RnB Soul 60s

On the Rnb Vocals scene, the king of soul Sam Cooke (1931-1964) suffered a violent death at the age of 33. Otis Redding (1941-1967) became the new king of soul, but he too died prematurely at the height of his fame, and it was posthumously that his signature song '(Sitting on) The dock of the Bay' was published in January 1968. Coming from the Detroit gospel community, Aretha Franklin (1942-2018) released her debut album in 1960 amd shone in various registers such as blues, jazz and RnB rock while becoming the undisputed queen of soul from the mid-60s to the mid-70s. Singers Ben E. King, Marvin Gaye, Percy Sledge, Aaron Neville and Dionne Warwick also appeared during the decade, as did vocals groups The Temptations, The Four Tops and The Jackson Five. Girl vocal groups had been popular earlier on - as with the 1958 songs 'Lollipop' (The Chordettes) and 'I met him on a Sunday' (The Shirelles) - and thrived on the 60s Soul scene. The most popular of them was The Supremes with Diana Ross, starting with their 1964 global hit 'Baby love'.

SINGERS ∙ 1960 ∙ Chain gang / Wonderful world (don't know much) (Sam Cooke) ∙ I want to know (Sugar Pie DeSanto) ∙ Gee Whiz (Carla Thomas) ∙ He don't love you like I love you (he will break your heart) (Jerry 'Iceman' Butler) ∙ 1961 ∙ Stand by me (Ben E. King) ∙ Jamie (Eddie Holland) ∙ If you gotta make a fool of somebody (James Ray) ∙ 1962 ∙ Cry to me (Solomon Burke) ∙ These arms of mine (Otis Redding) ∙ Don't play that song (Ben E. King, ver. 80s) ∙ Release me (Esther Phillips) ∙ Something's got a hold on me (Etta James) ∙ 1963 ∙ Don't make me over (Dionne Warwick) ∙ That's how heartaches are made (Baby Washington) ∙

∙ 1964 ∙ Good news (Sam Cooke) ∙ Mercy, mercy (Don Convay) ∙ My guy (Mary Wells) ∙ The shoop shoop song (Betty Everett) ∙ (You don't know) How glad I am (Nancy Wilson) ∙ The name game (Shirley Ellis) ∙ I had a talk with my man (Mitty Collier) ∙ 1965 ∙ You're gonna make me cry (O.V. Wright) ∙ If you love me (really love me) (Esther Phillips) ∙ Rescue me ( Fontella Bass) ∙ Ain't that peculiar? / I'll be doggone (Marvin Gaye) ∙ Hold me, thrill me, kiss me (Mel Carter) ∙ The Birds and the bees (Jewel Akens) ∙ Nobody's fault but mine (The Staple Singers) ∙ 1966 ∙ When a man loves a woman (Percy Sledge) ∙ Tell it like it is (ver 1988) (Aaron Neville) ∙ Sunny (Bobby Hebb) ∙ Knock on wood (Eddie Floyd) ∙ Love is a hurtin' thing (Lou Rawls) ∙ It's a man's man's man's world (James Brown) ∙ What becomes the brokenhearted (Jimmy Ruffin, ver. mid-70s) ∙ High flyin' bird (Richie Havens) ∙

∙ 1967 ∙ Do right woman, do right man / Respect (Aretha Franklin) ∙ Piece of my heart ( Erma Franklin, ver. 1992) ∙ When love slips away (Dee Dee Warwick) ∙ Ain't no mountain high enough ( Tammi Terrell & Marvin Gaye) ∙ Whisper you love me boy (Chris Clark) ∙ Come on sock it to me (Syl Johnson) ∙ Groovin' (Willie Mitchell) ∙ Gimme a little sign (Brenton Wood) ∙ Sweet soul music (Arthur Conley) ∙ I'm Fighting For My Rights (Lucy Rodgers) ∙ 1968 ∙ Sitting on the dock of the Bay (Otis Redding) ∙ Fly me to the moon / I'm a midnight mover (Bobby Womack) ∙ Since I've been born again (Martha Bass) ∙ I'm gonna make you love me (Madeline Bell) ∙ 1969 ∙ Rainy night in Georgia (Brook Benton, orig. Tony Joe White 1969) ∙ The chokin' kind (Joe Simon) ∙ Am I the same girl? (Barbara Acklin) ∙ The first time ever I saw your face (Roberta Flack) ∙

