The following were removed from the article in June of 2012, due to a huge oversight and lack of references. The article was cleared completely out, with only a few people examples referenced and re-added to the list. Please note that this is a list of people (not bands, groups, organizations), and as such only individuals who have reputable sources that show they did live within the city should be re-added. Please remove any item below, that fails to meet notability guidelines, is not a specific individual or lacks any reputable sources for their habitation within the city limits of atlanta.

• Evan and Jaron, pop duo
• Indigo Girls, Folk and pop duo
• Brenda Lee, singer
• John Mayer, singer-songwriter
• Shawn Mullins, singer-songwriter
• Jennifer Paige, singer-songwriter
• Graham Jackson, the "entertainer of presidents"^[1]

• Ray Charles, jazz, blues, soul, and rock-and-roll pianist, songwriter, and singer; born in Georgia, raised in Florida
• Duke Pearson, jazz pianist and composer
• Mary Lou Williams, jazz pianist, composer and arranger

• Robert Shaw, conductor
• Robert Spano, Grammy award winning conductor and music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

• Kilo Ali, pioneer Atlanta rapper
• Andre 3000, rapper and producer
• Arrested Development, hip hop group
• Fonzworth Bentley, rapper
• B.o.B, rapper and producer
• Big Boi, rapper
• Blak Jak, rapper
• Bonecrusher, rapper
• Boyz n da Hood, rap group
• Jody Breeze, rapper
• Cee Lo Green, rapper, singer and producer
• Crime Mob, rap group
• D4L, rap group
• Dolla, rapper
• Roscoe Dash
• Dem Franchize Boyz, rap group
• DJ Drama DJ
• Fabo, rapper/part of D4L
• Future, rapper
• Goodie Mob, rap group
• Gorilla Zoe, rapper
• Gucci Mane, (From Alabama, moved to Atlanta)
• Jim Crow, rap group
• Killer Mike, rapper
• Kriss Kross, hip-hop duo
• Lecrae, rapper
• Lil' Scrappy, rapper
• Ludacris, rapper (Born in Illinois, raised partially in Atlanta)
• Christopher Massey, Kyle Massey actors, rappers
• Mullage, rap duo
• OJ da Juiceman
• OutKast, hip hop duo
• Jennifer Paige, singer
• Pastor Troy, rapper
• Shawty Lo, rapper/part of D4L
• Shop Boyz, rap group
• Soulja Boy, rapper (born in Chicago, raised in Atlanta and Mississippi)
• Bubba Sparxxx, rapper
• Travis Porter, rap group
• T.I., rapper
• Charles Davis Tillman (1861–1943), formative influence on southern gospel, author of "Life's Railway to Heaven"
• Too Short, resides in Atlanta
• Trillville, rap group
• Unk, rapper
• Kanye West, rapper (born in Atlanta raised in Chicago)
• Ying Yang Twins, hip hop duo
• Youngbloodz, rap group
• Young Dro, rapper
• Young Jeezy, rapper (From Columbia, South Carolina, moved to Atlanta )
• Yung Joc, rapper
• Yung Wun, rapper
• Zion I, California rappers born in Atlanta
• Waka Flocka Flame, rapper

• Speech, rapper/singer/producer
• Lil Jon, rapper, producer
• Keith Sweat, singer/songwriter/producer
• Dallas Austin, music executive/producer
• Tim & Bob, music executives/producers
• DJ Toomp, producer
• Mr. Collipark, hip hop producer
• Babyface, singer/producer
• Jermaine Dupri, (From North Carolina) rapper, producer
• Polow da Don, music producer
• T.I., rapper producer
• Usher, singer, producer
• Shawty Redd, producer/rapper
• Organized Noize, hip hop producers
• Matt Malpass, producer^[2]

• Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of Mount Rushmore and the first aborted Stone Mountain carving
• Mildred Thompson, African-American painter, printmaker and sculptor

