Sublabel of the Motown Record Corporation.
Label Code: LC 0348 / LC 00348
For all Unofficial / bootleg copies of this label please use Soul (4)
Soul Records was formed in early 1964 by Berry Gordy Jr, When , as an outlet for the harder-edged, even jazz-tinged R&B music which had started to attract the epithet “soul music”, and endowed with an excellently obvious name, which Carmen Murphy sold the word "Soul" to Berry for the sum of $1.00. Soul was never considered one of Motown’s most prestigious imprints (like the “big three” of Tamla, Motown and Gordy), but in reality the label put out some of the best material in the Motown catalogue, and was every bit the equal of the “big three” except perhaps in terms of profile and marketing muscle.
With the demise of Workshop Jazz, the Motown stable lacked a suitable imprint to release records with limited pop appeal; Soul provided the perfect opportunity, while also racking up a roster of excellent artists who could have succeeded on any of the “big three”. This heady mix meant the label went on to enduring fame as the home of Gladys Knight and the Pips, Jimmy Ruffin, Jr. Walker and the All Stars, Shorty Long, the Originals, and a number of instrumental releases by the Motown house band the Funk Brothers. Soul is also the home of perhaps the greatest of all Motown singles, Frank Wilson’s Do I Love You (Indeed I Do), albeit a single that was never actually released.
The first release on Soul was Shorty Long’s Devil With The Blue Dress in March 1964. The label went on to be one of Motown’s longest-lived imprints, only grinding to a halt in 1976 and releasing a trickle of singles before finally closing down during the heyday of disco in 1978. The last release on Soul Records was Major Lance’s I Never Thought I’d Be Losing You, released in April that year.
