Best Soul Singers: 30 Must-Hear Voices From Soul Music’s Golden Era

30: Esther Phillips (1935-1984)

As Little Esther, Esther Phillips was a true R&B original; working with the legendary Johnny Otis when she was just 14, her subtle and mature vocal sound belied her young age and set her on the path to becoming one of the best soul singers of her time. Unlike many young stars who don’t make the transition to adult success, Phillips did, dropping the “Little” moniker to create captivating soul cuts for Atlantic Records in the mid-60s. But after that period, heroin addiction increasingly affected the sound of Phillips’ voice and the content of her songs. Following her time at Atlantic she moved to the jazz-oriented Kudo label, releasing the From A Whisper To A Scream album in 1972. This masterpiece featured her all-too-real reading of Gil Scott-Heron’s Home Is Where The Hatred Is, with direct references to heroin use.

Must hear: Cheater Man

29: Mavis Staples (1939- present)

The Staple Singers were North America’s most influential gospel group. Led by Roebuck “Pops” Staples, their music forged close links between spirituality and the civil-rights movement, creating an unforgettable musical setting for African American freedoms. Mavis Staples was part of the family group (and, sadly, is the sole surviving member today), but she also forged an astonishing career of her own. Her first two solo albums, released on the Stax subsidiary Volt, are absolutely extraordinary. These records move away from gospel and towards the drama of love, and Staples uses the deep roots of her belief to give real profundity to heartbreak. “If you hear me sing a secular song, you’re gonna hear some gospel in my voice,” she said in 2018. “I can’t let it go.”

Must hear: What Happened To The Real Me

28: Ben E King (1938-2015)

That Ben E King was a soul pioneer is indisputable; through his solo records and his vocal work with The Drifters he created some of the most well-loved and instantly recognisable songs of all time. What’s also unusual about King is the way he particularly shone in soulful Latin styles, notably Save The Last Dance For Me (by The Drifters) and Spanish Harlem, a solo record from 1960. “I was raised 116th Street and Eight Avenue, only five blocks to the East was the East Side which a lot of Hispanics were there,” he has said. “And that’s where I used to go a lot to pick up things for my dad. So the music of that, I was very familiar with. And, and not only being familiar with [it], I enjoyed the music rhythmically.” Cementing his place among the best soul singers, King brought eclecticism to his records, and his openness to other genres was incredibly important to the broadminded development of early soul music.

Must hear: ’Til I Can’t Take It Anymore

27: Carla Thomas (1942- present)

Carla Thomas is a singer who can shine alone or in a duet. She recorded extensively with her father, Rufus Thomas, and their work was instrumental in establishing the Stax label’s early success. Her 1967 album with Otis Redding, King & Queen, produced the classic Tramp, on which the two singers banter and pop over a serious Stax groove (one that’s been sampled to death since). As a solo artist, Thomas was a smoother and shyer vocal presence – and a record-holder. Her 1960 hit, Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes), was the first self-penned song by a woman to reach the Billboard Top 10. “The record was young-sounding, romantic and it expressed what a lot of people wanted to say at that age,” Thomas has said. “But still, I was surprised at how well it did.” Her final album (to date), the gorgeous Love Means was released in 1971 and had this to say in its sleevenotes: “One wouldn’t ask her what kind of soul she sings for the same reason one wouldn’t ask what kind of flowers the Spring grows”.

Must hear: B-A-B-Y

26: Isaac Hayes (1942-2008)

Isaac Hayes stretched out and tied knots into soul music. Rejecting the idea that soul meant snappy, his 1969 album, Hot Buttered Soul, ushered in a new era of conceptual suites and lengthy musical explorations. Not only one of the best soul singers of all time, Hayes was an arranger, songwriter and session musician, and, by the time he released music under his own name, was incredibly schooled in music creation. Coupled with a ferocious exploratory impulse, he took the tools and conceits of classical music and progressive rock and created a whole new soul sound from them. “I was knocked by some critics at that time saying, ‘Who does he think he is, taking horns and strings and putting them on top of funky rhythm tracks?’” Hayes said. “But that was the way I felt.” On top of that was the Hayes voice, creating monologues of such viscous beauty that it became as one with the other symphonic sounds.

