Greatest R&B/Soul artist/group of all time? *Poll*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by JohnnyQuest, Aug 22, 2014.

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  1. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Paradise
    I'm going to have to go with the Prince of Motown on this one.
    [​IMG]

     
  2. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    I voted for Marvin as well. He's my favorite singer of all-time and his piano playing/songwriting ain't bad either (evidence: Trouble Man).

    As for a (mostly) instrumental group, I'll go with Kool and the Gang, although The Ohio Players and Earth, Wind, & Fire are up there too.

     
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  3. rxcory

    rxcory proud jazz band/marching band parent

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    This is a tough one. Ray nudges out a handful of other very close contenders (Marvin, Sam, Otis, Smokey, Stevie, MJ...) for me, but it would be impossible to discount anyone on this list. Probably more like a tie between Sam and Ray for me.
     
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  4. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun

    Impossible- there are so many and it s all a matter of preferences anywsy
     
  5. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Paradise
    Love the Avatar. :)
     
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  6. chacha

    chacha Forum Resident In Memoriam

    Location:
    mill valley CA USA
    How about all of the above?
     
  7. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Paradise
    No cheating. :p
     
  8. LuLu Reed

    LuLu Reed Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Wine Country
    The Queen Of Soul
     
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  9. Bemagnus

    Bemagnus Music is fun

    You mean Britney Spears
     
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  10. Easy-E

    Easy-E Forum Resident

    I wanted to have 2 or 3 as well but went with Brother Ray with Smokey 2nd and Sam 3rd
     
  11. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Paradise
    You mean Amy Winehouse
     
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  12. tough list; large era; large genre
    Clyde McPhatter
    Wilson Pickett
    Syl Johnson
    Swamp Dog
    Ann Peebles
    Etta James
    Parliament
    Funkadelic
    Sly
     
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  13. elgreco

    elgreco Groove Meister

    Tough call indeed. I think all of the artists mentioned can claim some greatness. Whole also including several personal favourites like EW&F and Maze, eventually Stevie Wonder would be my pick. Though his stretch of great albums ends circa 1982 IMO, all that came before is just hard to surpass.
     
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  14. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Paradise
    I forgot to add..
     
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  15. Jackson

    Jackson Senior Member

    Location:
    MA, USA
    Thanks for putting Marvin Gaye at the top, no need to look any further. :)
     
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  16. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member

    Really hard to choose: Sam Cooke's my favorite, but based as much on his gospel recordings with the Soul Stirrers as his secular recordings. Ray Charles I think of as something much more than an "R&B/soul" artist, but of the folks on that list he had the most astoundingly long, varied, and influential career (though it's hard to underestimate Cooke's influence in his time). Aretha Franklin would be my third contender, one of the greatest voices of the century, another one with a long substantial career, and someone who brought the gospel sound of soul to everything she did completely effortlessly it seemed. And James Brown, but I tend to think of JB as something other than a R&B/soul artist too. After '65 when he basically invented funk, I think he started playing a style of music that was entire his own. JB music. As great as all the rest of 'em are -- and they're all great and they all made music I cherish dearly (Smokey's clearly the best songwriter of the bunch) -- I think the others (together with many other cherished greats like Sam & Dave, Solomon Burke, Jackie Wilson, Wilson Pickett, all fall into a second tier behind those giants, or like Sly Stone are, to my way of thinking, something other than just a soul/R&B artist).
     
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  17. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Paradise
    Aretha has a great voice and does awesome covers but is that really enough?
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2014
  18. Uncle Meat

    Uncle Meat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, Tx, US
    What immediately popped to my mind was Bobby Blue Bland, I love his stuff.
    I don't think you can go wrong with "Two Steps From The Blues".....
    After that it would probably be Otis Redding or Ray Charles for me...
     
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  19. Yost

    Yost “It’s only impossible until it’s not”

    I voted for Stevie Wonder. The man can write music, play many instruments, sing and perform. And does this for over 40 years (saw him perform live last July). He made a lot of truly great albums.
     
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  20. Joel1963

    Joel1963 Senior Member

    Location:
    Montreal
    For me no contest-JB. And the best band-his pre-Bootsy (Sex Machine, Super Bad) group from '69-the group that cut such tracks as You've Got To Have A Mother For Me, the actual live tracks on the Sex Machine double LP, etc.
     
  21. jon9091

    jon9091 Master Of Reality

    Location:
    Midwest
    I went with Stevie, although I can stop listening to Al Green currently.
     
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  22. profholt82

    profholt82 Resident Blowhard

    Location:
    West Michigan
    I can't pick one. I believe I have it narrowed down to the Supremes, Temptations and Four Tops, and that was no easy task. I'm a just a sucker for that glorious Motown sound.
     
  23. Bender Rodriguez

    Bender Rodriguez RIP Exene, best dog ever. 2005-2016

  24. JohnnyQuest

    JohnnyQuest Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Paradise
    Forgot to add Sly and Earth,Wind & Fire.
     
  25. bumbletort

    bumbletort Senior Member

    Location:
    Baltimore, Md, USA
    Torturously impossible--but I went with The Temptations because not only were they Motown's greatest singing group, I can also include Smokey Robinson with the choice as he wrote and produced many of their finest moments with actual Genius as well as mind-boggling artistic generosity.
     
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