Everyone loves a love song, and there is a long musical history of “crooners” who caused hearts to beat a bit faster, leading to mass swooning at their performances. Where Black male artists were concerned, the long history of racial segregation in the U.S. had a significant impact. The fears of “race-mixing”engendered by antimiscegenationists to “protect the purity of white-womanhood” (while hypocritically and simultaneously having no problems with the rape and concubinage of Black women by white men), prevented many early Black male vocalists from achieving the level of stardom and fortune attained by white artists of equal or lesser talent.
In spite of those racial barriers, we still have a lengthy catalog of sexy Black singers of love songs, and ballads (along with the concomitant heartbreak) to explore and celebrate.