I have always been fascinated and inspired by Soul Music. James Brown, Al Green, the songs by Gamble & Huff, certainly Holland-Dozier-Holland, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Sam & Dave, Percy Sledge, and the list goes on. If you ever listened to the radio, you can see, I am not alone. Endless white boys out there were just as enthralled with that sound and it came out in their rock-n-roll as Blue Eyed Soul. For example:

Toto is a rock band whose songs you may know well. Their tunes had world beats, rock-n-roll, and blue eyed soul. They were truly an incredible band. ‘Hold The Line’ was a huge chart success. ‘Rosanna’ is a real favorite. ‘Africa’ is a real production and a seriously good song. I always thought Toto was a great studio band, pop/rock in nature, yeah… good, but pop radio. Yesterday, I sat down and watched some live performances of Toto on YouTube and THESE GUYS ARE PHENOMENAL!!!! This is rock-n-roll heavily influenced by Soul Music. The Porcaro brothers were the root of the band. Jeff Porcaro had played drums with Steely Dan on Katy Lied (All my favs: ‘Doctor Wu’, ‘Black Friday’, and ‘Bad Sneakers’). Becker and Fagan had a background in jazz, but their pop/rock sort of interpreted ‘pop radio soul’ with a slight jazz overtone. Mike Porcaro was a killer bass player in Toto (until he fell ill with ALS), Steve Porcaro played keyboards and sang ‘Africa’. Steve also wrote ‘Human Nature’ for Michael Jackson, which was featured on the album, Thriller. Smokin’ guitarist, Steve Lukather replaced Les Dudek in Boz Scaggs Band (the ‘Silk Degrees’ record included, ‘Lowdown’ and ‘Lido Shuffle’) before he joined Toto. Keyboardist, David Paich (who wrote ‘Hold The Line’)was also on Steely Dan’s album Katy Lied (his keys were huge on ‘Black Friday) and he ended up in Toto, as well. In addition to Toto members, Michael McDonald (later in The Doobie Bros. briefly), Rick Derringer (Johnny Winter And), Larry Carlton (killer session man for Quincy Jones, Billy Joel, & Michael Jackson), Jeff  ‘Skunk’ Baxter (Doobie Bros.) were also in the Katy Lied lineup. Blue-eyed soul is very much at home in rock-n-roll and certainly, on Katy Lied. Each of these guys carried on the tradition, knowingly or not.

There have been lesser known bands that were ‘one-hit-wonders’ that fit into the Blue-Eyed Soul category, such as; Sanford-Townsend Band from Alabama. Their hit single, ‘Smoke of a Distant Fire’ flew up Billboard Charts and stayed there. You still hear that song played today. The guys wrote ‘Peacemaker’ for/with Loggins and Messina and ‘I Keep Forgettin’ with Michael McDonald. A friend of mine named Matt Luneau is Stage Manager for McDonald who still regularly tours the globe. Matt lives in Rye NH. Maybe, you remember the old song, ‘Brandy’ by Looking Glass? More blue-eyed soul and radio candy for your ears. Their look was that weird androgynous 1970’s thing, but that song was pure soul, the singer’s voice especially. How about the group, Ace who did, ‘How Long Has This Been Goin’ On’, or Pablo Cruz,who had chart success with ‘Love Will Find a Way’? Climax Blues Band was from the midlands, in England,  and even they got the Blue-Eyed Soul bug. Remember the song, ‘Couldn’t Get It Right’? Ambrosia recorded ‘How Much I Feel’ which saw lots of radio play and then, Player was another band whose white boy soul made the grade. Their hit single, ‘Baby Come Back’ was one more cool example of how soul music IS pop music! Who knew their song would end up advertising floor mops decades later? Oh, well…

Last, but not least, Daryl Hall and John Oates, were the Kings of Philly Blue-Eyed Soul Sound. ‘Sara Smile’ was their first hit. ‘She’s Gone’, ‘Maneater’, ‘Rich Girl’, and ‘I Can’t Go For That’ (‘Live From Daryl’s House’ with Cee Lo Green!), and the hits kept coming. Today, Daryl has a home in Kittery, Maine (one of several around the country) and he does an internet concert series (called Daryl’s House)from these homes as he travels about, always featuring artists like Joe Walsh and Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20 (‘Push’ Live on Jay Leno, ‘Bent’  Live @ Red Rocks and ‘3 a.m.’ done Live Acoustic). Hall and Oates have been produced by such diversity as Robert Fripp from King Crimson and Todd Rundgren (‘Bang on the Drum’ Live From Daryl’s House!). The actually met in Philly at a Battle of the Bands competition and when a fight broke out between two rival gangs the hid out in the same elevator and after talking found they had the same taste in music and both were attending Temple University in Philadelphia.

So… now you can see that folks like Smokey Robinson and Otis Redding and all the rest… each in turn, heavily influenced a whole lot of us.