News & Updates — gospel

Classically-trained keyboardist Bernie Worrell has his place established as a major innovator in the Funk with Parliament-Funkadelic, with whom he played from about 1970 into the early '80s, and contributing to projects of other members of the mob. He brought the Bach to the Funk. He spent the '80s as a member of the Talking Heads and beyond that found an incredible amount of creative work with superproducer Bill Laswell. In his later years he was a staple on the jamband scene with Les Claypool, Govt Mule and others. A musical prodigy from New Jersey, he was playing piano by...

The Bishop of Soul, Solomon Burke mixed gospel, blues, R&B and country to become one of the earliest self-identifying "soul" artists. Legend has it that he was the one to coin the phrase. This is due to his relationship to the church and not wanting to be labeled a "blues" singer. He was a preacher in church since the age of 7 and became pastor at 12 and a father at 14. As a teen he worked at a meat market with Chubby Checker. At 15 he was signed to Apollo Records (although the label was told by his manager...

The original soul sister Rosetta Tharpe was the first secular gospel recording star, a huge influence on rock & roll and an excellent electric guitarist. Whether in church or in a concert hall in front of a big band, she captivated everyone. As a child she barnstormed across the South with her mom and was called a "singing and guitar playing miracle". She cut her first records in '38 with Lucky Millander's orchestra, including "Rock Me". She appeared at the Spirituals To Swing concert that year and played with Cab Calloway's band as well. As bad as it was to...

Singer, composer and soul music icon, the wicked Wilson Pickett came out of the Detroit churches and joined the infamous Falcons (including Mack Rice & Eddie Floyd). Pickett co-wrote and sang lead on their classic proto-soul tune "I Found A Love" from '59. He then wrote "If You Need Me", which became a big hit for Solomon Burke. Starting in '65 he belted out some huge hits of his own. "In The Midnight Hour", a tune he was co-composer of, was recorded at Stax, "Land of 1000 Dances", "Mustang Sally", "Funky Broadway", "Hey Jude" (featuring Duane Allman) and "Don't Knock...

Soul-jazz organist Shirley Scott came out of the Philly scene to cut a ton of sides for Prestige, Moodsville, Impulse, Atlantic, Strata East, Muse, Cadet and more. Usually in either just an organ trio format or with an added horn (often her husband Stanley Turrentine), her records were a consistently grooving mix of bop, soul-jazz, gospel, standards, and pop & Motown covers, with the funk underneath and even some light Latin fare. Born and raised in Philadelphia, she first played trumpet and then piano before switching to organ when she filled in on a club gig, immediately loving the instrument....