Must hear: Walk On By

25: Bettye Swann (1944- present)

Her name was Betty Chapin, a winning moniker in itself, but Bettye Swann’s voice had a stately elegance with a delicious delicacy. Living in Los Angeles, Swann scored enough soul chart hits in the mid-60s to attract the attention of Capitol Records, which released her first two albums in 1969. Swann’s voice, tenderly placing every nuanced note to perfection, saw her hit with Make Me Yours (1967) and Don’t Touch Me (1969). She switched to Atlantic in 1971, and her beautiful Victim Of A Foolish Heart and Today I Started Loving You Again, both recorded at Muscle Shoals, plus Time To Say Goodbye, cut in Philadelphia, rank as her greatest sides, raising Swann’s reputation among the best soul singers. A compilation, Elegant Soul, which she shares with Barbara Lynn, tells you everything you need to know in its title. Bettye Swann may never have become a superstar, but soul fans know that nobody can deliver poignant songs quite like her.

Must hear: Time To Say Goodbye

24: Brook Benton (1931-1988)

Brook Benton was a pop singer, crooner, songwriter; an urbane deliverer of musical stories. While some of the music he made was not soul at all, his deep, silken tones were the epitome of soulfulness. He made his breakthrough with several hits from 1959 through to 1962, including Endlessly and A Matter Of Time, and his duets with Dinah Washington, among them A Rocking Good Way (To Mess Around And Fall In Love), gave inspiration to Otis Redding and Carla Thomas’ King & Queen album, and Marvin Gaye’s work with female partners. By the mid-60s, when soul music was all about dynamics, Benton’s smoothness was seen as old-fashioned, but when he signed to Cotillion in 1968, he began recording at Muscle Shoals, and 1969’s Rainy Night In Georgia established his new rootsier style – a little country, a little bit pop, and a whole lot of soul. The record was a smash, and established Tony Joe White’s tune as a go-to among the best soul songs. 1970’s The Brook Benton Today album sold well, and the subsequent Home Style and The Storyteller records stuck with the new style. He didn’t compete with James Brown or Motown, but Benton’s thoughtful, down-home manner spoke to people – and still can.

Must hear: Rainy Night In Georgia

23: Cissy Houston (1933- present)

Cissy Houston developed her vocal prowess in church with the group The Drinkard Singers, and her family was packed with great vocalists, including Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick. In the early 60s, Houston formed a group which coalesced into The Sweet Inspirations, backing vocalists to Solomon Burke, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix and Van Morrison. But their most important engagement was accompanying Aretha Franklin when she finally became a star after years of trying. Franklin’s label, Atlantic, signed The Sweet Inspirations, too, and they cut their glorious eponymous debut album in 1967, including the hit named after the group. Houston’s vocals were sizzling, and The Sweet Inspirations’ version of Do Right Woman – Do Right Man is as soulful as Franklin’s, while Here I Am (Take Me) shows off her skills to the fullest extent. She appeared on four further albums with The Sweet Inspirations, then went solo; among her achievements was the original cut of Midnight Train To Georgia and a moving version of He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother. Oh, and she was the mother of Whitney Houston, passing on the DNA that made her one of the best soul singers of her generation…

Must hear: Here I Am (Take Me) (with The Sweet Inspirations)

22: Sam & Dave (Sam Moore, 1935- present; Dave Prater, 1937-1988)

Two for the price of one, Sam & Dave were the greatest soul-singing duo of the 60s, cutting hit after hit in the middle of the decade. Also superb dancers, their show justified the epithet “Double Dynamite”, the title of one of their albums. However, Both Sam Moore and Dave Prater were gifted singers, and Moore in particular had a voice that could break your heart, especially on slower material. Funky, emotive, open-hearted, exciting, their peak period lasted for just a few years, but they really had it goin’ on.

Must hear: Soul Sister, Brown Sugar

21: Sam Dees (1945- present)

A lot of music lovers have not heard of Sam Dees; they are missing out. He is responsible for several million-sellers – as a songwriter. But he deserves to be spoken of among the best soul singers. Born in in Birmingham, Alabama, Dees cut a handful of singles on various labels and earned a crust as a jobbing songwriter for the likes of Clarence Carter, ZZ Hill and Loleatta Holloway. In 1973 he signed to Atlantic and finally got the opportunity to make an album, 1975’s The Show Must Go On. Not only showcasing his remarkable, straight-to-the-heart voice, it was packed with wonderful songs and revealed his social conscience – though some of his hardest-edged lyrics, such as Signed Miss Heroin, were left off. The album didn’t sell, becoming a collectors’ item, and he didn’t get to cut another long-player for 14 years, though he wrote for Larry Graham, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight.

