Pop Music, GIL-LAV
Whether you love it or hate it, pop music can be hard to avoid. That's because its defining characteristic is its popularity within a culture (or across multiple cultures). Historically, popular music was thought as of any non-folk form that acquired mass popularity; more recently, it can be defined as any commercially oriented music principally intended to be received and appreciated by a wide audience. Popular music styles tended to move westward from Europe to the United States until the early 20th century, when new American forms such as ragtime and Broadway musicals were enthusiastically embraced in Europe. Since then, Western popular music has been dominated by developments in the United States. Popular music has variously included musical forms such as ragtime, jazz, swing, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, rock, disco, hip-hop, and rap.
Pop Music Encyclopedia Articles By Title
Patrick Gilmore was a leading American bandmaster and a virtuoso cornetist, noted for his flamboyant showmanship,......
girl groups, primarily American female vocal groups popular from the early to the mid-1960s, the period between......
glam rock, musical movement that began in Britain in the early 1970s and celebrated the spectacle of the rock star......
Glee, American musical comedy television series that aired on the Fox network (2009–15). Its inventive blend of......
Donald Glover is an American writer, comedian, actor, and musician who has won acclaim in all his disparate arts.......
Selena Gomez is an American actress and singer who first won legions of young fans as the winsome star of the Disney......
Googoosh is an Iranian singer and actress who was one of Iran’s most popular and enduring entertainers despite......
Gordon McLendon, the Texas broadcaster who is credited (along with Todd Storz and Bill Stewart) with the creation......
Berry Gordy is an American businessman, founder of the Motown Record Corporation (1959), which became the most......
gospel music, genre of American Protestant music, rooted in the religious revivals of the 19th century, which developed......
Ariana Grande is an American singer and actress who burst onto the pop music scene in the early 2010s and became......
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, American group that was instrumental in the development of hip-hop music.......
The Great American Songbook, term given to a canon of American popular songs and enduring jazz standards written......
CeeLo Green is an American singer, rapper, and songwriter known for his soulful voice and flamboyant persona, both......
Josh Groban is an American popular singer and actor recognized for his novel blending of contemporary and classical......
grunge, genre of rock music that flourished in the late 1980s and early ’90s and spawned a particular style of......
Yvette Guilbert was a French singer, reciter, and stage and film actress, who had an immense vogue as a singer......
H.E.R. is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress who emerged as a leading R&B artist in the 2010s,......
Bill Haley was an American singer and songwriter considered by many to be the father of rock and roll, thanks to......
Tom T. Hall was an American songwriter and entertainer, popularly known as the “Storyteller,” who expanded the......
Marvin Hamlisch was an American composer, pianist, and conductor of remarkable versatility, admired especially......
Oscar Hammerstein II was an American lyricist, musical comedy author, and theatrical producer influential in the......
W.C. Handy was an American composer who changed the course of popular music by integrating the blues idiom into......
hardcore punk, a genre of punk music defined by its speed and intensity, aggressive sound, and DIY (do-it-yourself)......
Lorenz Hart was a U.S. song lyricist whose commercial popular songs incorporated the careful techniques and verbal......
Donny Hathaway was a soul music singer, composer, and keyboardist whose influential work blends elements of rhythm......
Isaac Hayes was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor who was a pioneering figure in soul music. His......
heavy metal, genre of rock music that includes a group of related styles that are intense, virtuosic, and powerful.......
Jimi Hendrix was an American rock guitarist, singer, and composer who fused American traditions of blues, jazz,......
highlife, type of West African popular music and dance that originated in Ghana in the late 19th century, later......
Faith Hill is an American country music singer known for her commercial success on both the country and pop music......
Lauryn Hill is an American singer whose soulful voice propelled her to the top of the hip-hop and rhythm-and-blues......
house, style of high-tempo, electronic dance music that originated in Chicago in the early 1980s and spread internationally.......
Whitney Houston was an American singer and actress who was one of the best-selling musical performers of the 1980s......
Jennifer Hudson is an American actress and singer who first garnered attention on the reality television show American......
Hunter Hancock is remembered as the first white disc jockey to play rhythm-and-blues records in southern California,......
Janis Ian is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who wrote multiple popular soft rock songs in the late......
Ice Cube is an American rapper and actor whose membership in the seminal gangsta rap group N.W.A gained him acclaim......
Ice-T rose to fame in the late 1980s and early ’90s as a gangsta rapper who developed a reputation for being fearless......
Julio Iglesias is a Spanish singer and songwriter whose romantic image, magnetic stage presence, and expressive......
industrial music, dissonant electronic music that arose in the late 1970s in response to punk rock. Coined by British......
James Ingram was an American rhythm and blues (R&B) singer and songwriter whose rich, deep voice served as backup......
the Ink Spots, American vocal group prominent in the late 1930s and ’40s. One of the first African-American groups,......
instrumentals, type of popular music performed without a vocalist, in any of several genres but especially prevalent......
Chris Blackwell grew up in Jamaica but was educated in England. He founded Island Records in 1959 in Jamaica, then......
the Isley Brothers, American rhythm-and-blues and rock band that began recording in the late 1950s and continued......
the Jackson 5, American pop-soul vocal group featuring members of the Jackson family. The group was massively popular......
