Roots of Simply Red

Chocolate Puma are a DJ and music production duo from Haarlem, North Holland, consisting of René ter Horst and Gaston Steenkist ("Dobre"). Their stage names include "Zki & Dobre", "The Good Men", and "Riva".

Kenneth Gamble and Leon A. Huff are an American songwriting and production duo credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre of the 1970s. In addition to forming their own label, Philadelphia International Records, Gamble and Huff have written and produced 175 gold and platinum records, earning them an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the non-performer category in March 2008.

The Durutti Column are an English post-punk band formed in 1978 in Manchester, England. The band is the project of guitarist and occasional pianist Vini Reilly, often accompanied by Bruce Mitchell on drums and Keir Stewart on bass, keyboards and harmonica.

Diamond Life is the debut studio album by English band Sade, released in the United Kingdom on 16 July 1984 by Epic Records and in the United States on 27 February 1985 by Portrait Records. After studying fashion design, and later modelling, Sade Adu began backup-singing with British band Pride. During this time, Adu and three of the original members of Pride—Paul Anthony Cook, Paul Denman, and Stuart Matthewman—left the group to form their own band called Sade. After various demo recordings and performances, Sade received interest from record labels and signed to Epic.

Robert Calvin Bland, known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer. Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was described as "among the great storytellers of blues and soul music... [who] created tempestuous arias of love, betrayal and resignation, set against roiling, dramatic orchestrations, and left the listener drained but awed." The inspiration behind his unique style was a Detroit Preacher, CL Franklin, because Bland studied his sermons. He was sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues" and as the "Sinatra of the Blues". His music was influenced by Nat King Cole.