 While I admit to having a love for soul music, like most of you I have been influenced by a variety of genres. I had classical piano lessons as a child. My grade school band teacher was a clarinetist who imprinted an appreciation of Big Band music. In high school, I was fortunate to have both, a band instructor who was a flutist for MFSB, and a vocal teacher who was the former president of Philadelphia International Records' publishing wing, Mighty Three Music.
With all of these influences, it comes to me with no surprise that I am an aficionado of blue-eyed soul music. In fact, you will soon learn that this genre played a significant part in my musical development.
 The term blue-eyed soul was coined by Philadelphia radio jock, Georgie Woods to describe the band, The Righteous Brothers in 1964. Blue-eyed soul refers to R&B music created by white artists, and in the 70s and 80s, the British press adopted the term to describe white artists that had an R&B influence.
I grew up in Philadelphia, a city that had a strong radio heritage and a city that was proud of the influences that it created for the rest of the world to enjoy. Back in those days, there were the AM stations that played popular formats and FM stations that offered more progressive and genre-specific formats. At that time, it was very interesting to hear Hall and Oates' "Sara Smile" played on all of our local stations. Yes, we were proud of our local boys who had made it.
I remember the first time I heard Teena Marie and how shocked I was to learn that she was not black. Several years later, I had similar feelings when I first heard Wild Orchid. (For those of you that don't know it, Fergie was one of the members of Wild Orchid.)
 In the early 80s, I was very attracted to British pop acts and remembered that when I first heard Eurhythmics' "Touch" album, I knew that this "new" sound would forever change my appreciation of music; the sound was so fresh, and the emotions that were evoked were universal.
While researching this topic, I was surprised to learn that blue-eyed soul was initially created due to segregation, as black performers could not perform for whites. As its popularity grew, some African Americans were upset about cultural appropriation, while others were happy that the genre received more visibility.
Some of my favorite blue-eyed soul artists include, Annie Lennox, Hall and Oates, David Bowie, AWB, Boz Scaggs, Michael McDonald, Lisa Stansfield, The Style Council, Wild Orchid, Laura Nyro, Christina Aguilera, and others.
Other artists attributed with being blue-eyed soul include, Dusty Springfield, The Blues Brothers, Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse, Steve Winwood, Duffy, Robin Thicke and more.
 In the early 80s, I moved to Houston, TX and recorded at Mickey Gilley's studio. Mickey Gilley is well known in the country and western circles. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, as my sound was totally foreign to other projects coming out of that studio. Gilley heard some of my tracks and remarked to my engineer, "You know this guy sounds like Hall and Oates."
In retrospect, the irony is that they liked the black artist who sounded like white artists who were influenced by other black artists.
Carter Burnette, Editor of The Soul Chronicle
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REFERENCES:
Wikepedia Blue-Eyed Soul
About Blue-Eyed Soul
Georgie Woods - Philadelphia Broadcast Pioneers page
About Blue Eyed Soul Top 5 list
YouTube – Sara Smile
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