RnB Soul 60s

BLUES-JAZZ

RnB blues-jazz was marked by the beginnings of Aretha Franklin (1942-2018), a singer and musician from gospel who shone as much in the soul vocals and rock registers as in blues-jazz. Nina Simone (1933-2003) was the other great lady of the 1960s’ blues-jazz, where veteran Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong (1901-1971) released the song 'What a wonderful world' (1967), his biggest commercial success. At the other end of the spectrum, "Little" Stevie Wonder 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.  Singer-songwriter and pianist Roberta Flack (born 1937) personifies the next generation of popular jazz and released her first album in 1969.

∙  1960  ∙  Georgia on my mind (Ray Charles)  ∙  Mack the knife (Ella Fitzgerald)  ∙  Who woudln't love a man like that (Mable John)  ∙  1961  ∙  Rock-a-bye your baby with a Dixie melody (Aretha Franklin)  ∙  If he changed my name (Nina Simone)  ∙  I pity the fool (Bobby "Blue" Bland)  ∙  Last night (The Mar Keys)  ∙  1962  ∙  Don't Lie To Me  (I get evil) (Albert King)  ∙  Another night to cry (Lonnie Johnson)  ∙  Green onions (Booker T & the MG's)  ∙  Walz for Debby (Bill Evans Trio)  ∙  1963  ∙  Fingertips part II (Stevie Wonder)  ∙  1964  ∙  Mississippi Goddam (Nina Simone)  ∙  Devil in a blue dress on (Shorty Long)  ∙  1965  ∙  Baby scratch my back (Slim Harpo)  ∙  Big city (Shirley Horn)  ∙  1966  ∙  Wade in the water (Ramsey Lewis)  ∙  1967  ∙  What a wonderful world (Louis Armstrong)  ∙  Ball and chain (Big Mama Thornton / ver. Janis Joplin)  ∙  1968  ∙  Ain't got no life (Nina Simone)  ∙  A time and a place (Junior Mance)  ∙  Summertime (Ella Fitzgerald)  ∙  1969  ∙  Compared to what? (Roberta Flack)  ∙  Compared to what (Eddie Harris & Les McCann, live in Montreux)  ∙

RnB ROCK

RnB rock saw the arrival of The Valentinos with Bobby Womack, Wilson Pickett and Ike & Tina Turner and gave way to psychedelic RnB rock in 1967-1970 with the rise to fame of Jimi Hendrix, Sly & the Family Stone and Funkadelic.

∙  1960  ∙  Think! (James Brown & the Famous Flames)  ∙  Won't be long (Aretha Franklin)  ∙  1961  ∙  Hit the road Jack (Ray Charles)  ∙  Think it's gonna work out fine (Ike & Tina Turner)  ∙  You'll lose a good thing (Barbara Lynn)  ∙  Hide 'n' go seek (Bunker Hill)  ∙  Looking for a love (The Valentinos ft Bobby Womack)  ∙  1964  ∙  It's all over now (The Valentinos)  ∙  I got you (I feel good) /  Out of sight (James Brown & The Famous Flames)  ∙  1965  ∙  In the midnight hour (Wilson Pickett)  ∙  1966  ∙  Barefootin' (Robert Parker)  ∙  1967  ∙  Purple haze  (Jimi Hendrix)  ∙  1968  ∙  I'm a midnight mover (Bobby Womack)  ∙  Here comes the judge (Shorty Long)  ∙  Dance to the music (Sly & the Family Stone)  ∙  1969  ∙  I want to take you higher (Sly & the Family Stone)  ∙  1970  ∙  Friday night, August 14th (Funkaledic)  ∙

RnB SOUL VOCAL

On the RnB Soul vocal scene, the king of soul Sam Cooke (1931-1964) suffered a violent death at the age of 33. The new king of soul was Otis Redding (1941-1967) 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. Soul singers Ben E. King, Marvin Gaye, Aaron Neville, Roberta Flack 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 seen popularity earlier - as with the songs 'Lollipop' (1958, The Chordettes) and  'I met him on a Sunday' (1958, The Shirelles) - and thrived on the RnB Soul scene in the 60s, where the most popular became The Supremes with Diana Ross, in particular with the planetary hit 'Baby love' (1964).

SINGERS  ∙  1960  ∙  Chain gang (Sam Cooke)  ∙  Wonderful world (don't know much) (Sam Cooke)  ∙  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)  ∙  1963  ∙  Don't make me over (Dionne Warwick)  ∙

∙  1964  ∙  Good news (Sam Cooke)  ∙  Mercy, mercy (Don Convay)  ∙  My guy (Mary Wells)  ∙  The shoop shoop song (Betty Everett)  ∙  1965  ∙  You're gonna make me cry (O.V. Wright)  ∙  If you love me (really love me) (Esther Phillips)  ∙  Ain't that peculiar? / I'll be doggone (Marvin Gaye)  ∙  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  (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)  ∙  1968  ∙  Sitting on the dock of the Bay (Otis Redding)  ∙  Fly me to the moon (Bobby Womack)  ∙  I'm gonna make you love me (Madeline Bell)  ∙  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  ∙  I met him on a Sunday (The Shirelles)  ∙  1960  ∙  Will you love me tomorrow (The Shirelles)  ∙  1961  ∙  Please Mr. Postman (The Marvelettes)  ∙  1963  ∙  Be my baby (The Ronettes)  ∙  1964  ∙  Walking in the rain (The Ronettes)  ∙  Baby 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)  ∙  Rescue me ( Fontella Bass)  ∙  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)  ∙  1969  ∙  What does it itake (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

Progressive RnB took hold in 1966 - the same year as progressive rock (cf. Rock USA 60s) - and blew a new wind. Incumbent vocals groups such as The Temptations and Diana Ross & the Supremes successfully joined the genre, where 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.

∙  1966  ∙  Time has come today (The Chambers Brothers, ver. 1969)  ∙  Get ready (The Temptations)  ∙  Land of a thousand dances (Wilson Pickett)  ∙  1967  ∙  I was made to love her (Stevie Wonder)  ∙  I heard it through the grapevine (Gladys Knight & the Pips)  ∙  Reflections (Diana Ross & the Supremes)  ∙  1968  ∙  Love child (Diana Ross & the Supremes)  ∙  Cloud nine (The Temptations)  ∙  Stoned soul picnic (Fifth Dimension)  ∙  I heard it through the grapevine (Marvin Gaye)  ∙  Twenty-five miles (Edwin Starr)  ∙  1969  ∙  Runaway child, running wild (The Temptations)  ∙  Aquarius/Let the sunshine in (Fifth Dimension)  ∙  California soul (Marlena Shaw)  ∙  The Ghetto, Pt 2 (Donny Hathaway)  ∙  Cissy strut (The Meters)  ∙