Popular Musical Groups

One aspect of music we all love specially when it comes to our favorite artistes is the aspect of music collaborations between said artistes.

For as long as I can remember the idea of  musical collaborations like duets and so on have always got me excited. Whenever we hear of collaborations between big time artiste we just know right away its going to be either a great album or track.

 From their incredible vocals to the awesome instrumentals and beats, albums like Beyonces ''The Lion King'',  Major Lazer, DJ Snake and Mo's song ''Lean on'', the song  ''I Dare You'' by Kelly Clarkson featuring a diverse world artistes and so on, have never failed to impress us.

 Sometimes when listening to all these artists vibe together you can't help but wish they'd always collaborate and release more outstanding music.

 

Speaking of music collaborations lets talk about an important aspect of today's topic; Musical Ensembles also known as a Musical Group. A Musical Ensemble is basically a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. A musical group may consist solely of instruments, such as in orchestra. Some consist solely of singers such as in choirs. And then groups with a mix of both instrumentals and singers, such as in popular and classical music. A musical ensemble can be a rock or pop band, an acapella group, orchestra, jazz etc.

 

Musical ensembles range in size from two or three to a larger sized group, as in concert bands or orchestra's, 

the most common number for most groups is a four, especially pop and rock bands who are more instrumental based. 

Although there are countless music groups all around the world, each with their unique music, I'll be looking at a few of the most famous ones from across the world, each of these groups are still active in the music scene till today. I'll also be talking briefly on this musical groups and what makes them special.

  Lastly for the sake of the topic, I'll be looking at groups with more than four members each from different musical genres and styles. Enjoy!

Coldplay

Coldplay is a British rock band formed in 1996, the four man band includes, vocalist/pianist Chris Martin, guitar player Jonny Buckland, drummer Will Champion and bass player Guy Berryman.

 

The formidable band has won numerous awards throughout their career, including nine Brit Awards, six MTV Video Awards, seven Grammy Awards and more, they've sold over 100 million records world wide.

Coldplays musical style is officially pop music, although listening to most of their songs you'll get a diverse mix of genres from, alternative to pop. Simply put, Coldplays has a  unique style of music that I call simply theirs.

Boston Pop Orchestra

the Boston pop orchestra is an american orchestral group founded in 1885, The Boston pop orchestra specializes in playing a mix of light classical and popular music known as pop orchestra, 

To really understand the outstanding nature of Boston pops musical identity here's a quote from Keith Lockhart:

"The Boston Pops Orchestra performs the best music of the past and present, appealing to the widest possible audience with a broad spectrum of styles, from jazz to pop, indie rock to big band, film music to the great American songbook, and Broadway to classical, making it the perfect orchestra for people who don't know they like orchestras!"

-Keith Lockhart

 

Backstreet Boys

(L-R) Brian Littrel, Nick Carter, AJ McLean, Kevin Richardson, and Howie Dorough Performing on stage at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards. 

Backstreet Boys is an american vocal group formed in Orlando Florida in 1993, the ''Boys'' have sold over 100 million records worldwide making them the Best-selling Boy Band of all time as well as one of the worlds Best-selling artistes. 

Backstreet Boys are one of the first groups to have their first ten albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200, and they are the only Boy Band to do so till date.

Backstreet Boys although starting out as a mainly vocal harmony type group have evolved over the years to include a mix of  R&B, dance club, hip-hop, pop and pop rock in their music.

Hillsong

I hardly think there's anyone who hasn't heard of  Hillsong, the Australian Christian music praise and worship group. 

Hillsong began at their church of the same name in Sydney, Australia  where they started making music in 1983. some notable members include, Marty Sampson, Brooke Fraser, Reuben Morgan and Joel Houston, among others.

I credit them as won of the Best Christian Music groups of these generation, their spirit filled tracks have touched so many lives throughout the world. 

The christian musical group has peaked on the Billlboard Magazine charts numerous times, they also won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song with their track '' what a beautiful name''.

Spice girls

 

(L-R) Melanie Chisolm, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown and Victoria Adams.

The Spice Girls are an  English pop girl group formed in 1994. Their first single ''Wannabe'' which was released in 1996  hit number one in 37 countries, beginning their global success as a group. 

Their debut album ''Spice'' sold more than 23 million copies world wide, becoming the Best-selling Album by a Female Group in history. The spice girls are also the Best-Selling Girl Group of all time.

So influential and popular are the spice girls that they have been credited with bringing about the era of the All Female groups in a previously Male dominated Pop Music scene. 

Artistes like Adele, Lady Gaga, Jess Glyne, Demi Lovato, Carly Rae Jepsen and many more  have credited the spice girls as been major influences in their life and music.

