View source for Blue-eyed soul

{{Short description|Term sometimes used for soul music performed by white artists}}
{{For|the Simply Red album|Blue Eyed Soul (album)}}
{{Update|date=November 2022|reason=it doesn't include any information from the past decade}}
'''Blue-eyed soul''' (also called '''white<!--- Please DO NOT REMOVE without talk page consensus ----> soul'''<ref name="Jahn1973">{{cite book|last=Jahn|first=Mike|title=Rock: From Elvis Presley to the Rolling Stones|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eq0UAQAAIAAJ|year=1973|publisher=Quadrangle|page=173|isbn=9780812903140}}</ref>) is [[rhythm and blues]] (R&B) and [[soul music]] performed by [[White people|white]] artists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/style/blue-eyed-soul-ma0000012036|title=Blue-Eyed Soul|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=16 November 2014}}</ref> The term was coined in the mid-1960s, to describe white artists whose sound was similar to that of the predominantly black [[Motown]] and [[Stax Records|Stax]] record labels. Though many [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] [[radio stations]] in the United States in that period would only play music by [[Black people|black]] musicians, some began to play music by white acts considered to have "soul feeling"; their music was then described as "blue-eyed soul".<ref name="billboard 1965" /><ref name="billboard 1966">{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-SgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26 |title=Blue-Eyed Soul Artists Herald Musical Integration on Airways |magazine= Billboard |date=22 October 1966 |pages=26, 38 }}</ref>

==1960s==
[[File:TheRighteousBrothersperformingKBF.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[The Righteous Brothers]], one of the early artists most closely associated with blue-eyed soul]]
[[Georgie Woods]], a Philadelphia radio DJ, is thought to have coined the term "blue-eyed soul" in 1964, initially to describe [[the Righteous Brothers]], then white artists in general who received airplay on [[rhythm and blues]] radio stations.<ref name="billboard 1966"/><ref>{{cite web |author=Bill Millar |year=1983 |title=Blue-eyed Soul: Colour Me Soul |url=http://www.soul-source.co.uk/articles/soul-articles/blue-eyed-soul-colour-me-soul-r356/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304062853/http://www.soul-source.co.uk/articles/soul-articles/blue-eyed-soul-colour-me-soul-r356/ |archive-date=4 March 2016 |website=Soul-source.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.broadcastpioneers.com/georgiewoods.html |title= Georgie Woods  |author=Gerry Wilkinson|website=Broadcastpioneers.com  }}</ref> The Righteous Brothers in turn named their 1964 LP ''Some Blue-Eyed Soul''.<ref name=pc55>{{Gilliland |url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19838/m1/ |title=Show 55 – Crammer: A lively cram course on the history of rock and some other things }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discogs.com/Righteous-Brothers-Some-Blue-Eyed-Soul/master/263077|title=Righteous Brothers, The&nbsp;– Some Blue-Eyed Soul at Discogs|website=Discogs.com|access-date=25 March 2013}}</ref>  According to [[Bill Medley]] of the Righteous Brothers, R&B radio stations who played their songs were surprised to find them to be white when they turned up for interviews, and one DJ in Philadelphia (unnamed by Medley but probably Georgie Woods) started saying "Here's my blue-eyed soul brothers", and it became a code to signal to the audience that they were white singers.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8pX_AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 |title=The Time of My Life: A Righteous Brother's Memoir|author= Bill Medley |publisher=Da Capo Press |date=24 April 2014|isbn= 978-0306823169 |page=18 }}</ref> The popularity of the Righteous Brothers who had a hit with "[[You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin']]" is thought to have started the trend of R&B radio stations to play songs by white artists in the mid-1960s, a more integrative approach that was then popular with their audience.<ref name="billboard 1965">{{cite magazine |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HSkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA49 |title=R&B Stations Open Air Gates to 'White Soulists' |magazine=Billboard |pages=1, 49 |date= 9 October 1965 }}</ref> The term blue-eyed soul was then applied to such artists as [[Sonny & Cher]], [[Tom Jones (singer)|Tom Jones]], [[Barry McGuire]], and [[Roy Head]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-SgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA38 |title=Blue-Eyed Soul Artists Herald Musical Integration on Airways |magazine= Billboard |date=22 October 1966 |pages=26, 38 }}</ref>