Janet Jackson is an American singer and actress whose increasingly mature version of dance-pop music made her one......
Michael Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, and dancer who was one of the most popular and influential......
Jam Master Jay was an American rap musician and producer who was a member of Run-DMC, the first rap group to attract......
Etta James was a popular American rhythm-and-blues entertainer who in time became a successful ballad singer. James......
Víctor Jara was a Chilean folk singer, one of the pioneers of the nueva canción genre of politically charged popular......
JAY-Z is an American rapper and entrepreneur, one of the most influential figures in hip-hop in the 1990s and early......
jazz, musical form, often improvisational, developed by African Americans and influenced by both European harmonic......
jazz-rock, popular musical form in which modern jazz improvisation is accompanied by the bass lines, drumming styles,......
Wyclef Jean is a Haitian rapper, producer, and philanthropist whose dynamic, politically inflected rhymes and keen......
Carly Rae Jepsen is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for the global pop phenomenon “Call......
Antônio Carlos Jobim was a Brazilian songwriter, composer, and arranger who transformed the extroverted rhythms......
For seven years beginning in the mid-1950s, Douglas (“Jocko”) Henderson commuted daily between Philadelphia, where......
Little Willie John was a rhythm-and-blues singer of the 1950s whose vocal style anticipated soul music. John grew......
Al Jolson was a popular American singer and blackface comedian of the musical stage and motion pictures, from before......
Jonas Brothers, American soft-rock band noted for its combination of optimism, catchy tunes, and cover-boy good......
Davy Jones was a British pop singer and actor best known as the front man for the American music group the Monkees,......
Jack Jones was an American singer and actor who, in the midst of rock music’s 1960s heyday, found a niche singing......
Norah Jones is an American singer-songwriter and musician who rose to international stardom with her debut album......
Tom Jones is a Welsh-born singer with broad musical appeal who first came to fame as a sex symbol with a fantastic......
Janis Joplin was an American singer, the premier white female blues vocalist of the 1960s, who dazzled listeners......
Scott Joplin was an American composer and pianist who became known as the “king of ragtime” at the turn of the......
Louis Jordan was an American saxophonist-singer prominent in the 1940s and ’50s who was a seminal figure in the......
Juanes is a Colombian guitarist, singer, songwriter, and activist who had an absorbing stage presence and gained......
Juice WRLD was an American rapper known for his freestyling ability and introspective lyrics. He first gained popularity......
juju, Nigerian popular music that developed from the comingling of Christian congregational singing, Yoruba vocal......
K-pop, abbreviated colloquial term for popular music from South Korea. K-pop is typically used to describe “idol......
Berthold Kaempfert was a West German composer who achieved international success with the love song “Strangers......
Kansas City style, music associated with jazz musicians who, though not all born there, were based around Kansas......
Salif Keita is a Malian singer-songwriter known for blending elements of a wide range of local African—especially......
R. Kelly is an American singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist who was one of the best-selling......
Jerome Kern was one of the major U.S. composers of musical comedy, whose Show Boat (with libretto by Oscar Hammerstein......
Alicia Keys is an American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress who achieved enormous success in the early 2000s......
Khaled is an Algerian popular singer who introduced Western audiences to raï—a form of Algerian popular music blending......
Chaka Khan is an American singer whose incredible vocal range and dynamic stage presence helped make her the “Queen......
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a Pakistani singer who is considered one of the greatest performers of qawwali, a Sufi......
Los Angeles’ KHJ, better known as “Boss Radio” in the mid-1960s, was the most imitated station of its time. After......
Angélique Kidjo is a Beninese popular singer known for her collaborations with internationally prominent popular......
B.B. King was an American guitarist and singer who was a principal figure in the development of blues and from......
Carole King is an American songwriter and singer (alto) who composed a string of hit songs in the 1960s and ’70s......
Eartha Kitt was an American singer and dancer noted for her sultry vocal style and slinky beauty who also achieved......
Gladys Knight is an American singer and actress known as the “Empress of Soul,” who was the lead vocalist for the......
Gladys Knight and the Pips, American vocal group that was among the most popular rhythm-and-blues and soul groups......
Kool & the Gang, American funk and pop band from Jersey City, New Jersey, that was one of the first successful......
Alison Krauss is an American bluegrass fiddler and singer who—alone and in collaboration with her band, Union Station—performed......
Fela Kuti was a Nigerian musician and activist who launched a modern style of music called Afro-beat, which fused......
kwela, popular upbeat urban dance music of South Africa. Coined by Elkin Sithole in the 1940s to refer to choral......
K’Naan is a Somali-born Canadian hip-hop musician of the early 21st century whose brightly melodic songs and clever......
Lady Gaga is an American singer-songwriter and performance artist, known for her flamboyant costumes, provocative......
Cleo Laine is a British singer and actress who mastered a variety of styles but is best known as the “Queen of......
Kendrick Lamar is an American rapper who has achieved critical and commercial success with such albums as good......
Latin jazz, a style of music that blends rhythms and percussion instruments of Cuba and the Spanish Caribbean with......
Cyndi Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, and actress whose flamboyant style and catchy songs, most notably......
Avril Lavigne is a Canadian singer and songwriter who achieved great success as a teenager. She is known for a......