Happy New Year to all of you and your loved ones! Let's take a quick look back at the year that was 2014 in R&B! This year, we witnessed the continued resurgence of 90's R&B stars like Johnny Gill, Dave Hollister, SWV and D'Angelo mixed with all-time greats like Charlie Wilson delivered some amazing new music this year. There were also fresh new faces that exploded onto the R&B scene like Sam Smith, Mali Music, & Jhene Aiko. A lot of great music came out this year, but we can't list it all, so here's my Top 5 songs of the year!

  • 5

    "Drunk In Love" - Beyonce

    While "technically" released in 2013 (Dec. 17th) this monster hit dominated the charts, airwaves and all of pop culture at the start of 2014. But you can't resist the hook nor the beat....can you?

  • 4

    "Beautiful" - Mali Music

    Mali Music (Kortney Jamaal Pollard) has several independent albums under his belt already, but on his first major album release, he scored a big hit with this song as well as his album "Mali Is" picking up a Grammy nomination in the process.

  • 3

    "Spend The Night" - Dave Hollister

    Dave Hollister made a stop through Killeen and had all of us singing along to this hit. The second I heard it, my first reaction was 'YUP!'. When asked about this song, Dave replied he wanted to bring back that "90's R&B" feel, and he definitely accomplished that!

  • 2

    "Look Up" - Daley

    One artist that went sort of under the radar this year was Daley, but he quickly showed up on my radar after my 11-year old son asked me about his music. After hearing this track though, I instantly became a fan. He has an amazing voice and I hope he will be around for years to come.

  • 1

    "Fall For You" - Leela James

    When you get the perfect combination of songwriting, musical arrangement and a voice with SOUL you get this MASTERPIECE. Leela James has long been known as one of the rising stars in R&B and this song will live a long and prosperous life. When I listen to music, I ask myself "Will this song still be remembered 10, 20, even 30 years from now?" and there's no doubt in my mind that "Fall For You" is a classic.

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