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Description of Soul

 
When the Gospel of the South met the Rhythm & Blues of the Midwest, it brought the spirituality of a Sunday Revival into the Boogie-Woogie world of Rhythm & Blues. Out of this fertile union, Soul was born. The backbone of Soul is a solid rhythm section with a decidedly secular groove. The guitar usually takes a back seat to a Hammond B-3 organ, as horns moan and flare above. However, almost all Soul centers around impassioned, soaring vocals with occasional improvisational touches. Soul implores its listeners to look for love, to forgive for love, or to simply shake their tails for some good loving. Impassioned artists like Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin and Al Green verge on blurring the line that separates the soul singer from the evangelical preacher. You could almost call Soul music religious music without the religion.

Cities like Detroit and Philadelphia were the hotbeds of mainstream Soul as it crossed over to the masses in the mid- to late '60s, while developments in Alabama's Muscle Shoals and Memphis' famous Stax/Volt studio kept Soul music relevant through to the birth of Funk. Soul's effect on American popular music reverberates through the Blue-Eyed Soul of the '70s on to today's R&B hits by artists including the acrobatic vocalist Mariah Carey and The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.

 

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Soul Key Artists

 
Al Green

The undisputed King of '70s
Soul, singer Al Green
eventually traded in his
seductive secular love
songs for gospel. Green fo...

Ann Peebles

Best known for the
magnificent "I Can't Stand
The Rain," Ann Peebles is
one of '70s Soul's brightest
stars.

Aretha Franklin

Queen of Soul Aretha
Franklin's
Gospel-influenced music
has endured for decades,
bringing her both pop and...

Ben E. King

Pop-soul singer Ben E. King,
best known for the timeless
song, "Stand By Me," helped
soul music crossover to the
pop charts. King spent a s...

Bettye Swann

Bettye Swan's classic soul
was dwarfed by the stars of
Motown, but a reissue in
2004 introduced her to a
new generation. In the lat...

Bill Withers

A consummate songwriter,
a deeply soulful singer, and
R&B's pride and joy, Withers
is best known for the single
"Lean On Me." Withers' so...

Bobby Womack

A successful solo musician
and a highly regarded
session man, Womack's
playing shaped essential
Funk and Soul recordings...

Booker T. & The MGs

House band for Memphis'
Stax label scored several
instrumental hits of their
own when not backing Otis
Redding and others. Drum...

Brook Benton

Like the mighty Sam Cooke,
Benton remodelled his
Gospel-singing youth into
secular '60s stardom as an
adult. Brook Benton was...

Curtis Mayfield

A seminal Soul figure best
known for "Superfly," he
mixed his rich falsetto and
funky guitar with messages
of black pride. Mayfield fr...

Etta James

The provocative, insatiable
Ms. Etta James sings with
unrivaled passion whether
it be soul, blues, soul-blues,
or R&B. Etta James once sai...

Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes

A quintessential Philly Soul
outfit, Harold Melvin and
The Blue Notes were
masters of the love song.
Things really picked up fo...

Isaac Hayes

Hayes and partner David
Porter penned countless
Stax-Volt hits for artists
such as Sam & Dave and Carla
Thomas. Hayes cut his tee...

Jerry Butler

Soul singer Jerry Butler
earned his nickname "The
Ice Man" because of his cool
when singing heart-rending
lyrics. Butler grew up po...

Lou Rawls

A much-loved singer who
treads the line between
jazz and R&B, Lou Rawls'
elegant voice brings the
game to a whole new leve...

Marvin Gaye

With a career that
exemplified the maturation
of romantic black pop into a
sophisticated form spanning
social and sexual politics,...

Otis Redding

Otis Redding's grainy voice
and galvanizing stage shows
made him one of the
greatest male soul singers of
the '60s. At the time of his...

Percy Sledge

Percy Sledge is a Soul singer
you can't go wrong with:
his ballads command
emotion without slipping
into sentimentality. Recor...

Roberta Flack

Flack achieved
near-immortality with
"Killing Me Softly" (1973),
and found pop success
again with Peabo Bryson i...

Sam and Dave

Sam Moore and Dave
Prater's string of soul and
pop hits made them the '60s'
most successful black vocal
duo. Both had grown up s...

Sam Cooke

Gospel singer turned
enormous crossover
success, the pop sheen on
much of his work could
never hide the passion be...

Solomon Burke

Imposing Gospel singer (and
preacher) whose secular
numbers made a lot of noise
on the R&B charts in the '60s.
If you read the book "Hig...

Stevie Wonder

Groomed from an early age
for Motown stardom, Stevie
Wonder mastered that
label's distinctive fusion of
pop and soul and then we...

The Brothers Johnson

R&B singer songwriters The
Brothers Johnson were
originally called Johnson
Three Plus One. Quincy
Jones hired them to play...

The Delfonics

A legendary Philadelphia
R&B/Soul act, the Delfonics
recorded a slew of hit love
songs in the late 1960s and
early 1970s. Their many s...

The Dells

Doo- Woppers- cum- Soul-
crooners, the Dells crafted
unforgettable harmonies
and kept themselves on the
charts for decades. Still a...

The Impressions

Curtis Mayfield and the
Impressions led the
transition from Doo-Wop to
Soul, crafting gorgeous
songs with uplifting theme...

The O'Jays

Philly Soul stalwarts the
O'Jays brought three-part
harmonies to hits such as
"Love Train" and "Back
Stabbers." In an age of de...

The Spinners

Starting at Motown in the
'60s, the Spinners ended up
crafting classy Philly
Soul-style hits though the
'70s at Atlantic. "It's A Sha...

Tina Turner

After a tumultuous
relationship, which Tina
Turner has described as
being marked by physical
and emotional abuse (clai...

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