David Ashworth Gates is an American singer-songwriter, musician and producer, frontman and co-lead singer and last surviving member of the group Bread, which reached the tops of the musical charts in Europe and North America on several occasions in the 1970s. The band was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
Lady Soul is the twelfth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin, Released on January 22, 1968, by Atlantic Records. The album was her second R&B chart-topper, the follow-up to Aretha Arrives and included some of her biggest hit singles, "Chain of Fools", and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", and "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone". It eventually sold over a million copies in the United States alone. The album was reissued on Rhino Records in a deluxe edition in 1995.
Soulful, an album by Dionne Warwick, was released in 1969 on Scepter Records. It was the first of Warwick's Scepter albums that did not directly involve her longtime production and songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David being produced by Warwick and Chips Moman and comprising covers of Soul or what were considered Soul-influenced Pop songs designed to showcase Warwick as more of an R&B singer than had her collaborations with Bacharach and David.
Emily "Cissy" Houston is an American soul and gospel singer. After a successful career singing backup for such artists as Roy Hamilton, Dionne Warwick, Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, Houston embarked on a solo career, winning two Grammy Awards for her work. Houston is the mother of singer Whitney Houston, grandmother of Bobbi Kristina Brown, aunt of singers Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, and a cousin of opera singer Leontyne Price.
"My Girl" is a soul music song recorded by the Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) record label. Written and produced by the Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Ronald White, the song became the Temptations' first U.S. number-one single, and is today their signature song. Robinson's inspiration for writing this song was his wife, Miracles member Claudette Rogers Robinson. The song was included on the Temptations 1965 album The Temptations Sing Smokey. In 2018, it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant."
"But You Know I Love You" is a song written by Mike Settle, which was a 1969 pop hit for Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, a group that included Settle and Kenny Rogers. The song also became a major country hit by Bill Anderson in 1969. In 1981, a cover version of "But You Know I Love You" by singer Dolly Parton topped the country singles charts.
The Sweet Inspirations were an American R&B girl group founded by Emily "Cissy" Houston, mother of Whitney Houston, and sister of Lee Warwick. Houston and Warwick were members of The Drinkard Singers, a family group that had the distinction of recording the first Gospel album to appear on a major label—a live recording from The Newport Jazz Festival in 1959. The line-up included Judy Guions, Marie Epps, Larry Drinkard, Nicholas Drinkard, Ann Moss, Lee and Emily.
"I Believe in You and Me" is a song written by Sandy Linzer and David Wolfert in 1982. The song was first recorded and released by the R&B group The Four Tops, who released it as a single from their album One More Mountain (1982). While it failed to reach the US Top 40, it became a moderate hit for the group on the US R&B chart, peaking at number 40 on the US Billboard Hot Black Singles chart in early 1983.
"You to Me Are Everything" is a single by the British soul group The Real Thing. Written by Ken Gold and Michael Denne and produced by Ken Gold, "You to Me Are Everything" was The Real Thing's sole number-one single in the UK Singles chart, spending three weeks at the top in July 1976. A remixed version of the song returned to the chart in March 1986 reaching number five.
"Soul Man" is a 1967 song written and composed by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, first successful as a number 2 hit single by Atlantic Records soul duo Sam & Dave, which consisted of Samuel "Sam" Moore and David "Dave" Prater.
"Sweets for My Sweet" is a song written by the songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, originally recorded by The Drifters.
"Chain of Fools" is a song written by Don Covay. Aretha Franklin first released the song as a single in 1967 and subsequently it appeared on many of her albums.
"(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone" is a song by singer Aretha Franklin. Released from her Lady Soul album in 1968, the song was successful, debuting at number 32 and peaking at number 5 on the Hot 100 for five weeks, and spending three weeks at number 1 on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart. The B-side, "Ain't No Way", was also a hit, peaking at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 9 on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart.
"Ain't No Way" is a song written by singer-songwriter Carolyn Franklin and sung by her elder sister Aretha Franklin as the B-side to her 1968 hit, "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone". This song should not be confused with a different song of the same title, recorded by Aretha Franklin on her 2003 CD So Damn Happy: "Ain't No Way" by Barry J. Eastmond and Gordon Chambers.
Me and Mrs. Jones is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released in January 1973 by Columbia Records. While it does cover several big chart hits of the day like his last album, Song Sung Blue, did, it also includes songs that didn't make the US Top 40 or had never charted.
The Sweet Inspirations is the self-titled debut album by American recording soul/gospel female group the Sweet Inspirations, released in 1967 by Atlantic Records. Led by Cissy Houston, the Sweet Inspirations were highly-in-demand female back-up singers featured on some of the most important pop and soul recordings of the 1960s and '70s. They toured and served as session background vocals on albums by various artists' including Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett and Dusty Springfield. This was their first album, recorded in 1967, in which it contains mostly covers of the hits of the day. The album peaked at number 12 on Billboard's Hot Soul Albums, and features the Top 20 hit "Sweet Inspiration" plus the R&B chart hits "Why " and "Let It Be Me".
What the World Needs Now Is Love is the third album by American recording gospel/soul female group the Sweet Inspirations released in 1968 on the label Atlantic Records. The album was produced by Tom Dowd and arranged by Arif Mardin. It features their cover versions of the classic songs; "Alfie", "Unchained Melody", "What the World Needs Now Is Love" and the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody".
