There are individual styles of music that make us vibrate and experience sensations challenging to explain. One of those styles is soul music. If you want to meet your Giants, here are the top ten soul singers of all time.
The American edition of the Rolling Stones magazine was the one in charge of issuing the ruling, publishing what are the ten best soul singers of all time according to the opinion of its readers. Legends of black music to which, in some cases, a tragic or premature death helped to magnify their fame, but whose music remains, and we can always download their songs and listen to them again.
What are the top ten soul singers of all time?
- Otis Redding (1941-1967)
At number one on the list, we found Otis Redding. Like many legends of this selection, Otis died young and tragically. He was only 26 when the plane he was on crashed into a field in Wisconsin. Days earlier, he had closed the most famous song of his entire career, ‘(Sittin ‘on the) Dock of the bay.’
- Marvin Gaye (1939-1984)
Another of the great soul geniuses who also cruelly died was Marvin Gaye. At 44, he was shot by his father. During the ’60s, was one of the creators with the most hits of Motown with songs like “How sweet it is (to be loved by you),” “I heard it through the grapevine” or “Thinking.”
- Sam Cooke (1931-1964)
Sam Cooke suffered one of the most tragic deaths in the soul music world at the age of 33. He was shot in the lobby of a sleazy motel in Los Angeles city. He was, at the time, one of the most renowned and admired soul singers.
It began in the music scene with the gospel and moved on to secular music in 1956 when it released its first solo single, “Lovable.” After he had other great hits like “You send me,” “Chain gang,” “Twisting the night away,” or “A chance is going to come.”
- Aretha Franklin (1942)
Aretha Franklin is the only woman on the top 10 soul list, according to readers of the Rolling Stone website. This woman, with capital letters, started singing in her father’s church when she was very young. His debut album was “Songs of faith” in 1956 when he was only 14 years old.
Aretha’s brightest years came in the ‘ 60s, after signing with Atlantic. Linked spectacular success with “(You make me feel) Like a natural woman” or “Think,” among many others.
- Ray Charles (1930-2004)
Known in the circle as” the genius,” Ray Charles ‘ career lasted six decades, playing almost all imaginable styles of Music: soul, rock, and even jazz. His success began with” Mess around ” in 1953. During the next two decades, launched topics of great success as “I got a woman,” “Nighttime is the right time” or “Hit the road, Jack.” His last album, Genius loves company, released in 2004, earned a Grammy for The Album of the year.
- Albert Green (1946)
Albert Green grew up drenched in the music of Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, and Otis Redding. In the 1960s, he was released to fame with singles as well known as” Let’s stay together,“Take me to the river, “or “Tired of being alone.” Time after and until the mid-’90s was devoted only to gospel music. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at number 65 on its list of 100 immortal artists.
- Stevie Wonder (1950)
Singer, songwriter, record producer, musician, and declared an American social activist of African-American origin, Steve Wonder has recorded more than 30 sales hits in his long musical career. At the age of 13, he achieved his first major success with “Fingertips.” At that time began for Stevie Wonder, one of the brightest black music races of the last century.
- James Brown (1933-2006)
James Brown suddenly entered the musical scene in 1956 with one of the classics already of Soul Music, ” Please, please, please.” Later dubbed “the most hardworking man in show business,” he only stopped his frantic recording rhythm when he died in late 2006. Sang themes as brilliant as “I feel good,” “Papa’s got a brand new bag,” “It’s a man’s world,” or “Get up off that thing.”
In the ’60s, Stevie Wonder was one of the figures of the Motown sound with songs like “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” or “My Cherie amour.” After more than 20 years, successful records arrived. In the mid-1980s, its proliferation lost its bellows, but its popularity remains the same today. The last album he released was “Time to love,” in 2005, a work with entirely new material.
- Smokey Robinson (1940)
Smokey Robinson was born in Detroit and nicknamed “Smokey Joe” when he was still a kid due to his uncle’s devotion to cowboy movies. He was an active contributor to Motown and would later record some of Detroit’s most remembered hits. He sang “Shop around,” “Tracks of my tears,” “Going to a Go-Go,” or “The tears of a clown” with his group the Miracles.
In the 1980s, he again succeeded with “Being with you.” Smokey is about eighty years old, although age does not prevent him from remaining one of the largest in the soul World.
- Luther Vandross (1951-2005)
Luther Vandross grew up in a purely musical family that moved to the Bronx when he was 13. In 1974, the hand of David Bowie, came his great opportunity: to sing the backing vocals for his album Young Americans. But it wasn’t until the 1980s that he began his solo hits with songs like “Never too much” or “Give me the reason.” His most enormous popularity was with “Here and now.”