Obscurity is what made modern soul singers popular in the movement. The youth sub-cultures of Great Britain that loved this American music are responsible for the musical style. Northern soul was brought to Great Britain by DJs who scoured American music looking for obscure artists and bringing them to British venues. The contemporary spin-off of that movement was modern soul, introduced in the 1970s.
The new style of music is characterized by soulful lyrics and melodies and an uptempo beat. The term modern came from comparison to the more traditional, and frenetic sounds of northern. The soulful sound was a newer, more complex genre than its counterpart. The two styles coexist in British venues today.
The fans began as converts from the northern style. They still appreciated the uniqueness of rare titles mined from little known, independent labels in America. However, they preferred the contemporary sound along with the new releases that never seemed to stop.
The popular Blackpool Mecca is a famous venue for the newer style music today because of DJ Ian Levine. He was one of the first DJs to shift from the more traditional to the more contemporary style. He initiated the movement when he played the Carstairs single, It Really Hurts Me Girl.
The competing camps of fans parted ways early on. Northern fans viewed the other fans as sellouts to what frequently became mainstream music, while contemporary fans found the older style too confining. Today, both styles can be heard in British clubs on any given night.
Johnny Bristol is exemplary of the typical singer appreciated by newer genre fans. Independent record labels Tri Phi and Anna Records released his first songs. They were favorites in the scene, but did not enjoy the same success in America. Bristol focused on producing songs and writing songs for different artists for a long time. He returned to recording his own music with two albums released by Atlantic Records. Strangers in the Dark Corners from one of the albums became popular in the obscure music scene. The rarity is what is appealing to fans of this genre.
The contemporary movement allows for greater crossover appeal than could be offered through the northern movement. Artists in the traditional genre are popular because they are unique, rare, and out of the mainstream. Newer genre artists, however, may start out being obscure, but often attain some level of general appeal. Bobby Womack, The Whispers, and Luther Vandross are among artists who fall into this category. They each rose from anonymity to great success and popularity with mainstream fans.
Luther Vandross was an unknown in the seventies when independent record label Cotillion released his first couple of albums. He went on to win eight Grammy awards and be nominated an additional twenty-three times. The Whispers put out three platinum and two gold albums. Two of their albums went to number one on the Billboard charts. In 2009, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted singer Bobby Womack. Often other modern soul singers would rise from obscurity to earn some level of fame and wealth. Some never moved beyond anonymity, but continued to have a strong fan base in the rare music genre.
The new style of music is characterized by soulful lyrics and melodies and an uptempo beat. The term modern came from comparison to the more traditional, and frenetic sounds of northern. The soulful sound was a newer, more complex genre than its counterpart. The two styles coexist in British venues today.
The fans began as converts from the northern style. They still appreciated the uniqueness of rare titles mined from little known, independent labels in America. However, they preferred the contemporary sound along with the new releases that never seemed to stop.
The popular Blackpool Mecca is a famous venue for the newer style music today because of DJ Ian Levine. He was one of the first DJs to shift from the more traditional to the more contemporary style. He initiated the movement when he played the Carstairs single, It Really Hurts Me Girl.
The competing camps of fans parted ways early on. Northern fans viewed the other fans as sellouts to what frequently became mainstream music, while contemporary fans found the older style too confining. Today, both styles can be heard in British clubs on any given night.
Johnny Bristol is exemplary of the typical singer appreciated by newer genre fans. Independent record labels Tri Phi and Anna Records released his first songs. They were favorites in the scene, but did not enjoy the same success in America. Bristol focused on producing songs and writing songs for different artists for a long time. He returned to recording his own music with two albums released by Atlantic Records. Strangers in the Dark Corners from one of the albums became popular in the obscure music scene. The rarity is what is appealing to fans of this genre.
The contemporary movement allows for greater crossover appeal than could be offered through the northern movement. Artists in the traditional genre are popular because they are unique, rare, and out of the mainstream. Newer genre artists, however, may start out being obscure, but often attain some level of general appeal. Bobby Womack, The Whispers, and Luther Vandross are among artists who fall into this category. They each rose from anonymity to great success and popularity with mainstream fans.
Luther Vandross was an unknown in the seventies when independent record label Cotillion released his first couple of albums. He went on to win eight Grammy awards and be nominated an additional twenty-three times. The Whispers put out three platinum and two gold albums. Two of their albums went to number one on the Billboard charts. In 2009, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted singer Bobby Womack. Often other modern soul singers would rise from obscurity to earn some level of fame and wealth. Some never moved beyond anonymity, but continued to have a strong fan base in the rare music genre.
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