Solomon Burke - The Complete Soul Singer

Solomon Burke, one of soul music’s greatest recording artists, is an interesting and larger than life figure. One of the stalwarts of Atlantic’s sixties “soul clan”, he was crowned King of Rock and Soul in 1964. Read more

Jimi Hendrix: The Legend

James Marshall Hendrix best known as Jimi Hendrix in the world of soul and R&B was born on 27th November 1942 and walked this earth till 18th September 1970. Within this short span of time, Jimi curved out his niche as a seasoned American guitarist. He was also a singer and a songwriter who has influenced the rock genre with his talents. By 1976, he had shot up to fame in the US due to his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. He also played for the Woodstock Festival and the Isle of Wight Festival taking place in 1969 and 1970. Read more

Marvin Pentz Gay(e) - The Man With The Golden Glow

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr., better known as Marvin Gaye was born on 2nd April 1939 and walked this earth till 1st April 1984. He was a multi-talented artist who not only wrote songs but also instruments at a vocal range of three octaves. He started his career as a member of The Moonglows which was a doo-wop group in the late 50’s. Later he went on to perform as a solo artist and in 1960 started singing with Tamla which was an auxiliary of Motown Records. Gaye earned fame as the best selling performer of the label in the 60’s after he had worked for a year as a session drummer. He was known for his hits like ‘How Sweet It Is’, ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’, and ‘I Heard It through the Grapevine’. He also delivered certain duet hits with singers like Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell and was recognized as ‘The Prince of Motown’ and ‘The Prince of Soul’

Gaye proved his mettle with hit albums like ‘What’s Going On’ and ‘Let’s Get It On’ and in the process he also inspired his fellow singers like Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. In fact, his album ‘Let’s Get It On’ gave way to the genres of urban contemporary and slow jamming phenomena. Following his self chosen exile Gaye came back to the scenario with his hit ‘Sexual Healing’ which won him the Grammy Award and this was also accompanied by the album named Midnight Love. Following his death he was included to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the year 1987.

The music magazine in America named Rolling Stone rated him 6th on the list of ‘The Greatest Singers of All Time’ and in the list of ‘Greatest Artists of All Time’ he ranked 18 among 100 artists. Marvin also has a half brother named Michael Cooper. His second album with Motown Label was known as The Soulful Moods. This record featured the tunes of R&B ballad numbers like ‘Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide’. Unfortunately this record failed to gain fame after which Marvin produced two more albums which failed as badly.

Gaye’s first hit number was ‘Stubborn Kind of Fellow’. This song went on to become one of the major hits on Hot R&B Songs chart. This was followed by the top 40 singles by Gaye. These songs were ‘Hitch Hike’, ‘Pride and Joy’, ‘Can I Get a Witness’ in the year 1963. Gaye continued with his success story in 1964 as he came up with his hits, ‘You Are a Wonderful One’, ‘Try It Baby’, ‘Baby Don’t You Do It’ and ‘How Sweet It Is’. Gaye also made his contributions in writing ‘Dancing in the Street’ while his tie-up with Smokey Robinson for a 1966 album churned out top 10 hit singles in a row in the form of ‘I’ll Be Doggone’ and ‘Ain’t That Peculiar’. He also became a darling among the various teen shows.

TJ Grooves - Soul Music TV & Rare Soul Grooves.com

Allen Toussaint – A True Great

The popular song composer, record producer and American musician, Allen Toussaint was born on 14th January, 1938. He was one of the most prominent statures in the genre of R&B. few of the songs that shot him to limelight are “Working in the Coalmine”, “Ride Your Pony”, “Get Out Of My Life Woman”, “Southern Nights”, “Brickyard Blues”, and “Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky”. Allen Toussaint grew up in New Orleans and got his first break in singing at the young age of 17 when he performed in Pritchard, Alabama with the band of Earl King. With his skills he was introduced to a group of local musicians who regularly performed at a night club at LaSalle Street Uptown and this group earned recognized as the “Dew Drop Set”.

For the most of his career, Allen Toussaint primarily worked for the Minit label under Joe Banashak, but following the selling of this label to one of its distributors, Toussaint entered into professional agreement with Marshall Sehorn and began working on their own individual recording label, which had earned the reputation as the Tou-Sea, Sansu, Deesu or Kansu. The year 1973 saw the creation of a recording studio better known as Sea-Saint by Sehorn and Toussaint. This recording studio is located in the locality of Gentilly in New Orleans.

In the 1960s we saw Toussaint write and produce a number of hits for the popular R&B artists in New Orleans and the list of these artists included Ernie K-Doe, Irma, Art and Aaron Neville, Thomas, The Showmen, and Lee Dorsey. Some of Toussaint’s popular songs like “Ruler of My Heart” were published under the stage name of Naomi Neville and Irma Thomas is credited with recording this song. This song was again recorded by Otis Redding and was named as “Pain in My Heart”. The song named “A Certain Girl” featuring Eric Clapton was one of the very first single numbers released in the year 1964 by the Yardbirds.

The 1970s saw him shifting tracks to a more groovier and funky sounds as he wrote and produced songs for the Wild Tchoupitoulas Mardi Gras Indians tribe, The Meters and Dr John. In fact he also started working with the artists in New Orleans of the stature of Scottish Soul singer Frankie Miller, Willy DeVille, Elkie Brooks, Solomon Burke, Robert Palmer, and southern rocker Mylon LeFevre. He is also credited with organizing for horn music for album Cahoots in 1971.

One of his masterpieces recorded by Boz Scaggs is “What Do You Want the Girl to Do?” This song was a part of his album in 1976 and it reached to the 2nd position among the popular US pop numbers. Toussaint is also credited with giving the popular album of the 70s “From a Whisper to a Scream” and “Southern Nights”. These albums gave a new edge to his solo career which rocketed up during the 70s. The 70s era also saw him teeming up with Labelle and the production of album named Nightbirds, and its most catchy number was “Lady Marmalade”.

Later that year, Toussaint made news, as he tied up with Paul McCartney and Wings, to come up with the popular album Venus and Mars. During the 1980s and 1990s Toussaint recognized his talent in new shades as the hip-hop artists certified his compositions. In fact in the year 1998 Toussaint claimed his position in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A few of his popular albums are Life, Love And Faith, The Allen Toussaint Collection, and A New Orleans Christmas.

TJ Grooves - Soul Music TV & Rare Soul Grooves.com