Stevie Wonder, the Commodores, Bruno Mars, Earth, Wind & Fire, Alicia Keys, Adele, Boyz II Men, TLC, the Temptations, Hall & Oates, the Bee Gees, Aretha Franklin, Michael McDonald, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Prince and many, many more.ĭownload the iHeart Radio app for free to listen on your device. Under the umbrella of “soul” you’ll hear those romantic ballads, those funk favourites (James Brown, The Isley Brothers, the Commodores), those disco floor-fillers (Chic, KC & The Sunshine Band, Donna Summer) and even a handful of the most melodic hip-hop tracks (2Pac, Warren G, Blackstreet). Whether it’s Adele’s When We Were Young, Mariah Carey’s Anytime You Need A Friend, Lionel Richie’s Stuck On You or Aretha Franklin’s You’re All I Need To Get By, they’re all great songs, they all have soul and no matter you’re age, if you’re a soul fan, you’ll enjoy them all.

Likewise the ballads you’ll hear on Soul. Both songs are brilliant and fit side by side. Not one person who loves Uptown Funk is going to dismiss Stevie’s 1973 US#1 hit as some kind of lesser, fuddy-duddy music. For example, play Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk to a bunch of young R&B fans and then play them Stevie Wonder’s Superstition. The basic philosophy of ‘Soul’ is that feel is more important than era. And so here we are with the launch of ‘Soul’ on iHeart Radio and ‘Coast Soul’ on Sundays 6pm-8pm on Coast FM. Sure, those stations can be found in the States – the billboard was proof – but from that moment onwards something triggered inside me that one day I’d like to bring that concept to my own country.

I could never understand why a soul / R&B station that played the established legends of the genre alongside the modern up and comers had never existed in New Zealand. “They’ve stolen my idea!” I remember thinking. It was advertising a radio station that played “everything from Marvin Gaye to Alicia Keys”.

The first time I landed in Los Angeles was in 2006 and I passed a billboard overlooking the freeway in my taxi that I’ve never forgotten. It’s fair to say I’ve been planning this for a little while.

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