George Soulé (musician)

George Soulé ^{[note 1][1]} is an American songwriter, singer, drummer, record producer and studio engineer, whose songs have been recorded by some of the most successful artists in soul music including Percy Sledge, Carl Carlton, Temptations and Bobby Womack. In 1973 he had a Top 40 rhythm and blues hit as a solo artist with ‘’Get Involved’’^[2]

Biography

George Soulé (pronounced “Soo-lay”) was born in Meridian, Mississippi on November 12, 1945. He became a DJ at the local WOKK radio station as a teenager and recorded his first discs for Carol Rachou’s La Louisianne and Tamm labels in the mid 60s.In 1964 his song Someone was recorded by Sue Thompson and covered by Frank Ifield and Etta James. Shortly thereafter Soulé made his first television appearance on the pop music programme Shindig appearing on the bill with Ray Charles.^[3]

He started plugging his songs, often written with his friend Paul Davis, to music publishers in Memphis and Nashville signing a contract around 1966 with the Nashville based Acuff-Rose Music. He moved first to the newly opened Malaco Records in Jackson, Mississippi and in 1969 onto the studios of the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, in Sheffield, Alabama where he worked with producers Rick Hall and Don Davis.^[4] Soulé was initially used as a songwriter and with the singer Don Covay he achieved early success with a song Shoes a hit for Brook Benton. He wrote I’ll Be Your Everything a chart success for Percy Sledge. His most productive writing partnership though was with Terry Woodford. Among their best known songs was How Many Times recorded by Mavis Staples, You Can't Stop A Man In Love by Carl Carlton, Bobby Womack, The Temptations, Wilson Pickett and several well-known rhythm and blues artists.

During this period George played drums on recording sessions produced by Swamp Dogg for artists like Brooks O’Dell and Z.Z. Hill, as well as sessions for other artists such as Ernie Shelby. He was also in demand as a demo singer for other writers and as a backup vocalist. ^{[note 2]} In 1972 he sang on a demo by Memphis writer George Jackson called Get Involved originally written with Wilson Pickett in mind. Fame Records owner Rick Hall liked Soulé‘s version so much he recorded George for his own label and the song reached no 35 in Billboard’s R & B chart the following year, spawning a successful reggae cover version from Freddie McGregor and crossing the Atlantic to become a massive hit on British dancefloors. The song was featured on the nationally syndicated TV show Soul Train and caused a mild sensation when it was realised that George Soulé was a white singer. Follow up singles on Fame and United Artists didn’t fare so well.^[5]

In 1975 George Soulé joined the Music Mill organisation in Muscle Shoals, writing songs for Arthur Alexander amongst others and operating the studio’s recording process as engineer. He received Country Music’s song of the year award for his engineering and mixing of Narvel Felts hit Reconsider Me. He has contributed to numerous songs that include What I Don’t Know Won’t Hurt Me (William Bell), Catch Me I’m Fallin’ (Esther Phillips), After The Feeling Is Gone (Lulu), We’re Into Something Good (Roy Orbison) and one of his most successful songs Can’t Stop A Man In Love that was recorded by The Temptations, Bobby Womack and by Carl Carlton.

George Soulé left music as a full-time occupation in the late 70s, to work in the family iron smelting business in Meridian returning to Muscle Shoals in 1987 as an announcer on WQLT FM radio. Throughout the period he has continued to write songs, often with the late Ava Aldridge or Eddie Struzick, contributing Poor Boy Blue for Johnnie Taylor and A Woman Without Love for Dorothy Moore, both on the Malaco label. He also recorded a duet with Aldridge released on MCA. In 1996 Soulé was back in Mississippi working at a casino.^[6]

Return to solo recording

In 2004 he was part of the newly formed Country Soul Revue who recorded a CD entitled “Testyfing” for Casual Records and performed with other members of the Revue on stage a year later at London, England’s Barbican Theatre in a highly acclaimed return to performing for the first time in twenty years.^[7] He followed this with the first CD in his own name “Take A Ride” for Zane Records which included both new material and also his own interpretations of songs he had written in the 1970s. In 2011 he released ‘Let me be a man’ a collection of archive material from his period with Muscle Shoals Sound Studios.

George Soulé now resides in Meridian, Mississippi.

References

Notes

External links

• Interview
• Take A Ride CD
• Let Me Be A Man CD
• Shindig appearance
• Quinvy Studio musicians