Neo Soul

Neo soul (also known as nu soul) is a musical genre of the late 1990s and early 2000s that fuses contemporary R&B, 1970s style soul, classical music, jazz, and elements of alternative-hip hop. It is the third major sub-genre of contemporary R&B, after the new jack swing of the late 1980s to early/mid 1990s and the hip hop soul of the mid to late 1990s. The "neo soul" term, originated by Kedar Massenburg of Motown Records in the late-1990s, is sometimes looked upon with disdain as nothing more than a marketing specialization of contemporary R&B instead of an honest revival of soul music. This is because most of the people who record in the genre and listen to it tend to be anti-mainstream preferring that the music favor underground credibility and soulfulness over mainstream popularity.

The latest major neo-soul artists to emerge are Alicia Keys and John Legend, whose style bears strong similarities to that of Stevie Wonder and British songstress Corrine Bailey Rae who has topped the charts with her self-titled debut CD, receiving three Grammy nominations.