Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Great 60s soul men




In this, my 400th post would you believe, I'm tackling the sixties and listing the 75 great soul men of the decade. There are many to choose from but these, in my humble opinion, are the creme de la creme. So here goes, starting with my top ten, and then moving on to others of note:
1. Sam Cooke (who else at number one?), 2. Otis Redding, 3. James Carr, 4. Wilson Pickett, 5. O V Wright, 6. Al Green, 7. Curtis Mayfield, 8. Gene Chandler, 9. Arthur Alexander, 10. Solomon Burke (pictured at Porretta this year), 11. William Bell, 12. Clarence Carter, 13. Spencer Wiggins, 14. Otis Clay, 15. Arthur Conley, 16. Don Covay, 17. Eddie Floyd, 18. Syl Johnson, 19. Ben E King, 20. Louis Williams, 21. Percy Sledge, 22. Johnnie Taylor, 23. Joe Tex, 24. Rufus Thomas, 25. Oscar Toney Jr, 26. Marv Johnson, 27. Brook Benton, 28. James Brown, 29. Bobby Bland, 30. Lattimore Brown, 31. Jerry Butler, 32. Dee Clark, 33. Jimmy Holiday, 34. Homer Banks, 35. Chuck Jackson, 36. Major Lance, 37. Gene McDaniels, 38. Clyde McPhatter, 39. Garnet Mimms, 40. Lou Rawls, 41. Freddie Scott, 42. Roscoe Shelton, 43. Joe Simon, 44. Swamp Dogg, 45. Howard Tate, 46. Jackie Wilson, 47. Bill Withers, 48. Johnny Adams, 49. Aaron Neville, 50. Ray Charles, 51. Jimmy Hughes, 52. Tyrone Davis, 53, Billy Stewart, 54 Deon Jackson, 55. Little Milton, 56. King Floyd, 57. Ollie Nightingale, 58 Percy Wiggins, 59. Edwin Starr, 60. Tommy Tate, 61. Bobby Womack, 62. Eddie Holland, 63. Marvin Gaye, 64. Ted Taylor, 65. Walter Jackson, 66. Eddie Holman, 67. Darrell Banks, 68. J J Barnes, 69. Shorty Long, 70. Sam Dees,. 71. Stevie Wonder, 72. Frederick Knight, 73. Jimmy Ruffin,. 74. Tommy Hunt, 75. Dean Parrish.



Talking of Jimmy Ruffin, he was on the Jools Holland show last night singing What Becomes of the Broken Hearted. Catch him on BBC Iplayer.

6 Comments:

At 9:07 pm , Blogger Nick said...

I'm still waiting for further suggestions, but how could I omit Z Z Hill? Along with O V Wright, Bobby Bland and Otis Clay he had probably the greatest deep soul of them all.

 
At 7:29 pm , Blogger Dave C said...

Your list is very impressive and it is difficult to come up with other names. However, applying a similar elasticity to the decade criterion, I offer the following for inclusion: Levi Stubbs (a great soul voice but never a solo singer), David Ruffin (another Motown group member whose first solo album was released in1969), J Blackfoot (the first Soul Children was released in 1968), Don Bryant, Big John Hamilton and Roscoe Robinson (two marvellous CDs of ’60s recordings released in the last few years).

 
At 12:43 pm , Anonymous Howler said...

Lots of my favourites in there, though I wouldn't like the task of putting them in sequence. I would probably include the other Johnny Taylor as well - but at who's expense?

 
At 7:50 pm , Blogger jewell mauldin said...

I think that JIMMY RUFFIN is the BEST voice that sings. He was the sixth Temptation...THE VOICE that everyone thought was DAVID RUFFIN was, MOSTof the time, JIMMY RUFFIN.Their tonal-inflections are similar. I want to know how tall JIMMY RUFFIN is and how much he weighs?

 
At 1:49 am , Blogger jewell mauldin said...

We, in America need to see an updated Jimmy Ruffin. There are rumors that he is either deceased, or incapacitated to such an extent that the difference is negligible.His many fans of old would like to know that he is okay.

 
At 1:37 am , Blogger jewell mauldin said...

in addition to what i have already stated concerning the Temptations, Elbridge "Al" Bryant, an original Temptation, sang lead on MY GIRL before he was booted out of the group in 1965 (not 1964, as stated most places). When MY GIRL was recorded, David Ruffin was not a Temptation. He was recruited as a "look-alike" replacement for Mr. Bryant. What I don't understand is why a "look-alike" was needed(?)

 

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