GIRL GROUPS ∙ 1958/60 ∙ I met him on a Sunday / Will you love me tomorrow (The Shirelles) ∙ 1961 ∙ Please Mr. Postman (The Marvelettes) ∙ 1963/64 ∙ Be my baby / Walking in the rain (The Ronettes) ∙ 1964/66 ∙ Baby love / You can't hurry love (The Supremes ft Diana Ross) ∙ Dancing in the streets (Martha & the Vandellas) ∙ Needle in a haystack (The Velvelettes) ∙ (Like a) Nightmare (The Andantes) ∙ 1965 ∙ I'm blue (The Ikettes) ∙ It's gonna take a miracle (Royalettes) ∙ He's an oddball (The Lewis Sisters) ∙ 1969 ∙ Cheating is telling on you (The Lollipops) ∙

MALE GROUPS ∙ 1960 ∙ Shop around (Smokey Robinson & The Miracles) ∙ 1961 ∙ That's what girls are made for (The Spinners) ∙ Blue moon (The Marcels) ∙ 1962 ∙ Papa oom mow mow (The Rivingtons) ∙ 1964 ∙ Keep on pushing (The Impressions) ∙ My girl (The Temptations) ∙ 1966 ∙ Reach out (I'll be there) (The Four Tops) ∙ Hold on I'm comin' (Sam & Dave) ∙ 1967 ∙ Soul man (Sam & Dave) ∙ Apples, peaches, pumpkin pie (Jay & the Techniques) ∙ 1969 ∙ What does it take (to win your love) (Jr. Walker & the All Stars) ∙ The tracks of my tears (Smokey Robinson & The Miracles) ∙ Baby, I'm for real (The Originals) ∙ I want you back (The Jackson Five) ∙

Progressive RnB took hold in 1965 - the same year as progressive rock (cf. Rock USA 60s) - and brought a breath of fresh air in the footsteps of James Brown & The Famous Flames. Incumbent vocals groups such as The Temptations and Diana Ross & the Supremes successfully joined the genre, where Wilson Pickett and the band Fifth Dimension took center stage. Three songs among the jewels from this era: Marlena Shaw's 'California soul', Donny Hathaway's 'The Ghetto pt. 2' and 'Cissy strut' by funk pioneers The Meters.

∙ 1960/64/64 ∙ Think! / I got you (I feel good) / Out of sight (James Brown & The Famous Flames) ∙ 1965 ∙ The clapping song (Shirley Ellis) ∙ 1965/66 ∙ In the midnight hour / Land of a thousand dances (Wilson Pickett) ∙ 1966 ∙ Time has come today (The Chambers Brothers, ver. 1969) ∙ 1966/68/68/69 ∙ Get ready / Cloud nine / I wish it would rain / Runaway child, running wild (The Temptations) ∙

∙ 1967 ∙ I was made to love her (Stevie Wonder) ∙ I heard it through the grapevine (Gladys Knight & the Pips) ∙ 1967/68 ∙ Reflections / Love child (Diana Ross & the Supremes) ∙ 1968 ∙ I heard it through the grapevine (Marvin Gaye) ∙ Twenty-five miles (Edwin Starr) ∙ Here comes the judge (Shorty Long) ∙ 1968/69 ∙ Stoned soul picnic / Aquarius/Let the sunshine in (Fifth Dimension) ∙ 1969 ∙ California soul (Marlena Shaw) ∙ The Ghetto, Pt 2 (Donny Hathaway) ∙ Cissy strut (The Meters) ∙ Things got to get better (Marva Withney) ∙ You're driving me (to the arms of a stranger) (Mavis Staples) ∙

∙ 1960 ∙ Won't be long (Aretha Franklin) ∙ A rockin' good way (Brook Benton & Dinah Washington) ∙ Come on (let the good times roll) (Earl King) ∙ 1960/61 ∙ A fool in love / Think it's gonna work out fine (Ike & Tina Turner) ∙ 1961 ∙ Hit the road Jack (Ray Charles) ∙ Let's twist again (Chubby Checker) ∙ You'll lose a good thing (Barbara Lynn) ∙ Hide 'n' go seek (Bunker Hill) ∙ 1962/64 ∙ Looking for a love / It's all over now (The Valentinos ft Bobby Womack) ∙

∙ 1965 ∙ Shotgun (Junior Walker & The All Stars) ∙ Shotgun (Buddy & Stacy ft Jimi Hendrix) ∙ 1966 ∙ Barefootin' (Robert Parker) ∙ 1966/67/68 ∙ Hey Joe / Purple haze / All along the watchtower (Jimi Hendrix) ∙ 1968/69 ∙ Dance to the music / I want to take you higher (Sly & the Family Stone) ∙ 1970 ∙ Friday night, August 14th (Funkaledic) ∙

