Mr. R&B (2016)

The story of Swedish music researcher/record label owner Jonas Bernholm, better known as "Mr. R&B". Jonas Bernholm was instrumental in keeping R&B alive before the age of CDs and compilations. His record labels - Route 66 and several others - gave renewed life to many seminal R&B recordings by artists such as Roy Brown, Charles Brown, Ruth Brown, The 5 Royales and many others. Many of these recordings may have been lost to time without his assistance. Jonas Bernholm also went the extra mile by offering royalties to all of the original artists featured on his albums, a feat many of the original record companies did not. In addition to re-releasing this music to a largely new audience, He also assisted helping many of these artists reignite their touring careers by setting up tours in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries. Jonas Bernholm's vast collection of original records was sought out and purchased by the Smithsonian Institute in the 1990s as many of the recordings in his collection are considered culturally significant to the development of American R&B and Rock and Roll music.