''Blues & Soul'' is a British
music magazine
A music magazine is a magazine dedicated to music and culture in music cognition, music culture. Such magazines typically include music news, interviews, photo shoots, essays, record reviews, concert reviews and occasionally have a covermount with ...
, established in 1967 by
John Abbey. ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' has noted ''Blues & Soul'' as being the equal of magazines such as ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' and ''
Q''.
''Billboard'' magazine has called ''Blues & Soul'' "a respected publication."
As of 2024, ''Blues & Soul'' has published some 1100 issues and is still based in Croydon, London. The publisher is Blues & Soul Limited. It publishes five issues per year in both print and digital format, edited by Pete Lewis. The publisher has a growing online archive of back issues and images published by the magazine.
History
John Abbey, a devotee of
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
R&B music, established a magazine entitled ''Home of the Blues'' in 1966. This came about while Abbey was working for a travel agency in London. The magazine went on to publish its own musical charts, cover events and clubs and feature reviews, interviews and other musical articles. ''Blues & Souls R&B charts were compiled via a poll record sales throughout Britain. The publication soon gained further popularity in the UK and
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
covering genres of music such as
soul
The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
,
R&B,
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
,
dance
Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
,
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
,
hip hop
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...
,
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...
and
world music
"World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...
. With issue number 12 the magazine's title was changed to ''Blues & Soul''.
In addition to Abbey's contributions, material was provided by writers such as former
Motown
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...
press officer Sharon Davis and British soul fan
Dave Godin
David Edward Godin (21 June 1936 – 15 October 2004) was an English fan of American soul music. As a journalist and record shop owner, he made a major contribution internationally in spreading awareness and understanding of the genre, and by e ...
. Within a June 1970 column of ''Blues & Soul'', Godin went on to coin the term "
Northern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...
". The business gradually expanded and Abbey set up an associated
record label
"Big Three" music labels
A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of Sound recording and reproduction, music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a Music publisher, ...
called Contempo Records,
which released the UK's
first 12-inch singles. Abbey moved to
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
in the mid-1970s and established
Ichiban Records
Ichiban Records was an American independent record label, founded in 1985 by John Abbey and Nina Easton in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.
History
Wrap Records and Nastymix Records were some of its subsidiary labels. Urgent! Records and Mr. Hen ...
,
while the editorship of the magazine was taken over by Bob Killbourn in 1979.
["David Nathan"](_blank)
Rock's Backpages
Rock's Backpages is an online archive of music journalism, sourced from contributions to the music and mainstream press from the 1950s to the present day. The articles are full text and searchable, and all are reproduced with the permission of th ...
(Retrieved 11 June 2015).
''Blues & Soul''s charts, from the start of such, became increasingly popular within the UK.
During 1979, DJ Pete Tong
Peter Michael Tong (born 30 July 1960) is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as '' Essential Mix'' and '' Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for ...
started being a journalist at ''Blues & Soul''. Within the following year, he became the features editor of the magazine. Fellow UK publication ''Black Music
Music of the African diaspora is a sound created, produced, or inspired by Black people, including Music of Africa, African music traditions and African popular music as well as the music genres of the African diaspora, including some Caribbean mus ...
'' was also absorbed in April 1984 by ''Blues & Soul''. ''Blues & Soul'' has also, from its inception, bestowed awards to artistes based upon an annual readers poll.
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blues and Soul
Bi-monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom
Music magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 1966
1966 establishments in England