You bob your head to their beats, pay to see the artists in concert and grew up on their musical influence. We love them for what they do behind-the-scenes of your favorite songs and artists.

They might not be in the spotlight of the music industry, but have shined off-stage with their talent. In celebration of Black Music Month, here are a few music moguls who have made a name for themselves in the background of the music industry.

via Facebook

Bernard Belle

As the brother of R&B singer Regina Belle, producer and songwriter Bernard Belle got his start as an R&B guitarist behind the group The Manhattans. After his beginnings, Belle went on to produce and write music with Teddy Riley in the mid to late 1980s, credited with co-writing Michael Jackson’s “Remember The Time” and soon became one of the production pioneers of the New Jack Swing music era of the 1990s, producing and writing for Al B. Sure, Whitney Houston, Patti Labelle and many others.

Source: WENN

Thank you Ne-Yo for saying everything consumers and concert goers have been screaming for years now — how can you call yourself an artist when you can’t sing, dance, or entertain anybody but yourself! In an interview with Confidential, Ne-Yo was quite blunt about who can call themselves an artist and who can’t.

“If you’re an artist, your job is to learn how to entertain.

“As an artist, you need to learn to sing or dance, or sing and dance at the same time.

“That’s your job. You can’t be a mechanic, but let somebody else fix the car. Why would they bring it to you?

“They’d just take it to the guy who’s fixing it. The same thing is true about being an artist. If I want to hear what you sound like on the CD, I’ll just listen to the CD.”

Oh, and that’s not where it stops. Those people using fancy production to cover up their lack of talent on stage? Ne-Yo has no tolerance for that.

“If you don’t sing so well, or dance so well, and you need a bunch of pyro, smoke and mirrors to cover up that fact, I have an issue, because I’ll feel like I haven’t got my money’s worth.”

Hey, we’re not mad! Let’s just hope other artists take heed. Ne-Yo better make sure his next live performance is off the chain, though. He set the bar pretty high — exactly where it should be for the prices people are charging for concert tickets these days.

You would think this would be obvious, but being an award winning musician does not automatically qualify you to suddenly become an actor. In fact, there really is no connection at all; but for some reason, these artists have fooled themselves into believing there is.  Sure there are the few exceptions like Will Smith, who was able to cross over into acting without any acting training at all; but let’s be real, most musicians are NOT and will NEVER be Will Smith. Somehow, that didn’t stop them from trying. Here are 10 singers or rappers who tried their hand at acting… and failed:

Photo Credit: PNP/ WENN.com

50 Cent

Sure the autobiographical movie, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ had something of an interesting story line, and some might say it was worth it just to see 50 cent’s booty alone; but when you actually look at more than 50 cent’s behind, he is a not so good actor. This was another case of “acting” like yourself…and even though the movie was about him, he still had a hard time making his own storyline seem convincing.

We’ve talked many a time about people we used to jam to in the music industry who didn’t go as far and become as big of staples in said industry as we thought they would. To put it less than nicely, they fell off. It could have been that their sound just wasn’t all that, or that their look wasn’t HOT enough (no crotch shots, no love) for the mainstream, but you won’t find these people with near as many fans as say a Drake or a Rihanna has today. Not to say that they didn’t have their share of success, but c’mon, where are they now?

Source: widescreenwallpapers.org

Amerie

After Amerie dropped her debut album, All I Have, the future looked incredibly bright for the Korean and African American singer. She had a different look, a different voice, and a great personality. And once she dropped “One Thing,” the lead single for her second album (Touch), which hit number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, I assumed more and more doors were going to open for the singer. But while she had Beyonce’s producers for her second album, she didn’t have Bey’s success. Though Touch did reach gold status, it wasn’t enough for her label, Columbia Records. She was dropped in 2007. Since then, Amerie released another album, In Love and War, which didn’t sell well at all thanks to a lack of radio support. She has hopes to release a new album, under the name Ameriie, and she’s given herself a big makeover by chopping off her hair and slimming down her nose.

