Jamie Woon

When moody R&B fused with underground electronic production, it created one of the most exciting stylistic approaches of the first two decades of the 21st century, and Jamie Woon was right there in the thick of it. Born in London in 1983, Woon attended the BRIT School—a performing-arts school made famous by alumni like Amy Winehouse, Adele and FKA twigs—where he clearly soaked up some seriously soulful vibes. On his debut, 2007’s Wayfaring Stranger, he offered a mixture of acoustic blues and a cappella singing that evoked Jeff Buckley’s devastating vulnerability, while a remix from leftfield dubstep experimentalist Burial pointed at more modern routes his music might take. In 2010, Burial coproduced Woon’s “Night Air”, creating an emotive landmark of the bass-music era. Woon guested on Disclosure’s Settle in 2013, cementing his name as a paragon of heartfelt dance music, but on his 2015 album, Making Time, he shed many of his former electronic trappings, opting for rich neo-soul that foregrounded the power of his incomparably smooth, expressive voice.