White musicians playing R&B music, however, began before the term blue-eyed soul was coined. For instance, in the early 1960s, one of the rare female blue-eyed soul singers was [[Timi Yuro]], whose vocal delivery and repertoire were influenced by African-American singers such as [[Dinah Washington]].<ref name=guardian>[https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/apr/10/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries1 Bob Dickinson, ''Timi Yuro: Feisty white singer with a black soul voice'', The Guardian, 10 April 2004].  Retrieved 21 November 2015</ref>

[[File:Steve Winwood with Traffic.jpg|thumb|170px|[[Steve Winwood]] performing with [[Traffic (band)|Traffic]], 1969]]
[[Lonnie Mack]]'s 1963 gospel-infused vocals earned him widespread critical acclaim as a blue-eyed soul singer.<ref>Alec Dubrow, Rolling Stone, 23 November 1968) Quote: "It is truly the voice of Lonnie Mack that sets him apart. He is primarily a gospel singer, and in a way not too different from, say, Elvis, whose gospel works are both great and largely unnoticed. Lonnie's songs have a sincerity and intensity that's hard to find anywhere." See also, Bill Millar (1983). "Blue-eyed Soul: Colour Me Soul". The History of Rock. Archived from the original on 22 November 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-14: "Lonnie Mack wailed a soul ballad as gutsily as any black gospel singer. The anguished inflections which stamped his best songs ("Why?", "She Don't Come Here Anymore" and "Where There's a Will") had a directness which would have been wholly embarrassing in the hands of almost any other white vocalist."</ref> [[Len Barry]], former lead singer on [[the Dovells]], recorded blue-eyed soul hits in 1965 and 1966 for Decca Records in the US and released by Brunswick Records: "1-2-3", "Like a Baby", and "I Struck It Rich", a song he wrote with Leon Huff of the Philadelphia International Records producers, Gamble and Huff. Groups such as [[the Rascals]] had soul-tinged pop songs,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oldies.about.com/od/soulmotown/g/blueeyedsoul.htm|title=Blue Eyed Soul Music&nbsp;– What is Blue Eyed Soul Music?&nbsp;– Oldies Music Songs and Artists|website=Oldies.about.com|date=22 May 2012|access-date=25 March 2013|archive-date=28 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130628061202/http://oldies.about.com/od/soulmotown/g/blueeyedsoul.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> but it was the soulful vocals of [[Felix Cavaliere]] that gave them the blue-eyed soul sound. 

By the mid-1960s, British singers [[Dusty Springfield]], [[Eric Burdon]], and [[Tom Jones (singer)|Tom Jones]] had become leading vocal stars of the emerging style. Other notable UK exponents of blue-eyed soul included [[the Spencer Davis Group]] (featuring [[Steve Winwood]]), [[Van Morrison]], and archetypal [[Mod (subculture)|mod]] band [[the Small Faces]], whose sound was heavily influenced by the Stax label's house band [[Booker T. & the M.G.'s]]. Blonde, blue-eyed soul singer [[Chris Clark (singer)|Chris Clark]] became the first white singer to have an R&B hit with "Love's Gone Bad" with Motown Records in 1966. In 1969, [[Kiki Dee]] became the first British artist to sign and record with Motown. Some British rock groups of the 1960s – such as the Spencer Davis Group, [[the Rolling Stones]] ("[[My Girl (The Temptations song)|My Girl]]"), and [[the Who]] ("[[Heat Wave (1963 song)|Heat Wave]]") – covered Motown and rhythm and blues tracks.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

In 1967, [[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 the late 1960s, [[Elvis Presley]] began embracing soul music in his recordings,<ref>{{cite book |last=Jorgensen |first=Ernst |year=1998 |title=Elvis Presley{{snd}}A Life in Music: The Complete Recording Sessions |publisher=St Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-18572-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ponce de Leon |first=Charles L. |year=2007 |title=Fortunate Son: The Life of Elvis Presley |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-8090-1641-9}}</ref> and released ''[[From Elvis in Memphis]]'' in 1969, an album of blue-eyed soul, southern soul and country soul. [[Delaney & Bonnie|Delaney and Bonnie]] (Bramlett) produced the blue-eyed soul album ''Home'' on Stax in 1969.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.righteousbrothers.com/program/print/sample.htm |title=The Righteous Brothers "Blue-Eyed Soul" |website=Righteousbrothers.com |access-date=14 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070214042328/http://www.righteousbrothers.com/program/print/sample.htm |archive-date=14 February 2007 }}</ref> [[Michael Sembello]], who left home at age 17 to tour with [[Stevie Wonder]], wrote and performed on numerous blue-eyed soul hits for Wonder, [[Brian McKnight]], [[David Sanborn]], [[Bill Champlin]], and [[Bobby Caldwell]]. [[Todd Rundgren]] began his career in Woody's Truck Stop, a group based on the model of the [[Paul Butterfield]] Blues Band.

