The classic balladeers of soul were the '60s originals who combined gospel fervor with secular sexuality to create the idiom—their remarkable voices adding the crowning touch. And there's little disagreement as to who among these pioneers held the titles of queen and king: Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding ruled.
Aretha Franklin, daughter of a prominent Detroit preacher, emerged first, charting in 1960. But her career was rudderless until 1967, when she busted out with the exhilarating, definitive No. 1 soul hits I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You) and Respecter cover of this Redding tune topped the pop charts as well). Lady Soul, as she was dubbed, was unstoppable after that, broadening her style to take in such material as Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do), which Stevie Wonder co-wrote and recorded himself in 1967 (but didn't immediately release). In 1976, Aretha cut an album of music written and produced by Chicago soul veteran Curtis Mayfield—a soundtrack to the movie Sparkle, about a '60s vocal group called the Sisters—and rode their theme, Something He Can Feel, farther in real life than the Sisters did in fiction.
The electrifying Otis Redding first charted in 1963 with These Arms of Mine, which he recorded at the end of a Johnny Jenkins session (he was Jenkins' driver and valet). From then until his death in a 1967 plane crash, Redding was a regular on the R&B charts while also becoming a favorite soul man of the hippies. Otis told some of his story in I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now), which he wrote with Jerry Butler (who founded the Impressions with Curtis Mayfield shortly before going solo). Percy Sledge may never have reached Redding's stature, but his fervent When a Man Loves a Woman has survived as one of classic soul's most enduring singles. Written as Why Did You Leave Me by two of Sledge's band members, bassist Calvin Lewis and organist Andrew Wright, then re-written to please producer Quin Ivy, the hit got a second life when used in the 1986 Vietnam movie Platoon; since then it has been revived countless times and even had a film named after it in 1994. The '60s also saw Linda Jones, blessed with a gale-force voice and baroque George Kerr productions, hit biggest with her 1967 debut, Hypnotized; she died of diabetes five years later at age 28. And by 1970 Brook Benton, already a hit-maker for more than a decade, had his last major success with Tony Joe White's lonesome Rainy Night in Georgia.
The 70s are generally perceived as the disco years, when soul music was put to rest. But classic soul styles adapting to disco. The Staple Singers, a popular gospel group through the '50s and '60s, went secular in 1970, applying moral (but not overtly religious) themes to Southern soul and funk. They enjoyed one of their biggest hits mid-decade with the theme song Let's Do It Again, written and produced by Curtis Mayfield for Sidney Poitier's film comedy. Luther Ingram hit in 1972 with (If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right, a radically rearranged version of a song the Emotions recorded two years earlier, and one of the last great Stax hits.
The Moments came out of the vocal-group tradition to score with Love on a Two-Way Street, the first major hit for writer-producer Sylvia Robinson's Stang label. Robinson, one of the voices behind Mickey and Sylvia's eternal Love Is Strange in 1956, scored a second hit in 73 with her original Pillow Talk, after Al Green turned it down. The Persuaders had the biggest hit of their short-lived career with their debut, Thin Line Between Love and Hate—a British pop hit for the Pretenders 13 years later. And the Chi-Lites came out of Chicago with the irresistibly winsome Oh Girl, featuring CyTouff's countrified harmonica.
But few '70s acts bridged the gap between soul and disco like those associated with the Philadelphia International scene. The Spinners, a journeyman Detroit group, finally achieved their long-predicted mass-market breakthrough when they switched labels and hooked up with Thorn Bell; seeking to escape the sweet-soul rut he felt he'd gotten into Around for them. Sideshow, written by Gwen Woolfolk (as "Vinnie Barrett") and Bobby Eli after a visit to a museum of antique circus toys, carried Blue Magic to the top 01 sou cnarts. The same duo wrote Love Won't Let Me Wait, juiced up by Barbara Ingram's erotic moans, for ex-Delfonic Major Harris. And former Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes lead singer Teddy Pendergrass, whose powerful baritone had a tendency to leave women in a cold sweat, firmed up his solo identity with Close the Door.
Though nowhere near as dominant as it once was, classic soul balladeering never really went away. Even a heavy funkateer like Larry Graham, former bassist with Sly and the Family Stone and later ringleader of Graham Central Station, had his greatest solo success with a ballad, One in a Million You. Atlantic Starr, which first tried to cut Always in 1982 only to be nixed by their producer, got the last laugh when they hit No. 1 with it five years later. James Ingram, who made a career of musical collaborations, helped Quincy Jones' goddaughter Patti Austin climb to the top of the pop charts with Baby, Come to Me, aided by extensive play on TV's General Hospital. Anita Baker defined the austere form of modern soul balladeering known as "quiet storm" with Sweet Love in 1986. Two years later, she heavily revised a demo done by the Alabama group Take 6 to enjoy her biggest crossover, Giving You the Best That I Got. And Natalie Cole had her first No. 1 in 11 years with Miss You Like Crazy. There will always be room on the charts for ballads such as these.
- John Morthland
John Morthland has written about music for over 30years. He is a contributing editor for Texas Monthly and the author ofThe Best of Country Music (Doubleday, 1984).