Soul music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s.[2] It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues.[3] Soul music became popular for dancing and listening, where U.S. record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Soul also became popular around the world, directly influencing rock music and the music of Africa.[4] It also had a resurgence in the mid-to late 1990s with the subgenre neo-soul,[5] which added modern production elements and influence from hip-hop.
This article is about the genre of music. For other uses, see Soul music (disambiguation).Soul
Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body moves, are an important feature of soul music. Other characteristics are a call and response between the lead vocalist and the chorus and an especially tense vocal sound.[6] The style also occasionally uses improvisational additions, twirls, and auxiliary sounds.[6] Soul music reflects the African-American identity, and it stresses the importance of an African-American culture. The new-found African-American consciousness led to new styles of music that boasted pride in being black,[7] and being such a creative genre of music, it emerged from the power struggle to increase black Americans' awareness of their African ancestry.[8] Soul music also combines different elements of music which includes gospel music, rhythm and blues and jazz.[9]
Soul music dominated the U.S. R&B chart in the 1960s, and many recordings crossed over into the pop charts in the U.S., Britain, and elsewhere. By 1968, the soul music genre had begun to splinter. Some soul artists developed funk music, while other singers and groups developed slicker, more sophisticated, and in some cases more politically conscious varieties.[10] Many soul artists gained popularity due to the domination of soul music in the R&B charts. Among these artists were Ray Charles, James Brown and the soul group the Temptations.[11] By the early 1970s, soul music had been influenced by psychedelic and progressive rock, among other genres, leading to psychedelic and progressive soul. The United States saw the development of neo soul around 1994. There are also several other subgenres and offshoots of soul music.
The key subgenres of soul include the Motown style, a more pop-friendly and rhythmic style; deep soul and southern soul, driving, energetic soul styles combining R&B with southern gospel music sounds; Memphis soul, a shimmering, sultry style; New Orleans soul, which came out of the rhythm and blues style; Chicago soul, a lighter gospel-influenced sound; Philadelphia soul, a lush orchestral sound with doo-wop-inspired vocals; as well as psychedelic soul, a blend of psychedelic rock and soul music.
Non-black musicians[edit]
The impact of soul music was manifold; internationally, white and other non-black musicians were influenced by soul music. British soul and Northern soul, rare soul music played by DJs at nightclubs in Northern England, are examples.
Several terms were introduced, such as "blue-eyed soul", which is R&B or soul music performed by white artists. The meaning of blue-eyed soul has evolved over the decades. Originally the term was associated with mid-1960s white artists who performed soul and R&B that was similar to the music released by Motown Records and Stax Records.[33] The Righteous Brothers, the Rascals, Spencer Davis Group, Steve Winwood, Van Morrison & Them, and the Grass Roots were famous blue-eyed soul musicians in the 1960s. The term continued to be used in the 1970s and 1980s, particularly by the British media to refer to a new generation of singers who adopted elements of the Stax and Motown sounds. To a lesser extent, the term has been applied to singers in other music genres that are influenced by soul music. Artists like Hall & Oates, David Bowie, Teena Marie, Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds, Frankie Valli, Christina Aguilera, Amy Winehouse and Adele are known as blue-eyed soul singers.
Another term is brown-eyed soul, or soul music or R&B created and performed mainly by Latinos in Southern California during the 1960s, continuing through to the early 1980s.[83][84] The genre of soul music occasionally draws from Latin, and often contains rock music influences.[85] This contrasts with blue-eyed soul, soul music performed by non-Hispanic white artists.[86] Ritchie Valens, one of the original pioneers of brown-eyed soul music, also became one of the first brown-eyed soul artists to bring traditional Latin music and rock and roll influences into the genre. Latino groups on the East and West Coast also drew from the funk-influenced Philadelphia soul, or "Philly" soul. The West Coast Latin rock scene continued to influence brown-eyed soul artists as well. Inspired by Valens, 1960s and 1970s bands such as Cannibal & the Headhunters ("Land of a Thousand Dances") and Thee Midniters played brown-eyed R&B music with a rebellious rock and roll edge. Many of these artists drew from the frat rock and garage rock scenes. However, the large Hispanic population on the West Coast began gradually moving away from energetic R&B to romantic soul, and the results were "some of the sweetest soul music heard during the late 1960s and 1970s."[83]