Westlife

(L-R) Kian Egan, Shane Filan, Markus Feehily and Nicky Byrne attend the National Television Awards 2019.

I highly doubt the popular Westlife  needs any elaborate introduction as their name already precedes itself. 

AlThough its important to note that the popular boy band disbanded in 2012 and reunited all grown men in 2018, a big relief to all their fans worldwide.

 The Irish pop vocal group has sold over 55 million records, they also had the Biggest Selling Album of the 2000's, and are holders of several Guiness World Records and receivers of several awards and nominations.

 Westlife has over 1.5 billion views on Youtube and interestingly enough they have been streamed more than 300 million times. 

Little Mix

(L-R) Pierrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirlwall.

The Little Mix are one of the most loved girl groups in recent times, they are a British girl group formed in 2011 during the eight season of the X Factor, a television music competition franchise.

The defining aspect of Little Mix music style is that of their strong vocals and musical harmony, with their songs focusing mainly on pop and R&B, and the occasional Latin pop and electronic genres. 

Little Mix broke the Spice girls record for the Highest debut US Chart position for a British Girl Groups First Release and have sold over 50 million Records worldwide and are one of the Best-Selling Girl Groups of all time.

Elevation Worship

Elevation Worship is a Contemporary Christian Music band from Elevation Church in North Carolina. The group has Peaked Record Charts multiple times and have millions of Youtube subscribers.

Sauti Sol

(L-R) Bien-Aime Baraza, Polycarp Otieno, Willis Chimano and Savara Mudigi at the 2015 MTV Africa Music Awards.

Sauti Sol are one of the most popular and widely recognized African Music Bands of recent times, The Afro-pop Band was formed in Nairobi Kenya and were initially an acapella group before they ventured into Afro-pop, 

after several successful tours around Africa and Europe the band became popular both in and out of Africa. 

Sauti Sol has topped charts and garnered international acclaim throughout their musical career and are still growing more popular, they've been nominated for several awards including the Channel O Music Video Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards and the BET awards.

5 Seconds Of Summer

(L-R) Michael Clifford, Luke Hemmings, Ashton Irwin and Calum Hood.

5 Seconds Of Summer is an Australian Pop Rock Band formed in 2011, the Band originally began performing on Youtube before they rose to International success while touring with the then Boy Band One Direction. 

5 Seconds Of Summer is the first band to have three full length Albums top the US Charts, they have  been listed by Billboard as one of the most popular and successful artists of the 2010-2019 decade.

One Republic

One Republic is a popular American Pop Rock Band formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2002. The Bands lead single ''Apologize'' became a huge international success and reached number one in 16 countries and earned them a Grammy Nomination. 

The band has sold over 16 million records worldwide.

Pentatonix

(L-R) Matt Salle, Kirstin Maldonado, Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi and Kevin Olusola at the 2019 Billboard Power 100 in Los Angeles, California.

When we Talk about a musica group with pure and unique vocal talent then Pentatonix is that group.

 Pentatonix are an acapella group from Texas, their awesome musical style mainly involves seamless pop-style arrangements, beautiful vocal harmonies and mind blowing beatboxing among others. They produce cover version of modern pop songs, christmas medley songs and other original works. 

Pentatonix like most artistes today kicked off their career on Youtube and now have over 18 million subscribers and over 4 billion views. 

The musical group won three Grammy Awards and are the first group to win the Best Arrangement,  Instrumental Acapella Award.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a South African music group founded in 1964 . The groups musical style is a mix of traditional South African and Zulu music and dance.

 In 1973 the groups album became the first African album to reach Gold record status, the male choral group has sold more than 30 million records around the world and are The Best-Selling musical group in Africa. 

They are the receivers of multiple awards and Nominations, including winning five Grammy Awards, with their  fifth Grammy dedicated to the late former president Nelson Mandela.

Voctave

Voctave is an 11 member acapella group from Central Florida formed in 2015. The musical group has received countless accolades and have performed around the world, with professional music backgrounds in Walt Disney Entertainment and Broadway.

  

Voctave's music ranges from Gospel Music to Musical Theater, Contemporary Christian music to Pop music and everything in between.

As far as musical groups go, Voctave is a true representation of original acapella music with a beautiful mix of contemporary music. 

That brings us to the end of today's topic, hoped you liked it?

Also my list can never be truly complete so please drop more suggestions in the comment box and I'll add them.

If you want to read up more on musical ensembles and groups i'll be posting a link below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_ensemble

Let's talk (questions)

Are there limited musical groups in Africa and why?