Must hear: Troubled Child

20: Bobby “Blue” Bland (1930-2013)

Bobby Bland started off in the blues era, shifted to R&B and became one of Black America’s greatest soul stars in the 60s, thanks to songs such as That’s The Way Love Is (1963) and Ain’t Nothing You Can Do (1964). But he never sold records in significant numbers to a white audience, perhaps for contradictory reasons: on the one hand, his smoky voice was “too bluesy”; on the other, his arrangements, usually by Joe Scott during the 60s, “too sophisticated”. He was outside soul’s mainstream, but he was certainly soulful, and he became a significant influence on the likes of Rod Stewart and Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall. Bland’s 70s and 80s records remained strong, and he refused to “go disco”, preferring to remain faithful to the music that made him.

Must hear: Rockin’ In The Same Old Boat

19: Ted Mills (1952- present)

It’s not the most showbizzy of names; even when he added “Wizard” in the middle, Ted Mills never became a superstar. But he sang on plenty of hits – and wrote them, too – and never chased the spotlight, preferring to be the lead voice in Blue Magic, a group which made the prettiest music of the Philly soul boom. One of the best soul singers to never get his due, Ted sang way, way up in the clouds, but he was an angel with human frailty: his sound was riddled with melancholy. Listen to What’s Come Over Me, from Blue Magic’s self-titled debut album (1973), a song the group returned to with a guesting Margie Joseph on Thirteen Blue Magic Lane (1975). Or try the pensive You Won’t Have To Tell Me Goodbye, from The Magic Of The Blue (1974): his delivery is so delicate yet downbeat; he did what the song required rather than showing off. Mills really delivered symphonic soul with lashings of honey, while reminding us that we are all weak when faced with the power of love.

Must hear: What’s Come Over Me (with Blue Magic)

18: Patti LaBelle (1944- present)

Patti LaBelle didn’t sing on her first hit, I Sold My Heart To The Junkman, though it was credited to Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles in some record company copyright shenanigans. But she hit the road in support of the song, and had the talent to make it work: she is one of the most distinctive singers of the soul generation. Her group signed to Atlantic in 1965, and the small hit All Or Nothing revealed Patti’s alluring yet occasionally fierce vocal talent, coming over as strikingly powerful on this shimmering uptown soul song. After a couple of albums, the group reconfigured as Labelle, space-rock-glitz soul from the future, and signed to Warner Bros. They sang rock songs such as Cat Stevens’ Moon Shadow and The Who’s Won’t Let Fooled Again, and Patti was a better rock singer (if less successful) than the people whose records Labelle covered. They scored a huge hit with the timeless Lady Marmalade in 1974, and Patti went solo three years later. Her albums sold reasonably well until Patti went over, making it to No.1 in 1985, and her duet with Michael McDonald, On My Own, topped Billboard’s singles chart the following year. She became a regular on US TV, as an actress and a guest artist. Remarkably, whatever setting she sang in, Patti never ceased singing in an uncompromising soul manner, and all her work, from the 60s to the present day, testifies to her status as one of the best soul singers of all time.

Must hear: All Or Nothing

17: Stevie Wonder (1950- present)

“I’m not a normal man – never have been,” Stevie Wonder told Oprah Winfrey in 2004. “The more I accept that, the better I feel. I’m a work in progress, but if I know in my heart that I’m doing my best, that my heart’s in the right place, that I have unconditional love, I feel OK.” The open-minded, open-hearted artistry of Stevie Wonder has been a gift to us all since 1961, when, at the age of 11, he was signed to Motown and released his first record. The defining theme of Wonder’s music is hope: whether that’s belief in a better future for America (and Black America in particular) or the joy inherent in a song such as Isn’t She Lovely, written for his young daughter as he heard her splashing in the bathtub. Wonder is also known for his early adaptation of technology, creating one of soul music’s first electronic albums, 1979’s Journey Through The Secret Life Of Plants. “I want to reach the people,” he said back in 1973. “I feel there is so much through music that can be said, and there’s so many people you can reach by listening to another kind of music besides what is considered your only kind of music.”

Must hear: As

16: Roberta Flack (1937- present)

Soul music comes in many forms, and the refined sound of Roberta Flack could not contrast more sharply with the testifyin’ grits’n’gravy of many Southern soul stars. Accompanying herself on piano, this thoughtful and elegant singer played cafes around Washington, DC, in the late 60s, having previously pursued a career in classical music. Discovered by jazz pianist Les McCann, who had her audition – successfully – for Atlantic, Flack released her debut album, First Take, in 1969, though it took more than two years to become a major success. Very much an album artist, she still scored hits with the likes of Killing Me Softly With His Song, Feel Like Makin’ Love and a lasting musical union with the troubled genius Donny Hathaway, which resulted in Where Is The Love, Back Together Again and The Closer I Get To You. Pure, warm, controlled and emotionally connected, there is no singer quite like Roberta Flack.

