The Velvelettes were formed by Bertha Barbee at Western Michigan University in the early 60s, with Cal (Carolyn) Gill ending up as the lead singer,…

Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, in 1939, Betty Everett was playing piano and singing in church by the age of nine. In 1957, she moved to Chicago…

Born Donald Randolph in South Carolina in 1938, Don Covay moved to Washington in the early fifties where he performed with his family’s gospel group,…

Bobby Byrd and Earl Nelson had both been members of a prolific doo-wop group in Los Angeles called The Hollywood Flames, while Byrd also had…

Charles Edwin Hatcher was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1942. He and his cousins, soul singers Roger and Willie Hatcher, moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where…

Chris Clark was a 17-year-old, 6-foot platinum blonde when she arrived at Motown’s Detroit headquarters in 1963 to audition for Berry Gordy Jnr. The Motown…

Berry Gordy’s family, like thousands of others, had moved from the southern states of the USA to Detroit, whose automobile industry in the years between…

In 1961 three teenage girls, Florence Ballard, Diane Ross (not until later would she be known as Diana) and Mary Wilson, began a journey that…

One of the sweetest soul groups hailing from Philadelphia, with an incredible run of soul smashes from 1971 to 1975, The Stylistics formed from two…

William ‘Smokey’ Robinson was born on 19 February 1940, the son of a municipal truck driver from what he called “the suave part of the…

Sam Cooke was born one of eight children in Chicago on 22 January 1931, into a strong church-going family. His father was a local minister.…

Samuel Moore and David Prater were both from the South, had both spent time as gospel singers, and joined forces as a vocal duo in…

Percy Sledge was born in Leighton, Alabama, in November 1941 and was working as a hospital orderly in 1965 when his former music teacher asked…

With an $800 loan from his family and a roster of unknown young Detroit singers, former record shop owner Berry Gordy Jnr (pictured below) started what…

Jimmy Ruffin was born in Collinsville, Mississippi in May 1936. He sang with his family’s gospel group, led by his minister father, before moving to…

Born in a one-room shack in the pinewoods of Barnwell, South Carolina on 3 May 1933, James Joe Brown Jnr. was apparently stillborn and survived entry into…

Jack Leroy “Jackie” Wilson, Jr. (born in Detroit on 9 June 1934) was an African-American singer who played an important part in the transition of…

Clyde Lensley McPhatter was born on 15 November 1933 in the tobacco town of Durham, North Carolina. He was one of ten children for George…

The effervescent vocals of General Norman Johnson did much to secure Chairmen Of The Board a major hit with Give Me Just A Little More Time in…

Ray Charles started out smooth – A substandard Nat King Cole – but after signing to Atlantic, his gospel background kicked in and he effectively invented soul. As…