R&B / Soul - Vinyl Records For Sale

Soul music started to develop in the USA in the 50's and 60's and was a mixture of African-American gospel, rhythm and blues and an element of jazz.  In the 60's soul records were produced out of Detroit by Motown run by Berry Gordy who employed great songwriting talents like Smokey Robinson, Holland-Dozier-Holland and Norman Whitfield.  Artists like the Four Tops, The Isley Brothers, The Temptations, Gladys Knight and the Pips and Marvin Gaye were major successes and crossed over into mainstream pop, continuing in the 70's by the very commercial Jackson 5 and Stevie Wonder.  In the early days, Stax and Atlantic competed with Motown.  Early very collectable artists on 7 inch vinyl were Ray Charles, Otis Reading and Jackie Wilson.


In the 70's soul started to split in to several genres with the smooth sophisticated orchestral sounds from Philidelphia with highly produced songs by artists like Barry White and Teddy Pendergrass.  The poppy sounds from Detroit Motown and a funkier sound coming from artist like James Brown, Curtis Mayfield and a regenerated Isley's and latterly Prince.  Today there many types of soul singers from gospel, funk to R&B.


The UK has always liked soul and has run slightly behind the States with promos and vinyl being imported to the UK.  In the 60's and early 70's a very specific type of soul became popular in the North of the UK and Midlands where DJ's would play imported soul records from the US in nightclubs such as the Wigan Casino and Manchesters Twisted Wheel.  The types of soul played were a fast upbeat highly danceable music.  This became known as Northern Soul.  DJ's would play promos of US artists and sometimes there would only have been a few vinyls pressed of these partiular titles.  These copies are extremely rare and can fetch thousands of pound and are very hard to find.  Artists such as R Dean Taylor's 'There's a Ghost in My House' and 'Gotta See Jane' started life in the Northern Soul clubs and went on to be major UK hits in the 70's.  The Tams and the O'Jays were other highly danceable bands.  Vinyl records by Gene Chandler and Holly Maxwell are some of the rarest and hard to find examples of Northern Soul.  Watch out for rare promos or imported vinyl records.  Planet Earth Records have a large range of 7 inch, 12 inch vinyl and LP's from the 50's to the modern day.