Soul music is a popular form of music created by African-American musicians that gained popularity in the 1950s. Ray Charles and James Brown, for example, blended familiar gospel singing with rhythm and blues to create the first soul sounds at the time. As depicted in the biopic film Ray, some found this early music almost sacrilegious. To some, it seemed a little risky to take gospel, one of the great African American contributions to Christianity, and use the singing style to talk about love, women, and good times.
Nonetheless, these early soul music styles were hugely popular. Early rock and roll and rhythm and blues were mixed with familiar gospel music that spoke to the soul. A slew of record labels jumped on board to produce the increasingly popular soul genre, and some of them were even founded on it. While major labels such as Atlantic Records quickly signed Solomon Burke, new labels such as Stax Records and Goldwax Records aided the popularity of soul music by signing artists such as Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, and James Carr.
By the 1970s, soul music had evolved to include more message-based music as well as some psychedelic rock stylings. Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On is a standout album from this period, with a thematic focus on continued racial strife in America and the onset of the Vietnam war.
The funk and disco styles were also incorporated into this genre. While singing styles remained consistent, disco and funk’s syncopated danceable beats left an indelible mark on soul. The Commodores and Earth, Wind, and Fire were two of the most popular disco bands, bringing soul to the forefront of public consciousness and producing a slew of mainstream hits.
White singers began to profit from the popular soul style, and their music, dubbed “blue-eyed soul,” was well received. Perhaps the most well-known of these bands is Hall & Oates, who rose to prominence in the 1980s with hits like “Private Eyes.” Many bands in the 1970s and 1980s were influenced by soul music and featured full horn sections in their lineups.
Soul music exists in a variety of forms, and old soul songs can be incorporated into hip-hop or rap music. Hip-hop artists like Mary J. Blige continue to combine gospel singing roots with contemporary music in their vocal tracks. The 1960s saw the emergence of Detroit Soul, Deep Soul, and Memphis Soul. Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Otis Redding, and Rufus Thomas were among the pioneers of this genre. Philadelphia Soul is another early form, with large orchestra parts and singers like Patti LaBelle performing it.
Bands like Sly & The Family Stone and The Fifth Dimension performed psychedelic soul, which leaned heavily on late 1960s psychedelic rock and funk with soul vocals. Neo-soul is a term used to describe new soul music from the 1990s onward. While gospel singing has strong roots, this music often incorporates modern rhythmic expressions, such as those found in hip-hop. India Arie, Alicia Keyes, Babyface, and Joss Stone are examples of neo-soul artists.