Source: theurbandaily.com

thisisrnb.com

You know what’s cornier than hip-hop beef? R&B beef. I don’t think there’s anything cornier than when singers are beefing about something dumb like who has the better love song or who has the better falsetto. Some say women are catty but I’ll have you know that almost every case of R&B “beef” over the last few years have been between men. Take a look…

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While jamming to your favorite songs, do you ever wonder about who wrote your favorite tune? Okay, probably not. But it’s still cool to see who helped put some of today’s major hits together, and most of the time, it’s  people who you didn’t expect. We started looking into the names behind some popular tracks back in March, and now we’ve compiled a few more. Here’s a list of some major songs by major artists that were created with a little help from their famous (or at the time, soon-to-be-famous) friends.

Graphic by Desire

“Baby” Justin Bieber feat. Ludacris (2009)

The-Dream/Tricky Stewart/Christina Milian

The song that threw Bieber into pop’s stratosphere, and was his highest charting single until 2012′s “Boyfriend,” was put together by former lovers The-Dream and Christina Milian and Dream’s writing partner Tricky Stewart (who has penned songs for Beyoncé, Rihanna, and more). The Dream claims that Milian only helped with the melody of the song- but there’s no way you can just get a royalty check and credits off a melody right? If so, then I stand corrected. Either way, it’s the jam folks of all backgrounds and ages can’t help but sing to, and it’s the song that pretty much made Bieber a household name.

As we move through June, we continue to celebrate Black Music Month.  If you’re anything like me as an R&B/soul music fan, when you are introduced to an artist who you think is amazing, you want them to succeed. But then again, you don’t want them to blow up so much for fear that the music will change or become watered down.  Today, we take a look at some of today’s best and brightest in soul who’ve received lots of attention but haven’t really allowed the music to suffer in the process. Who’s your favorite R&B/soul artist of today?

Note: This list certainly is not the sum of all the artists we love because as an R&B lover, I could go on for days.  This is just a “to wet your appetite” list and this could be never ending.  That’s why we want you to add your favorites in the comments. Enjoy!

eurweb.com

Jill Scott

There are two artists I might end a friendship over if you speak ill of them, and Jill Scott is one of them. For years, Jill has proven herself as a musical force to be reckoned with – there are few who can match that voice and those songwriting abilities. She sings in different languages, she sings her songs in operatic tone, and her range is amazing. We’re always ready for new music from Jilly from Philly.

I’m sure I’m not the only person who used to get soooo much crap for liking a certain musician or group who weren’t big with family or friends. For me, back in the day, if it wasn’t hip-hop or R&B, my brother used to get on me about digging pop musicians like Christina Aguilera, Fiona Apple, and Celine Dion. You listen to unique bands and singers today that don’t fit the BET mold and you look more cultured, deep and well-rounded, but back in the day, I just used to get called weird. Ah, well. Were you fans of any of these folks years ago? Well, now you know you weren’t the only one…

Source: marcellachamorro.com

The White Boy Bands

I used to say I liked the Backstreet Boys to my family, and often times, they would assume I was talking about BLACKSTREET. Uh, no boo boo, there’s a big difference. I couldn’t help it, “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys, “Bye, Bye, Bye” by N’Sync, and “Step By Step” by New Kids on the Block were THE jams. But if you played them around my folks, or asked someone to turn the radio back to the one of these tracks, folks would treat you like you were trying to listen to Insane Clown Posse. Shame…

filmtrophy.com

Rihanna has 11 #1 singles on the Hot 100, and now the Bajan superstar can officially add actress to her resume. Riri just made her silver screen debut in the sci-fi thriller, Battleship, and while folks were hoping the #RihannaNavy would make this movie #1 at the box office, it was pretty much an expensive flop. But she’s not the first singer to step outside her comfort zone to act and not have the best results. And at the same time, there have been many singer-turned-actors who’ve had major success on-screen. They’ve solidified the obvious: in this economy, two jobs are better than one.  Let’s take a look at some other musicians who decided two lanes were better than staying in one.

allhiphop.com

For an artist at their peak, the shine is brighter than the rays of summer. But the sun always sets. That hasn’t stopped some of our favorite R&B stars from attempting encores to put them back in the spotlight. Let’s take a look at some recent comebacks to the game by those who step to the mic and say that they never really left.