New York soul refers to the

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became po ...

recorded and produced in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. New York soul was similar to similar in style to

Memphis soul Memphis soul, also known as the Memphis sound, is the most prominent strain of Southern soul. It is a shimmering, sultry style produced in the 1960s and 1970s at Stax Records and Hi Records in Memphis, Tennessee, featuring melodic unison horn line ...

from the southern US, but it was more likely to have string arrangements (played by string sections) added to the recordings. Unlike most southern soul, New York soul was not typically recorded by "house bands". Instead, New York soul was usually recorded by

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

s who were hired for a single recording. Since the musicians were not a regular

backup band A backup band or backing band is a musical ensemble that typically accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a recording session, and the group may or may not have its own name, such a ...

that played together all the time, the playing was not as loose and spontaneous as a typical southern band's playing. Nevertheless, since the NYC session players were experienced musicians, they played with a professional style. Another difference between New York soul and southern soul was that New York soul was recorded in a city that boasted what in the 1960s were some of the most state of the art

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

s, which were significantly more advanced than a typical southern studio. This gave a crisp sound to the recordings.Freeland, David . ''Ladies of Soul''. Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2001. p. 135-136

Labels

While there were a number of New York soul labels, including Scepter, Sue, Shout and Colla, the most well-known label was

Atlantic records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

, which dominated 1960s soul. Atlantic records singers included

Solomon Burke Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1936 or 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been ...

Doris Troy Doris Troy (born Doris Elaine Higginsen; January 6, 1937 – February 16, 2004) was an American R&B singer and songwriter, known to her many fans as "Mama Soul". Her biggest hit was " Just One Look", a top 10 hit in 1963. Life and career She ...

and

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

. 1967-68 was a peak period for Atlantic, as the string of hits coming from the

Stax Streaming API for XML (StAX) is an application programming interface ( API) to read and write XML documents, originating from the Java programming language community. Traditionally, XML APIs are either: * DOM based - the entire document is read i ...

roster was augmented by the tremendous crossover success of Franklin, who shot to fame, becoming the preeminent female soul artist of the era, and earning the title "Queen of Soul".

Jerry Wexler Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...

signed Franklin to Atlantic in January 1967 after the expiry of her contract with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. She had a run of seven consecutive singles that made both the US pop and soul Top 10, and of which five were million-sellers; "

I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" is a 1967 single released by American soul singer Aretha Franklin. Released on Atlantic Records, as the first big hit of her career, it became a defining song for Franklin, peaking at number one on the r ...

" (b/w "

Do Right Woman ''Do Right Woman'' is the debut solo album by Barbara Dickson. Barbara Dickson's first two solo albums were on Decca Records. They won critical praise but sold poorly. They show the repertoire that she had at that time as a singer in folk clubs ...

") (soul #1, pop #9), "

Respect Respect, also called esteem, is a positive feeling or action shown towards someone or something considered important or held in high esteem or regard. It conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities. It is also the process of ...

" (soul and pop #1), "

Baby, I Love You "Baby, I Love You" is a song originally recorded by the Ronettes in 1963 and released on their debut album '' Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes'' (1964). The song was written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector, and produced by Spec ...

" (soul #1, pop #4), "

(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" is a 1967 single released by American soul singer Aretha Franklin on the Atlantic label. The words were written by Gerry Goffin from an idea by Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler, and the music was compo ...

" (soul #2, pop #8), "

Chain of Fools "Chain of Fools" is a song written by Don Covay. Aretha Franklin first released the song as a single in 1967 and subsequently it appeared on many of her albums. It hit number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot Rhythm & Blues chart and number two on ...

" (soul #1, pop #2), " Since You've Been Gone" (1968, soul #1, pop #5) and "

Think In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, an ...

" (1968, soul #1, pop #7).

References

{{Reflist Soul music Music of New York City