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The male greats... all gone?

Dayo

By Dayo
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Dayo Long Time

Dayo

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Posted

For the longest time I always said my 4 favourite male singers were Sam, Otis, Marvin and Jackie.  Singers so good, so powerful and influential, that a first name is all that's needed for you to know who I'm talking about.  Sadly, they are all now have long gone.  Add Curtis to that list along with James, Donny, Bobby, Teddy and Luther.  The first name thing actually isn't the point.  And you'll have your own list, I'm sure.  The real point is this:  

Of the truly great male superstar soul singers, who is still living?  You might say Al Green, maybe Stevie Wonder, but I'm struggling to think of anyone else on that level, and to be frank, much as I love Stevie, his latter output has been - let's put it kindly - patchy.  And the last time I saw Al Green he was more interested in throwing roses to the "ladies in the house" than really singing.  

So many of the true male greats died relatively young didn't they? Is there anyone really left? 

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Garethx
Garethx

Otis Clay. Genuinely one of the greatest male soul singers ever. Capable of wringing meaning from any line of any lyric put before him, not only with power but with great subtlety too. I put him in a

Daved
Daved

Smokey Robinson is still around. Maybe not the most powerful vocally but certainly a great in terms of soul music.

Westender
Westender

So many have passed but of those alive I'd add Jerry Butler, Joe Simon, James Govan, Eddie Levert, Latimore, Sam Moore, LJ Reynolds, Lenny Williams and David Sea. 

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Garethx Veteran

Garethx

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Posted

Otis Clay. Genuinely one of the greatest male soul singers ever. Capable of wringing meaning from any line of any lyric put before him, not only with power but with great subtlety too. I put him in a category above many of those you list. He deserves to be a household name.

I think you underrate Al Green. Vocally he is a genius and there can not have been many more charismatic or dynamic live performers in any genre of the popular arts.

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Roburt Veteran

Roburt

Posted
Posted (edited)

Well Chuck Jackson is still around & I'd say he was always up there in the Premier League of soul singers.

Also Garnett Mimms is still living though he has refused to sing anything but gospel for many years .............  https://articles.philly.com/2008-01-10/news/25253632_1_garnet-mimms-jerry-ragovoy-gospel

William Bell made a great number of fine recordings as well.

 

Edited by Roburt
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Chris L Veteran

Chris L

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Dayo said:

For the longest time I always said my 4 favourite male singers were Sam, Otis, Marvin and Jackie.  Singers so good, so powerful and influential, that a first name is all that's needed for you to know who I'm talking about.  Sadly, they are all now have long gone.  Add Curtis to that list along with James, Donny, Bobby, Teddy and Luther.  The first name thing actually isn't the point.  And you'll have your own list, I'm sure.  The real point is this:  Of the truly great male superstar soul singers, who is still living?  You might say Al Green, maybe Stevie Wonder, but I'm struggling to think of anyone else on that level, and to be frank, much as I love Stevie, his latter output has been - let's put it kindly - patchy.  And the last time I saw Al Green he was more interested in throwing roses to the "ladies in the house" than really singing.  So many of the true male greats died relatively young didn't they? Is there anyone really left? 

For me Levis Stubbs & General Johnson, both brown bread.

Mellorful Regular

Mellorful

Posted
Posted

Dennis Edwards still has it.

Eddie Holman can still do it

Eddie Floyd still delivers

Jimmy James can still deliver

Little Anthony is still there

All got great voices and seen them all over here in the last couple of years. 

Atb

Stu

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Westender Regular

Westender

Posted
Posted

So many have passed but of those alive I'd add Jerry Butler, Joe Simon, James Govan, Eddie Levert, Latimore, Sam Moore, LJ Reynolds, Lenny Williams and David Sea. 

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Soul Shrews Veteran

Soul Shrews

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, westender said:

So many have passed but of those alive I'd add Jerry Butler, Joe Simon, James Govan, Eddie Levert, Latimore, Sam Moore, LJ Reynolds, Lenny Williams and David Sea. 

Go along with all of those guys westender and would add Billy Paul to that list.

