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
When a Gospel Voice Cued the Dream
Mahalia Jackson stood at the Lincoln Memorial podium, the August heat pressing through her dress, and looked out at a quarter-million faces. She did not launch …
· 5 min read
Two Voices, No Suits, and a Quarter-Million Witnesses
Bob Dylan and Joan Baez performed at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, before a quarter-million people. Their informal clothes contrasted with the suited organizers.
· 5 min read
The Secret Songwriters Who Built Motown's Soul
Valerie Simpson and Nick Ashford wrote the songs that made Motown legends, yet their names stayed off the single sleeves for years.
· 5 min read
How Lauryn Hill's Miseducation Rewrote the Rules
The first sound on a debut album that would win Album of the Year is a defiant dismissal aimed directly at former bandmates and label executives. Lauryn Hill, 2…
· 4 min read
How a Revolt in Tattered Overalls Took Down The Police
A fiddle scrapes through the silence of a Kennington backstreet. Kevin Rowland, draped in a worn denim bib overall that looks like he’s slept in it for a week, …
· 5 min read
When a TV Dance Floor Became a $3.99 Platinum Record
In the summer of 1979, K-tel sold a $3.99 vinyl compilation called 'Soul Train' that packaged twenty disco hits and became a platinum record.
· 3 min read
Shaft: The Double LP That Wasn't Supposed to Happen
Isaac Hayes walked into the Shaft project as a Stax songwriter. He left with a double LP soundtrack that topped the Billboard 200 and made history at the Oscars.
· 5 min read
Johnny Nash: The American Who Opened Reggae's Door
Johnny Nash, an American pop singer from Houston, opened reggae's door with his 1972 hit 'I Can See Clearly Now,' a song he wrote and recorded in Kingston.
· 5 min read
Johnny Nash: Reggae's First American Chart-Topper
Before Bob Marley ever broke through on the American pop charts, a smooth-voiced crooner from Houston was already sitting at number one with a reggae song. On A…
· 4 min read
Sarah Dash: The Soprano Who Brought French to the Hot 100
Sarah Dash, the soprano behind Labelle's 1975 hit "Lady Marmalade," brought French to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. She later sang with The Rolling Stones.
· 5 min read
Nine Minutes That Lit 2.6 Billion Screens
Lionel Richie’s nine-minute performance of ‘All Night Long’ at the 1984 Summer Olympics closing ceremony reached an estimated 2.6 billion viewers and reframed the scale of a live pop moment.
· 5 min read
350 Guests, Zero Hits: The Jackson 5’s Secret Debut
In August 1969, a ten-year-old Michael Jackson led his brothers through a private showcase at Beverly Hills' Daisy Club. Their first single was still months away.
· 5 min read
Patti Austin’s 1981 Qwest Debut Every Home Should Have One
A five-year-old signs with RCA Records in 1955. That single detail — a child under contract before she could read it — opens the story of Patti Austin, born Aug…
· 4 min read
Barbara Mason and the 45 That Defined Philly Soul
In 1965, 18-year-old Barbara Mason walked into a Philadelphia studio and cut a self-written debut. The single sold a million copies and climbed to number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
· 5 min read
Dennis Thomas: The Saxophone That Outlived the Gang
Dennis Thomas, the alto saxophonist who co-founded Kool & the Gang, died in 2021 at 70. He left behind a horn-driven empire that sold over 70 million albums.
· 6 min read
Bee Gees’ Falsetto Took Over the 12-Inch Disco Era
In early 1971, inside a London studio, the Bee Gees clustered around a microphone and stacked harmonies that would soon top the American charts. The song was "H…
· 4 min read
The Forgotten 45 That Links Samantha Sang to the Bee Gees
Samantha Sang turns 75 today. Her story doesn't begin with the hit “Emotion” but with a rare 1966 single produced by the Bee Gees under the name Cheryl Gray.
· 4 min read
The Day Zappa Handed George Duke a Synth and Changed Fusion
In a cramped rehearsal room sometime around 1970, Frank Zappa pointed at a bulky ARP Odyssey and told George Duke to figure it out. Duke, a classically trained …
· 5 min read
Barrett Strong: The 45 That Taught Motown to Print Money
Barrett Strong's 1959 single "Money (That's What I Want)" was the first major hit for Berry Gordy's fledgling Detroit label. It generated the capital that built the Motown empire.
· 5 min read
The Drummer Who Made Disco Hit Different
Fat Larry James, born August 2, 1949, led Fat Larry’s Band from behind the kit. He crafted both sweaty club grooves and the silken soul single ‘Zoom’ that hit number 2 on the UK charts.
· 5 min read
Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions: A Synth-Soul Inner Cinema
Released on August 3, 1973, Stevie Wonder's Innervisions used the TONTO synthesizer as a lens to examine addiction, inequality, and spiritual longing.
· 4 min read
The Bass That Danced: Verdine White's 75-Year Groove
The Fender bass hangs low, almost to his knees, a gleaming slab of wood and chrome. The stage at a packed arena is his runway, and as the horn section blares th…
· 6 min read
Jennifer Lopez: The Fly Girl Who Flipped the Billboard 200
Jennifer Lopez went from In Living Color's Fly Girl troupe to a historic Billboard 200 run. She became the first woman with a simultaneous number-one album and film in the United States.
· 5 min read
Michelle Williams: From Destiny's Child to Gospel Chart-Topper
In 2002, while Destiny's Child was on hiatus, Michelle Williams released Heart to Yours. The gospel album became the year's best-selling gospel record and launched a multifaceted solo career.
· 4 min read