Singers Tour

Chicago has long been one of America’s most important music cities, producing legendary singers whose influence spans blues, jazz, gospel, soul, R&B, rock, hip-hop, and pop. Among the city’s most celebrated vocalists is Nat King Cole, whose smooth baritone and timeless recordings made him one of the most influential singers of the twentieth century. Gospel pioneer Mahalia Jackson, who lived in Chicago for much of her career, became known as the “Queen of Gospel” and used her powerful voice to inspire millions while also playing a prominent role in the Civil Rights Movement.

Soul music flourished in Chicago through artists such as Curtis Mayfield, whose soulful vocals and socially conscious songwriting with The Impressions and as a solo artist helped shape modern R&B and funk. Jerry Butler, another Chicago native, earned fame as a founding member of The Impressions before launching a successful solo career. Chaka Khan, born and raised in Chicago, became one of the most acclaimed female vocalists in music history, blending funk, soul, jazz, pop, and R&B into a career spanning more than five decades.

Chicago’s blues scene produced unforgettable singers including Koko Taylor, known as the “Queen of the Blues,” and Buddy Guy, whose expressive vocals complemented his legendary guitar playing. The city also nurtured jazz icons such as Dinah Washington, whose versatility allowed her to excel in jazz, blues, pop, and R&B. Rock music found its voice through Dennis DeYoung of the band Styx, whose powerful tenor helped define arena rock in the 1970s and 1980s, while Peter Cetera became internationally famous as the distinctive lead singer and bassist of the band Chicago before enjoying a successful solo career.

In more recent decades, Chicago has continued to produce influential singers across multiple genres. Jennifer Hudson rose from Chicago’s South Side to become an Academy Award-winning actress and Grammy-winning vocalist, while R. Kelly, despite his later criminal convictions and imprisonment, was one of the most commercially successful R&B singers and songwriters of the 1990s and early 2000s. Hip-hop stars including Common, Kanye West, Chance the Rapper, Lupe Fiasco, and G Herbo have also brought Chicago’s musical voice to a global audience, combining lyrical storytelling with themes rooted in the city’s culture and neighborhoods.

Together, these artists reflect Chicago’s extraordinary musical heritage. From gospel churches and South Side blues clubs to jazz venues, soul studios, rock arenas, and modern hip-hop stages, singers from Chicago have helped shape nearly every major genre of American popular music and continue to influence performers around the world.

Singers Tour Map -> Google Maps

Singers Tour Information -> PDF files

90 entries so far…

BARBARA ACKLIN (1943-1998)

Burr Oak Cemetery
4400 W. 127th Street
Alsip, IL 60803

_{41°39’53.0″N 87°44’07.7″W}

Soul Singer

Barbara Acklin was an important Chicago soul singer and songwriter whose career helped define the sophisticated, melodic sound of late-1960s and early-1970s Chicago R&B. Born in Oakland, California, in 1943, she moved with her family to Chicago as a child and began singing in church before performing in local nightclubs. She worked for St. Lawrence Records and later became a background vocalist at Chess Records, singing on sessions involving artists such as Etta James, Fontella Bass and Koko Taylor.

In 1966, Acklin began working as a receptionist at Brunswick Records in Chicago while pursuing songwriting. Her breakthrough as a songwriter came when Jackie Wilson recorded “Whispers (Gettin’ Louder),” a song Acklin co-wrote with David Scott. Wilson’s recording became a major R&B and pop hit and helped Acklin obtain her own recording contract with Brunswick.

Acklin’s greatest success as a recording artist came in 1968 with “Love Makes a Woman.” Produced and co-written with Carl Davis, Eugene Record, Sonny Sanders and Gerald Sims, the song reached No. 3 on the R&B chart and No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her signature recording. Her debut album, Love Makes a Woman, established her as one of the distinctive female voices of Chicago soul.

During her Brunswick years, Acklin recorded several albums and enjoyed additional R&B successes, including “Just Ain’t No Love,” “Am I the Same Girl,” “I Did It,” and “I Call It Trouble.” She also recorded several successful duets with Gene Chandler, most notably “From the Teacher to the Preacher.” “Am I the Same Girl” became particularly notable because its backing track was subsequently transformed into the Young-Holt Unlimited instrumental hit “Soulful Strut.”

Acklin was equally important as a songwriter. She worked closely with Eugene Record of the Chi-Lites and co-wrote “Have You Seen Her,” one of the Chi-Lites’ biggest and most enduring songs. She and Record also collaborated on other Chi-Lites material, including “Stoned Out of My Mind” and “Toby.” Her songwriting legacy was renewed when MC Hammer successfully covered “Have You Seen Her” in 1990.

In 1974, Acklin moved from Brunswick to Capitol Records, where she recorded the album A Place in the Sun. Her first Capitol single, “Raindrops,” became another R&B hit. Although her later commercial success was more limited, she continued performing and working as a background vocalist with the Chi-Lites and other artists. British group Swing Out Sister later brought renewed attention to “Am I the Same Girl” with their 1992 version.

