Soul music
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This Is No Ordinary Flex: Sade Announces Vinyl Box Set That Contains All 6 of Her Albums
Helen Folasade Adu. That’s it. That’s the blog. OK, OK, OK, I do have an actual job to do. Which isn’t a problem, because I am absolutely thrilled to report that Sade will be releasing a special six-album vinyl box set! Earlier this week, the “epitome of ‘nobody asked for this’”—as The Glow Up’s Managing…
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Aloe Blacc Releases New Song, Announces Next Album All Love Everything
Grammy-nominated musician Aloe Blacc returns to the music scene with his latest song, “My Way,” which will be featured on his forthcoming album All Love Everything. The LP is slated to drop on October 2. Blacc’s first full-length project in seven years will find him detailing his experiences and journey as a father, as well…
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Yo, 2000 Was a Really Good Year for Soul Music
If you are reading this, there’s probably a better than 50 percent chance—and probably closer to 75 or 80 percent, really—that you were one of the, apparently, 8 trillion (Swizz’s math might be a little hyperbolic) people who tuned into the Jill Scott versus Erykah Badu Verzuz on Instagram Live on Saturday evening. Topping out…
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We've Lost Another Icon: No Pain (No Gain) Singer Betty Wright Has Died at 66
Betty Wright, the R&B and soul singer known for classics like “Clean Up Woman” and “Tonight is the Night,” has died at 66 years old. Her family confirmed the news to Essence on Sunday. The cause of death has not yet been revealed, though Chaka Khan put out a call on Twitter earlier in the…
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Earth, Wind & Fire Becomes First R&B Group to Receive Kennedy Center Honors. Taylor Swift Snubbed Again
Give them all the things. After turning countless dance floors into a “Boogie Wonderland,” Earth, Wind & Fire will become the first R&B group to receive the Kennedy Center Honors, according to Billboard. “The Kennedy Center Honors celebrates icons who, through their artistry, have left an indelible stamp on our collective cultural consciousness,” Kennedy Center…
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'This Christmas' and the Next: Donny Hathaway to Receive Posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
This Christmas season was a very special one for Donny Hathaway’s fans. According to Vibe, the Recording Academy will honor Hathaway with a Lifetime Achievement Award, just in time for the 40th anniversary of the late soul singer’s death. The Academy announced the recipients on Dec. 19. “Each year, the Recording Academy has the distinct…
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In a New Interview, Smokey Robinson Says He Regrets Not Recording With Friend Aretha Franklin
They knew each other almost all their lives, but in the many decades that Smokey Robinson and Aretha Franklin shared a friendship and mutual admiration, they never made it into the studio to record. Anyone who heard the two briefly duet on The Miracles’ “Ooh, Baby, Baby” (penned by Smokey) on a 1979 episode of…
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'R-E-S-P-E-C-T': Aretha Created a Women’s Anthem Out of a Song Written for a Man
If you grew up a lover of soul music, you know that today, Aug. 16, 2018, is a day to honor the memory of the undisputed Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, who died on Thursday at age 76 of pancreatic cancer. For those of us who will be playing her music for the remainder of…
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You Gotta Put Me On: For the Artists Who Haven’t Quite Reached Mainstream Success but Are Killing the Game
When black people who are musically inclined choose to pursue a career as an artist, they are proclaiming that they not only believe in their talent but also don’t subscribe to the conventional ways of making an American dream a reality. These people are dreamers with thick skin. Rejection is palpable when you choose to…
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Black Music Month: Soul Music; We Make It, They Take It
Did you know that R&B was renamed as “rhythm & blues” from “race music” by Billboard magazine in 1949? The name change reflected upwardly mobile Negroes working diligently to change their social and economic statuses. But, of course, with growth and downright swag comes theft. R&B caught the ears of white audiences, and the rest…