• Neal Boortz, talk radio host, author with Congressman John Linder, The FairTax Book
• Robert L. Boyett, former ABC executive, television producer, producer of Broadway theater productions
• Alton Brown, Peabody Award-winning creator and host of the Food Network program Good Eats.
• Patrika Darbo, actress on Days of our Lives
• Bobbie Eakes, actress on Bold and the Beautiful
• Hollis Gillespie, magazine columnist and TV commentator
• Clark Howard, talk radio host
• Deborah Norville, host of Inside Edition, former co-host of The Today Show with Bryant Gumbel prior to Katie Couric
• Erika "Nik" Pace, contestant on America's Next Top Model Cycle 5, currently modeling for Ford Models
• Bert Parks, longtime host of the Miss America Pageant and many television game shows
• Ty Pennington, television personality
• Forrest Sawyer, news anchor and journalist
• Ryan Seacrest, TV/radio personality and host of American Idol
• Alicia Leigh Willis, actress on General Hospital

• Baton Bob, cross-dressing street performer
• The Brothers Chaps, Homestar Runner creators
• RuPaul, entertainer
• Dominique Simone, adult entertainer
• George Wallace (American comedian), comedian
• Tammy Williams, African American, Television Creator/Producer(Documentaries, Live Events, Kids PRogramming) My Destiny Place

• Lucius D. Clay, "father" of the Berlin Airlift (1948–49), the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways and the National System of Airports and Airbases – known as "The Man Who Changed America"

• Benjamin B. Blackburn, former U.S. Representative from Georgia
• Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States (1977–1981), Nobel Peace laureate 2002 and Governor of Georgia
• Sam Nunn, United States Senator from Georgia (1972 until 1996), particularly influential in defense
• John Lewis, Civil rights leader^{[citation needed]} and U.S. Representative
• E. Earl Patton, Atlanta businesasman and politician^[3]
• Joe Scarborough, former US Congressman from Florida and MSNBC personality
• Fletcher Thompson, former US Congressman from Atlanta

• Griffin Bell, US Attorney General 1976 to 1979 under President Carter
• Rowland Barnes, Fulton County Superior Court Judge

• Andrew Young, Ambassador to the UN under President Carter, civil rights activist and former mayor of Atlanta
• Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State 1961 to 1969 under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson

• Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil rights leader; Nobel Peace Laureate 1964 (he was the youngest man ever to receive this award)
• Charlotte Laws, Animal rights
• William Luther Pierce, neo-Fascist^{[citation needed]}
• General Larry Platt, Civil rights leader, famous for his 2010 performance of Pants on the Ground during the auditions of Season 9 of American Idol.
• C. T. Vivian, Civil rights leader; a minister, author, and was a close friend and lieutenant of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. during the American Civil Rights Movement

• Maynard Jackson, former mayor
• Ivan Allen Jr., former mayor

• Anthony J. Arduengo, III, chemist, best known for his work on chemical compounds with unusual valency, especially in the field of stable carbene research.
• Blake Ragsdale Van Leer, former president of Georgia Institute of Technology
• Edward M. Burgess, chemist best known for invention of the Burgess reagent.
• Mostafa A. El-Sayed, chemical physicist, 2007 US National Medal of Science recipient, member of the United States National Academy of Sciences
• Will Wright, computer game designer, best known for creating Simcity and The Sims

• Dick Buerkle, 1976 Olympian featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated
• Lindsey Vonn, 2006, 2010 Olympic skier. (part time resident of Atlanta, also lives in Germany and Vail, Colorado; born in Minnesota)
• Gwen Torrance,1992 Olympics, won gold medals in the 200 meters and 4 x 100 meter relay, as well as a silver medal in the 4 x 100 meter relay
• [Terrence R. Trammell]], a track and field athlete who won the silver medal in the 110 meter hurdles at both the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics

• Hank Aaron, Baseball Hall of Famer and the major leagues' home run leader from April 1974 to August 2007
• Ron Blomberg, MLB's first Designated Hitter
• Brett Butler, retired MLB baseball player
• Mike Ivie, MLB baseball player (1971–83), played with the San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and Detroit Tigers.
• Chipper Jones, baseball player
• David Justice, retired MLB baseball player
• Erskine Mayer, former MLB baseball pitcher
• Dale Murphy, retired MLB baseball player
• Phil Niekro, retired MLB baseball player
• John Smoltz, retired MLB baseball player

• Javaris Crittenton, former NBA player
• Walt Frazier, former NBA player
• Dwight Howard, current NBA player
• Josh Smith, current NBA player
• Dominique Wilkins, former NBA player

