Blue-Eyed Soul Performers before and after the Wicked Pickett and Lady Soul: A Bio-Bibliography and Discography

Abstract

This bibliographic and discographic compilation depicts twentieth-century participation by white recording artists in musical realms generally associated with black performers. The '60s term “blue-eyed soul” is expanded to include white male and female vocalists, instrumentalists, composers, lyricists, arrangers, and promoters who not only warmly embraced various genres of black music, admired and sometimes performed with black artists, emulated black vocal styling and phrasing, and often covered black songs—but also clearly established themselves as distinctive recording artists with audience crossover skills and strong preferences for R&B and soulful sounds. From the Boswell Sisters and Johnny Otis through Bonnie Raitt and Curtis Salgado, blue-eyed soul performers have thrived and produced a diverse, dazzling array of commercial recordings.