Wikipedia:WikiProject R&B and Soul Music

Wikimedia subject-area collaboration From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some Wikipedians have formed a project to better organize information in articles related to R&B, soul music, and funk music singers, musicians, bands, songs, and record labels.

This page and its subpages contain their suggestions; it is hoped that this project will help to focus the efforts of other Wikipedians. If you would like to help, please inquire on the talk page and see the to-do list there.

Scope

A significant number of articles on important and influential R&B and soul-related persons or organizations, both past and contemporary, are small, underwritten stubs, fancruft, or non-existent. R&B and soul music, more so than any major music genres, have poor coverage in the Wikipedia. Hip-hop generally fares better; whether hip-hop will be included as part of this project is a subject open for vote. The purpose of this project is to expand, copyedit, and/or create these articles.

I understand that this is going to be a big task, one that not one person can handle by themself. Also, I realize that there are a lot of articles to be made, which is why I will try and organize the project in steps and waves, so that we take care of everything, but we don’t try to do too much at one time.

R&B can stand for either rhythm and bass or rhythm and blues.

More information R&B and Soul Music articles by quality and importance, Quality ...
R&B and Soul Music articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 8 10 14 43 1 76
FL 1 23 51 27 102
GA 15 72 169 552 23 831
B 41 81 152 265 2 70 611
C 29 141 342 1,171 1 291 1,975
Start 31 105 481 3,466 1 1,750 5,834
Stub 5 132 2,480 2,722 5,339
List 3 22 57 324 145 551
NA 2 2 4 198 3,913 4,119
Other 1 1
Assessed 129 440 1,374 8,550 3,917 5,029 19,439
Unassessed 2 4 6
Total 129 440 1,374 8,552 3,917 5,033 19,445
WikiWork factors (?) ω = 72,599 Ω = 4.95
Close

Members

Main page: Wikipedia talk:WikiProject R&B and Soul Music/Members


Navigation

Parentage

Similar Projects

Structure

In general, this project will follow the rules set up on the WikiProject Music page. Here are just a few added notes:

  • Do not create links for articles for albums, songs, or persons that do not exist, unless an article is seriously needed and you can create that article. When you do create an article for a song, person, or album, be sure to run a search and link your article on any other Wikipedia pages where it should be linked.
  • Try to be as concise as possible. The article should cover all phases of the group's career (even unpopular ones), but it should do so in as few words as possible. Try to include only important and major facts and group information; simplification and directness are important.

Specific to articles on solo performers/persons

  • Follow the same basic Wiki biographic format for the person. Be sure to mention their ethnicity, exact repertoire, record label, and significance.
  • The body of the article should focus on the performer’s career, including only significant personal information (marriages, offspring etc) and avoiding trivia (favorite food/color). If the person was in a major group, discussion of their participation in the group should be brief and focus on the person’s major contributions to the group.

Specific to articles on groups/bands/acts

Articles for performers should adhere to the following format:

  • The header should contain the band name, any important abbreviations or aliases, nationality, genre repertoire, year and place of creation, year of disbanding, record label, significance, and all members of the group. If there were more than ten members, list all founding members and any important successors.
  • The body of the article should focus on the group, including how the members met, how they started the group, and the inner workings of the act itself. Personal details about individual members should be mentioned only if they affect the group or its members.

Template/Examples

The articles on Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and The Supremes are in the direction we want to push the other articles towards.

Use this example page as a guide to creating and/or cleaning up articles for each act. It contains editing directions and a style guide: /Example Page

Hierarchy definition

Phase one: cleaning up present articles

  • Three articles are close to ready for being featured. These three need to be slightly revised to follow the format similar to the other music articles and the template.
  • The articles for R&B and soul music need formatting, link cleanup, and expansion. Other major genres in serious need of attention:

In need of major improvement

I = needs image (photo in addition to album cover), R = needs references/fact-checking, S = needs sound samples, N = needs neutralizing/points-of-view attributing, E = needs major expansion, D needs full discography

(if you find more related articles that need cleanup, add them here).

In need of minor improvement

These articles only need a few minor fixes. No articles in this section should need major expansion or POV editing.

I = needs image (photo in addition to album cover), R = needs references/fact-checking, S = needs sound samples, D needs full discography

Sufficiently improved

Phase two: creation of new articles

This will be a listing for important acts or figures who do not presently have articles.

Article alerts

Today's featured articles

Did you know

Files for discussion

Featured article candidates

Good article nominees

(4 more...)

