Spirit's Got Soul

Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s, combining elements of African American gospel music and rhythm and blues.  According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - soul is music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying.   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 soloist and the chorus, and an especially tense vocal sound.

James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) In a career that spanned six decades, Brown profoundly influenced the development of soul music.  Brown moved on a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly Africanized approach to music making.  Brown performed in concerts, first making his rounds across the Chitlin' Circuit, and then across the country and later around the world, along with appearing in shows on television and in movies.  Although he contributed much to the music world through his hitmaking, Brown holds the record as the artist who charted the most singles on the Billboard Hot 100 without ever hitting number one on that chart. In 1986, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2000 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Sam & Dave performed together from 1961 through 1981.  The tenor voice was Samuel David Moore (born October 12, 1935), and the baritone/tenor voice was Dave Prater (May 9, 1937 – April 9, 1988). Sam & Dave are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and are Grammy Award and multiple gold record award winning artists.  According to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Sam & Dave were the most successful soul duo, and brought the sounds of the black gospel church to pop music with their call-and-response records.

Rufus Thomas, Jr. (March 26, 1917 – December 15, 2001) was an American rhythm and blues, funk and soul singer and comedian from Memphis, Tennessee, who recorded on Sun Records in the 1950s.  The prime of Rufus' recording career came in the 1960s and early 1970s, when he was on the roster of Memphis label, Stax, having one of the first hit sides at the historic soul and blues label, Walking the Dog (number 5 R&B, number 10 Pop), in 1963.  He died of heart failure in 2001, at the age of 84, at St. Francis Hospital in Memphis.  A street is named in his honor, just off Beale Street in Memphis.  He is buried next to his wife at the New Park Cemetery in Memphis.

Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is an American singer and musician.  Aretha began her career singing gospel at her father, minister C. L. Franklin's church as a child.  In 1960, at age 18, Aretha embarked on a secular career, achieving modest success with Columbia Records.  However, following her signing to Atlantic Records in 1967, Aretha achieved commercial acclaim and success with songs such as Respect, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Chain of Fools and Think.  These hits and more helped her to gain the title The Queen of Soul by the end of the decade.  In February 1968, Franklin earned the first two of her Grammys including the debut category for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

Eddie Floyd was born in Montgomery, Alabama, and grew up in Detroit, Michigan.  He founded The Falcons, which also featured Mack Rice.  They were forerunners to future Motown vocal groups such as The Temptations and The Four Tops.  Their most successful songs included You're So Fine and later, when Wilson Pickett was recruited into the group as the lead singer, I Found a Love. Pickett then embarked on a solo career, and The Falcons disbanded.  In 1966, Floyd recorded a song initially written for Otis Redding.  Wexler convinced Stax president Jim Stewart to release Floyd's version.  The Steve Cropper/Eddie Floyd Knock On Wood launched Floyd's solo career.

The Coasters had a string of hits in the late 1950s.  Beginning with Searchin' and Young Blood, their most memorable songs were written by the songwriting and producing team of Leiber and Stoller.  The Coasters' association with Leiber and Stoller was an immediate success.  Together they created a string of good-humored storytelling hits.  Their first single, Down in Mexico, was an R&B hit in 1956.  The following year, The Coasters crossed over to the national charts with Searchin' that was the group's first U.S. Top 10 hit, and topped the R&B charts for 13 weeks. In 1987, the Coasters became the first group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, crediting the members of the 1958-era configuration.  The Coasters also joined the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.

Carla Venita Thomas was born December 21, 1942, in Memphis, Tennessee.  The Daughter of Soul singer Rufus Thomas, Carla is often referred to as the Queen of Memphis Soul.  Best known for the work for both Atlantic Records and most notably, Stax Records in the 1960s.  Her first record, 'Cause I Love You, was a duet with her father, with brother Marvell on keyboards, that was released by Satellite Records, which eventually became Stax Records.  Recorded when Carla was still attending Hamilton High School in Memphis, the record drew enough local attention to catch the interest of Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records.  During this time Carla also released what is now considered to be one of the finest "Northern Soul" records of all time, I'll Never Stop Loving You.

