Soul Singer

Hootsmon · January 2023

Who's the best USA male soul singer?

BillDL · January 2023

Is or was?

Sam Cooke.

stickyfiddle · January 2023

No such thing as best, but it's probably any one of Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke or Sam & Dave

Hootsmon · January 2023

BillDL said:

Is or was?
Sam Cooke.

LOL Just downloading my copy of SC to my MP3 player and that's wot got me thinking

CharlieShaw · January 2023

Curtis Mayfield is my favourite. I like his guitar playing too. And he made three great solo albums.

Hootsmon · January 2023

Zat the superfly guy?

CharlieShaw · January 2023

Yes, although the Super Fly wasn’t one of the albums I had in mind. That’s good too, mind.

ICBM · January 2023

Bruce Springsteen.

Only slightly joking

. His new album - Only The Strong Survive, which is an album of R&B and soul covers - is genuinely really good, and shows how much of a huge influence the genre was on him in the first place.

But the real answer is Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding.

rlw · January 2023

And Wilson Pickett.

Placidcasual79 · January 2023

No one has mentioned the Rev Al Green!!! His Sunday slot at Glastonbury 99 was one of the best gigs I've ever been to. He was an incredible performer, bags of charisma and an utterly amazing voice.

Hootsmon · January 2023

Johnny Nash fit the bill?

Nitefly · January 2023

How do you turn a duck into a soul singer?

Leave it in a microwave until its bill withers.

Nitefly · January 2023

Can't decide between Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield, but also very fond of Stevie Wonder.

thecolourbox · January 2023

I think there are many greats who are probably "better" (Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye etc) but I always like the songs and live band arrangements of Bill Withers in his prime.

The one that goes "Maybe the lateness of the housr" etc chokes me every time

guitars4you · January 2023

Ray Charles can join any of the above great soul singers

But surprised no mention yet of Bobby Bland - Maybe not pure soul, but as always, there is that cross over link between soul, blues, gospel

Agree with you @icbm - That the Boss's current cover album is excellent

EricTheWeary · January 2023

I learned a version of Bill Withers' Use Me a while ago, kind of a blues jam. There are several cover versions so I was listening to them as well (the Mick Jagger one in particular just avoid)and makes you realise how bloody great he was.
I did see Sam Moore live once, although I can't remember much about it. I also saw Millie Jackson around the same time, great soul singer unfortunately her attempts at disco and toilet humour (literally if anyone remembers her album covers) rather besmirched her own legacy.

Placidcasual79 · January 2023

EricTheWeary said:

I learned a version of Bill Withers' Use Me a while ago, kind of a blues jam. There are several cover versions so I was listening to them as well (the Mick Jagger one in particular just avoid)and makes you realise how bloody great he was.
I did see Sam Moore live once, although I can't remember much about it. I also saw Millie Jackson around the same time, great soul singer unfortunately her attempts at disco and toilet humour (literally if anyone remembers her album covers) rather besmirched her own legacy.

Going off topic here so apologies - but I have to say I'd have loved to have seen Millie Jackson - Hurts so good is incredible - but the first track of Caught Up - 'if loving you is wrong (I don't want to be right) is a peek example of the soul/pop/funk of the time. Amazing track. Great album.

richardhomer · January 2023

Thought this might be the old joke about the Americans having their soul singers, we have our soul singers…

EricTheWeary · January 2023

Placidcasual79 said:

EricTheWeary said:

I learned a version of Bill Withers' Use Me a while ago, kind of a blues jam. There are several cover versions so I was listening to them as well (the Mick Jagger one in particular just avoid)and makes you realise how bloody great he was.
I did see Sam Moore live once, although I can't remember much about it. I also saw Millie Jackson around the same time, great soul singer unfortunately her attempts at disco and toilet humour (literally if anyone remembers her album covers) rather besmirched her own legacy.

Going off topic here so apologies - but I have to say I'd have loved to have seen Millie Jackson - Hurts so good is incredible - but the first track of Caught Up - 'if loving you is wrong (I don't want to be right) is a peek example of the soul/pop/funk of the time. Amazing track. Great album.

This would have been about 1986. I don’t really know why I went, my friend and I had both seen her on the TV I think. This was at The Night Out in Birmingham which was a cabaret venue (the building is still there having been turned into a nightclub and then the O2 Academy). Sitting at small tables with lamps, a full show with comedians, dancers,etc. I also saw Manhattan Transfer there.
I remember very little about the music but Millie had a running theme of jokes about black men refusing to perform oral sex and we were amongst few (possibly the only) white men in the room and we had a constant fear of being picked on. In retrospect highly unlikely that she would I suppose, although a better story if she had.

Caught Up is well worth anyone giving it a listen, she really was a great singer and it was a very ambitious, sophisticated work. Part of the small genre of soul concept albums. It seen as an influence on rap, indeed one track is called The Rap but it doesn’t bear much relationship to 80s hip-hop.

GoFish · January 2023

Hootsmon said:

Johnny Nash fit the bill?

You've raised more questions than answers there. And please don't call me Bill

GoFish · January 2023

The major ones have been covered above. Sam Cooke and Al Green are great benchmarks and probably stand first among equals. When it comes to purely singing, a lot depends on preference as these cats could all sing. I quite like David Ruffin and Levi Stubbs (from the Temptaions and the Four Tops). So many great singers of the era had so much more going on, like Lennon & McCartney here. Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown were auteurs who defined eras and genres. Smokey Robinson and isaac Hayes were ridiculous songwriters and producers. Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett had an infectious personality that shone through. Jimmy Cliff had reggae soul. Lee Dorsey had funky soul.

Soul Music had a respect for the art of the singer that rock and roll often didn't. Maybe Elvis was to blame?

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Soul Singer

Comments