Unsung (TV series)

Unsung
Unsung logo from TV One
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Release
Original network	TV One
Original release	November 27, 2008 (2008-11-27) – present
Website

Unsung is an hour-long music documentary program that airs on TV One. The series, which premiered November 27, 2008, uncovers the stories behind once well-known R&B and soul music artists, bands, or groups who exploded onto the Billboard music charts with a string of hits, only to have their career derailed by a major crisis that caused them to be essentially unappreciated by later generations of contemporary R&B and soul music listeners.

Unsung has tailored this formula, depending on the show's subject, to portray artists whose "turning point" occurred for more business or personal reasons, and who may have recovered from it to continue a far less famous, but rewarding, career. An example includes The Spinners, a legendary R&B group with 17 Billboard Top 40 hits (7 of which were in the top 10) between 1961 and 1980, yet they have never received a Grammy Award nor been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. These facts qualify the group for an episode of Unsung....

As of 2010, Unsung has enjoyed steady growth, particularly in African-American households, as each season has aired.

After four seasons, Unsung won an NAACP Image Award in the "Outstanding Information Series or Special" category. Others nominated in this category for 2011 were Anderson Cooper 360° and Washington Watch with Roland Martin.

One aspect of note to the Unsung series is the sense of closure given to both the series' fans and the families of the artists who have died, as in the case of Roger Troutman of Zapp. Troutman's brother stated that the public was finally on the same page as the family with regard to realizing that no one really knows what happened between Roger and Larry Troutman the fatal morning of the incident (in 1999).