An umbrella style encompassing the feverish deep soul of Otis Redding, the Jackson 5's bubblegum pop soul, and everything in between, soul music evolved out of 1950s R&B to become the dominant African-American musical expression in the '60s and onward. The addition of peppery gospel intensity to soul's emotional agenda gave it an added punch missing from much of the American-produced pop of the early/mid-'60s; it was no accident when stirring soul vocalists such as Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, and Aretha Franklin (each of whom had childhood experience singing before gospel audiences) became national superstars on the pop charts. The most groundbreaking soul movements of the '60s--Motown's rapturous parade of AM radio staples, southern soul's steamy workouts, and the earliest strains of funk in James Brown's legendary mid-'60s material--brilliantly illustrated the zeitgeist of the changing times and provided a broad springboard for the Philly soul, funk, and Memphis soul revolutions of the '70s. By the mid-'70s, soul had splintered into a number of stylistic factions, a development punctuated by a number of prominent soul artists heeding the siren call of disco's meteoric rise. Soul was never the same following the late '70s demise of disco, although it hardly died and went away. Rather, its perpetually powerful influence would continue to appear on (and off) the charts in the ensuing decades--in the eclectic work of Prince, on independently released albums by retro soul legend Johnnie Taylor, and on hits by new-generation soul singers Macy Gray, D'Angelo, and Lauryn Hill.

Notable Artists: Sam Cooke; Otis Redding, the Supremes; Marvin Gaye; James Brown; Al Green; Macy Gray