Скачать или смотреть On R&B: Groups, Whitney Houston w/ Amani Roberts, Brandon Tensley, & Emily Lordi (PMBiP 18-02-26)

Popular Music Books in Process, Feb 18, 2026 - From the Drifters to Whitney Houston: The Power and Pressure of R&B

This conversation explores the artistry, ambition, and pressures that have shaped R&B over the decades — from the rise, reign, and decline of Black R&B groups beginning in the 1950s to Whitney Houston’s bold reinvention of herself on her third studio album, the R&B-focused I’m Your Baby Tonight. Amani Roberts draws from his 2025 book, The Quiet Storm: A Historical and Cultural Analysis of the Power, Passion, and Pain of R&B Groups (Woodside), while Brandon Tensley brings insight from his forthcoming book, Whitney Houston’s I’m Your Baby Tonight (Bloomsbury 33 1/3 series, in progress). They are joined in conversation by Emily Lordi, the author of the forthcoming book, Holding Lightning: The Life, Loves, and Art of Whitney Houston (HarperCollins, 2026).

Amani Roberts is an award-winning music business professor at California State University, Fullerton, an internationally renowned speaker, a professional DJ, and the USA Today best-selling author of The Quiet Storm: A Historical and Cultural Analysis of the Power, Passion and Pain of R&B Groups who educates music professionals on making better business decisions. As a professional speaker for thousands worldwide, Amani has left an indelible mark on audiences by combining music history, innovative technology, and business education to spread knowledge on the business of music.

Brandon Tensley is an award-winning politics reporter at Capital B, a first-of-its-kind local-national nonprofit newsroom for Black audiences. He was previously a national political writer at CNN, where he covered the intersection of culture, identity, and politics. Brandon is writing a book on Whitney Houston’s I’m Your Baby Tonight for Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series. His work has been widely published, including in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Slate, Smithsonian, and The Los Angeles Review of Books.

Emily Lordi is a writer, professor, and cultural critic whose focus is African American literature and Black popular music. She is professor of English at Vanderbilt University, a writer at large for T: The New York Times Style Magazine (for which she's profiled artists including Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah), and the author of four books: Black Resonance (2013), Donny Hathaway Live (2016), The Meaning of Soul (2020), and Holding Lightning, a biography of Whitney Houston forthcoming from HarperCollins in September.