Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African-American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became popular for dancing and listening, where U.S. record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Soul also became popular around the world, directly influencing rock music and the music of Africa. It also had a resurgence in the mid-to late 1990s with the subgenre neo-soul, which added modern production elements and influence from hip-hop.
Doo-wop is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. It features vocal group harmony that carries an engaging melodic line to a simple beat with little or no instrumentation. Lyrics are simple, usually about love, sung by a lead vocal over background vocals, and often featuring, in the bridge, a melodramatically heartfelt recitative addressed to the beloved. Harmonic singing of nonsense syllables is a common characteristic of these songs. Gaining popularity in the 1950s, doo-wop was "artistically and commercially viable" until the early 1960s and continued to influence performers in other genres.
Funkadelic is the debut album by the American funk rock band Funkadelic, released in 1970 on Westbound Records.
William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. is an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. He was the founder and frontman of the pioneering Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief songwriter and producer. He led the group from its 1955 origins, when they were called The Five Chimes, until 1972, when he retired from the group to focus on his role as Motown Records vice president. Robinson returned to the music industry as a solo artist the following year. He left Motown in 1999.
Lesley Sue Goldstein, better known with her maternal surname as Lesley Gore, was an American singer and songwriter. At the age of 16, she recorded her first hit song "It's My Party", a US number one in 1963. She followed it up with ten further US Billboard top 40 hits including "Judy's Turn to Cry" and "You Don't Own Me". Gore said she considered "You Don't Own Me" her signature song.
Vito & the Salutations is an Italian/Irish/Jewish-American New York City doo-wop group from the 1960s. They began performing their four-part harmonies while still in high school, getting practice by singing in subways and at railroad stations. But they never expected anything to come of it, until one of the band members was introduced to someone at a local record company, and the band was asked to make some recordings. Their first popular record, "Gloria," was a regional hit. But Vito & the Salutations became best known for a surprise million-selling hit a year later, in the summer of 1963: they took "Unchained Melody," a 1955 hit ballad by Al Hibbler that they heard on the car radio, as they drove to perform at a concert, and transformed it into an up-tempo, doo-wop song. "Unchained Melody" reached number 66 on the Cash Box hit parade, and it made the top ten in many cities: for example, in New York City, the song reached #3 on top-40 powerhouse WABC. The record was originally released on Herald (H-583). The original group consisted of: Barry Solomon, Bob DiPaolo, Bobby Mitchel and Vito Balsamo That group broke up after their success with their song Gloria. Another group was formed by their manager Dave Rick. That second group consisted of: Frankie Fox, Sheldon Buchansky, Raymond JP Russell and Vito Balsamo. Balsamo came from an immigrant family: his parents were from Palermo, Italy and he grew up in Brooklyn, listening to opera. But he fell in love with rock and roll, much to the dismay of his parents. Vito joined a group and recorded his first song when he was only fifteen. The B side of "Unchained Melody" was "Hey, Hey, Baby," a tune composed by Murray Kanner, Frankie Fox and Dave Rick. Vito & the Salutations also performed their version of "Unchained Melody" on American Bandstand.
Memphis soul, also known as the Memphis sound, is the most prominent strain of Southern soul. It is a shimmering, sultry style produced in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax Records and Hi Records in Memphis, Tennessee, featuring melodic unison horn lines, organ, guitar, bass, and a driving beat on the drums.
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music, broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock, from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music.
Doo Wop 50 is a television and DVD special created and produced by TJ Lubinsky. The special was inspired by a 1994 CD box-set of doo wop music which was also a development and production partner WQED in the program and dvd. It aired in December 1999.
WOGL is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and broadcasts a classic hits radio format. The broadcast tower used by the station is located in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia, at. The station's studios and offices are co-located within Audacy's corporate headquarters in Center City Philadelphia. The station features mostly hits from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s with some 2000s hits.
The Miracles were the Motown Record Corporation's first group and its first million-selling recording artists. During their nineteen-year run on the American music charts, the Miracles charted over fifty hits and recorded in the genres of doo wop, soul, disco, and R&B. Twenty-six Miracles songs reached the top 10 of the Billboard R&B singles chart, including four R&B number ones. Sixteen charted within the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100, with seven reaching the top ten and two – 1970's "The Tears of a Clown" and 1975's "Love Machine" – reaching #1. A third song, the million-selling "Shop Around", reached #1 on the Cash Box magazine pop chart. The Miracles also scored 11 U.S. R&B top 10 albums, including 2-#1's.
The Crests are an American doo-wop group, formed by bass vocalist J.T. Carter in the mid 1950s. The group had several Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s on Coed Records. Their most popular song, "16 Candles", rose to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1959 selling over one million copies and earning a gold disc status. The group's other hits include "Step By Step," "The Angels Listened In," "Trouble In Paradise," "Six Nights A Week," and "A Year Ago Tonight." The Crests were one of the earliest racially mixed doo wop groups, consisting of three African American members, one Puerto Rican, named Harold Torres.and one Italian American.
Leonard Warren Borisoff, known professionally by the stage name Len Barry, was an American singer, songwriter, lyricist, record producer, author, and poet.
David James McAleer is the main contributor for the Virgin Book of British Hit Singles, The Virgin Book of British Hit Albums and the Virgin Book of Top 40 Charts, and was the sole Music Consultant for the Guinness World Records between 1998 and 2011. McAleer is currently the OCC to the Official Charts Company. He was the Chief Consultant/Contributor for the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums for nine years, and has written or co-written over forty published music books.
WJRZ-FM is a commercial radio station licensed to serve Manahawkin, New Jersey. The station is owned by Beasley Broadcast Group through licensee Beasley Media Group, LLC, and broadcasts a classic hits format. The station's studios are located on Beach Avenue in Stafford Township and its broadcast tower is located in Waretown, New Jersey at.
A discography for the band The Brooklyn Bridge.
Kenny Vance is an American singer, songwriter, and music producer who was a founding member of Jay and the Americans. His career spans from the 1950s to today, with projects ranging from starting doo-wop groups to music supervising to creating solo albums.
Jesse Dee is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter from Boston, Massachusetts, United States. He has played as the opening act for Gospel/R&B/Soul legends Al Green and Etta James, and maintains a steady U.S. and international touring schedule. Jesse Dee's current album entitled On My Mind / In My Heart is available online and at various retail outlets. The Boston Globe described his music as "Tough-but-tender soul and rollicking, rootsy R&B...infectious, revival-meeting furor."
Jim Pewter is an American radio DJ, songwriter, producer, liner notes author, and an authority about pop, rock, surf music/surf rock, rockabilly, doo wop, oldies, and jazz. Pewter was host of the daily radio program The Jim Pewter Show, heard worldwide on Armed Forces Radio and Television Service for thirty-plus years, and his show was the first music show to be broadcast to American troops serving in Desert Storm.
Though the music itself developed in African-American communities, the Jewish influence in rhythm and blues, particularly in terms of the music's presentation to a wider audience, was important. According to the Jewish writer, music publishing executive, and songwriter Arnold Shaw, during the 1940s in the United States there was generally little opportunity for Jews in the WASP-controlled realm of mass communications, but the music business was "wide open for Jews as it was for blacks". Jews played a key role in developing and popularizing African American music, including rhythm and blues, and the independent record business was dominated by young Jewish men, and some women, who promoted the sounds of black music.
