''Blues & Soul'' is a British
music magazine A music magazine is a magazine dedicated to music and music culture. Such magazines typically include music news, interviews, photo shoots, essays, record reviews, concert reviews and occasionally have a covermount with recorded music.
Notable mu ...
, established in 1967 by
John Abbey. ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' has noted ''Blues & Soul'' as being the equal of magazines such as ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' and ''
Q''.
''Billboard'' magazine has called ''Blues & Soul'' "a respected publication."
History
John Abbey, a devotee of
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
R&B music, established a magazine entitled ''Home of the Blues'' in 1966. This came about while Abbey was working for a travel agency in London. The magazine went on to publish its own musical charts, cover events and clubs and feature reviews, interviews and other musical articles. ''Blues & Souls R&B charts were compiled via a poll record sales throughout Britain. The publication soon gained further popularity in the UK and
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
covering genres of music such as
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
,
R&B,
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
,
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
,
hip hop,
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
and
world music. With issue number 12 the magazine's title was changed to ''Blues & Soul''.
In addition to Abbey's contributions, material was provided by writers such as former
Motown
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...
press officer Sharon Davis and British soul fan
Dave Godin. Within a June 1970 column of ''Blues & Soul'', Godin went on to coin the term "
Northern soul". The business gradually expanded and Abbey set up an associated
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
called Contempo Records,
which released the UK's
first 12-inch singles. Abbey moved to
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
in the mid-1970s and established
Ichiban Records,
while the editorship of the magazine was taken over by Bob Killbourn in 1979.
["David Nathan"](_blank)
Rock's Backpages
Rock's Backpages is an online archive of music journalism, sourced from contributions to the music and mainstream press from the 1950s to the present day. The articles are full text and searchable, and all are reproduced with the permission of the ...
(Retrieved 11 June 2015).
''Blues & Soul''s charts, from the start of such, became increasingly popular within the UK.
During 1979, DJ Pete Tong
Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as ''Essential Mix'' and ''Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio stre ...
started being a journalist at ''Blues & Soul''. Within the following year, he became the features editor of the magazine. Fellow UK publication '' Black Music'' was also absorbed in April 1984 by ''Blues & Soul''. ''Blues & Soul'' has also, from its inception, bestowed awards to artistes based upon an annual readers poll.
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blues and Soul
Bi-monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom
Music magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 1966
1966 establishments in England