Maybe some more after a think

Cheers Paul

Shinehead Veteran

Shinehead

Posted
Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, garethx said:

Otis Clay. Genuinely one of the greatest male soul singers ever. Capable of wringing meaning from any line of any lyric put before him, not only with power but with great subtlety too. I put him in a category above many of those you list. He deserves to be a household name.

I think you underrate Al Green. Vocally he is a genius and there can not have been many more charismatic or dynamic live performers in any genre of the popular arts.

Otis Clay for me too.  

The guys material never seems to wane In quality , a true great and long may he reign. 

Edited by shinehead

Ncfc Veteran

Ncfc

Posted
Posted (edited)
3 minutes ago, Louise said:

Not unless B.T. are holding seances as part of their packages Chris :D

Dave

Glad to hear it:D

Edited by NCFC
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Dayo Long Time

Dayo

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Posted

All great names, but I'm talking about the superstars of our music - ones that crossed over.  There's no-one left, is there?

Mellorful Regular

Mellorful

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, jules said:

eddie holman and jerry butler, two of the real greats, do they still perform? 

I forgot about JB, so many great tunes to his credit. 

Eddie Holman is very active and has performed in the UK this year, great performer, still got a great voice and a genuine nice guy. 

Remiss of me to forget Fred Hughes & Nolan Porter in my earlier post; I saw NP last year and he still has the voice but not sure if FH performs these days.

Is Barney 'Duke' Browner still with us?

Ncfc Veteran

Ncfc

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, Dayo said:

All great names, but I'm talking about the superstars of our music - ones that crossed over.  There's no-one left, is there?

Do you mean vocals or those who had the breaks?

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Westender Regular

Westender

Posted
Posted
33 minutes ago, tobytyke said:

Joe Harris lead singer of the Undisputed Truth. Saw him live a few years ago and he still had a great voice.

Goodness I thought he passed away years ago. Cracking singer, surprised he didnt go solo after UT.

Leslie Wilson from Love, Peace & Happiness and New Birth was another terrific singer who just vanished.

Of those singers still active I'd add Willie Clayton, who I think is arguably the best one around.

 

Soul Shrews Veteran

Soul Shrews

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, Dayo said:

All great names, but I'm talking about the superstars of our music - ones that crossed over.  There's no-one left, is there?

Thats not what you said in the opening post. Nothing about "crossing over" just great male singers, of which many still living have been listed.

Cheers Paul

 

Ncfc Veteran

Ncfc

Posted
Posted

Rance Allen ,Glenn Jones theirs loads of Quality male singers still about and  David Ruffin never got a mention in the first post in this thread,he was quality:thumbsup:

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Dayo Long Time

Dayo

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Posted
16 hours ago, soul shrews said:

Thats not what you said in the opening post. Nothing about "crossing over" just great male singers, of which many still living have been listed.

Cheers Paul

I think all the singers in my list had crossed over.  Good call on George Benson by someone.  

 

16 hours ago, soul shrews said:

 

 

Mike Lofthouse Veteran

Mike Lofthouse

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Dayo said:

I think all the singers in my list had crossed over.  Good call on George Benson by someone.  

 

 

I'm a bit confused by this topic - so you mean artists who gained wider fame than just the Soul/R&B world i.e. crossed over to the Pop market - and you are  judging their greatness by their wider commercial success?

Also interesting the first four you list - Sam has been dead over 50 years (before Soul really got started), Otis 48 years and Marvin and Jackie over 30 years - they have all been a long time gone!!

Very recently  I have seen Willie Hightower in New Orleans and he was fantastic and on Saturday night Ann Sexton at the Wilton -  I would be hard pushed to name a singer I have heard live sound so much like their records.  Don't worry about their stage antics Roses and the like - get out and support them whilst you still can !

 

 

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Dayo Long Time

Dayo

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Posted

Apologies if anyone is confused by the thread, I should have taken a bit more time.

