It's previous term was 'Race Music' which was changed by Jerry Wexler in 1948 as it was deemed offencive.

A producer named Rober Palmer defined R&B as "a catchall term referring to any music that was made by and for black Americans".

In the 50's R&B morphed into soul which was more funkier and looser than the driving rhythm's of R&B. Soul was used to describe music from Motown, to Stax/Volt with huge diversity depending on the area that it was created.

Soul in the urban areas focused on vocal interplay and smooth production, while in Detroit, Motown became pop-oriented and used gospel, r&b and rock & roll as influence. In the south use of syncopation and brass instruments became more apparent.

R&B peaked during the 50's and began to split apart around the 60's and 70's with the introduction of soul and other styles. By the 90's R&B was completely different, hip-hop features were beginning to become part of the culture and by the end of the 90's artists even began to rap on their tracks and by the 2000's R&B had changed dramatically but still kept some of the features. (However new R&B is terrible)

• Contemporary R&B
• Crunk&B

• Deep Funk
• Doo-Wop
• FunkFunk
• Future Soul
• Nederbeat
• Neo Soul
• New Jack Swing
• PBR&B
• Slow Jam
• Smooth Jazz
• Soul