I've been deep into my early soul files these days and decided to put together some of my favorites for you, hoping to give you a few deep cuts plus a couple reminders of really good classics. What was interesting was that once I'd compiled some initial nominees for the mix, I realized that many of them were recorded and released right around 1963 and none outside of the 60s decade whatsoever. (What magic was conspiring in 1963 to create this sweet spot?)
Finishing the mix was a good exercise -- could I not only stick to these particular years, but also to a particular type of sound: soul that is tinged with doo-wop but not too bluesy or influenced by funk of the approaching 70s. It mixes the sweetness and syncopation of doo-wop with the saltiness of really powerful soul.
Hope you enjoy it! Oh and I'm pregnant! Soul Baby #1 due August 22nd.
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James Brown and The Famous Flames / I'll Go Crazy
1960
More Info from Last.FM
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. A progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century popular music and dance, he is often referred to as the "Godfather of Soul". In a career that lasted 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres. Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia. He joined an R&B vocal group Read more on Last.fm more...
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The Crescents & The McMillan Sisters / Here You Come Again
1965
More Info from Last.FM
Melodic Black/Death Metal from South Korea. Members: Vo: Yeon-Sang Gu: Bak Joon-Soo Gu: Son Yeong-Hoon Ba: Jeong Yeong-Sang Dr: Bak Han-Bi Keyboard, Synths: Jang Yeo-ji Website: http://cafe.daum.net/crescents Read more on Last.fm more...
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Doris Troy / Just One Look
1963
More Info from Last.FM
Doris Troy (January 6, 1937 – February 16, 2004) was an American Rhythm & Blues singer, known to her many fans as "Mama Soul". She was born as Doris Elaine Higginsen, in The Bronx, the daughter of a Barbadian Pentecostal minister. She later took her grandmother's name and grew up as Doris Payne. Her parents disapproved of "subversive" forms of music like rhythm & blues, so she cut her teeth singing in her father's choir. She was working as an usherette at the Apollo where she was discovered by James Brown. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Brenton Wood / Baby You Got It
1967
More Info from Last.FM
There are at least two artists with the name Brenton Wood: an American soul singer and songwriter, and a rock musician. 1.) Alfred Jesse Smith (born July 26, 1941 in Shreveport, Louisiana), better known by the stage name Brenton Wood, is an American singer and songwriter, best known for his two 1967 hits: Oogum Boogum Song and Gimme Little Sign. When he was a child his family moved west to San Pedro in Los Angeles, California. In his high school years his family relocated to nearby Compton Read more on Last.fm more...
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Wilson Pickett / I'm Not Tired
1965
More Info from Last.FM
Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American R&B and soul singer. Known for his raw, passionate delivery, he played a major role in developing southern soul music. Aided immeasurably by the excellent studio bands backing him at the Stax Studios in Memphis, Tennessee and at the Fame Studio in Muscle Shoals Alabama, Pickett created iconic hits such as "In the Midnight Hour," "Mustang Sally," and "Funky Broadway" for Atlantic Records between 1963 and 1972. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Aretha Franklin / How Glad I Am
1964
More Info from Last.FM
Aretha Franklin (March 25, 1942 - August 16, 2018) was a Memphis, Tennessee born and Detroit, Michigan reared American iconic gospel, soul, and R&B singer, songwriter and pianist. Many have called her "The Queen Of Soul" and "Lady Soul". She is renowned for her soul and R&B recordings (on many, of which, she accompanied herself on keyboards and piano, a skill she learned at an early age, learning to play by ear, according to lifetime friend Smokey Robinson) but was also adept at jazz, rock, blues, pop, and gospel. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Solomon Burke / Cry to Me
1964
More Info from Last.FM
Solomon Burke (born March 21, 1940 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, died October 10, 2010 at Schiphol Airport, The Netherlands) was a soul music pioneer and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Despite releasing numerous rnb chart hits in the 1960s, he never had a Top 20 hit on the pop charts. Burke's influence, however, has outstripped his mainstream commercial success. He is considered a legend of American music. He began his adult life as a young preacher in Philadelphia, where he hosted a gospel radio show. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Dee Dee Warwick / Foolish Fool
1969
More Info from Last.FM
Dee Dee Warwick (September 25, 1945 – October 18, 2008) was an African-American soul singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey as Delia Mae Warrick, she was the sister of Dionne Warwick, niece of Cissy Houston, and cousin of Whitney Houston. Dee Dee Warwick sang with her sister Dionne Warwick and their aunt Cissy Houston in the New Hope Baptist Church Choir in Newark, NJ: eventually the three women formed the gospel trio the Gospelaires who often performed with the Drinkard Singers, Houston being a member of both groups. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Etta James / All I Can Do Is Cry (Live 1963 The New Era Club)
1963
More Info from Last.FM
Etta James (1938-2012) was a U.S. blues, soul, R&B, rock & roll, and jazz singer and songwriter. She is the winner of four Grammies, seventeen Blues Music Awards, and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (in 1993), the Blues Hall of Fame (in 2001), and the Grammy Hall of Fame (in both 1999 and 2008). James was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles, California, on 25th January 1938, to an unmarried fourteen-year-old mother, Dorothy Hawkins. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Otis Redding / Remember Me
1963
More Info from Last.FM
Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, and talent scout. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. Redding's style of singing gained inspiration from the gospel music that preceded the genre. His singing style influenced many other soul artists of the 1960s. During his lifetime, his recordings were produced by Stax Records, based in Memphis, Tennessee. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Don Covay / A Woman's Love
1965
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Don Covay (born Donald Randolph, March 24, 1938 – January 30, 2015) was an American R&B, rock and roll and soul singer and songwriter most active in the 1950s and 1960s. He received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1994. Donald Randolph was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. His father a Baptist preacher died when Don was eight. Covay resettled in Washington D.C. during the early 1950s and initially sang in the Cherry Keys, his family's gospel quartet. Read more on Last.fm more...
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The Marvelettes / Forever
1963
More Info from Last.FM
The Marvelettes were an all-girl group who achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson (nee Schnaffer), Georgeanna Tillman (nee Gordon), Juanita Cowart (later Juanita Cowart Motley) and Georgia Dobbins, who was replaced by Wanda Young (nee Rogers) prior to the group signing their first deal. The group was the first major successful act of Motown Records after The Miracles and were Read more on Last.fm more...
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Ray Charles / Hit The Road Jack
1961
More Info from Last.FM
Ray Charles (Ray Charles Robinson, Albany, Georgia, September 23, 1930 - Beverly Hills, California, June 10, 2004), was an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, and band leader. As a rock and roll, rhythm & blues, soul, blues, jazz, country and pop musician he helped to shape the sound of rhythm & blues. He brought a soulful sound to everything from country music ("I Can't Stop Loving You") to rock and roll ("Mess Around"), to pop standards to a now-iconic rendition of "America the Beautiful. Read more on Last.fm more...
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Bobby Bryant Sextet / Sunny
1967
More Info from Last.FM
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