After splitting from [[Big Brother and the Holding Company]], [[Janis Joplin]] formed a new backup group, the Kozmic Blues Band, composed of [[session musician]]s like keyboardist Stephen Ryder and saxophonist Cornelius "Snooky" Flowers, as well as former Big Brother and the Holding Company guitarist [[Sam Andrew]] and future [[Full Tilt Boogie Band]] bassist Brad Campbell. The band was influenced by the [[Stax Records|Stax-Volt]] [[rhythm and blues]] (R&B) and soul bands of the 1960s, as exemplified by [[Otis Redding]] and [[the Bar-Kays]].<ref name="amburn">{{cite book|title=Pearl: The Obsessions and Passions of Janis Joplin : A Biography|author=Amburn, Ellis|publisher=[[Time Warner]]|date=October 1992|isbn=0-446-51640-6|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780446395069}}</ref><ref name="buried">{{Cite book|title=Buried Alive: The Biography of Janis Joplin|author=Friedman, Myra|publisher=[[Crown Publishing Group]]|date=15 September 1992|isbn=0-517-58650-9|url=https://archive.org/details/buriedalivebiogr00fried}}</ref>

[[Joe Cocker]], who sang soul-oriented covers of songs such as "[[With a Little Help from My Friends]]", was said by the ''Chicago Sun Times'' to have "opened the door for all blue-eyed soul singers after him".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Guarino |first1=Mark |title=Joe Cocker opened the door for all blue-eyed soul singers |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/2014/12/22/18451463/joe-cocker-opened-the-door-for-all-blue-eyed-soul-singers |work=Chicago Sun Times |date=23 December 2014}}</ref>

==1970s==
[[Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds]] and [[the Grass Roots]] both had successful blue-eyed soul singles; the former with "[[Don't Pull Your Love]]" (1971) and the latter with "[[Two Divided by Love]]" (1971) and "The Runway" (1972). In 1973, the American band [[Stories (band)|Stories]] and the Canadian group [[Skylark (Canadian band)|Skylark]] had successes with their respective blue-eyed soul singles "[[Brother Louie (Hot Chocolate song)#Stories cover|Brother Louie]]" and "[[Wildflower (Skylark song)|Wildflower]]". In February 1975, [[Tower of Power]] became the first white/mixed act to appear on ''[[Soul Train]]''. Also in 1975, [[David Bowie]], another early white artist to appear on ''Soul Train'', released ''[[Young Americans]]'', a popular blue-eyed soul album which Bowie himself called "[[plastic soul]]".<ref>[https://consequence.net/2020/03/david-bowie-young-americans/ David Bowie Fell to Earth and Found His Plastic Soul on Young Americans|Consequence of Sound]</ref> It featured the funk-inspired "[[Fame (David Bowie song)|Fame]]", which became Bowie's first number-one hit in the US. [[Hall & Oates]]' 1975 ''[[Daryl Hall & John Oates (album)|Daryl Hall & John Oates]]'' includes the ballad "[[Sara Smile]]", long considered a blue-eyed soul standard. "She's Gone", another soulful hit, was originally released in 1973 but did better as a re-release after "Sara Smile".  [[Bobby Caldwell]], one of the most notable purveyors of blue-eyed soul, released his enduring hit "[[What You Won't Do for Love (song)|What You Won't Do for Love]]" in 1978.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

