British soul | |
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Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | Early 1960s, United Kingdom |
Typical instruments | |
Derivative forms |
British soul, Brit soul, or (in a US context) the British soul invasion, is soul music performed by British artists. Soul has been a major influence on British popular music since the 1960s, and American soul was extremely popular among some youth subcultures, such as mods, skinheads, and the Northern soul movement. In the 1970s, soul gained more mainstream popularity in the UK during the disco era.
However, a clear genre of British soul did not emerge until the 1980s, when a number of black and white artists who made soul their major focus, influenced by contemporary R&B, began to enjoy some commercial success. British soul artists began gaining popularity in the United States in the late 2000s, resulting in another British Invasion, this time a soul invasion (in contrast to the 1960s rock and pop, and 1980s new wave and synthpop invasions).