Blue-eyed soul

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Blue-eyed soul (also known as white soul) is a term used to describe R&B or soul music performed by white artists.

The term doesn't refer to a distinct style of music, and the meaning of blue-eyed soul has evolved over decades. Originally the term was associated with mid-1960s white artists who performed soul and rhythm and blues music that was similar to the raw, expressive music of the Motown and Stax record labels. Many blue-eyed soul singers have been described as sounding black because they had a full voice with a throaty, resonant timbre. The term continued to be used in the 1970s and 1980s, particularly by the British to describe a new generation of singers who adopted elements of the classic Stax Records and Motown sounds. To a lesser extent, the term has been applied to singers in other music genres that are influenced by soul music (such as dirty pop, urban music, and hip-hop soul).

Contents

[edit] 1950s, 1960s and 1970s

Blue-eyed soul began when white musicians from the southern United States remade black music to play for mass audiences, due to segregation laws that prevented blacks from performing for whites. Often the music was diluted for its new audience, a move that angered many African-Americans.

Elvis Presley often covered songs written by black artists, starting in 1954 with Arthur Crudup's "That's all right, Mama", and continuing through 1955 with Roy Brown's "Good Rocking Tonight", Kokomo Arnold's "Milkcow Blues Boogie" and his last single for Sun Records, Junior Parker's "Mystery Train". They were some of the first songs to be relayed to both white and black audiences on a massive scale, especially after his move to RCA Records in November 1955. Although never described as a blue-eyed soul singer, Presley was instrumental, through the early exposure he gave to R&B, black gospel and blues compositions via radio, concerts, television, and records. This may have contributed to the right atmosphere for another generation of white musicians to perform soul music and similar styles of black-originated music.

In the early 1960s, one of the rare female blue-eyed soul singers was Timi Yuro, whom many assumed to be black. By the mid-1960s, British vocalists Dusty Springfield and Tom Jones became major catalysts for emerging soul musicians in Europe.[1] Outside the Anglo-American scene, Mina fused soul with the classic Italian melody in the late 1960s.[2][3][4][5] The regional beach music and shag music trends in the areas around North and South Carolina in the late 1950s and 1960s are, at least partly, a manifestation of blue-eyed soul. Local white bands backed nationally popular black R&B artists at their road gigs, and performed on their own at fraternity parties and other college social events. The widespread popularity of the Carolina shag enabled many bands to keep their careers into the 2000s. According to "beach band" historian Greg Haynes, national artists such as Bonnie Bramlett and The Allman Brothers (as The Escorts) began their careers on this same college "kegger" circuit. Bill Deal and The Rhondells and The Swinging Medallions are beach bands which have charted nationally.

The terms "blue-eyed soul" and "white soul" were first used in the 1960s to describe white singers whose style was heavily influenced by soul and rhythm and blues. Blue-eyed soul artists in the 1960s included: The Righteous Brothers, The Rascals, Steve Marriott, Eric Burdon, Dusty Springfield, Bobbie Gentry, Lonnie Mack, Van Morrison, Tom Jones, The Box Tops, Mitch Ryder, Tony Joe White and Roy Head. Jerry Lee Lewis, whose latter days at Sun Records (1961-63) had been characterized by R&B covers, recorded an album for Smash entitled Soul My Way in 1967, immediately prior to his successful switch to mainstream country. In some cases (most notably The Flaming Ember, Lonnie Mack and The Rascals), the artists initially "passed" as black singers on the radio - deliberately in many cases, to avoid alienating receptive black radio audiences. Georgie Woods, an air personality with WDAS, Philadelphia, came up with the term "blue-eyed soul" to describe white artists receiving airplay on R&B radio stations. Delaney and Bonnie (Bramlett) produced the classic "blue-eyed soul" album Home on Stax in 1969.[6]

In the 1970s, soul music flourished, and artists such as Richard Rudolph helped pave the way for what is known as blue-eyed soul. Notable artists at this time included Todd Rundgren, Hall & Oates, Elton John, David Bowie, Van Morrison, Bobby Caldwell, Boz Scaggs, and Michael McDonald. Tower of Power were the first white act to appear on the soul music show Soul Train, on February 1, 1975. Elton John appeared on the May 17 episode. A notable album of this time is Hall & Oates' Silver Album (real title Daryl Hall & John Oates) (1975), which includes the classic ballad "Sara Smile" (long considered a blue-eyed soul standard), "Camellia", "Alone Too Long", "Out Of Me Out of You" and the funk love song "Nothing At All".

[edit] 1980s and later

In the 1980s, blue-eyed soul hits were released by artists such as Hall & Oates ("Private Eyes"), Rick Astley ("Together Forever"), and Steve Winwood ("Roll With It"). Boy George, although not having the "black voice", was considered a blue-eyed soul artist because much of the music of Culture Club fit in the genre of R&B. Another 1980s British artist, Annie Lennox, of Eurythmics fame, was often cited as possessing "soul" and went on to record the female empowerment anthem "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" with Aretha Franklin. In the late 1990s, music video channel VH1 proclaimed Lennox to be the greatest living female blue-eyed soul singer. Around the same time as Boy George and Annie Lennox's debuts, audiences were struck by the soulfulness of Teena Marie.

Hall & Oates' chart success was at its highest when their singles got heavy airplay on urban contemporary (black) radio, as was the case with "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)", "One on One", "Say It Isn't So", "Adult Education", "Out of Touch", "Method of Modern Love" and "Everything Your Heart Desires". Most of those singles charted high or at #1 on the R&B and dance charts. A backlash ensued in the late 1980s as some African-Americans felt that whites were cashing in on the new popularity of their music. In 1990, Ebony Magazine published an article deriding whites singing black music. At the top of their list was Mariah Carey (who is in fact multiracial) and Céline Dion, who, while having a powerful voice, has built a career in the mainstream pop and adult contemporary genres and is not usually considered a blue-eyed soul artist.

British artist, George Michael was the first white solo artist to sing a duet with Aretha Franklin, in their hit "I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)". Michael was the first white male vocalist to hit #1 on the US R&B album charts, with his debut album Faith. His fourth single from the album the Ballad, "One More Try", hit #1 in the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts. In 1989 he became the first white artist to win the American Music Award for Favourite Male Vocalist and Favourite Album (Faith)(Soul/R&B).[7]

Later artists who have been labelled blue-eyed soul include Amy Winehouse, Jessica Simpson, Christina Aguilera, Jon B., Remy Shand, Joss Stone, American Idol winner Taylor Hicks, Marc Broussard, Nikka Costa and Anastacia. Robin Thicke gained some notoriety after his single "Lost Without U" became the first by a white male artist to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart since George Michael's "One More Try".

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dusty Springfield Biography. The musicianguide.com site.
  2. ^ Settimana 20 Dicembre 1968 Hitparadeitalia site. Retrieved 6 August 2007
  3. ^ Se stasera sono qui hitparadeitalia site. Retrieved 10 August 2007
  4. ^ Loris Biazzetti 2005. The Platinum Collection. CD liner notes. EMI
  5. ^ Io e te da soli HitParadeItalia site. Retrieved 27 June 2007
  6. ^ http://www.righteousbrothers.com/program/print/sample.htm
  7. ^ http://www.femail.com.au/snapshotgeorgemichael.htm

[edit] External links

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