Must hear: Compared To What

15: Lamont Dozier (1941-2022)

Though he is more commonly noted as part of the unique Motown production team Holland-Dozier-Holland, Lamont Dozier was one of the best soul singers of his era, and creator of some of the greatest – if least appreciated – soul albums of the 70s. Capable of delivering heavyweight grooves and songs of feather-light tenderness alike, he cut three albums for Warner Bros in the mid-70s that explored human emotion in its many forms. One, the modestly titled Peddlin’ Music On The Side (he’d previously named an album Black Bach!) included the song he’s most known for as a solo artist, Going Back To My Roots, one of the best 70s funk tracks, period. Sure, he could write. But feel the emotion in his voice.

Must hear: Going Back To My Roots

14: Candi Staton (1940- present)

One of the best female soul singers of her era, Candi Staton’s career has been unpredictable. In 1968, she met the singer Clarence Carter, who took her to Alabama’s FAME Studios, whose owner, Rick Hall, signed her. She later married Carter, and their vocal phrasing was apparently influenced by each other. Staton began scoring hit records from 1969 and was known as the “Queen Of Southern Soul”, able to bring passion to other people’s hits, such as In The Ghetto and Stand By Your Man. In 1974, she signed to Warner Bros, and her soulful Young Hearts Run Free gave disco extra heart in 1976, and is still fondly thought of as one of the best LGBTQ+ songs from that pivotal time. The following year, her delicious cut of Bee Gees’ Nights On Broadway was a huge dancefloor smash. Staton’s considerable British fanbase made Suspicious Minds a hit in 1982, and You Got The Love, credited to The Source Featuring Candi Station, hit the UK charts three times, going platinum. Blessed with the strength to face worrying health problems and five divorces, Candi Staton is not just a vocal giant, she’s a remarkable human being.

Must hear: Young Hearts Run Free

13: Marvin Junior (1936-2013)

The Dells’ Marvin Junior was probably the greatest male singer in any soul group. Yet he reckoned his voice was never quite as strong as it had been before a car crash in 1958. Perhaps fate had intervened to give everyone else a chance, because Marvin Junior was a soul inferno even after the accident. The Dells were Chicago soul legends; they formed in 1953, and their line-up remained stable from 1961 until their 2012 retirement. They were everything a soul vocal group should be, and they sometimes appeared uncredited, as on Barbara Lewis’ smash hit Hello Stranger. Marvin Junior’s baritone was the group’s special power; arguably only Levi Stubbs of Four Tops comes close to stealing his spot among the best soul singers.

Must hear: The Love We Had (Stays On My Mind)

12: Tina Turner (1939- 2023)

Tuna Turner doesn’t just sing soul. She’s a rock icon – the “Queen Of Rock’n’Roll”, a symbol of female resilience, an 80s superstar and boss of the 60s R&B stage. But let’s not forget her awesome voice, an often-imitated, never-replicated instrument that can sell songs as diverse as River Deep – Mountain High, Black Coffee, Nutbush City Limits and Private Dancer with equal facility. She influenced many male singers, too, from Mick Jagger to Steve Marriott to Paul Rodgers, and her rise to solo fame following her hair-raising life with Ike Turner is an inspiration. Tina doesn’t just sing soul. She lives it.

Must hear: Bold Soul Sister (1973)

11: Al Green (1946- present)

“Can you be a great soul performer without being tormented and without havoc being wreaked on your soul?” Al Green asked himself in 2009. “That depends if you want to be a great soul singer.” Green is one of the greatest soul singers, not only for the undoubted natural qualities of his voice, but also because of the life experience that drips from every note he sings. Forced to leave home when a teenager, Green hit a rough lifestyle at a young age, and found solace in the singers he admired: Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett. Under the guidance of Willie Mitchell, producer at Hi Records, Green gradually moved away from imitating his heroes and towards finding his own vocal style – and he became more distinctive than he could ever imagine. Green’s life continued to be marked by tragedy and difficulty, and as the 70s wore on, his faith became a greater part of his life and music. This culminated in Green’s ordination as a minister and his recording devotional, rather than secular, music. “I got tired of being just a pop singer selling records, entertaining millions and saying nothing of importance,” he said in 1975. “I have now established a direction for my music and I know that I have a message to get across.”

