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…
Browsing: Soul music
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…
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…
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.…
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…
Born in Philadelphia, Solomon Burke started preaching at the age of seven, sang on the radio at 12, was signed to the Apollo label by…
The early and middle 60s are remembered by many as the time when The Beatles, Stones and big British beat took the world by storm. The charts were…
Founded in an old movie theatre in Memphis (originally as a country/pop label called Satellite Records) by Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, Stax – made…
Born in Saginaw, Michigan on 13 May 1950, Stevie Wonder (born Steveland Judkins) was not born blind. The blindness happened shortly afterwards as a result of…
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…
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…
Tammi Terrell (real name: Thomasina Montgomery) was born in Philadelphia in 1945. Her mother was an actress and Tammi was showbusiness aware from an early age.…
Atlanta’s Tams were among the more popular up-tempo soul groups of the 60s, although they were never able to break Motown’s pop stranglehold. Joseph Pope’s…
The early history of The Temptations parallels that of The Supremes. The group actually started life as The Primes while The Supremes were called The Primettes. They…
Born Rosemarie Timotea Aurro (pronounced “Yuro”) in Chicago to Italian-American parents in 1940, Yuro moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1952. Signed by…
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,…