Artists like Bobby Caldwell

Pages was an American band active during the late 1970s and the early 1980s. The band consisted of Richard Page and Steve George on vocals and keyboards supported by various studio musicians, some of whom from time to time were considered part of the band. Although Pages was highly regarded for its well-crafted pop and jazz-fusion sound, the group did not achieve commercial success, and disbanded after recording three studio albums. Pages is perhaps best known as the launching pad for the recording careers of Page and George, who later formed the band Mr. Mister who topped the charts during the mid-1980s with the hits "Broken Wings" and "Kyrie".

Gino Vannelli is a Canadian rock/jazz/fusion/pop vocalist, producer, performer and Hall of Fame songwriter. Amongst his extensive catalogue of diverse, sophisticated and often complex albums blending musical genres, Gino had several commercially successful songs in the 1970s and 1980s. His best-known singles include "People Gotta Move" (1974), "I Just Wanna Stop" (1978), "Living Inside Myself" (1981) and "Wild Horses" (1987). Gino is known for possessing a powerful, rich voice which is astonishingly well-preserved, his enthusiastic stage presence, and for the high caliber musicians with whom he chooses to employ/perform. Early on, he was known for his huge mane of dark curly hair and handsome features, yet he chose to spurn the sex symbol trope and the commercial pull in order to create the life and music that felt more authentic to him. https://www.musiclifemagazine.net/gino-vannelli-to-take-his-rightful-place-in-canadian-songwriters-hall-of-fame/

Donny Edward Hathaway was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger who Rolling Stone described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include "The Ghetto", "This Christmas", "Someday We'll All Be Free", and "Little Ghetto Boy". Hathaway is also renowned for his renditions of "A Song for You", "For All We Know", "Jealous Guy" and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", along with "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You", two of many collaborations with Roberta Flack. He has been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame and won one Grammy Award from four nominations. Hathaway was also posthumously honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Dutch director David Kleijwegt made a documentary called Mister Soul – A Story About Donny Hathaway, which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 28, 2020.

DeBarge was an American musical recording group composed of several members of the DeBarge family. In addition to various solo projects completed by members of the family, DeBarge was active between 1979 and 1989. The group originally consisted of El, Mark, Randy, and Bunny. James joined the group a year later for their 1982 second album. Bobby joined in 1987, following the departures of Bunny and El.

Brenda Russell is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter, producer, and keyboardist. Russell has a diverse musical range which encompasses R&B, pop, soul, dance, and jazz. She has received five Grammy nominations, winning in 2017 for writing the music for The Color Purple.

Earl Stephen Bishop is an American retired singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor. His biggest hits include "On and On", "It Might Be You", and "Save It for a Rainy Day". He has also written songs for many other artists, such as Barbra Streisand, Phil Collins, and Art Garfunkel. He has contributed music and acted in films including National Lampoon's Animal House.

The Whispers are an American vocal group from Fresno, California. Scoring hit records since the late 1960s, they are best known for their two number-one R&B singles, "And the Beat Goes On" in 1979 and "Rock Steady" in 1987. The Whispers scored 15 top-ten R&B singles, and 8 top-ten R&B albums with two of them, The Whispers and Love Is Where You Find It, reaching the No. 1 spot. They have earned two platinum and five gold albums by the RIAA.

Roy Edward Ayers Jr. was an American vibraphonist, record producer, and composer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several studio albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped to pioneer jazz-funk. He was a key figure in the acid jazz movement, and has been described as "The Godfather of Neo Soul". He was best known for his compositions "Everybody Loves the Sunshine", "Running Away", and "Freaky Deaky" and others that charted in the 1970s. At one time, Ayers was listed among the performers whose music was most often sampled by rappers.

The Average White Band were a Scottish funk and R&B band that had a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. They were best known for their million-selling instrumental track "Pick Up the Pieces", and their albums AWB and Cut the Cake. The band name was initially proposed by Bonnie Bramlett. They have influenced others, such as the Brand New Heavies, and been sampled by various musicians, including the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, TLC, the Beatnuts, Too Short, Ice Cube, Eric B. & Rakim, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, Christina Milian, and Arrested Development, making them the 15th most sampled act in history.