RnB Soul 60s

 
 
 
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RnB SOUL

On the RnB vocals Soul 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 / 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)  ∙  Something's got a hold on me (Etta James)  ∙  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)  ∙  (You don't know) How glad I am (Nancy Wilson)  ∙  The name game (Shirley Ellis)  ∙

∙  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)  ∙  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)  ∙  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  ∙  Rainy night in Georgia (Brook Benton)  ∙  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)  ∙  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)  ∙

 
 
 
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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.

∙  1965  ∙  The clapping song (Shirley Ellis)  ∙  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)  ∙  Stoned soul picnic (Fifth Dimension)  ∙  I heard it through the grapevine (Marvin Gaye)  ∙  Twenty-five miles (Edwin Starr)  ∙  Cloud nine / I wish it would rain (The Temptations)  ∙  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)  ∙

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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.

BLUES

∙  1961  ∙  I pity the fool (Bobby "Blue" Bland)  ∙  1962  ∙  Don't Lie To Me  (I get evil) (Albert King)  ∙  1962  ∙  Weak brain and a narrow mind (Willie Johnson)  ∙  1962  ∙  Another night to cry (Lonnie Johnson)  ∙  1964  ∙  Devil with a blue dress on (Shorty Long)  ∙  1965  ∙  Baby scratch my back (Slim Harpo)  ∙  1965  ∙  Death letter blues (Son House)  ∙  1967  ∙  Ball of chain (ver. 1970) (Big Mama Thornton)  ∙

JAZZ

∙  1960  ∙  Work song (1962 ver.) (Julian Cannonball Adderley)  ∙  1960  ∙  Home (Sam Jones)  ∙  1960  ∙  Giant steps (John Coltrane)  ∙  1961  ∙  My favourite things (John Coltrane)  ∙  1961  ∙  Last night (The Mar Keys)  ∙  1962  ∙  Waltz for Debby (Bill Evans Trio)  ∙  1962  ∙  Caravan (Buddy Rich)  ∙  1962  ∙  Green onions (Booker T & the MG's)  ∙  1963  ∙  Fingertips part II (Stevie Wonder (''Little Stevie"))  ∙  1965  ∙  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)  ∙

 VOCAL

∙  1960  ∙  Mack the knife (Ella Fitzgerald)  ∙  1960  ∙  Georgia on my mind (Ray Charles)  ∙  1960  ∙  Who woudln't love a man like that (Mable John)  ∙  1961  ∙  Rock-a-bye your baby with a dixie melody (Aretha Franklin)  ∙  1961  ∙  Work song (1966 ver) (Nina Simone)  ∙  1962  ∙  If he changed my name (Nina Simone)  ∙  1964  ∙  Mississippi Goddam (Nina Simone)  ∙  1965  ∙  Big city (Shirley Horn)  ∙  1966  ∙  Wade in the water (Ramsey Lewis)  ∙  1967  ∙  What a wonderful world (Louis Armstrong)  ∙  1968  ∙  Ain't got no life (Nina Simone)  ∙  1968  ∙  Summertime (from Porgy & Bess) (Ella Fitzgerald)  ∙  1969  ∙  Compared to what? (Roberta Flack)  ∙

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

(circa 1950: Nina Simone Photo by Tom Copi/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

 
 
 
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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)  ∙  Shotgun (Junior Walker & The All Stars)  ∙  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)  ∙