As June is National Soul Food month (as I found out thanks to daysoftheyear.com) I thought a great topic for my blog this week would be my favourite genre of music: Soul.
I grew up with Soul, Jazz and R&B music, thanks to my mum who always used to play George Benson, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson and Kool and the Gang to name a few.
My favourite musician who ever lived is the inimitable Sam Cooke.
My obsession with Sam is something difficult to put into words, but when I’m listening to his music, his voice is so comforting and soothing that it genuinely makes me believe every single word that he says. Not only was he an incredibly talented singer, but he was a great guitar player and one of the world’s best songwriters, something which not a great deal of people know about.
There are a couple of seconds in ‘You Send Me’ where he hums – ‘mmm-hmm, mmm-hmm’ that just melt my heart and make me want to cry as it is a tragedy that he died so young.
For those of you who don’t know much about this incredible man, I urge you to watch the documentary on his life – The Two Killings of Sam Cooke (Netflix). It is fascinating, jaw-dropping and heart-breaking all at the same time. I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve seen it over 100 times (oops, should I have admitted that?! I could probably recite it word-for-word!).
I could go on for hours about other artists who I admire such as Otis Redding, Nat King Cole, Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin, but instead, I’ve put together a playlist called Best of Soul/R&B/Blues/Jazz. Check it out here or head over to my Playlist page to see it there.
Enjoy and stay musical.
Sophia