Music: From Hip-Hop to Broadway

Brooklyn has produced voices that shaped almost every strand of American popular and concert music. This chapter profiles nine artists, from a classical composer born in 1900 to rappers who rose from the borough's streets, each tied to Brooklyn by birth, schooling or upbringing.

The Notorious B.I.G.

Christopher Wallace, known as The Notorious B.I.G. and Biggie Smalls, was born on May 21, 1972, at Cumberland Hospital in Brooklyn. He grew up in Clinton Hill, near the border of Bedford-Stuyvesant, and attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School, which he left at 16.^1,2

Sean Combs founded Bad Boy Records after leaving Uptown Records in 1993 and signed Wallace as the label's first artist. His debut album, Ready to Die, was released on September 13, 1994, and made him one of the leading rappers of the East Coast.²

Wallace was shot in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles and was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on March 9, 1997, at the age of 24. His second album, Life After Death, was released on March 25, 1997, sixteen days later. He received Grammy nominations during his lifetime and afterwards, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020. In 2019 the corner of Fulton Street and St. James Place in Brooklyn was renamed in his honor.^2,1

• 1994Ready to Die released
• 2020Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• 2019Fulton St. and St. James Pl. renamed

Jay-Z

Shawn Corey Carter, known as Jay-Z, was born on December 4, 1969, in Brooklyn. He was raised in the Marcy Houses, a public housing development in Bedford-Stuyvesant, and attended Eli Whitney High School and George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School in Brooklyn before moving to Trenton Central High School in New Jersey.^3,4

With Damon Dash and Kareem Burke he co-founded the independent label Roc-A-Fella Records. His debut album, Reasonable Doubt, was released in 1996 and peaked at number 23 on the Billboard 200. His later albums include The Blueprint 3, Watch the Throne and 4:44, and his songs include "99 Problems" and "Empire State of Mind".^4,3

From 2003 to 2013 he was a minority owner of the New Jersey Nets and encouraged the team's move to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where it became the Brooklyn Nets for the 2012-13 season; he also played a sold-out show at the arena on October 6, 2012. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021 and was the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.^4,3

• 1996Reasonable Doubt released
• 2021Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• 2012-13First Brooklyn Nets season

Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand was born Barbara Joan Streisand on April 24, 1942, in Brooklyn. She attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and graduated in January 1959, at the age of 16.^5,6

In 1964 she played Fanny Brice in the Broadway production of Funny Girl, and the album of the original cast was among her early recordings. She repeated the role in the 1968 film, which won her the Academy Award for Best Actress, shared in a tie with Katharine Hepburn. She later won a second Oscar, for Original Song, in 1977.^6,5

Her honors include multiple Grammy Awards, among them the Grammy Legend Award in 1993 and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996, Emmy Awards, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2008, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2000 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. She is living.⁵

• 1969Academy Award, Best Actress
• 2008Kennedy Center Honors
• 2015Presidential Medal of Freedom

Lena Horne

Lena Horne was born on June 30, 1917, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. She attended Girls High School in Brooklyn and left school at 16 to help support her mother, joining the chorus line of the Cotton Club in Harlem in 1933.^7,8

Within two years she was performing with entertainers such as Cab Calloway. In the 1943 film Stormy Weather, made for 20th Century Fox while she was on loan from MGM, she performed the title song, which became her trademark. She refused roles that stereotyped African American women.^7,8

She was active in civil rights and political organizations and took part in the March on Washington in August 1963, where she spoke and performed. Her one-woman show Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music (1981) won a special Tony Award and two Grammy Awards, and she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989 and the Kennedy Center Honors in 1984. She died in New York City on May 9, 2010, aged 92.^7,8

• 1943Stormy Weather
• 1984Kennedy Center Honors
• 1917-2010Lifespan

Neil Diamond

Neil Diamond was born on January 24, 1941, and grew up in Brooklyn. He attended Erasmus Hall High School for two years, then Abraham Lincoln High School after his family moved to Brighton Beach in 1956; at Lincoln he joined the fencing team.¹⁰

He began as a songwriter in the Brill Building, where his first success was "Sunday and Me", a Top 20 hit for Jay and the Americans in 1965. As a performer his best-known songs include "Sweet Caroline" (1969), "Cracklin' Rosie" (1970) and "Song Sung Blue" (1972).^10,9

He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, and was a Kennedy Center Honors recipient in 2011. In January 2018 he announced that he would stop touring after a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, adding that he was not retiring from music. He is living.¹⁰

• 1969Sweet Caroline
• 2011Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Carole King

Carole King was born Carol Joan Klein on February 9, 1942, in Manhattan, and her family settled in Brooklyn. Her parents had met at Brooklyn College, and she attended James Madison High School in Midwood.^12,11

With her first husband Gerry Goffin, whom she met at Queens College, she wrote many hit songs in the 1960s. Her album Tapestry (1971) topped the US album chart for 15 weeks and won four Grammy Awards: Album of the Year, Record of the Year ("It's Too Late"), Song of the Year ("You've Got a Friend") and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.^12,11

She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, with Goffin, and again as a solo artist in 2021. In 2013 she became the first woman to receive the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical opened on Broadway on January 12, 2014. She is living.¹²

• 1971Tapestry
• 1990, 2021Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• 2,418Broadway performances of Beautiful

Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland was born on November 14, 1900, in Brooklyn. His family lived above their shop at 628 Washington Avenue, on the corner of Dean Street, and he attended Boys High School.^14,13

He became one of the leading American composers of the twentieth century. His best-known works include Appalachian Spring, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize in composition, Billy the Kid, Fanfare for the Common Man, Symphony No. 3 and The Red Pony.^13,14

His score for the film The Heiress won an Academy Award (listed under 1950). Honors included the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 14, 1964, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1979 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1987. He died in North Tarrytown (now Sleepy Hollow), New York, on December 2, 1990, aged 90.^13,14

• 1964Presidential Medal of Freedom
• 1979Kennedy Center Honors
• 1900-1990Lifespan

Busta Rhymes

Busta Rhymes, born Trevor George Smith Jr. on May 20, 1972, in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, is the son of parents who emigrated from Jamaica. At age 12 his family moved to Uniondale on Long Island, and he briefly attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School in Brooklyn.¹⁵

In 1986 he became an original member of Leaders of the New School, whose debut album A Future Without a Past... appeared on Elektra Records in July 1991. His first solo album, The Coming, followed in 1996, and he has released eleven solo studio albums, the most recent being Blockbusta (2023).¹⁵

He has received 12 Grammy nominations. As of the source he has not won a Grammy, and he is living.¹⁵

• 1996The Coming, first solo album
• 12Grammy nominations

Yasiin Bey (Mos Def)

Yasiin Bey, who performed for years as Mos Def, was born on December 11, 1973, in Brooklyn and raised there by his mother. He worked as a child actor in television films, sitcoms and theater, and in September 2011 announced that he had legally changed his name to Yasiin Bey.¹⁶

In 1996 he formed the Brooklyn-based duo Black Star with Talib Kweli. Their 1998 debut album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, was mostly produced by Hi-Tek and spawned the singles "Respiration" and "Definition". His solo debut, Black on Both Sides, was released in October 1999 on Rawkus Records and reached number 25 on the Billboard 200.¹⁶

His film credits include Brown Sugar, The Italian Job, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and 16 Blocks, and he won an Image Award for playing Vivien Thomas in Something the Lord Made.¹⁶

• 1999Black on Both Sides
• 1998Black Star debut album