Barbara Acklin died in Omaha, Nebraska, on November 27, 1998, at the age of 55. Her career remains an important part of Chicago soul history because she succeeded not only as a distinctive vocalist but also as a songwriter whose compositions became major records for other performers. Her combination of elegant vocals, emotional songwriting and close involvement with the Brunswick Records scene made her one of the significant women of the classic Chicago soul era.

Barbara Acklin -> Wikipedia

KAY ARMEN (1915-2011)

Irving Park Cemetery
7777 Irving Park Road
Chicago, IL 60634

_{^{41°56’58.3″N 87°49’33.5″W}}

Singer

Kay Armen, born Armenuhi Manoogian in Chicago in 1915, was an Armenian-American singer, songwriter and actress whose career in American entertainment spanned nearly six decades. She became particularly popular during the 1940s and 1950s, establishing herself as a distinctive vocalist in radio, records, nightclubs, television and musical theater. She began her professional radio career at WSM in Nashville, where she reportedly performed on as many as 12 programs a week, and by 1947 she had her own weekly NBC-Blue program, Kay Armen-Songs.

Armen became especially well known through radio and television programs such as Stop the Music, hosted by Bert Parks. One of the most interesting episodes in her recording career was “Come On-a My House,” written for her by playwright William Saroyan and her cousin Ross Bagdasarian. Armen recorded the song in 1950, before Rosemary Clooney’s famous 1951 hit version made it internationally recognizable. She also recorded numerous other songs and worked with prominent orchestras, including Guy Lombardo’s Royal Canadians.

Her career expanded into film and television. In 1955 she appeared in the MGM musical Hit the Deck, alongside Vic Damone, Debbie Reynolds, Jane Powell, Tony Martin and Ann Miller. Her performance of “Hallelujah” from the film was later featured in That’s Entertainment!. She subsequently appeared in Hey, Let’s Twist! (1961), the television movie Jimmy B. & André (1980), and Paternity (1981). On television, she starred in the NBC comedy Love and Marriage and made appearances on programs including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Merv Griffin Show and The Mike Douglas Show.

Armen was also a songwriter and composer, with credits including “Be Good to Yourself,” “My Love and I,” and “It’s a Sin to Cry Over You.” Her career is notable not only for her versatility as a performer but also for the way she helped establish an Armenian-American presence in mainstream American popular entertainment during the golden age of radio and television. She continued working in entertainment for many years and died in New York City in 2011 at the age of 95.

Kay Armen -> Wikipedia

ROSETTA HOWARD (1913-1974)

Burr Oak Cemetery
4400 W. 127th Street
Alsip, IL 60803

_{Section 8, Lot 280, Grave 6 – 41°39’53.0″N 87°44’07.7″W}

Blues Singer

Rosetta Howard was an important Chicago-based blues singer whose career bridged the classic blues tradition of the 1920s with the swing and early rhythm-and-blues sounds of the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Arkansas and raised musically in Chicago, Howard began singing professionally around 1932, working with prominent bandleaders including clarinetist Jimmie Noone. Her strong, expressive voice and conversational delivery made her particularly effective in the small-band blues and jazz settings popular in Chicago at the time.

Howard became best known for her recordings with the Harlem Hamfats beginning in 1937. Their collaborations produced some of her most memorable performances, including “If You’re a Viper,” “Let Your Linen Hang Low,” “Rosetta Blues,” and “Candy Man.” Her recordings combined blues, swing, humor, and the earthy, sometimes suggestive themes characteristic of the era’s urban blues.

During 1939, Howard broadened her musical associations by recording with the Harlem Blues Serenaders and musicians such as Charlie Shavers, Buster Bailey, Lil Armstrong, Henry “Red” Allen, and Barney Bigard. She continued performing in Chicago during the 1940s and worked with a variety of musicians, including Jimmie Noone. In 1947 she recorded with the Big Three, a Chicago group that included Willie Dixon and Big Bill Broonzy. These sessions demonstrated that her blues-oriented vocal style could adapt comfortably to the developing postwar Chicago blues sound.

Although Howard recorded roughly 40 selections between 1937–39 and 1947, her later records did not achieve the commercial success of her earlier work, and she stopped recording after 1947. During the 1950s, she moved into gospel music and sang with Thomas A. Dorsey at Chicago’s Pilgrim Baptist Church. This final chapter connected her career to the developing Chicago gospel tradition and demonstrated the versatility that had characterized her earlier blues career.

Rosetta Howard died in Chicago on October 8, 1974. Although she never achieved the lasting fame of some of her contemporaries, her recordings with the Harlem Hamfats, Big Bill Broonzy, Willie Dixon, and other major Chicago musicians have preserved her place in the history of Chicago blues, jazz, and early rhythm and blues. Her career is particularly significant because she helped connect the female classic-blues tradition to the more rhythmically aggressive urban blues and swing styles that would influence postwar Chicago music.

BARBARA ACKLIN (1943-1998)

Burr Oak Cemetery4400 W. 127th StreetAlsip, IL 6080341°39’53.0″N 87°44’07.7″W