Black History Month 2012 has been a doozy. Beginning with the tragic and shocking death of Don Cornelius to dealing with equally troubling news of Whitney Houston's passing as the month wore on. Most interesting about this time is the ways in which the music healed us. When Whitney died, DJs played haunting a capella tributes to the fallen star in clubs all over the city. On this, the last day of Black History Month, we salute all icons of black music with the final installment of Sounds of Blackness, a tribute to the influence of black music and culture.

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Everyone loves Stevie Wonder. If you haven't been at a basement party singing along to "I Just Called to Say I Love You" in punch-drunk love and harmony, you haven't lived. Born Stevland Hardaway Morris in 1950, Stevie Wonder was a child prodigy who has been blind since birth. His classical prowess on several instruments and the expressiveness of his voice has led him down a path of unprecedented fame, political impact and societal reverence.

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Born Marvin Pentz Gaye, Jr. in 1939 in Washington, D.C., the singer also known as the Prince of Soul was the original panty-dropper. But while Gaye had a smooth, controlled voice that combined with an inherent sexiness for a swoon factor that was simply off the charts, he was far more than a mere sex symbol. He had a depth to his songwriting that was not only extensive and highly reflective of the times, but also imbued with a certain timelessness that makes it just as affecting today.

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Tina Turner is the Queen of Rock and Roll, the baddest in the land with the most supreme pair of legs to ever walk a stage. Her voice contains a sandpaper grit that helped smoothed the edges of black culture and her own very rough life. Born in unincorporated Nut Bush, Tennessee, as Anna Mae Bullock in 1939, Tina has provided an abundance of soul and inspiration she first started delivering hits with the Ike Turner Revue in the '60s. Her contributions to both music and African-American culture since then are both profound and immeasurable.

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Mary J. Blige has the same pain and grit in her voice of having lived a very full life as artists like Billie Holliday, Etta James and others. For a burgeoning hip-hop generation, Blige's voice and signature style of taking a hip-hop beat and adding her soulful vibe to it so changed the sound of music that she became the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul. Although "You Remind Me" was the first single, when "Real Love," hit the airwaves, it immediately became the summer joint that catapulted Blige into the spotlight.

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Heavily inspired by mob movies and king-fu cinema, Wu-tang Clan began in Staten Island, the brainchild of the brilliantly sharp RZA, who brought his brothers and their talents together to form a hip-hop conglomerate whose rhymes are as much based on the science of everything in life as they are about the rugged streets from where they came. In 1993, Wu-Tang Clan forever changed the game with the release of its debut, Enter the 36 Chambers.

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The day has come for us to celebrate the Purple One. Prince Rogers Nelson is as provocative as he is talented. A startlingly prolific songwriter and a virtuosic musician, Prince has written a slew of mesmerizing songs over the course of his career, both for himself and for other artists too numerous to single out.

The depths of Prince's songwriting can be heard on songs like "I Would Die 4 U," which placed his pious proclivities (he's a devout Jehovah's Witness) into a very secular setting, yet there never seemed to be any detectable compromise when he combined the two sides of his persona.

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OutKast is easily one of the most noted and respected hip-hop groups in the game. Big Boi and Andre 3000 met in the East Point section of Atlanta when they were sixteen. The outfit combined funk, soul, jazz and blues influences with hip-hop lyrics on its 1994 debut, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, on which the group teamed up with Organized Noize, whixh helped the act hone its still-burgeoning sound.

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Nina Simone was a classically trained pianist and learned to hone the depths of her voice after taking up a gig where the restaurant owner wanted her to sing as well as play. Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina in 1933, Simone was raised in the church, and that experience cultivated a love for music and led to the progression of her art as a piano player. Simone infused gospel, jazz, blues and classical into her style and impeccable arrangements. Dubbed the "High Priestess of Soul," Nina Simone is a classic writer, composer and singer.

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Lauded as the greatest performer of all time, Michael Jackson was a dancing, singing, performing phenomenon, and we are not likely to see another performer of his caliber ever again. The life of Michael Jackson is well documented, his struggles, imperfections and sometimes bizarre behavior, but one thing that has ever been questioned is his knack for hitting a perfect pitch and every single dance step with precision.

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