As many of you know I am the first grandchild of the publishers of SOUL. I actually came to fully know about the publication around the middle of my freshmen year of college when my grandmother Regina was approached by Vibe Magazine to interview Michael Jackson in 2001. I grew up with the music of the era but had no idea my grandparents had such a vital role in its history. As I began reading through every issue of SOUL from the beginning I not only formed a new understanding of my grandfather Ken Jones (who passed away when I was nine) but formed new understandings of the entertainers as well. People that were just names and melodies before were filled with vibrance, meaning, life and substance. However, this did not have its costs. I would fall in love with a musician while reading about them in 1966, only to see them become ill in 1968 and die by 1969. See a band I thought would blow up in 1970 only to watch them fizzle out by 1975. I read through 375 issues in a little more than a month so to see these stars shine so bright and collapse so quickly was an emotional rollercoaster to say the least. It was heartbreaking at times but also reinforced my drive to make sure this history is preserved. There is no way to know how long someone is on this planet nor can we calculate how long the impact of that life will persist. So many of our musical heroes died at 27; some even younger. Otis was barely 26. The members of the Bar-Kays that died Jimmie King, Ronnie Caldwell, Phalon Jones and Carl Cunningham were just teenagers. When I came across articles on him in SOUL he came alive. His songs were filled with so much more meaning. To see what he meant to people at the time was remarkable but to see what he meant to music at the time was awe inspiring. On the anniversary of his birth I am reposting in our SOUL Family Member’s Section two full issues SOUL published around his death commemorating his life in 1968 as well as some pages from those issues on this blog. We upload newly archived issues of SOUL weekly!

Stay SOULful!

Matt