Must hear: Tired Of Being Alone

10: Ray Charles (1930-2004)

Soul’s founding father was a giant of any music he took on: R&B, jazz, country, pop, rock’n’roll – he was the master of all. Brother Ray lost his sight at the age of seven, yet never lost his musical vision. Cutting R&B hits for small companies led to a contract with Atlantic in 1953, and his first hit for the label was Mess Around, now regarded as a classic; the following year he hit with I Got A Woman. This period peaked with the much-imitated call-and-response smash What’d I Say in 1959. Atlantic marketed him as The Genius; Charles proved it with a shift to ABC-Paramount and songs such as Hit The Road Jack and Georgia On My Mind, plus the huge Modern Sounds In Country Music album. He enjoyed hits through the 60s, though they became increasingly sporadic, and ran his own labels, Tangerine and Crossover. An inspiration to Stevie Wonder, and a survivor of drug busts and salacious stories, Ray Charles was simply too good to fail.

Must hear: What’d I Say

9: Nina Simone (1933-2003)

“It doesn’t matter to me what is going on today because my music encompasses every kind of mood that exists in human beings,” Nina Simone said back in 1968. Even though she has the title “The High Priestess Of Soul”, the soul genre is but one fragment of her mosaic. But what a fragment! Simone’s clear-eyed intellect and classical training mixed with anger at racial injustice to create many of soul music’s most potent statements; she also drew from deep wells of tenderness for intense love songs. “Wow… You can see colours through music,” Simone said in that same 1968 interview. “Anything! Anything human can be felt through music, which means that there is no limit to the creating that can be done with music.”

Must hear: Sinnerman

8: Curtis Mayfield (1942-1999)

While many of the best soul singers imposed their personalities by sheer vocal force, Curtis Mayfield deployed a gentle falsetto – facility for a pretty melody and wise lyrics to reach the people. His career began in the vocal group The Impressions, and he took over as leader in 1961 when Jerry Butler went solo. Mayfield led the trio through the 60s, offering everything from Motown-like burners to tender Latin ballads, while his lyrics grew increasingly conscious on such songs as People Get Ready, We’re A Winner and This Is My Country. In 1970, having already launched three record labels – the most lasting of which was Curtom – Mayfield went solo, scoring hits with Move On Up and two cuts from his remarkable soundtrack for the 1972 movie Superfly, the title track and Freddie’s Dead. He wrote and produced numerous other acts and was still regarded as a soul hero when an accident on stage left him paralysed in 1990. He continued to record sporadically before passing away in 1999.

Must hear: We Got To Have Peace

7: Marvin Gaye (1939-1984)

At first, Marvin Gaye may not have been able to decide whether he would become a Broadway vocalist, a Sam Cooke-styled singer or a torch crooner, but once he’d embraced his soul destiny, boy did he succeed. Capable of everything from disco to sexy ballads to electronica to political laments to superb R&B dance tunes, Marvin ruled it all. Fans of 60s soul love early records such as Can I Get A Witness and One More Heartache; everyone knows I Heard It Through The Grapevine and Sexual Healing; critics adore What’s Going On; and his late-70s work lays bare an inner turmoil few other artists would dare reveal. His shocking death did not silence his remarkable talent as one of the best soul singers of all time.

Must hear: Distant Lover

6: Solomon Burke (1940-2010)

Crowned “The King Of Rock And Soul” in 1963, Solomon Burke was a (literally) huge figure in soul, a man around whom stories accumulated – many created by the singer himself. He grew up wailing gospel in Philadelphia, even though he sounded like a singer from the South. Invested as a Bishop in church when he was a baby, Burke preached as a child, and therefore carried a strong sense of theatricality when he made the jump to secular music in the mid-50s. Joining Atlantic in 1960, his numerous records for the company spanned everything from country to outright rock’n’roll, but his forte was soul and R&B, and his Everybody Needs Somebody To Love is a much-covered mid-60s anthem that still resonates. He recorded for numerous labels, opened many businesses and, when he started his own church in Los Angeles, Burke soon had 300 ministers across North America preaching the gospel his way. As late as 2002, his burly figure cut a riveting presence on Jools Holland’s British TV show, singing a powerfully dramatic Don’t Give Up On Me.