The decade was marked by the rise and shine of Nina Simone (1933-2003) the great lady of the 1960s’ vocal blues-jazz where veteran Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong (1901-1971) released 'What a wonderful world' in 1967 as a sort of farewell song that became his biggest ever commercial success. At the other end of the age pyramid, "Little" Stevie Wonder (born 1950) was blind and 13 when his soul-jazz single "Fingertips part II" (1963) topped the Billboard and 17 when his progressive RnB track "I was made to love her" (1967) topped the RnB charts. A worthy successor to cool jazz, jazz fusion became trendy in the 60s with Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter as standard-bearers. Singer-songwriter and pianist Roberta Flack (born 1937) personified the next generation of popular vocal blues-jazz with her 1969 release of a thrilling and lingering version of Gene McDaniels' protest song "Compared to what?".

JAZZ SONG

∙ 1960 ∙ Who woudln't love a man like that (Mable John) ∙ Georgia on my mind (Ray Charles) ∙ 1960/68 ∙ Mack the knife / Summertime (from Porgy & Bess) (Ella Fitzgerald) ∙ 1961 ∙ Rock-a-bye your baby with a dixie melody (Aretha Franklin) ∙ 1961/62/64/68 ∙ Work song / If he changed my name / Mississippi Goddam / Ain't got no life (Nina Simone) ∙ 1965 ∙ Big city (Shirley Horn) ∙ 1966 ∙ Wade in the water (Ramsey Lewis) ∙ 1967 ∙ What a wonderful world (Louis Armstrong) ∙ 1969 ∙ Compared to what? / First time ever I saw your face (ver. 1972) (Roberta Flack) ∙

JAZZ and JAZZ FUSION

∙ 1960 ∙ Blues à la carte (Wayne Shorter) ∙ Work song (1962 ver.) (Julian Cannonball Adderley) ∙ Home (Sam Jones) ∙ 1960/61 ∙ Giant steps / My favourite things (John Coltrane) ∙ 1961 ∙ Free jazz (37', Ornette Coleman) ∙ Water boy (Don Shirley Trio) ∙ Last night (The Mar Keys) ∙ 1962 ∙ Watermelon man (Herbie Hancock) ∙ Waltz for Debby (Bill Evans Trio) ∙ Caravan (Buddy Rich) ∙ Green onions (Booker T & the MG's) ∙ 1963 ∙ Fingertips part II (''Little Stevie" Stevie Wonder) ∙ I fall in love too easily (Miles Davis) ∙ 1964/65 ∙ C jam blues / Some day my prince will come (Oscar Peterson Trio) ∙ Here's that rainy day (orig. 1953) (Wes Montgomery) ∙ 1968 ∙ A time and a place (Junior Mance) ∙ 1969 ∙ Compared to what? (Eddie Harris & Les McCann) ∙

BLUES

∙ 1961 ∙ I pity the fool (Bobby "Blue" Bland) ∙ 1962 ∙ Don't lie to me (I get evil) (Albert King) ∙ Weak brain and a narrow mind (Willie Johnson) ∙ Another night to cry (Lonnie Johnson) ∙ 1963 ∙ How blue can you get? (B.B. King) ∙ 1964 ∙ Devil with a blue dress on (Shorty Long) ∙ 1965 ∙ Baby scratch my back (Slim Harpo) ∙ Death letter blues (Son House) ∙ Killing floor (Howlin' Wolf) ∙ You gotta move (Mississippi Fred McDowell) ∙ 1967 ∙ Ball of chain (ver. 1970) (Big Mama Thornton) ∙ 1969 ∙ Earl's boogie woogie (Earl Hooker) ∙

Reference : American folk-blues festivals 1963-1966 (60 minutes)

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About the Tamla/Motown 'hit-factory'

Tamla/Motown Records was founded in Detroit in 1958 by Berry Gordy. In the 60s, the company operated a fully integrated business system that delivered lyrics, musical compositions, studio musicians and producers as well as marketing services. By 1965, Motown employed over 400 people. Notable artists under contract have included Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, the Marvelettes, Mary Wells, the Supremes, Diana Ross, the Four Tops, the Jackson Five and many more after the 60s. Motown is owned by the Universal Music Group (UMG) since 1999.

RnB Soul 60s

JOURNEY THROUGH 800 RnB SOUL SONGS

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RnB SOUL 60s

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BLUES and JAZZ