Soul
Here you'll find album stories, birthdays, and anniversaries from soul artists and the labels that shaped the sound, plus vinyl reissue news as it happens. Soul's history runs largely through the 7-inch single: Motown, Stax, and Atlantic all built their reputations one 45 at a time, and that format still drives a dedicated collector scene built around rare singles and label variants rather than albums alone. The stories here cover how specific records were written, arranged, and recorded, the house bands and producers behind the sound, and why particular pressings remain sought after by people who collect soul on vinyl.
141 STORIES
Donna Summer's Four Seasons of Love at 50
In October 1976 Donna Summer released Four Seasons of Love, a four-track concept album made with Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. Each season became a number one dance hit.
· 3 min read
Lionel Richie's Can't Slow Down: Five Singles, One Empire
Lionel Richie's second solo album Can't Slow Down, released on Motown on 14 October 1983, turned eight songs into five American top-10 singles.
· 3 min read
How Solomon Burke Became the King of Rock 'n' Soul
Solomon Burke signed with Atlantic Records in 1960 after a ten-minute meeting with Jerry Wexler. He became one of the first singers called a soul artist and was crowned King of Rock 'n' Soul in 1963.
· 4 min read
How Come Taste the Band Almost Saved Deep Purple
By the time Deep Purple started work on Come Taste the Band, the band had already lost its most famous face. The tenth studio album from the British hard rock g…
· 4 min read
How Sister Rosetta Tharpe Built Rock and Roll
Sister Rosetta Tharpe cut four songs in a single 1938 afternoon for Decca Records. Those sides made her one of America's first commercially successful gospel performers.
· 4 min read
How Toni Braxton Turned a Demo Into a Dynasty
A gas station attendant in Annapolis heard Toni Braxton sing and offered to produce her. That chance encounter set the Maryland contralto on a path from church choirs to the top of the Billboard 200.
· 3 min read
How Taylor Hicks Proved Simon Cowell Wrong on American Idol
Taylor Hicks, a soul singer from Alabama, won American Idol in 2006 after Simon Cowell said he would never make the final. He was twenty-nine, the oldest winner the show had ever had.
· 4 min read
How Cissy Houston Found Her Own Voice
Cissy Houston, born Emily Drinkard in Newark, sang behind Elvis Presley and Otis Redding before winning two Grammys under her own name. She died at home on October 7, 2024, at 91.
· 4 min read
How Loretta Lynn Turned a $17 Guitar Into Country History
Loretta Lynn, a teenage wife from a Kentucky coal camp, taught herself to play a 17-dollar guitar. She became the first woman to win the CMA Entertainer of the Year award.
· 3 min read
Why Did Bruno Mars Call His Debut Doo-Wops & Hooligans?
Bruno Mars released Doo-Wops & Hooligans on October 4, 2010. He named his debut after the two opposing sounds he grew up hearing: his father's doo-wop and rowdier hooligan energy.
· 4 min read
Janis Joplin: The Outsider Who Outsang Everyone
Janis Joplin grew up bullied in Port Arthur, Texas, and became one of America's best-selling female vocalists before her death at 27 in October 1970.
· 4 min read
India.Arie and the Night the Grammys Got It Wrong
India.Arie's "Video" arrived on March 27, 2001, as the lead single from Acoustic Soul, and the Grammys that followed turned a seven-nomination shutout into the night's defining performance.
· 4 min read
How Gwen Stefani Became the Queen of Confessional Pop
Gwen Stefani went from sharing a microphone in her brother's Fullerton ska band to a solo career that Rolling Stone labelled the queen of confessional pop.
· 3 min read
How Stevie Ray Vaughan Turned One Festival Gig Into a Blues Revival
Stevie Ray Vaughan turned a booed set at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival into a David Bowie invitation, an Epic Records deal, and a blues-rock revival.
· 3 min read
How Xavier Naidoo Lost His Stage
In 2015 Xavier Naidoo was named Germany's Eurovision entry, then dropped by NDR two days later over lyrics and political sympathies. The Mannheim singer had sold over a million copies of his debut.
· 4 min read
Why Did Cissy Houston Give Away Midnight Train to Georgia?
Cissy Houston, born Emily Drinkard in 1933, recorded the original 'Midnight Train to Georgia'. She spent decades as a gospel, soul, and pop voice before her death in 2024.
· 3 min read
Johnny Mathis: How a 25-Dollar Piano Led to a 490-Week Album
A 25-dollar family piano and a father's advice steered Johnny Mathis away from athletics. That decision produced the first greatest-hits album, which spent 490 weeks on the chart.
· 5 min read
Prince's Let's Go Crazy: How the Purple Rain Opener Hit #1
On September 29, 1984, Prince and the Revolution took Let's Go Crazy to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The single confirmed his shift from underground eccentric to mainstream pop star.
· 4 min read
Gaitana: The Girl Who Spoke Lingala and Learned Ukrainian Pop
Gaitana, born in Kyiv in 1979 to a Ukrainian mother and Congolese father, turned 47 in 2026. Her biography spans two continents and multiple languages.
· 4 min read
Jerry Lee Lewis: The Killer Who Shook Rock 'n' Roll
A piano stool kicked across the stage, a boot heel hammering the keys, a voice that sounded like it was trying to escape a burning building. That was Jerry Lee …
· 4 min read
Why did Otis Rush play a guitar strung upside down?
Otis Rush, who died in 2018, built his approach to Chicago blues around a right-handed guitar flipped upside down. His technique influenced Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
· 4 min read
Melody Thornton Turned 42 With A Voice Built In Arizona
Melody Thornton, born in Arizona and raised on Phoenix talent shows, turned 42 in 2026. Her career moved from The Pussycat Dolls to a solo catalog and a masked victory in Australia.
· 4 min read
How Stevie Wonder Nearly Left Music Before Key of Life
In 1975, Stevie Wonder nearly left music for Ghana. Instead, he signed a landmark Motown contract and released Songs in the Key of Life, his most successful album.
· 4 min read
Why Did Tim Maia Turn Brazilian Soul Into a Religion?
Tim Maia, born Sebastião Rodrigues Maia in 1942, brought soul to Brazilian music with a force that reshaped the country's sound. His catalog became a lasting legacy.
· 4 min read