June is Black Music Month, Countdown of Shamontiel's Top 30 African-American Artists

President George W. Bush had a lot of screw-ups during his eight-year term, but he did do a couple things right. One of them was proclaiming June as Black Music Month on May 31, 2002. June is a little over a week away, and to celebrate Black Music Month, I'll be featuring one of my favorite artists each day, sharing my first or most personal memory of them, explain what their accomplishments are and why I felt they should make the Black Music Month Top 30 list. There will be some oldies, some newbies and some artists who are in between stages.

My June 5 selection is Tina Turner.

Black Music Month Heat Factor "Why's this artist hot?": Bally's ought to just start doing fitness commercials with her legs alone. She's the baddest woman walking in heels, never mind all of these young female R&B artists. If you need ammunition to get to a health club, look at any photo of her or watch her perform live at the end of the film based on her life "What's Love Got to Do With It?" She can do funk, soul, blues and no one rocks a wig quite like she does.

First Memory, Most Personal Memory of the Artist: I knew I was a Tina Turner fan, but when actress Angela Bassett starred in 1993's "What's Love Got to Do With It?" I didn't expect to know the words to almost every one of her songs. At 11 years old, I did though. I recall my parents playing her music on our living room stereo, and apparently the songs just stuck. I'm not into her rock songs, but I loved every last one of her R&B and soul jams. But I respect her on a much deeper level. I've known women who stayed in abusive relationships for the sake of their children, but she had the strength to leave. For that alone, she should be an eternal role model. Aretha Franklin may have not appreciated Beyoncé calling Tina Turner The Queen of Soul, but I certainly understood. Both women are great in their own right, but Tina Turner's funk and soul factor always grabbed me a little bit more.

Accomplishments from the Artist: Tina Turner made the Billboard 200 Albums of the Year chart in 1984, 1985, 1987 and 2005 with 10 albums. She also made the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Year chart in 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1993. She had 16 songs in Hot 100, 13 songs on R&B/Hip-Hop charts, 10 albums on R&B/Hip-Hop albums, 1 pop song, 11 dance/club play songs, 1 European Hot 100 song, 3 European Albums, 1 United King, 1 Canadian and 1 Adult Pop song to make it onto the Billboard charts. Although her success was briefly troubled in the '70s and people weren't buying her music in the same amount, she bounced right back in the '80s with 1984's Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," "What's Love Got to Do With It?" spent three weeks in Billboard's number one spot, in addition to hits like "Better Be Good to Me" and "We Don't Need Another Hero." She's won eight Grammy's and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Other Black Music Month Selections: June 1 Trey Songz

June 2 Marvin Gaye

June 3 Rakim Allah

June 4 Brandy Norwood