• Evander Holyfield, heavyweight champion boxer

• William Andrews, NFL player, Atlanta Falcons
• Harris Barton, NFL player
• Myron Guyton, NFL player, New York Giants and New England Patriots
• John Heisman, coach and college trophy namesake
• Jamal Lewis, running back
• Cam Newton, NFL player, Carolina Panthers
• Jessie Small, NFL player, Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals

• Bobby Jones, only player ever to have won golf's Grand Slam

• Jean-Marc Pelletier, Goaltender
• Eric Chouinard, Forward

• Kyle Martino, former Major League Soccer professional soccer player

• Raven, professional wrestler
• Chris Benoit, professional wrestler
• Lita, professional wrestler and valet
• William Regal, professional wrestler
• Fit Finlay, professional wrestler
• Lex Luger, professional wrestler
• Buff Bagwell, professional wrestler
• Hulk Hogan
• Jimmy Rave, professional wrestler
• Demolition Ax, professional wrestler
• Abdullah the Butcher, professional wrestler
• The Great Khali, professional wrestler
• Bill Goldberg, professional wrestler and NFL player
• Jimmy Wang Yang, professional wrestler

• Margaret Mitchell, 1937 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel Gone with the Wind
• Alice Walker, 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Color Purple
• Alfred Uhry, 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 1989 Academy Awards for Best Picture and for Writing Adapted Screenplay and more, Driving Miss Daisy
• Ralph McGill, 1959 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing editor of the Atlanta Constitution
• Daniel Boorstin, 1974 Pulitzer Prize for History The Americans: The Democratic Experience, Librarian of Congress from 1975 until 1987
• Clark Howell, 1931 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for exposing the Atlanta graft ring
• Mike Luckovich, 1995 and 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning
• George Goodwin, 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting of the Atlanta Journal for his story of the Telfair County vote fraud, published in 1947
• Atlanta Constitution, 1931 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for a successful municipal graft exposure and consequent convictions.
• Arnold Hardy, 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Photography amateur photographer, Georgia Tech student, for his photo of a woman leaping from a fire in the Winecoff Hotel resulting in national fire safety standards
• Jack Nelson, 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, Edition Time of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for the excellent reporting in his series of articles on mental institutions in Georgia.
• Mike Toner, 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for "When Bugs Fight Back", a series that explored the diminishing effectiveness of antibiotics and pesticides.
• Eugene Patterson, 1967 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing The Atlanta Constitution, for his editorials during the year
• Doug Marlette, 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, Atlanta Constitution and Charlotte Observer
• Margaret Edson, 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Wit

• W. E. B. Du Bois, who taught at Atlanta University and lived in the city for 6 years, during which he wrote The Souls of Black Folk (1903), in which he identified, "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line".

• Franklin Garrett, Atlanta's official historian who wrote the massive Atlanta and Environs (1954), the best reference for the city's history

• Douglas Brinkley, born in Atlanta, is a bestselling author of such books as The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf of Mexico (2006) and The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America. He was also biographer of Rosa Parks and James Carter.

• Cully Cobb (1884–1975), agricultural publisher, Progressive Farmer magazine and Ruralist Press, donor of Cobb Institute of Archaeology at Mississippi State University
• William Emerson (1923–2009), journalist who covered the civil rights era as Newsweek's first bureau chief assigned to cover the Southern United States and was later editor in chief of The Saturday Evening Post.^[4]
• Henry W. Grady, editor of the Atlanta Constitution
• Lewis Grizzard, journalist and author
• Matthew O'Brien, author (Beneath the Neon and My Week at the Blue Angel) and journalist
• Celestine Sibley, journalist and author
• Frank Lebby Stanton (1857–1927), lyricist, columnist for the Atlanta Constitution, author of the words for "Just Awearyin' for You"^[5]

• Belle K. Abbott, novelist author of Leah Mordecai
• Alex W. Bealer, blacksmith, author, and advertising executive
• Pat Conroy, contemporary Atlanta-born author of The Prince of Tides, Beach Music, and The Great Santini.
• James Dickey, poet and novelist
• Shaunti Feldhahn, author of For Women Only, For Men Only, The Veritas Conflict, and The Lights of 10th Street
• Joel Chandler Harris, author of Uncle Remus
• Hannah Salwen and Kevin Salwen, authors of The Power of Half

• Leo Frank, Jewish lynching victim
• B. B. Sams, illustrator
• Wayne Williams, convicted murderer and suspected serial killer
• Jennifer Wilbanks, "the runaway bride"