Much more urbane than Southern soul and deep soul, and less pop-obsessed than Motown, uptown soul boasted sophisticated arrangements, limber strings, politely punchy horns, and small armies of backing vocalists. This cosmopolitan style experienced popularity during the latter half of the 1960s, as Chicago singers Gene Chandler and Jerry Butler, sultry chanteuse Maxine Brown, and R&B holdover Jackie Wilson each scored hits with the supper club crowd. Meanwhile, Rolling Stones svengali Andrew Loog Oldham took American vocalist P.P. Arnold under his production wing in the late '60s; Oldham's Immediate imprint released a pair of excellent, though underdistributed, uptown soul albums by Arnold.

Notable Artists: Jackie Wilson; P.P. Arnold; Maxine Brown; Gene Chandler