Must hear: Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

5: Ann Peebles (1947- present)

Along with Al Green, Ann Peebles was the sound of Hi Records. Her voice held grit and oysters, singing often of broken homes, betrayal, revenge. Her signature song, I Can’t Stand The Rain, has had a life far beyond its own recording, has been covered by numerous artists and also provided the foundation for Missy Elliott’s breakthrough hit, The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly). But Peebles’ fame was always gently simmering, never red hot, despite her being one of the best soul singers of all time. The theory is that she was without something in her personality: call it drive, call it killer instinct, call it ache for fame – whatever it was, Peebles did not want to jeopardise her personal happiness. She has said, “I was happy the way I was.” She married in 1974 and her family life became the important part of her world. “I had a child and I was happy,” she said. “Knowing [stardom] would take me away from what I was really like, it didn’t bother me that much.” Paradoxically, this has meant that Peebles’ records have a rare quality; she made them to be an end in themselves, and her seven Hi albums, released between 1969 and 1978, form one of the most consistently brilliant catalogues of any soul artist.

Must hear: Beware

4: Sam Cooke (1931-1964)

The romantic sound of Sam Cooke, coupled with his intense good looks, made him soul music’s first teen idol. But he had to fight. The price of being a pioneer is often approbation, and so it was for Cooke. He was known as a gospel singer (he was part of The Soul Stirrers and, even then, girls would crowd his performances just to get a glimpse of him) and, when he sought to take his skills to secular music, he faced a backlash from the gospel world. The thing that kept him exploring soul music was his father, a pastor. “My father told me it was not what I sang that was important, but that God gave me a voice and musical talent and the true use of His gift was to share it and make people happy,” Cooke once said. Cooke is recognised as perhaps the most technically gifted soul singer of all, with a pure tenor voice that was both flexible and incredibly strong. As his fame grew, he became increasingly involved with civil rights and lent his voice to anthems of freedom. His death in 1964, at the age of 33 – the incident still shrouded in mystery and contradictory accounts – robbed the world of the first bona fide superstar among the best soul singers.

Must hear: A Change Is Gonna Come

3: Wilson Pickett (1941-2006)

Soul’s force of nature, The Wicked Pickett screamed and roared his way through hit after hit in the 60s, seemingly a superstar by birthright. He found his first inkling of success in Detroit group The Falcons before signing to Atlantic in 1964. The following year he landed his first mega-hit, In The Midnight Hour, setting the pace for the best Wilson Pickett songs: Don’t Fight It, Ninety-Nine And A Half (Won’t Do), 634-5789, Land Of 1,000 Dances, Mustang Sally… there was no stopping him. One of the best soul singers of the 60s, Pickett kept scoring hits despite regularly swapping songwriters, sidemen and studios across the South, and his version of Hey Jude made the world sit up and take notice of Duane Allman, who delivered a freak-out guitar solo on the record. A trip north brought further success in 1970 with the album In Philadelphia, though Pickett’s career never quite recovered its momentum after he left Atlantic in 1972, and he suffered from illness and addiction. However, Pickett remained a magnetic figure, and his presence in the 1991 movie The Commitments was almost palpable, even though he did not actually appear on screen. He passed away in 2006, having packed several lifetimes into his 64 years.

Must hear: Land Of 1,000 Dances

2: Otis Redding (1941-1967)

A giant of Southern soul, the success of Otis Redding took Stax Records into the big league, and he was the Memphis label’s musical figurehead. Tender, tough, gentle and blasting, Otis could do it all – he took unlikely material from the 20s and made it entirely fitting for the 60s, and covered contemporary rock tunes such as The Rolling Stones’ (I Can’t Get Not) Satisfaction and rendered them fully soulful. Just when he’d found a new hippie audience in 1967, Redding died in a plane crash, leaving a tantalising glimpse of a mellow new folk-tinged style in his posthumous No.1, (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay.

Must hear: Try A Little Tenderness

1: Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)

Lady Soul. The “Queen Of Soul”. Simply Aretha, or even ’Retha… Aretha Franklin’s sheer talent and pure soul power puts her at the top of this list of the best soul singers – untouchable, even when her release rate slowed. She spent some years floating between jazz and soul, but when she committed to the latter in 1967, this gospel-driven powerhouse proved so strong that she was just “next level”. Turning out classic albums such as I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You and Lady Soul, Franklin even took signature songs by fellow giants Otis Redding and James Brown and made them her own. Who could compete with the best Aretha Franklin songs? Some tried; most simply bowed to her brilliance.

Must hear: Respect

Check out the best female soul singers of all time.

Original article: 8 May 2021

Updated: 3 October 2023. Words: Ian McCann | 27 February 2024. Words: Jeanette Leech