Top 885 Artists: Philly-Only Edition

As a Philadelphia area native, I think it's important that the city and the region are well-represented in the upcoming voting and countdown for the Top 885 Artists on WXPN. So, this past weekend, I started making a list of "big name" people who were born or raised in the Delaware Valley. It would take too much effort to list them all in columns, so instead, I'll just put them in alphabetical order. It's a remarkable group of people, spanning decades of the 20th & 21st centuries and many genres, including pop, rock, R&B, jazz, blues, and more.

So let's give it up for:

Marian Anderson, The A's, Frankie Avalon, Bahamadia (Antonia Reed), Donald Bailey, Peal Bailey, Samuel Barber, Len Barry, Toni Basil, Blue Magic, Boyz II Men, Michael Brecker, King Britt, Clifford Brown, Roy Bryant, Solomon Burke, Uri Caine, Stanley Clarke, John Coltrane, Little Joe Cook, Linda Creed, Jim Croce, Danny & The Juniors, James Darren, The Dead Milkmen, Joey DeFrancesco, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Alix Dobkin, Bill Doggett, Duane Eubanks, Kevin Eubanks, Eve, Fabian, Lola Falana, Lizz Fields, Gamble & Huff (Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff), Melody Gardot, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Golson, Buddy Greco, Vivian Green, Hall & Oates, Rufus Harley, Robert Hazard, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Billie Holiday, the Hooters, Phyllis Hyman, the Intruders, Philly Jo Jones, Kitty Kallen, Grace Kelly, Khia, The Kinleys, Patti LaBelle, Mario Lanza, Amos Lee, Richard Lester, G. Love, Jayne Mansfield, Pat Martino, McFadden & Whitehead (Gene McFadden & John Whitehead), Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes, Gerry Mulligan, Musiq, Peter Nero, The O'Jays, Teddy Pendergrass, Vincent Persichetti, Pink (Alecia Moore), Trudy Pitts, Odeon Pope, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Leon Redbone, The Reds, Paul Robeson, The Roots, Phil Roy, Ursula Rucker, Todd Rundgren, Schooly D, Jill Scott, Cindy Scott, Shirley Scott, Bree Sharp, Bunny Sigler, Nina Simone, Bessie Smith, Will Smith, The Stylistics, Sun Ra, Tammi Terrell, McCoy Tyner, Ben Vaughn, Charlie Ventura, Joe Venuti, Grover Washington, and, Ethel Waters.

Whew!

So, who did I forget? Slo-Mo, and Audible may have to go on that list. They're probably big enough names.

FYI, because Steady B and Beanie Siegel have had some serious run-ins with the law, I'd rather not list them. And Broomall native Danny Bonaduce ... uh, no, sorry. The Bacon Brothers? Hmmmm ... lemme get back to y'all on that one.

Will any of the above make it to my final top 10 (or 20)? Stay tuned to this space ...