Blue-eyed soul
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Blue-eyed soul is a term used to describe soul music as performed by white people and usually intended for white audiences. It exists in contrast to soul music performed by blacks, although many performers in the genre, such as the Box Tops, Eddie Hinton and Dan Penn, recorded many of the same songs done by black soul artists. Dan Penn, for example, wrote two songs associated with black soul performers: "Do Right Woman-Do Right Man" (for Aretha Franklin) and "The Dark End of the Street" (recorded by James Carr). Many blue-eyed soul performers are British, and several of these artists have actually been mistaken for being black. Motown's white artists, Kiki Dee, Rare Earth and Chris Clark are perfect examples. In fact Chris Clark's only hit was on the R&B charts - "Love's Gona Bad" from 1966. [dubious – discuss]
The reagonal "beach music" or " shag music" phenomenon in the Carolinas and surrounding states is, at least partly, a manifestation of blue-eyed soul. It dove-tailed with the beginnings of other such groups in early sixties, when local white bands backed up nationally popular black R&B artists at their road gigs, and also performed on their own at fraternity parties and other college social events in the region. The widespread popularity of the Carolina shag gave many of these groups "legs" to keep their careers going up to the present day. According to "beach band" historian Greg Haynes, national artists such as Bonnie Bramlett and The Allman Brothers (as The Escorts) began their careers on this same college "kegger circuit". Bill Deal and The Rhondells and The Swinging Medalions are "beach bands" which have charted nationally.
Ironically, the "blue-eyed" artists who have had the longest careers in this genre nationally and internationally have done so by building a significant black following, as exemplified by the success of Hall & Oates, George Michael, and Teena Marie on the R&B charts in the 1980s.
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