Christian R&B

Music in this genre intends to uplift, entertain, or to give a Christian perspective on a topic.

"[4] In 1953, the Orioles recorded a gospel song called "Crying in the Chapel"; yet the band was considered to be R&B.

He started out as the lead singer for the gospel group Soul Stirrers, but had always loved blues and jazz.

In 1956, for fear he would upset his fans, bandmates, and his record label, he released his first R&B single (called "Lovable") under the assumed name 'Dale Cooke'.

[7] Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and James Brown are other important figures who combined gospel and R&B.

[9] For some Christians, music should not invoke depression but rather inspire praise to God, as referenced in the following biblical scriptures: The last two biblical passages above are not talking about music specifically, but may set a benchmark from which Christian artists write their lyrics.

This is not to say Christian musicians do not sing about their troubles and pains; what sets them apart from many other singers is that the Christian artist is inclined to lyrically mention God or Jesus Christ as the solution to their burdens, providing hope to listeners who may be going through a similar hardship.

Still, the Psalms show us songs of individual expression, of earthly concerns, of personal cries of pain and help.In an interview with Sketch the Journalist on the Houston Chronicle, DJ D-Lite stated that the term Rhythm & Praise originated from the gospel singing duo Dawkins and Dawkins on their album Focus (released in 1998), with one of the songs being entitled The Rhythm and the Praise.

Many people continuously listen to their favorite style of music after professing their Christian faith.

This would mean that those who listen to R&B music could still do so after their religious conversion, embracing artists like J. Moss, Canton Jones, Mary Mary, One Nation Crew, 21:03, Mali Music, Cynthia Jones, and Debra Killings.

[29] In light of this info, it is no surprise that secular artists are backlashed after releasing gospel records.

[22] Several R&B artists like Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Shirley Murdock, Dave Hollister, Michelle Williams, Shei Atkins, Kelly Price, Coko, James Ingram, and Montell Jordan[21] are said to have straddled the fence.

In 2012, gospel singer Johnny Mo appeared on Christian television program Atlanta Live singing a Christian imitation of R. Kelly's 1994 hit "Bump n' Grind", titled "I Don't See Nothing Wrong with Living for Jesus".

Without going into further chart performances for other R&B/gospel musicians, the two examples above reveal that these songs/albums were not only played on gospel channels, and that they were received by secular audiences.