Soul music

Soul music is a kind of music that mixes rhythm and blues, gospel music, and pop music. It was created in the 1960s in the United States by African American musicians. Features of soul music are call and response, hand claps, body movement and a tense vocal sound.

Ray Charles is said to be inventor of soul music with his song "I Got a Woman". Soul is energetic music, with the main subjects of lyrics being love, dance and life.^[1] The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame states that soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying."^[2] Recently, singers like Christina Aguilera, Amy Winehouse and Adele have become well known as Blue Eyed Soul singers. In some styles of soul music, brass and saxophones are used a lot.^[3]

Notable artists

• Ray Charles^[4]
• James Brown^[5]
• Wilson Pickett
• Marvin Gaye
• Sam Cooke
• Smokey Robinson^[6]
• Aretha Franklin^[7]
• Major Lance

Related pages

• Funk
• R&B
• Reggae
• Hip hop