Precious Bryant

A charismatic country blues singer and fingerstyle guitarist of the Piedmont tradition, Precious Bryant stands out among Georgia’s great blueswomen.

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Babbie Mason

Babbie Mason is an African American contemporary Christian singer-songwriter and author. Her song “All Rise” was one of the most-recorded contemporary Christian songs of the 1990s.

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Nathalie Stutzmann

In 2023 Nathalie Stutzmann made history by becoming the first woman to direct the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the second woman to lead a major American orchestra, after MacArthur Fellow Marin Alsop.

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Francine Reed

Francine Reed, Atlanta’s “queen of the blues,” was born in Illinois in 1947. In the 1990s she relocated to Georgia and soon became one of Atlanta’s most beloved performers.

Reed’s career was cemented on the foundation of a musically rich family. Her father was a gospel singer and her sister Margo Reed became a noted jazz singer. As the youngest of six siblings, Reed began performing

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Gladys Knight

As one of Motown’s leading ladies of soul in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Gladys Knight was the driving force behind Gladys Knight and the Pips, an all-family music group from Atlanta.

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Minnie Gentry

“The First Lady” of Karamu Theater, this critically acclaimed artist received a Tony nomination in 1972 and the Outstanding Pioneer Award for her contributions to Black theater in 1985.

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