Rhythm & Soul

A historical name for the soul music that crystallised in the United States in the 1960s from the fusion of gospel singing with rhythm and blues: impassioned, church-trained voices over tight rhythm sections, horn arrangements and string sweetening, in compact songs about love, dignity and perseverance. Centred on labels such as #Motown#, #Stax# and #Atlantic# and on singers including *Aretha Franklin*, *Otis Redding*, *Sam Cooke* and *Curtis Mayfield*, rhythm & soul supplied both the commercial template and the emotional vocabulary from which later R&B and soul styles descend.