to Chicago. From a house in Detroit, the Motown label introduced the world to legends like Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, and Smokey Robinson. Meanwhile, a recreation room in the Bronx served as ground zero for hip-hop.

And then there’s Philadelphia, a city that plays an equally significant role in the evolution of Black music across genres.

At Philly’s Sigma Sound studios in the 70s, the R & B sounds established in Memphis and Detroit were expertly smoothed out in all the right places by Philadelphia-based producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, who created a whole new sound universally recognized as Philly Soul. The sound became so influential that rock artists like David Bowie came to Sigma to inject some Philly Soul into their own music. 

Hip-hop grew from neighborhood rap battles in the Bronx into a commercially successful artform largely based around samples from other records. The Roots, whose own roots can be traced to the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, took it a step further by taking hip-hop to the stage, laying it down as a live band at a time when they were virtually peerless in that regard. The band’s influence has helped to re-shape the sound of hip-hop and modern soul and R & B.  

Throughout the years, artists, producers, and record labels based in the 215 have played a huge part in establishing Philly as one of the most important cities for Black music. These are just some of the names you should know.

John Coltrane

Before John Coltrane made legendary jazz recordings with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Duke Ellington, establishing himself as one of the greatest saxophonists ever, he lived in Philadelphia from 1943 to 1958. Collaborating with others in Philadelphia’s fertile jazz scene, he honed his musical chops as a saxophonist and composer on gigs and during many after-hours jam sessions. The home Coltrane owned on North 33rd Street from 1952 to 1958 is a National Historic Landmark.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Though born in Arkansas, singer-songwriter-guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe moved to Philadelphia in 1957, remaining in the city until her death in 1973. She is credited with bringing gospel into the mainstream, and planting the seeds from which early rock and roll and R & B would grow. She recorded and toured up until her death in a career that spanned five decades influencing Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018, credited as the first guitar heroine of rock and roll.

Marian Anderson

Philadelphia native Marian Anderson became the first Black singer to appear at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in 1955, and toured throughout the world before retiring in 1965. Anderson sang at the presidential inaugurations of Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, and was active in the civil rights movement, performing benefit concerts for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Congress of Racial Equality, and singing at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. The Philadelphia Orchestra’s home in the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts was renamed Marian Anderson Hall in 2024.

Chubby Checker

The South Philly-raised Chubby Checker is responsible for starting a global dance sensation with his 1960 cover of Hank Ballard & the Midnighters’ “The Twist,” one of the most iconic songs of the pre-Beatles era of popular music. “The Twist” would go on to sell more than 15 million copies, and Checker enjoyed other dance-themed hits that straddled the lines of pop and R & B with songs like “The Fly,” “Pony Time,” and “Let’s Twist Again.”

Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff

Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, along with frequent collaborator Thom Bell, are credited with creating the Philly Soul sound, a smoother take on the R & B of the 50s and 60s. The records released on their Philadelphia International Records label were instantly identifiable — meticulously produced with strings, sweet backing vocals, and a strong emphasis on melody. They were titans of soul music in the 70s, responsible for hits from the O’Jays, the Spinners, Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, the Jacksons, Lou Rawls, and others. 

Patti LaBelle

Known as the “Godmother of Soul,” Philadelphia native Patti LaBelle has enjoyed enduring success since the early 70s with songs that were hits on both R & B and pop radio, along with an acting career that has seen her appear in the movies and on Broadway. She was introduced to the world fronting the trio LaBelle, whose 1974 single “Lady Marmalade” went to number one. As a solo artist, she enjoyed a string of hits, including “New Attitude” and “Stir it Up,” which appeared on the “Beverly Hills Cop” soundtrack in 1984. Her 1986 duet with Michael McDonald, “On My Own,” is a great moment in “yacht soul.”

Teddy Pendergrass

After starting his career with Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Teddy Pendergrass went solo, recording five consecutive platinum albums for Philadelphia International. Singles like the number one R & B hit “Close the Door” established him as a soul music sex symbol. A 1982 car crash in Philadelphia left him paralyzed from the waist down, though he still managed to make music, including a triumphant return to the stage at the 1985 Live Aid benefit concert. Pendergrass died in 2010. 

Will Smith

Before becoming a TV star on the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and an Academy Award winner, Will Smith teamed up with fellow Philly native Jeffrey Townes as hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. The pair enjoyed success on MTV and radio as hip-hop began to make serious inroads into the mainstream with singles like the Grammy-winning “Parents Just Don’t Understand,” “A Nightmare on My Street,” and “Summertime.” Smith went on to enjoy success as a solo artist with singles like “Gettin’ Jiggy With It” and “Wild Wild West.”  

Boyz II Men

As the new jack swing sound took hold in the early 90s, Philadelphia vocal quartet Boyz II Men exploded on radio and MTV with singles like “Motownphilly” and the a capella ballad “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday.” Both songs appeared on the band’s 1991 debut “Cooleyhighharmony,” which would go on to sell more than nine million copies and win the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. They would enjoy further success throughout the 90s with slow jams like “I’ll Make Love to You,” “End of the Road,” and “On Bended Knee.” A stretch of Broad Street, near where group members attended the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, was renamed “Boyz II Men Boulevard” in 2017.

The Roots

From their humble beginnings busking on Philadelphia’s South Street, to their long-running gig as the house band on “The Tonight Show,” few artists have explored the creative possibilities of hip-hop quite like the Roots. Mounting a hip-hop show as a live band — with searing lead guitar and a tuba, no less — they stood out from the jump, and influenced an entire generation of hip-hop and R & B artists from D’Angelo, to Pharrell Willims, to J. Dilla. Beyond their musical influence, drummer/producer Amir “Questlove” Thompson, has become a cultural force, as a DJ, producer, educator, and award-winning documentarian. 

Jill Scott

Jill Scott was discovered performing at Black Lily, a weekly open mic series in Philly started by the Roots in 2000. After co-writing the band’s Grammy-winning 2000 collaboration with Erykah Badu, “You Got Me,” Scott would go on to collaborate with artists like Eric Benet and Common, and tour with a production of the musical “Rent.” Albums like 2000’s “Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1” and 2004’s “Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2” would establish Scott as a singular R & B voice in her own right.

Tierra Whack

Like the Roots, North Philly native Tierra Whack is pushing the boundaries of hip-hop. She got her start at 15, appearing in a 2011 freestyle video produced by Philadelphia’s underground music collective We Run the Streets. Her career took off in 2017 with the release of the song “Mumbo Jumbo,” which she followed in 2018 with the experimental 15-minute visual album, “Whack World.”  Her latest, “World Wide Whack,” mixes balladary, her sing-songy rhymes, and pulsating funk.