R&B Divas

When Aretha Franklin belts out "Something He Can Feel" like she were under oath in the court of love, she's not just singing a song — she's letting the world know that she has special talents, powers of presence that go beyond mere vocal prowess to transform her into a true force of nature. That's how it is with all our R&B divas, from the old-school soul treasures — velvet-voiced Gladys Knight and the 'til-death commitment of "Midnight Train to Georgia — to ladies of today, like Mary J. Blige, whose potent pipes and survivor's grit put over tunes like "Just Fine" like nobody else could.

Follow our R&B divas as they take us into Next Steps.

The sultry disco whisper of the late Donna Summer's "Love to Love You Baby," and the supreme self-assurance of Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable." The old-school funk of Chaka Khan and "Sweet Thing," and the quiet sophistication of Sade's "Smooth Operator." Our R&B divas do their own thing their own way — from Jill Scott's soul-of-a-poet take on "He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat)" to Mariah Carey's pure-power pipes on "Vision of Love" — and that's what makes them divas.

Get deep into R&B Divas in Deep Cuts.

So, you wanna talk deep? Just cast an eye over our Deep Cuts divas — Dionne Warwick and her crushed-heart classic "Walk On By," Roberta Flack and her ageless stunner "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," Toni Braxton and her burnt-sugar pleader "Un-Break My Heart." Not quite your everyday shooting stars and one-hit wonders. That's because R&B divas loom larger than life, standing head and shoulders above the crowd, as eternal as Anita Baker's warm-honey love call "You Bring Me Joy," and as fierce as Ashanti and the hip-hop force of "Only U."

It takes more than just a voice to make a diva, more than just the kind of heart-stopping sound that thrills a listener to the very core. It takes presence, the bone-deep knowledge that, like Alicia Keys sings, there's "No One" — and we mean no one — who's gonna take a song and make it her very own like she does. Whitney Houston had it even as a young girl, making her way on the '80s powerhouse ballad "You Give Good Love," while 21st-century phenom Keyshia Cole reveals her own diva credentials on the smooth and stylin' "Let It Go (feat. Missy Elliott and Lil' Kim)." These ladies have got it, and now so do you, with R&B Divas, our long-playing Essentials playlist bursting with non-stop divaliciousness — from the late, great Minnie Riperton, who hit stratospheric heights, vocal and otherwise, on "Lovin' You," to ethereal new kid Corinne Bailey Rae, who comes on to her diva status "Like a Star."