Solomon Burke (March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010) singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People.  Burke was known as King Solomon, the King of Rock 'n' Soul.  Solomon was a singer whose smooth, powerful articulation and mingling of sacred and profane themes helped define soul music in the early 1960s.  Burke drew from his roots: gospel, soul, and blues, as well as developing his own style at a time when R&B, and rock were both still in their infancy.  Artistically, Burke was influenced by the music of the church, as well as by Little Richard.  The ample figure of Solomon Burke symbolized the ways that spirituality and commerce, ecstasy and entertainment, sex and salvation, individualism and brotherhood, could blend in the world of 1960s soul music.

Clarence George Carter is an American blues and soul singer, musician, songwriter and record producer.  Clarence exemplified the gritty, earthy sound of Muscle Shoals R&B, fusing the devastating poignancy of the blues with a wicked, lascivious wit to create deeply soulful music rooted in the American South of the past and the present.  Born January 14, 1936, in Montgomery, AL, Carter was blind from birth.  He immediately gravitated to music, teaching himself guitar by listening to the blues classics of John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Jimmy Reed.  He majored in music at Alabama State University, learning to transcribe charts and arrangements in Braille.

Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was a major figure in the development of American soul music.  Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100.  Among his best known hits are In the Midnight Hour (which he co-wrote), Land of 1,000 Dances, Mustang Sally, and Funky Broadway.  In addition to his million selling gold records, Pickett also created the most called telephone number in American history with his 634-5789 Soul City recording. The impact of Pickett's songwriting and recording led to his 1991 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Bobby Womack (March 4, 1944 – June 27, 2014) was an American singer-songwriter and musician.  An active recording artist since the early 1960s, when he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group the Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career spanned more than 50 years, during which he played in the styles of R&B, soul, rock and roll, doo-wop, gospel, and country.  Bobby worked on recordings by Joe Tex, the Box Tops and Aretha Franklin.  His work as a songwriter caught the eye of music executives after Wilson Pickett took a liking to some of the songs and insisted on recording them.  Among those songs included the hits I'm a Midnight Mover and I'm in Love.  Bobby wrote and originally recorded the Rolling Stones' first UK No. 1 hit, It's All Over Now.

Otis Ray Redding, Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) is considered one of the major figures in soul music and rhythm and blues and one of the greatest singers in popular music.  His open-throated singing was an influence on other soul singers of the 1960s, and he helped to craft the lean and powerful style of R&B that formed the basis of the Stax Sound.  After appearing at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, he wrote and recorded (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay with Steve Cropper, which became the first posthumous number-one record on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts after his death in a plane crash.  Redding received many posthumous accolades, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  Because of his influence on other artists, he received the honorific King of Soul.

The Drifters are a long-lived doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today.  There are two versions of the Drifters that are notable.  The first classic Drifters formed by Clyde McPhatter was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as The Drifters or The Original Drifters.  The second Drifters formed by George Treadwell, who owned the Drifters name featuring Ben E. King was separately inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as Ben E. King and the Drifters.  The (original) Drifters managed to set musical trends and give the public 13 chart hits, most of which are legendary recordings today.  Matching that feat, the non-original Drifters managed to give the public 13 Hot 100 top 30 chart hits.

Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964) better known under the stage name Sam Cooke, is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music.  He is acclaimed for his distinctive vocal abilities and influence on the modern world of music.  Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, and a further three after his death.  Major hits like You Send Me, A Change Is Gonna Come, Cupid, Chain Gang, and Twistin' the Night Away are some of his most popular songs.  Cooke was also among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career.  He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer.

Leon Bridges (born Todd Michael Bridges on July 13, 1989) is an American gospel and soul singer and songwriter from Fort Worth, Texas.  Leon's debut album, Coming Home, was released on June 23, 2015, on Columbia Records.  The single, also titled Coming Home, received regular airplay and was a Top 10 Most Viral Track on Spotify.  Leon was the featured musical guest on Saturday Night Live December 5, 2015.  He performed Smooth Sailin' with a full backup band, and sang River with only backup singers, accompanying himself on guitar.  Leon's style is soul resembling 1960s rhythm and blues a la Otis Redding and Sam Cooke.  With vintage clothing and smooth dance moves Leon's music sounds like he looks.  Lisa Sawyer, his mothers story, with a doowop arrangement, is a son's expression of respect and bottomless affection.

Wanderin' Spirit
February, 2007
"Spirit's Got Soul"

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