== 1980s ==
Blue-eyed soul music's chart success was at its highest when Hall and Oates' singles got heavy airplay on [[urban contemporary]] radio, as was the case with "[[I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)]]", "[[Kiss on My List]]", "One on One", "Say It Isn't So", "Adult Education", "[[Out of Touch (song)|Out of Touch]]", "Method of Modern Love", and "[[Everytime You Go Away]]". Most of those singles charted on the R&B and dance charts, including some number-one hits. In 1985, [[Simply Red]] released "[[Holding Back the Years]]", one of the most successful blue-eyed soul ballads; "[[Money's Too Tight (to Mention)]]" and other singles by the group also performed well.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

Other successful blue-eyed soul songs of the 1980s include [[Phil Collins]]' [[You Can't Hurry Love#Phil Collins version|cover]] of "[[You Can't Hurry Love]]" (1982); [[Culture Club]]'s "[[Do You Really Want to Hurt Me]]" (1982), "[[Time (Clock of the Heart)]]" (1982) and "[[Church of the Poison Mind]]" (1983); Dexys Midnight Runners' "[[Come On Eileen]]" (1983); [[the Style Council]]'s "[[Shout to the Top]]" (1984); [[Teena Marie]]'s "[[Lovergirl]]" (1985); [[Paul Young]]'s "[[Every Time You Go Away]]" (1985); [[Eurythmics]]' "[[Missionary Man (Eurythmics song)|Missionary Man]]" (1986), and [[Steve Winwood]]'s "[[Roll with It (Steve Winwood song)|Roll with It]]" (1988). As the decade drew to a close, British artist [[Lisa Stansfield]] had considerable success on R&B radio, scoring three number-one R&B hits, the most popular being "[[All Around the World (Lisa Stansfield song)|All Around the World]]".{{cn|date=July 2024}}

In the mid-1980s, [[George Michael]] found a phenomenal success in the US [[Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs]] with hit singles such as "[[Careless Whisper]]" and "[[Everything She Wants]]"<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/05/06/george_michael_s_music_in_keanu_the_singer_was_a_black_radio_superstar_in.html |title=George Michael's music in Keanu: The singer was a black radio superstar in the 1980s |access-date=13 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181018080044/http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2016/05/06/george_michael_s_music_in_keanu_the_singer_was_a_black_radio_superstar_in.html |archive-date=18 October 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> but it was not until he reinvented himself as a white soul singer with the release of his multi-platinum album ''[[Faith (George Michael album)|Faith]]'' (1987).<ref name=Wald1997>G. Wald, "Soul's Revival: White Soul, Nostalgia and the Culturally Constructed Past", in M. Guillory and R. C. Green, ''Soul: Black power, politics, and pleasure'' (New York University Press, 1997), pp. 139–58.</ref> The album was notable for slowly climbing to the top of the [[Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums]] chart, making it the first album by a white artist to hit the top spot on that chart, mainly due to the [[Urban contemporary gospel|gospel-influenced]] singles that were released from the album, most notably "[[Father Figure (George Michael song)|Father Figure]]" and "[[One More Try (George Michael song)|One More Try]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/12/26/opinions/george-michael-as-a-musician-covach/index.html|title=Much more than a teen idol -- George Michael the musician|first=John|last=Covach|website=Cnn.com|date=26 December 2016}}</ref><ref>[http://blindedbysound.com/features/deepsoul/deepsoul-george-michael-one-more-try/ DeepSoul: George Michael - "One More Try" - Blinded by Sound]</ref> In 1989, he racked up three  wins in the American Music Awards including Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Album for ''Faith''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/12/5-times-george-michael-showed-his-blue-eyed-soul-to-black-america/ |title=5 Times George Michael Showed His 'Blue-Eyed Soul' to Black America |access-date=13 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170105180648/http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/12/5-times-george-michael-showed-his-blue-eyed-soul-to-black-america/ |archive-date=5 January 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== 1990s ==
[[Dance-pop]] singer [[Rick Astley]] shifted to blue-eyed soul and [[adult contemporary]] in the early 1990s with ''[[Free (Rick Astley album)|Free]]'', featuring the hit "[[Cry for Help]]".{{cn|date=October 2024}}

