Sam Cooke And The Soul Stirrers

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One of the most popular and influential gospel groups of the 20th century, The Soul Stirrers were pioneers in the development of the quartet style of gospel and, without intending it, in the creation of soul music, the secular music that owed much to gospel. The group was formed by Roy Crain, who had launched his first quartet, which sang in a jubilee style, in 1926 in Trinity, Texas. In the early 1930s, after Crain moved to Houston, he joined an existing group on the condition that it change its name to "The Soul Stirrers." Among the members of that group was R.H. Harris, who soon became its musical leader. Harris, also from Trinity, Texas, brought several changes to the Soul Stirrers that affected gospel quartet singing generally. He used a falsetto style that may have its antecedents in African music, but which was new to the popular jubilee singing style of the time. He pioneered the "swing lead", in which two singers would share the job of leading the song, allowing virtuoso singers to increase the emotional intensity of the song as the lead passed between them. That innovation led the Soul Stirrers, while still called a quartet, to acquire five members; later groups would have as many as seven but still consider themselves "quartets", which referred more to their style than their number. The Soul Stirrers made other important changes in those years: ad-libbing lyrics, singing in delayed time, and repeating words in the background as both a rhythmic and emotional suppor

top songs

albums

In The Beginning

Jesus Gave Me Water

Sacred Songs Of Sam Cooke And The Soul Stirrers

The Complete Specialty Recordings [Disc 2]

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Peace in the Valley

The Complete Specialty Recordings [Disc 3]

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The Complete Specialty Recordings [Disc 1]

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Sam Cooke With The Soul Stirrers

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The Complete Specialty Recordings Of Sam Cooke With The Soul Stirrers - Disc 2 of 3

The Gospel Side of Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers

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The Very Best Of Gospel

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Songs of Worship Vol. 1

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