UK Soul Divas

Glasgow, Manchester, and London don’t immediately leap to mind when you’re thinking about world-class capitals of soul? Well, listen — not to us, but to these women, spanning five decades of U.K. soul divahood, easily the equal of the best from Memphis to Motown. The low-moanin’ Amy Winehouse practically needed a U-Haul® to cart off the GRAMMY® statuary from her Song (and Record) of the Year, “Rehab.” Dusty Springfield faces down a very different sort of obsession in the smoky-voiced seductiveness of “Son of a Preacher Man.” And if the name Linda Lewis doesn’t ring a bell, her voice certainly should; it’s been paired with those of everyone from John Lee Hooker to David Bowie. (Trust us: you gotta check out her “Red Light Ladies.” And make sure your jaw has a soft place to drop when you do.)

In Next Steps, we’re gonna hear from two women whose average age is under 30, and from one whose first hit came out more than a decade before they were even born.

Seems like everywhere you turned these last few years, yet another barely post-teen diva was blowing minds and grabbing ink. Same deal just after the Summer of Love, when a London-based American expat named P.P. Arnold ripped into her double-barreled rendition of Cat Stevens’ “The First Cut Is the Deepest,” owning the song until Rod Stewart reimagined it a decade later. Joss Stone had just turned sweet 16 when she first entered the studio, but you’d never guess it from her gargantuan voice. Writing with Motown legend Lamont Dozier, she knocks it out of the park with her ego-stroking ballad, “Spoiled.” And Corinne Bailey Rae’s light-as-air vocals glide over the bass-and-synth-driven backup in “Closer” as though they were dreamed rather than sung.

In Deep Cuts, we’ll cue up a song thrush from the Georgia that doesn’t include the ATL, Pink Floyd’s guitarist (don’t worry — he’s just providing backup), and the Godmother of the U.K.’s soul scene.

As we dig deep into the heart of U.K. soul, we’re gonna hear some songs that may be familiar, even if the performances aren’t. Those of you who’ve heard Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ (or even Creedence Clearwater Revival’s) “I Put a Spell on You” are in for a shock — and a treat. Mica Paris (backed by ex-Squeeze keyman Jools Holland, with Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour in support) completely revamps this bitter, dark brew of a tune into a slinky, spooky, sexy torch song. Georgian-born Katie Melua pours sinfully rich vocals like buttered rum on a short stack over “Just Like Heaven,” the main title from the 2005 Reese Witherspoon comedy. And we gotta give some much-deserved props to the U.K.’s Godmother of Soul, Lulu, who trekked to Muscle Shoals to cut “Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool for You Baby)” with soul legends Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin, and Tom Dowd (who later recut the tune with Aretha Franklin).

Look, we can’t blame you if you’ve been looking in Philly, or Detroit, or Chicago, or even Memphis for your daily fix of soul sisterhood; old habits die hard. But the U.K. is in the midst of a soul-diva renaissance the likes of which we haven’t seen since the days of Yardley Lip Slicker and go-go-boots. If it’s not an Amy Winehouse carting off an armload of GRAMMY® Awards, it’s an Adele getting nominated for the Mercury Prize, or a Katie Melua selling more than three million copies of her debut album . . . in Europe alone. But the reason these young stars stand so tall is that they’re working from a foundation that was laid with toil and sweat — and more than a little bit of eyeliner — four decades ago, when the likes of Dusty Springfield and Sandie Shaw and P.P. Arnold and Lulu were the fresh, young faces to watch. We’ve rounded up all the best of the Brit Ladies of Soul, both from back in the day and straight on into tomorrow.