The rhythm and blues (or R & B, sometimes abbreviated R'n'B) is a kind of music combining the influences of gospel and blues.
The term was introduced in 1949 by Jerry Wexler, then professional journalist with the magazine Billboard, which became a bit later one of the most renowned producers of his time in the firm Atlantic Records. This term, which lends itself more to marketing music, gradually replaces the term race music ( "race music"), too pejorative.
Rather than identify a specific genre, the term rhythm and blues has been gradually used to describe any kind of contemporary music popular among the Afro-American population. Although used since the late 1990's in Europe (including France), "R & B" has been used in the United States (the years 1950 to the present).
