Brown-eyed soul, also referred to as Chicano soul, Hispanic soul, or Latino soul, is soul music & rhythm & blues (R&B) performed in the United States mainly by Hispanic Latinos and Chicanos in Southern California, East Los Angeles, and San Antonio (Texas) during the 1960s, continuing through to the early 1980s.[1] The trend of Latinos started with Latino rock and roll and rock musicians.[2][1] "Brown-eyed soul" contrasts with blue-eyed soul, soul music performed by non-Hispanic white artists.[3]
History
Critic Ruben Molina said roots of chicano soul music was from the 1950s jazz, blues, doo wop, jump blues, latin jazz, rock, ranchera, norteno, and conjunto music in the West Coast, Texas Latino communities.[4] Latino artists began to draw inspiration from African American R&B hits, and as a result, Latino soul began sounding very similar to African American soul music; Latino soul and R & B was further influenced by Afro-Latin American music, including but not limited to Afro-Spanish-Caribbean origin. Early artists owed little to traditional Latino and rarely performed in Spanish.[5]
Hispanic rock singer Ritchie Valens, also became one of the first artists to bring traditional music and rock and roll. Valens recorded "Donna", " La Bamba", "Come On, Let's Go", and "Donna" reached #2 on Billboard pop chart in 1959.[6]
However, the large Latino population on the West Coast began gradually moving away from energetic R&B to romantic soul, and the results were "some of the sweetest soul music heard during the late '60s and '70s."[1] Latino groups on the West Coast and Texas also drew from the doo wop-influenced Philadelphia soul ("Philly" soul). The West Coast Latin rock scene continued to influence other Latino soul musicians as well. Tierra gained the top 40 hit "Together".[8]
