Abbey Lincoln was an actor, a civil rights activist and a jazz singer in the mould of her idol Billie Holiday.

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Tori Amos was such a unique voice when she came into our musical lives with Cornflake Girl, arguably the progenitor of the confessional female singer-songwriter genre.

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Fontaines D.C. reach a new high with their latest single, a euphoric hymn to youth and a plea for hope in an uncertain world – It’s Amazing To Be Young.

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Counting Crows came from San Francisco and immediately struck gold with their debut single, Mr Jones, in early 1994.

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Hothouse Flowers enjoyed their solitary big hit Don’t Go thanks to their exposure in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1988.

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Here is a sultry slice of funk, driving by a killer bassline, with the sweet sibling vocals of The Pointer Sisters from back in 1975.

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The Jones Girls may have come from Detroit but their sweet harmonies made them synonymous with the Philly Sound. And their big breakthrough came after almost a decade when they teamed up with Philly Soul titans Gamble and Huff.

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Sade’s smooth song is given a glorious makeover by New York producer Danny Krivit with Boyd Jarvis’s organ solo to the fore.

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I’ve never been a jazz-funk fan and the vibraphone would be very low on my list of favourite instruments, ranking alongside the flute and just above the ukelele. But I’d have to make an exception for Roy Ayers.

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William Bell was one of the architects of Stax/Volt soul. His debut single in 1961 helped define the classic country-soul sound of Memphis when he struck gold with his debut single.

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