Musicians

Bill Anderson

Born in Columbia, SC, Bill Anderson is a country music singer and songwriter nicknamed "Whisperin' Bill."

Cat Anderson

Born in Greenville, SC, William Alonzo "Cat" Anderson was a well-known jazz trumpeter who played with Duke Ellington in his orchestra.

An older man wearing a dark suit jack, white undershirt, black glasses, and beret hat.

Pink Anderson

Born in Laurens, SC, Pinkney "Pink" Anderson was a blues singer and guitarist who inspired the "Pink" in the name of the English rock band Pink Floyd.

An older man in a black cowboy hat holding a homemade guitar.

Mac Arnold

Mac Arnold is a blues musician from Pelzer, South Carolina. He is best known for his gas can guitars.

Nickolas Ashford wearing a black leather jacket.

Born in Fairfield, SC, Nickolas Ashford was a singer, songwriter, and producer. Together with his wife, Valerie Simpson, they formed the legendary Motown songwriting-production team, Ashford & Simpson.

Brook Benton

Born in Lugoff, SC, Benjamin Franklin Peay, better known as Brook Benton, was a popular soul singer of the 1960s, with his signature song, "Rainy Night in Georgia."

John Berry

Born in Aiken, SC, John Edward Berry is a Grammy Award-winning Country Music artist.

An outline drawing of an older man holding a guitar.

Chris Bouchillon

Chris Bouchillon was known as "The Original Talking Blues Man."

James Brown

Born in Barnwell, SC, James Joseph Brown was a singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer, and bandleader.

Peabo Bryson

Greenville native Peabo Bryson is an R&B and Soul Singer-Songwriter. He is known for singing "A Whole New World" from Disney's 1992 animated feature film Aladdin.

Tommy Caldwell

From Spartanburg, SC, Tommy Caldwell was the bassist and original frontman for The Marshall Tucker Band between 1973 and 1980.

Chubby Checker

Born in Spring Gulley (Andrews, SC) with the name Ernest Evans, Chubby Checker is a singer best known for “The Twist.”

Napoleon Brown "Nappy Brown" Culp

Nappy Brown was an R&B singer best known for his hits "Don't Be Angry" and "Little By Little."

Gary Davis

Gary Davis was a blind blues and gospel songwriter and innovative guitarist.

Julius Dixson

Julius Dixson (sometimes spelled Dixon) was an African American songwriter and record company executive. He was known for the 1958 hit "Lollipop."

A middle-aged man wearing a wide brim hat and holding a guitar.

Cool John Ferguson

Cool John Ferguson is a blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter known for playing his guitar "upside down."

Carlisle Floyd

Carlisle Floyd was an opera composer and librettist from Latta, SC. He is considered the "Father of American Opera."

A man in a dark shirt and patterned tie stands next to a bookcase with an Oscar award.

Arthur Freed

Arthur Freed was a lyricist and film producer. He produced and was co-lyricist for the iconic film "Singin' in the Rain."

Hank Garland

Walter Louis Garland, known professionally as Hank Garland, was a guitarist and songwriter.

Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie was a jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer.

A woman singing while a man looks at her while playing the piano.

Chippie Hill

Bertha "Chippie" Hill was a blues and vaudeville singer and dancer from Charleston, SC. She is best known for her recording with Louis Armstrong.

Rock band on stage under the bright lights

Hootie & the Blowfish

Hootie & the Blowfish is a Grammy-winning rock band from Columbia, SC.

A middle aged man with a burgundy and white striped brimless hat and brown glasses sings into a microphone while holding a guitar.

J.B. Hutto

Blackville native J.B. Hutto was a Blues singer and guitarist noted for his slide guitar playing and grandiose singing style.

James Jamerson

James Jamerson was a bass player most known for creating the "Motown Sound."

Black and white photograph of Edmund Jenkins

Edmund Thornton Jenkins

Composer

Jeezy

Columbia native, Jay Wayne Jenkins, known by his stage name Jeezy, is a rapper.

Etta Jones

Etta Jones was a jazz singer from Aiken, South Carolina.

Clara Louise Kellogg

Clara Louise Kellogg was an operatic soprano.

Eartha Kitt

Born in North, SC, Eartha Kitt was a singer, actress, comedienne, dancer, and activist.

Linda Martell

Linda Martell is a singer. She became the first commercially successful black female artist in the country music field and the first to play the Grand Ole Opry.

Edwin McCain

Edwin McCain is an alternative rock singer-songwriter and musician.

A group of young men posing together on a beach.

Swingin' Medallions

The Swingin' Medallions is a beach music group from Greenwood County, South Carolina.

Toro y Moi

Chaz Bear, known professionally as Toro y Moi, is a singer, songwriter, record producer, and graphic designer.

Black and white photograph of Arthur Jackson

Peg Leg Sam (Arthur Jackson)

U.S. black blues musician

Teddy Pendergrass

Teddy Pendergrass was a singer. He initially rose to musical fame as the lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes.

Bill Pinkney

Bill Pinkney was one of the original members of the R&B/Soul group, The Drifters.

A black man with bejeweled sunglasses, a thin mustache and a pompadour.

Esquerita

Esquerita was an R&B singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is known for influencing rock and roll pioneer Little Richard.

An older man wear a baby blue suit jacket and hold a brown and white banjo.

Don Reno

Don Reno was a bluegrass and country musician from Spartanburg, SC.

Julie Roberts

Julie Roberts is a popular country music singer.

Darius Rucker

Darius Rucker is a musician and lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Hootie & the Blowfish.

Drink Small

Known as "The Blues Doctor," Drink Small is a soul blues and electric blues guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter.

Clara Smith

Clara Smith was a blues singer from Spartanburg, South Carolina. She was nicknamed the "Queen of the Moaners."

Black and white photograph of Cootie Stark

Cootie Stark (Johnnie Miller)

Blues and Gospel singer

Angie Stone

Angie Stone is a singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. She rose to frame in the late 1970s as a member of the hip hop trio, The Sequence.

Black and white photograph of Lily Strickland

Lily Teresa Strickland

Lily Strickland was a composer, painter, and writer from Anderson, South Carolina.

Melanie Thornton

Melanie Thornton was the lead singer o the Eurodance group La Bouche. The group is known for their singles, "Sweet Dreams" and "Be My Lover."

Aaron Tippin

Aaron Tippin is a country music artist and record producer who was raised in Traveler’s Rest, SC.

Josh Turner

Josh Turner is a contemporary country music artist.

Josh White

Josh White was a singer, musician, and civil rights activist.

Maurice Williams

Maurice Williams is a songwriter and vocalist of Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs.

Smiling Mario in a black leather jacket and black sunglasses.

Mario Winans

Mario Winans is a singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist.

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