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.
145 STORIES
Why Chen's April, and a Flower Still Sounds Like a Risk
In 2019, EXO's Chen released a debut solo album on April 1, a quiet ballad collection. It reached number two on the Gaon chart and became an unexpected power move.
· 4 min read
Chuck and John Panozzo: Why Styx Had Two Twin Rhythms
Chuck and John Panozzo, twins who anchored Styx's rhythm section, shared a birthday in 1949. They died months apart in 1996, leaving a legacy of classic hits.
· 4 min read
David Hemmingway: Why the Housemartins bassist never stopped
David Hemmingway, born on 20 September 1960, built a four-decade career on melodic bass lines. From The Housemartins through The Beautiful South to ongoing solo work.
· 4 min read
Namie Amuro Was 14 When She Stopped Being an Idol
The stage lights at a small Okinawa venue caught a fourteen-year-old girl mid-spin, her sneakers squeaking against the floor as five other dancers moved in sync…
· 5 min read
Why did Loredana Bertè start as a go-go dancer?
Loredana Bertè, born in 1950 in Bagnara Calabra, spent the early 1970s as a go-go dancer on Italian television. She later became a solo artist who worked with Ennio Morricone and Pino Daniele.
· 4 min read
Diana Ross: How 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' Hit No. 1
Diana Ross reached her first solo number one on September 19, 1970. The single was 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough,' a dramatic rearrangement of an Ashford & Simpson song.
· 5 min read
Candy Dulfer: How a Teenage Sax Prodigy Defined Funk Jazz
Candy Dulfer, born in 1969, turned a childhood saxophone start into Grammy nominations and Prince collaborations. Her career defined funk jazz across nearly six decades.
· 4 min read
Michael Jackson: Bad 25 and Ten Unheard Demos
In 2012, Michael Jackson's Bad 25 reissue paired the original album with ten previously unreleased demos, a Wembley concert, and a Spike Lee documentary.
· 4 min read
Ricky Bell: Why the New Edition Voice Still Resonates
Ricky Bell, born September 18, 1967, built his career on New Edition harmonies and Bell Biv DeVoe's harder edge, a door that never fully closed.
· 3 min read
DROP · October 23, 2026Back to Black at 20: a 3LP deluxe on ultra clear vinyl, out 23 October
Republic and UMe mark twenty years of Back to Black with a three-LP deluxe edition on ultra clear vinyl, out 23 October. LP1 is the remastered album. LP2 colle…
· 1 min read
B.B. King: How a $15 Guitar and a Fire Named Lucille
Born on a Mississippi cotton plantation in 1925, Riley B. King became B.B. King, the most important electric guitarist of the second half of the twentieth century, according to AllMusic.
· 5 min read
Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814: A Utopia Built From Headlines
Janet Jackson turned CNN headlines into a social-political utopia on Rhythm Nation 1814, the fourth studio album released on A&M Records in September 1989.
· 4 min read
How Maroon 5 Turned a Phone Call Into Hands All Over
Robert John «Mutt» Lange called Maroon 5 himself to produce their third album, Hands All Over, released September 15, 2010 through A&M Octone Records.
· 4 min read
Amy Winehouse: How a North London Jazz Kid Redefined Soul
Amy Winehouse, born in London on 14 September 1983, learned phrasing from her father's Sinatra records. She redefined soul with Back to Black, winning five Grammys in one night.
· 4 min read
José Feliciano: A Tin of Crackers and a National Anthem
José Feliciano, born blind in rural Puerto Rico and now turning 81, recorded both a global Christmas ritual and a national anthem that sparked a backlash. He never saw the reactions either provoked.
· 4 min read
Johnny Cash's Last Nashville Morning
The lights inside a Nashville hospital room stayed low on September 12, 2003, as the city outside went about its ordinary business. Johnny Cash, the Arkansas-bo…
· 4 min read
Barry White: How a Stolen Tire Led to the Deepest Voice
Barry White, born September 12, 1944, traced his career to a jail-cell radio playing Elvis Presley's "It's Now or Never" after a tire theft at sixteen.
· 5 min read
Carol Decker: How She Named Her Band T'Pau
Before Carol Decker fronted T'Pau in sold-out arenas, she was cutting hair in Shrewsbury. A US jeans commercial became the detour that forced Britain to listen.
· 3 min read
Mariah Carey's Dreamlover: How a Song Became a Lifeline
Mariah Carey's 'Dreamlover' began an eight-week run atop the US chart on September 11, 1993. That same day, her album Music Box hit number one in Britain.
· 5 min read
How 15 Church Minutes Made Otis Redding the King of Soul
Otis Redding's musical vocabulary was forged in a Baptist preacher's household. He carried the church's fire into every secular bar and club that would have him.
· 5 min read
The Night Chic Got Kicked Out of Studio 54
Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards turned a 1977 snub at Studio 54 into 'Le Freak.' The single made Chic one of the defining acts of the late 1970s disco era.
· 4 min read
The Milkman, the Soul Song, and the Ban That Made It Big
Craig Douglas, a former milkman from the Isle of Wight, took Sam Cooke's "Only Sixteen" to number one in the UK for four weeks in 1959. Radio bans for its frank lyrics only boosted its popularity.
· 3 min read
Iza: The Ad Executive Who Sang Beyoncé Into a Record Deal
Iza spent her twenties torn between an advertising degree and a Warner Music Brasil contract. She built a pop career from YouTube covers of Beyoncé and Rihanna.
· 4 min read
Van Morrison: The 81-Year-Old Knight Who Won't Rehearse
George Ivan Morrison was born in Belfast on August 31, 1945. He grew up to fuse raw garage rock with complex jazz improvisation, creating a body of work that resists easy categorization.
· 5 min read