Requests for comments

Peer reviews

Requested moves

  • 19 Jun 2026 – Hot Potato (song) (talk · edit · hist) move request to Hot Potato (La Toya Jackson song) by Brainulator9 (t · c) was closed; see discussion

Articles for creation

Project Templates

R&B and Soul Music related article

{{WikiProject R&B and Soul Music}} Place this tag on top of all R&B or Soul related article talk pages:

WikiProject iconR&B and Soul Music Top‑importance
WikiProject iconThis article is within the scope of WikiProject R&B and Soul Music, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of R&B and Soul Music articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.R&B and Soul MusicWikipedia:WikiProject R&B and Soul MusicTemplate:WikiProject R&B and Soul MusicR&B and Soul Music
TopThis article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Member

You may wish to put this on your userpage after you join. You can add it by copying and pasting the following code {{User R&B and Soul Music wikiproject}}. This template also adds you to Category:WikiProject R&B and Soul Music members. If you don't wish to use this userbox but still wish to be on this category then just add [[Category:WikiProject R&B and Soul Music members|{{PAGENAME}}]] to your user page.

This user is a member of the
WikiProject R&B and Soul Music.

R&B and Soul Music Award

  • If you notice an editor making excellent edits to a R&B or Soul related article, add this to his talk page using:
{{subst:R&bs-barnstar|reason}}
The R&B and Soul Music Award
<reason>, I award {{SUBST:PAGENAME}} this rhythmic barnstar. [[User:{{subst:REVISIONUSER}}|{{subst:REVISIONUSER}}]]


  • Thanks to our fellow User:Tom Morris there is an alternate version of the barnstar, accessible through:
{{subst:R&bs-barnstar|alternate=yes}}
The R&B and Soul Music Award
<reason>, I award {{SUBST:PAGENAME}} this rhythmic barnstar. [[User:{{subst:REVISIONUSER}}|{{subst:REVISIONUSER}}]]

Welcome

Welcome messages to be used for editors of hip hop related articles.

{{subst:R&bandsoulmusic WN}}~~~~

produces:

Hello,

I noticed that you edited a R&B or Soul music related article. Wikipedia currently has a R&B and Soul Music WikiProject which aims to improve all R&B and Soul Music related article. You are free to join or can explore what the project is about by clicking here. Here are some other good links to help you get started with Wikipedia:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! 

You may find useful to use this other template if the user is non-registered

{{subst:R&bandsoulmusic anon}}~~~~

produces:

Welcome

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia! I noticed that you edited a R&B or Soul music related article. Wikipedia currently has a R&B and Soul Music WikiProject which aims to improve all R&B and Soul Music related article. You are free to join or can explore what the project is about by clicking here. Here are some other good links to help you get started with Wikipedia:

You are welcome to continue editing articles without logging in, but you may wish to create an account. Doing so is free, requires no personal information, and provides several benefits. If you edit without a username, your IP address (WikiProject R&B and Soul Music) is used to identify you instead.

In any case, I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your comments on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your IP address (or username if you're logged in) and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask a question on your own talk page. Again, welcome!

~~~~

Recruiting

We also need new members for this project, if you want to call your wiki-friends, go ahead, and use this template.

{{subst:User:Eduemoni/Inv}}


Would you like to tell many people in non-member talk area, so you can use.

{{subst:User:Eduemoni/Inv2}}

Invitation

I'd like to invite you to join the WikiProject R&B and Soul Music. We are currently on demand for new members, the project was dying, but with your help we can revive it and make it one of the best WikiProjects. Make me sure that you'll think about this and remember cooperative works can do amazing things. Regards ~~~~

produces:


You can also use {{Template:R&B Invite}}, it produces

Invitation

I'd like to invite everyone to join the WikiProject R&B and Soul Music. We are currently on demand for new members, the project was dying, but with your help we can revive it and make it one of the best WikiProjects. Make me sure that you'll think about this and remember cooperative works can do amazing things. Regards ~~~~

A special thanks goes to Miranda who designed this banner.

Useful templates

Templates:

Infoboxes:

Stubs:

Categories of Rhythm and Blues and Soul Music

Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues by country
Rhythm and blues albums
Rhythm and blues awards
Rhythm and blues discographies
Rhythm and blues genres
Rhythm and blues musical groups
Rhythm and blues musicians
Rhythm and blues record labels
Rhythm and blues songs
Rhythm and blues stubs
Rhythm and blues navigational boxes
Soul music
Soul music by country
Soul albums
Soul music genres
Soul musical groups
Soul musicians
Soul music record labels
Soul songs
Soul music discographies
Works about soul


Tools

A list of articles needing cleanup associated with this project is available. See also the tool's wiki page and the index of WikiProjects.

Main tool page: toolserver.org

External watchlist

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI