Soul music is a popular music ☀️ genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s.[2] It ☀️ has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues.[3] Soul music became popular for dancing and listening, where ☀️ U.S. record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Soul also became popular ☀️ around the world, directly influencing rock music and the music of Africa.[4] It also had a resurgence in the mid-to ☀️ late 1990s with the subgenre neo-soul,[5] which added modern production elements and influence from hip-hop.

Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and ☀️ extemporaneous body moves, are an important feature of soul music. Other characteristics are a call and response between the lead ☀️ vocalist and the chorus and an especially tense vocal sound.[6] The style also occasionally uses improvisational additions, twirls, and auxiliary ☀️ sounds.[6] Soul music reflects the African-American identity, and it stresses the importance of an African-American culture. The new-found African-American consciousness ☀️ led to new styles of music that boasted pride in being black,[7] and being such a creative genre of music, ☀️ it emerged from the power struggle to increase black Americans' awareness of their African ancestry.[8] Soul music also combines different ☀️ elements of music which includes gospel music, rhythm and blues and jazz.[9]

Soul music dominated the U.S. R&B chart in the ☀️ 1960s, and many recordings crossed over into the pop charts in the U.S., Britain, and elsewhere. By 1968, the soul ☀️ music genre had begun to splinter. Some soul artists developed funk music, while other singers and groups developed slicker, more ☀️ sophisticated, and in some cases more politically conscious varieties.[10] Many soul artists gained popularity due to the domination of soul ☀️ music in the R&B charts. Among these artists were Ray Charles, James Brown and the soul group the Temptations.[11] By ☀️ the early 1970s, soul music had been influenced by psychedelic and progressive rock, among other genres, leading to psychedelic and ☀️ progressive soul. The United States saw the development of neo soul around 1994. There are also several other subgenres and ☀️ offshoots of soul music.

The key subgenres of soul include the Motown style, a more pop-friendly and rhythmic style; deep soul ☀️ and southern soul, driving, energetic soul styles combining R&B with southern gospel music sounds; Memphis soul, a shimmering, sultry style; ☀️ New Orleans soul, which came out of the rhythm and blues style; Chicago soul, a lighter gospel-influenced sound; Philadelphia soul, ☀️ a lush orchestral sound with doo-wop-inspired vocals; as well as psychedelic soul, a blend of psychedelic rock and soul music.