...Music and Stuff...Adrian Howe...: soul

Saturday, 16 August 2014

The Four Tops.

The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet from Detroit, Michiganwho helped to define the city's Motown sound of the 1960s. The group's repertoire has included soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, doo-wop, jazz, and showtunes.

Founded as The Four Aims, lead singer Levi Stubbs (born Levi Stubbles, a cousin of Jackie Wilson and brother of The Falcons' Joe Stubbs), and groupmates Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton remained together for over four decades, having gone from 1953 until 1997 without a change in personnel.

The Four Tops were among a number of groups, including The Miracles, The Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, The Temptations, and The Supremes, who established the Motown Sound around the world during the 1960s. They were notable for having Stubbs, a baritone, as their lead singer, whereas most male/mixed vocal groups of the time were fronted by a tenor.

The group was the main male vocal group for the highly successfulsongwriting and production team of Holland–Dozier–Holland, who crafted a stream of hit singles on Motown. These included twoBillboard Hot 100 number-one hits for the Tops: "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" in 1965 and "Reach Out I'll Be There" in 1966. After Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown in 1967, the Four Tops were assigned to a number of producers, primarily Frank Wilson, but generally with less success.

Marvin Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), born Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr., was anAmerican singer-songwriter and musician.

Gaye helped to shape the sound of Motown Records in the 1960s with a string of hits, including "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", and duet recordings with Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell, later earning thetitles "Prince of Motown" and "Prince of Soul". During the 1970s, he recorded theconcept albums What's Going On and Let's Get It On and became one of the first artists in Motown to break away from the reins of its production company. Gaye's later recordings influenced several R&B subgenres, such as quiet storm and neo-soul.

Following a period in Europe as a tax exile in the early 1980s, Gaye released the 1982Grammy Award-winning hit "Sexual Healing" and the Midnight Love album. Since hisdeath in 1984, Gaye has been posthumously honoured by many institutions, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer-songwriterwho first rose to fame in the late 1960s as the lead singer of the psychedelic-acid rock bandBig Brother and the Holding Company, and later as a solo artist with her own backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band. She was one of the more popular acts at the Monterey Pop Festival and later became one of the major attractions to the Woodstock festival and the Festival Express train tour. Joplin charted five singles, and other popular songs from her four-year solo career include "Down on Me", "Summertime", "Piece of My Heart", "Ball 'n' Chain", "Maybe", "To Love Somebody", "Kozmic Blues", "Work Me, Lord", "Cry Baby", "Mercedes Benz", and her only number one hit, "Me and Bobby McGee". Joplin was well known for her performing abilities, and her fans referred to her stage presence as "electric". At the height of her career, she was known as "The Queen of Psychedelic Soul," and became known as Pearl among her friends. She was also a painter, dancer and music arranger. Rolling Stone ranked Joplin number 46 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2004, and number 28 on its 2008 list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.