Some singers learn how to use their voice. Scarlett Fagan had to learn how not to be afraid of hers. Long before sold-out rooms and records of her own, the London-born, Devon-raised singer was the shy kid absorbing Etta James, Amy Winehouse, Motown, soul and reggae, discovering in those records that the most powerful voices weren't necessarily the prettiest or safest—they were the ones willing to tell the truth.

From Orchard Park and The Wiseguys to The Sonic Memoir, 30-Plus Years of Boston Hip-Hop, Brotherhood, Reinvention and Giving Back Boston Hip-Hop never needed permission to exist. Long before the city’s rap history received its proper flowers, artists were already putting their neighborhoods, experiences and voices on wax. Orvell Hairston—better known as Mann Terror—was there helping lay that groundwork. Raised in Roxbury’s Orchard Park Projects, Mann learned early that bein

There’s something about a singer who sounds like she has actually lived the words coming out of her mouth. That’s Hurricane Bleu. The Wichita, Kansas–born R&B singer-songwriter isn’t emerging from one of the cities the industry traditionally watches for its next soul voice.