1950s R&B
Rare r&b footage from the 1950s — interviews, studio sessions, and behind-the-scenes clips. We're actively searching for footage — check back soon.
Music in the 1950s
The 1950s saw the birth of rock and roll, the explosion of bebop jazz, and the rise of electric blues. Artists like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Miles Davis were reshaping popular music, while behind the scenes, Sam Phillips was experimenting at Sun Studio and Atlantic Records was capturing the raw energy of rhythm and blues. Footage from this era is exceptionally rare — most of what survives comes from early television appearances, newsreels, and the occasional home movie.
About R&B
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to African Americans, at a time when "rocking, jazz based music ... [with a] heavy, insistent beat" was starting to become more popular. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands usually consisted of a pi...
All R&Bfootage →No 1950s r&b clips yet — we're working on it.