Soul Deep Research Paper

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EPISODE GUIDES Soul Deep - The Story Of Black Popular Music The Birth Of Soul - Ep1/6 BBC Two 7 May, 9.00-10.00pm Soul music has conquered the world in the last 50 years - growing from the raw, electric rhythms of the black underclass, it is now a billion dollar industry with R&B and hip-hop dominating the world's charts. It's been the soundtrack to some of the most extraordinary social, political and cultural shifts. And, together with the civil rights movement, it has challenged the white hegemony, helped breakdown segregation and encouraged the fight for racial equality. This new six part series, made by the BBC team who produced the critically-acclaimed Lost Highway, Walk On By and Dancing In The Street series, charts the evolution of…show more content…
Five years after walking into Stax Records studio in Memphis as an unknown singer, he was now breaking into the mass white market and seducing its counter culture without diluting his sound. Soul Deep follows both Redding's rise, as he became the embodiment of Sixties soul music, and that of Stax Records as it crossed the racial divide at a time of segregation. Founded by two whites- Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton - black and white musicians came together at Stax to create gritty, passionate soul. "Stax Records was an oddity - it was like an oasis in the desert. Both black and white musicians became friends because of what they did. It was wonderful. But right outside those doors it stopped," comments Stax songwriter David Porter. Redding's triumphs at Stax encouraged other labels to look for this new style raw talent.The local Gold Wax label signed an incredible talent - James Carr. One of his rare, previously unseen television performances features in Soul Deep. Classics include Love Attack and At The Dark End Of The Street. "The roar, the depth of soul that we hear when James opens his mouth is the voice of the south. It's that depth of pain and longing for something better," comments Alan Walden, Redding's former manager. The sound of the south began to influence other labels. New York-based Atlantic Records' Jerry Wexler would bring his musicians…show more content…
Her music represents the fusion of R&B and hip-hop and completes the journey that started 50 years ago with the emergence of the early soul sounds of Ray Charles and ends with black R&B artists' domination of the charts today. The extraordinary story of the unstoppable rise of urban R&B, with its diamond-dripping, darlings of the media, high profile celebrity artists - such as BeyoncÈ and Destiny's Child - is traced back to the housing projects in Yonkers in the Eighties where Mary J Blige started out. Her tempestuous career began when producer Andre Harrell signed her to Uptown Records. "She wasn't an album, she was a movie," comments Andre. On the way up, the pressure of stardom nearly destroyed her. "To cope with life in the music business, I had to get wasted all the time," she admits. But her music spoke to the streets. She brought the rawness of classic soul into the hip-hop era. Andre says: "We took her pain and put it on a platform to be the communicator for all that generation of women who grew up in the Eighties in a single parent decade, with crack being the main drug - which took whole households out." Her music has had a massive influence. Kelly Rowland from Destiny's Child says: "I think of Mary J Blige as the Aretha Franklin of our generation because she's got so much soul." Producer and former Fugees, Wyclef Jean discusses

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