Al Green
Al Green became the defining voice of early-1970s Southern soul at Hi Records, where producer Willie Mitchell wrapped his airy, gospel-trained tenor in unhurried, groove-forward arrangements on hits like "Let's Stay Together" and "Love and Happiness." After a near-fatal 1979 stage accident, he pivoted toward gospel music and his own ministry, though he never fully abandoned secular soul. His warm, behind-the-beat phrasing and church-rooted vocal runs remain a foundational reference point for soul and R&B-inflected songwriters.
Green has described his own voice as an amalgam of gospel-trained soul singers including Sam Cooke, saying he didn't distinguish between spiritual and secular music growing up — 'if they sang with feeling, from their hearts, I loved the music.'
listen forPlay 'A Change Is Gonna Come' next to 'Take Me to the River' — both wrap gospel's melismatic, emotionally-wrought vocal runs around a smooth secular-soul arrangement.
Green has named Jackie Wilson among the singers he was trying to emulate as a teenager — a devotion strong enough that, as he's told it, being caught listening to Wilson's records got him kicked out of his devoutly religious father's house.
listen forListen for Wilson's athletic, high-energy vocal leaps in 'Lonely Teardrops,' then Green's 'Love and Happiness' — both build tension with a stop-start arrangement before the voice breaks loose into an exuberant hook.
Green grew up steeped in gospel, singing in a family quartet and listening to singers like Mahalia Jackson before he ever recorded secular soul — that church-rooted vocal foundation resurfaces on his more devotional, gospel-leaning later work.
listen forSet Jackson's 'Move On Up a Little Higher' against Green's 'Belle' — listen for the same testifying vocal runs, even as Green's version sits inside a full soul-band arrangement rather than a bare gospel one.