Soul subgenres

Detroit (Motown) soul

For more details on these topics, see Motown Records and Motown Sound.

Dominated by Berry Gordy's Motown Records empire, Detroit soul is strongly rhythmic, and influenced by gospel music. The Motown Sound often includes hand clapping, a powerful bass line, violins, bells and other untraditional instruments. Motown's house band was The Funk Brothers, and singers included: Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Junior Walker & the All Stars, The Contours, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, The Marvelettes, Mary Wells, The Supremes, The Jackson 5, The Four Tops, Diana Ross, and Stevie Wonder. Songwriters included: Holland-Dozier-Holland, Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, Smokey Robinson, Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, Ivy Jo Hunter, Roger Penzabene, and Stevie Wonder.

[edit] Deep soul and southern soul

For more details on this topic, see Deep soul and Southern soul

The terms deep soul and southern soul generally refer to a driving, energetic soul style combining R&B's energy with pulsating southern United States gospel music sounds. Memphis, Tennessee label Stax Records nurtured a distinctive sound, which included putting vocals further back in the mix than most contemporary R&B records, using vibrant horn parts in place of background vocals, and a focus on the low end of the frequency spectrum. The vast majority of Stax releases were backed by house bands Booker T and the MGs (with Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, and Al Jackson) and the Memphis Horns (the splinter horn section of the Mar-Keys). The label counted Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Sam & Dave, Rufus Thomas, William Bell, and Eddie Floyd among its stars.

[edit] Memphis soul

For more details on this topic, see Memphis soul.

Memphis soul is a shimmering, sultry style of soul music produced in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax Records and Hi Records in Memphis, Tennessee. It featured melancholic and melodic horns, organ, bass, and drums, as heard in recordings by Hi's Al Green and Stax's Booker T. & the M.G.'s. The latter group also sometimes played in the harder-edged Southern soul style. The Hi Records house band (Hi Rhythm Section) and producer Willie Mitchell developed a surging soul style heard in the label's 1970s hit recordings. Some Stax recordings fit into this style, but had their own unique sound.

[edit] Philadelphia soul

For more details on this topic, see Philadelphia soul.

Based primarily in the Philadelphia International record label, Philadelphia soul (AKA Philly Soul) had a lush orchestral sound and doo-wop-inspired vocals. Thom Bell, and Kenneth Gamble & Leon Huff are considered the founders of Philadelphia soul, which was dominated by artists such as The Spinners, The Delfonics, The O'Jays, The Stylistics, The Intruders, Patti LaBelle, MFSB, The Three Degrees, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, McFadden & Whitehead and, for a time, The Temptations.

[edit] Psychedelic soul

For more details on this topic, see Psychedelic soul.

Psychedelic soul was a blend of psychedelic rock and soul music in the late 1960s, which paved the way for the mainstream emergence of funk music a few years later. Principal figures included multicultural band Sly & the Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield, The Fifth Dimension, and (with producer Norman Whitfield) The Temptations and The Undisputed Truth.