The point I was trying to make concerns the male superstars of our music.  The legends. Yes, the ones that crossed over. I'm just pointing out that they all died far too young and I was trying to figure out who might be left standing who could stand alongside the following in terms of quality of output and wider popularity:

Otis Redding 26

Sam Cooke 27

Curtis Mayfield  57

Marvin Gaye 45

Jackie Wilson50

Donny Hathaway 34

Luther Vandross 54

Teddy Pendergrass 60

Bobby Womack 70

Davetay Veteran

Davetay

Posted
Posted
On 11/16/2015, 6:28:50, soul shrews said:

Michael Henderson

Prince Phillip Mitchell

Modern soul fans are gonna add a lot to this list

Cheers Paul

Marc Evans & Gregory Porter to name just two.

Guest chorleybloke

Guest chorleybloke

Posted
Posted

Dennis Edwards has always been my No 1 male vocalist, don't know if he can still perform though.  But he's in the frame because he's alive & kicking.

Cheers..........Pete

Garethx Veteran

Garethx

Posted
Posted (edited)

I think that the point about 'crossing over' is a bit of a red herring. That says more about the cultural climate of the times than it says about the qualities of an artist's work. There are still guys from Soul's heyday who wrote, produced and sang their material to a really high standard and who can still do it: Phillip Mitchell and Benny Latimore are mentioned above and I would add Bobby Patterson and Richard Caiton to that list.

Caiton in particular never anywhere came close to crossing over—in fact the majority of his releases are excruciatingly rare—yet his relatively small body of work is completely satisfying from an aesthetic viewpoint. We should be proud of the fact that as Soul fans our devotion has led to these artists being discovered/rediscovered and appreciated, even by generations of fans who were not around when the records were first made.

Edited by garethx
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Becket Long Time

Becket

Posted
Posted
On 11/16/2015, 5:25:41, mellorful said:

Dennis Edwards still has it.

Eddie Holman can still do it

Eddie Floyd still delivers

Jimmy James can still deliver

Little Anthony is still there

All got great voices and seen them all over here in the last couple of years. 

Atb

Stu

 

Did I miss Little Anthony in the UK in the past couple of years ?

Was it him and the group.

Don't remember seeing anything about it.   There was a massive build up a few years ago that they were coming over.  Load of us in Banbury paid for tickets and were all set.    Never happened.  Luckily we got our money back.

Cheers....................     Tom.  Banbury.

Mellorful Regular

Mellorful

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, Becket said:

 

Did I miss Little Anthony in the UK in the past couple of years ?

Was it him and the group.

Don't remember seeing anything about it.   There was a massive build up a few years ago that they were coming over.  Load of us in Banbury paid for tickets and were all set.    Never happened.  Luckily we got our money back.

Cheers....................     Tom.  Banbury.

We saw him at a soul weekender in Minehead (I think it was January 2014). I seem to remember it was the first time he had toured in the UK.

 

Gibby Gibby Regular

Gibby Gibby

Posted
Posted

Jessie Johnson Prestatyn WOW  I cried but then I cried at Ann Sexton last Saturday and will probably cry at Radcliffe to Willie Parker ,  oh he goes started filling up again .!!!!!  Alan Touis  that was sad !!!

Zanetti Veteran

Zanetti

Posted
Posted
On 16.11.2015, 11:09:24, Dayo said:

For the longest time I always said my 4 favourite male singers were Sam, Otis, Marvin and Jackie.  Singers so good, so powerful and influential, that a first name is all that's needed for you to know who I'm talking about.  Sadly, they are all now have long gone.  Add Curtis to that list along with James, Donny, Bobby, Teddy and Luther.  The first name thing actually isn't the point.  And you'll have your own list, I'm sure.  The real point is this:  

Of the truly great male superstar soul singers, who is still living?  You might say Al Green, maybe Stevie Wonder, but I'm struggling to think of anyone else on that level, and to be frank, much as I love Stevie, his latter output has been - let's put it kindly - patchy.  And the last time I saw Al Green he was more interested in throwing roses to the "ladies in the house" than really singing.  

So many of the true male greats died relatively young didn't they? Is there anyone really left? 

Please can someone continue this thread with "FEMALES"!? :thumbsup:

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