Origins pioneered the soul music genre during the 1950s by combining blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles. Soul music has its roots in
traditional African-American gospel music and
rhythm and blues and as the hybridization of their respective religious and secular styles – in both lyrical content and instrumentation – that began in the 1950s. The term "soul" had been used among African-American musicians to emphasize the feeling of being an African American in the United States. According to musicologist
Barry Hansen,Though this hybrid produced a clutch of hits in the R&B market in the early 1950s, only the most adventurous white fans felt its impact at the time; the rest had to wait for the coming of soul music in the 1960s to feel the rush of
rock and roll sung gospel-style. was known as the "Godfather of Soul". According to
AllMusic, "Soul music was the result of the urbanization and commercialization of rhythm and blues in the '60s." The phrase "soul music" itself, referring to gospel-style music with secular lyrics, was first attested in 1961. The term "soul" in African-American parlance has connotations of African-American pride and culture.
Gospel groups in the 1940s and '50s occasionally used the term as part of their names. The
jazz style that originated from gospel became known as
soul jazz. As singers and arrangers began using techniques from both gospel and soul jazz in African-American popular music during the 1960s, soul music gradually functioned as an umbrella term for African-American popular music at the time. is regarded as one of soul music's "forefathers". According to the Acoustic Music Organization, the "first clear evidence of soul music shows up with
the "5" Royales, an ex-gospel group that turned to R&B and in
Faye Adams, whose "Shake A Hand" becomes an R&B standard". Important innovators whose recordings in the 1950s contributed to the emergence of soul music included
Clyde McPhatter,
Hank Ballard, and
Etta James. Singer
Bobby Womack said, "Ray was the genius. He turned the world onto soul music." Charles was open in acknowledging the influence of
Pilgrim Travelers vocalist Jesse Whitaker on his singing style.
Little Richard, who inspired
Otis Redding, and
James Brown both were equally influential. Brown was nicknamed the "Godfather of Soul Music",
Sam Cooke and
Jackie Wilson also are often acknowledged as soul forefathers. Cooke became popular as the lead singer of the gospel group
the Soul Stirrers, before controversially moving into secular music. His recording of "
You Send Me" in 1957 launched a successful
pop music career. Furthermore, his 1962 recording of "
Bring It On Home to Me" has been described as "perhaps the first record to define the soul experience". Jackie Wilson, a contemporary of both Cooke and James Brown, also achieved
crossover success, especially with his 1957 hit "
Reet Petite". He even was particularly influential for his dramatic delivery and performances.
1960s recorded for
Atlantic Records in the 1960s. Husband-wife duo
Ike & Tina Turner emerged as "leading exponents" of soul music in the 1960s. Their debut single "
A Fool in Love" crossed over to the pop charts in 1960. They earned a
Grammy nomination for their song "
It's Gonna Work Out Fine" in 1962. Along with the
Kings of Rhythm and
the Ikettes, they toured the
Chitlin’ Circuit as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Writer
Peter Guralnick is among those to identify
Solomon Burke as a key figure in the emergence of soul music, and
Atlantic Records as the key
record label. Burke's early 1960s songs, including "
Cry to Me", "
Just Out of Reach (of My Two Open Arms)" and "
Down in the Valley" are considered classics of the genre. Guralnick wrote: Soul started, in a sense, with the 1961 success of Solomon Burke's "Just Out of Reach". Ray Charles, of course, had already enjoyed enormous success (also on Atlantic), as had James Brown and Sam Cooke — primarily in a pop vein. Each of these singers, though, could be looked upon as an isolated phenomenon; it was only with the coming together of Burke and Atlantic Records that you could begin to see anything even resembling a movement. is widely known as the "
Queen of Soul".
Ben E. King also achieved success in 1961 with "
Stand by Me", a song directly based on a gospel hymn. The most important female soul singer to emerge was
Aretha Franklin, originally a gospel singer who began to make secular recordings in 1960 but whose career was later revitalized by her recordings for Atlantic. Her 1967 recordings, such as "
I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)", "
Respect" (written and originally recorded by Otis Redding), and "
Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" (written by
Chips Moman and
Dan Penn), were significant and commercially successful recordings. Soul music dominated the U.S. African-American music charts in the 1960s, and many recordings crossed over into the pop charts in the U.S. Otis Redding was a huge success at the
Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967. Different regions and cities within the U.S., including New York City, Detroit, Chicago,
Memphis,
New Orleans,
Philadelphia, and Muscle Shoals, Alabama (the home of
FAME Studios and
Muscle Shoals Sound Studios) became noted for different subgenres of the music and recording styles. By 1968, while at its peak of popularity, soul began to fragment into different subgenres. Artists such as James Brown and
Sly and the Family Stone evolved into
funk music, while other singers such as Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder,
Curtis Mayfield and
Al Green developed slicker, more sophisticated and in some cases more politically conscious varieties of the genre.
Bobby Womack, who recorded with Chips Moman in the late 1960s, continued to produce soul recordings in the 1970s and 1980s. In
Detroit, producer
Don Davis worked with
Stax artists such as
Johnnie Taylor and
the Dramatics. Early 1970s recordings by
the Detroit Emeralds, such as
Do Me Right, are a link between soul and the later
disco style.
Motown Records artists such as
Marvin Gaye,
Michael Jackson,
Stevie Wonder and
Smokey Robinson contributed to the evolution of soul music, although their recordings were considered more in a
pop music vein than those of Redding, Franklin and Carr. By the early 1970s, soul music had been influenced by
psychedelic rock and other genres. Artists like
James Brown led soul towards
funk music, which became typified by 1970s bands like
Parliament-Funkadelic and
the Meters. More versatile groups such as
War,
the Commodores, and
Earth, Wind and Fire became popular around this time. During the 1970s, some slick and commercial
blue-eyed soul acts like Philadelphia's
Hall & Oates and Oakland's
Tower of Power achieved mainstream success, as did a new generation of street-corner harmony or "city-soul" groups such as
the Delfonics and the historically black
Howard University's
Unifics. The syndicated music/dance variety television series
Soul Train, hosted by Chicago native
Don Cornelius, debuted in 1971. The show provided an outlet for soul music for several decades, also spawning a franchise that saw the creation of a record label (
Soul Train Records) that distributed music by
the Whispers,
Carrie Lucas, and an up-and-coming group known as
Shalamar. Numerous disputes led to Cornelius spinning off the record label to his talent booker,
Dick Griffey, who transformed the label into
Solar Records, itself a prominent soul music label throughout the 1980s.
Beyond As
disco and funk musicians had hits in the late 1970s and early 1980s, soul went in the direction of
quiet storm. With its relaxed tempos and soft melodies, quiet storm soul took influences from
fusion and
adult contemporary. Some funk bands, such as EW&F, the Commodores and
Con Funk Shun would have a few quiet storm tracks on their albums. Among the most successful acts in this era include Smokey Robinson, Jeffry Osbourne,
Peabo Bryson,
Chaka Khan, and
Larry Graham. After the decline of disco and funk in the early 1980s, soul music became influenced by
electro music. It became less raw and more slickly produced, resulting in a style that is known as
contemporary R&B, which sounded very different from the original
rhythm and blues style. The United States saw the development of
neo-soul around 1994. == Notable labels and producers ==