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Brenda Holloway was probably the most overlooked female singer on Motown's books.
Shame, because in my opinion she is one of the greatest soul singers of all time and one of my favourite female vocalists with a voice that makes my soul ache.

Lonely Boy;

goodfoot

edwin starr, way over there, some a better version than smokey's?

another from edwin, my weakness is you,

right-track

Edwin Starr was a great artist with some memorable tracks.
'25 Miles' being one of my favourites by Starr and his well known and often covered anti vietnam song 'War'.
'War' was put down in one take! An incredible feat which gives you a measure of the man's ability as a soul singer.

goodfoot

seen in glasgow, same night england beat germany 5-1, one of my mates was doing the p.a. at the gig, so i got a v.i.p. pass, he was the first soul legend i'd seen, there was a full band horns an all, it was in the barrowlands , it has a massive wooden sprung dance floor, great crowd and night, still got the pass's and flyer's.

jimmy lewis, that baby ain't black enough, some southern soul magic,

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I'll raise you with Nolan Porter's 'If I Could Only Be Sure' and 'Keep On Keeping On'.





'Keep On Keeping On' trivia. Before Joy Division signed for Wilson's Factory Records, Northern Soul DJ Richard Searling tried to get them to do the track as a cover version for the TK label, but they made a complete mess of it.
Later, they used the riff for 'Interzone'.

6underground

^ Best 6 minutes of my day. (Trivia is always a nice touch too.)

And I guess I'll call with,

goodfoot

ooh wee baby! yeh two cracking slabs of southern soul, and to name check joy division in the same sentance, i'll fold!

sam dees, miss herion, a message from the 70t's, even more prevalent today....

vernon garret, at the crossroads, we've all been here, some maybe more than once...

the radiants, you got it, out of chicago, a fantastic vocal group swayer..

tommy neal, going to a happening, makes you want to sniff out a party, as it happens going to a northern soul/mod night, tonight, getting in the mood, playing the uptempo grooves..

catjazz

I give a great deal of credit to Sam Cooke for being the first soul singer to break through the color line and acheive a great deal of crossover success.

James Brown, Joe Tex, Al Green were all independent label soul singers who had creative control over the recording careers. Most of the roster of Stax and Atlantic artists produced the kind of music they wanted, for better or for worse. Curtis Mayfield started off as a producer for the Okeh black music indie label and Mayfield and had the business know-how negotiate creative control over his music when he moved to the larger white owned Paramount label.

Otis and Aretha at Atlantic Records set the gold standard for soul music. Both artists worked with the brillant in-house production staff who had a keen sensitivty for artisitic control because Atantic Records was originally founded as a record label for black jazz musicians who were quite demanding about having creative control over their music.

Stevie Wonder and Marvin G.'s careers were hampered by the tyrannical Motown owner,Barry Gordy who stifled the creative impulses of his artists by attempting to present them like squeaky clean, tuxedoed cabaret performers with precision choreography and a watered down version of soul music. Gordy engaged in the unethical practice including himself in songwriting credits to steal royalty payments from his artists and keep ownership of his artist's music under his control. Stevie and Marvin rebelled against Gordy's policy of of banning socially relevant music and they won that fight and were able to release their groundbreaking What's Going On and Talking Book albums.

Why is there this term called neo-soul. I find people like Omar, Donnie, Anthony Hamilton, Eric Roberson, The Rebirth, Lalah Hathaway, Amiel Larrieux, Goepele (SP), Bilal, Kindred Family Soul, Angela Johnson, Chocklate (SP?), Conya Doss, Sy Smith, Ledisi, Don-E etc etc straight up soul.

Just to add my two pence worth. Donnie's The Colored Section album is awesome. The Rebirth's This Journey In should be in every home. Funkadelic - Not Just Knee Deep, Jolly (Funk's getting ready to roll), Bobby Womack - Harry Hippy, Games, Just My Imagination. Ledisi - Joy, Anita Baker - You Bring Me Joy (or just about anything she has ever sung), Chaka Khan - Sweet Thing, Omar - Last Request, Don-E - Bus Stop, Colonel Red - Blue Eyed Black, LA Boppers - Bebop Dancing, Did It Good, Eric Roberson - Open Your Eyes, Emily King - Never Be Lonely. There is too much music to mention past and present.

right-track

I think Gavin is referring to artists like Sharon Jones, Bettye LaVette and Anthony Hamilton in the sense that they are helping to revitalise a sound that hasn't been heard since the mid to late 60's through the early 70's when soul music was at it's height.

Nice post btw.

goodfoot

spencer wiggins, lets talk it over, some southern fried northern soul, from the superb goldwax label.


mvp's, turning my heartbeat up, casino classic.


the watts 103rd st rhythm band, spread'n honey, a funky dancer...