1944-1946United States

R&B/Soul

A broad, historically rooted umbrella for Black American popular music that links late-1940s R&B to soul and later contemporary forms.

Origins and context

Documented histories place the genre’s roots in African American music scenes in the United States, growing from late-1940s/1950s R&B and gospel-influenced soul, then spreading through major regional centers such as Detroit, Memphis, and Philadelphia.

United States

History

R&B and soul grew out of mid-20th-century African American popular music, with roots in late-1940s jump blues and the gospel-informed styles that came to dominate Black radio and record charts in the 1950s. Reference sources describe soul as emerging from that R&B foundation, while Rock & Roll Hall of Fame materials place its rise in the 1960s and connect it to Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Motown, Stax, and the cultural force of the civil rights era. As the music moved through the 1960s and 1970s, it branched into many regional and studio-driven styles: Detroit polish at Motown, gritty Memphis and Stax recordings, lush Philadelphia soul, and later smoother, more contemporary R&B forms. The label gets used so broadly now that it works best as a listening map rather than a single strict sound, which is part of why the genre still feels alive and adaptable.