== 2000s and 2010s ==
[[Joss Stone]] received acclaim after releasing her first album ''[[The Soul Sessions]]'' in 2003. Scottish musician [[Paolo Nutini]] whose first two albums influenced by soul music are [[Music recording sales certification|certified]] quintuple platinum by the [[British Phonographic Industry]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://top40-charts.com/artist.php?aid=7585|title=Paolo Nutini Biography, Discography, Chart History|website=Top40-charts.com|access-date=9 November 2017}}</ref> [[Adele]]'s debut album ''[[19 (Adele album)|19]]'' was a global success.
[[File:Duffy @ Super Bock Super Rock 02.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|[[Duffy (singer)|Duffy]], Welsh soul artist]]

== Criticism ==
A backlash ensued in the late 1980s as some black people felt that white people were cashing in on the popularity of their music. The extent of the backlash, however, was not universally agreed upon. In 1989, ''[[Ebony Magazine]]'' published an article exploring whether white people were "taking over" R&B. The article featured various members of the music industry, both black and white, who believed collaboration was a unifying force, and there was agreement that the future of R&B was not compromised by the contemporary urban sound. A similar article in ''Ebony'', written in 1999 highlighted conflicting opinions about the "blue-eyed" influence; however, the source of contention was not about the artistic merit of blue-eyed soul, but rather the [[economic inequality]] that persisted in American life and within the music industry.<ref>{{Cite news|work=Ebony Magazine |title='Are Whites Stealing Rhythm & Blues?&nbsp;– conflicting opinions about the 'blue-eyed' influence in rhythm and blues music |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_1_55/ai_57046398/pg_3?tag=artBody;col1 |last=Hughes |first=Zondra |access-date=14 July 2008 |year=1999 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912013430/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_1_55/ai_57046398/pg_3/?tag=artBody%3Bcol1 |archive-date=12 September 2009 }}</ref>

According to scholar Joanna Teresa Demers, the "successors [of Presley] in blue-eyed soul and white funk" embittered poet [[Gil Scott-Heron]], as it proved that "blacks were still being victimized by [[cultural appropriation]], making their contributions to American history virtually invisible and inaudible." The "long tradition of white co-optation of black cultural identity" since Elvis amounting to "artistic theft" was, in Scott-Heron's words, "no new thing."<ref name=StolenFromSampledelica>{{cite book |last1=Demers |first1=Joanna Teresa |title=Steal this Music: How Intellectual Property Law Affects Musical Creativity |date=2006 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |pages=31}}</ref>

[[Daryl Hall]] has described the term "blue-eyed soul" as [[Reverse racism|racist]], saying "it assumes I'm coming from the outside. There's always been that thing in America, where if you're a white guy and you're singing or playing in a black idiom, it's like: 'Why is he doing that? Is he from the outside, looking in? Is he copying? What's the point of it?' C'mon, it's music! It's music."<ref>[http://somethingelsereviews.com/2015/05/10/hall-and-oates-blue-eyed-soul-daryl-hall/  "Please, don't categorize Hall and Oates this way: 'It's a racist term'", ''Something Else!'', May 10, 2015]. Retrieved 9 November 2015</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of blue-eyed soul artists]]
* [[1960s in music]]
* [[Brown-eyed soul]]
* [[Sophisti-pop]] – a term applied to a number of 1980s pop acts, many of whom would have fallen under the 'blue-eyed soul' tag at the time
* [[Yacht rock]] – another music genre term applied retrospectively to a certain group of acts by journalists and fans

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.allmusic.com/style/blue-eyed-soul-ma0000012036 Blue-eyed soul] Definition and examples on Allmusic.com
* [http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Blue%20Eyed%20Soul.html Blue eyed soul...] Section on Soulwalking.co.uk
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070214042328/http://www.righteousbrothers.com/program/print/sample.htm The Birth of Blue-eyed Soul] Section on The Righteous Brothers site (have to click on menu)
* {{cite web|title=Blue-Eyed Soul|url=http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/find/browse_subgenre.cgi?GENREID=616&desc=long|website=Mmguide.musicmatch.com|access-date=19 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080124190958/http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/find/browse_subgenre.cgi?GENREID=616&desc=long|archive-date=24 January 2008}}
* {{Pop Chronicles |52| 4|Blue-eyed soul artists}}

{{The Righteous Brothers}}
{{Soul music}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blue-Eyed Soul}}
[[Category:Soul music]]
[[Category:Blue-eyed soul| ]]
[[Category:1960s neologisms]]
[[Category:Race-related controversies in music]]