The Soul Stirrers are an American gospel music group, whose career spans over 100 years. The group was a pioneer in the development of the quartet style of gospel, and a major influence on soul, R&B, doo-wop, and Southern soul, some of the secular music that owed much to gospel.
members: Sam Cooke
labels: Specialty
genres: gospel music
awards: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.
The group was formed by (Silas) Roy Crain, launching his first quartet who sang in a jubilee style, in 1926 in Trinity, Texas, United States. 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: this name yields from the description of one of Roy Crain's earlier quartets as "soul-stirring". Among the members of that group there was R.H. (Rebert) Harris, who soon became its musical leader. The Soul Stirrers, formed as a jubilee quartet, transformed their sound, influenced by hard gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Rebert Harris, also from Trinity, Texas, brought several changes to The Soul Stirrers that affected gospel quartet singing generally. He used a falsetto style that had 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 without disturbing the four part harmony. That innovation led The Soul Stirrers, while still called a quartet, to acquire five members.
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