I know he always wanted to come of as blues and soul. And I've heard a lot of people refer to him a soul singer. I grew up always thinking he was more country of soft rock... but can now see the soul qualities.

I've met a lot of people who told me Michael & The Doobies were popular on the ''black charts'' as they were called back in the day. And not just popular on the pop or rock charts.

Would you classify McDoanld as soul? or more soft rock?

[Edited 7/17/14 14:25pm]

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Of course. He's James Ingram's brother from another grandmother.

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I think it's most apparent in his 1980s solo stuff, though it already shone through in his work with the Doobies.

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He's one of those voices when I was younger and dumber I thought 'that's a brother singing, right?'

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He certainly HAS a lot of soul.

Gunsnhalen said:

soft rock

The music called "light rock/soft rock" often had R&B elements. That's why Player, Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Robbie Dupree, Dr. Hook, Ambrosia, Toto, etc. had songs played on R&B stations. This was called Westcoast and some of the musicians played on records by R&B singers and soul jazz records of the time, especially Jay Graydon & Toto.

Michael McDonald, Phil Collins, Sting and others were soulful without pandering to trends in Black music like Robin Thicke has throughout his career. Michael McDonald has my respect and his work with the Doobie Brothers is incredibly significant and indelible.

Hell the fuck no!

Michael McDonald is #1 on my list for best white male r&b/soul vocalist (READ: blackest sounding white man!) for all times. He's even soulful when singing soft rock.

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Mike had me testifyin' on this one!

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Michael McDonald - Everlasting

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Soul for sure....

Michael McDonald AND Daryl Hall

Bashraka.....your comment....SPEAK MF SPEEEEEEAK!!!!

I call him an R&B singer.

Yes, he has a soulful voice.

So many one of a kind voices coming out of the 70s and 80s, and now everbody sounds the same...I don't get it. MDs is one of the greatest soul singers of our times, black or white.

popgodazipa said:

So many one of a kind voices coming out of the 70s and 80s, and now everbody sounds the same...I don't get it. MDs is one of the greatest soul singers of our times, black or white.

It started with Nirvana and Kurt Cobain. He took a low-pitched voice approach, whereas rock to that point was dominated by high-pitched singers. The horrid Eddie Vedder copied/followed, and that eventually spawned garglers like Scott Stapp.

"Rock" has been dominated with singers who couldn't hit a high "C" if their lives depended on it for the last 20 years, and you're right - they all sound exactly the same. They only vary in degrees of gutteralness.

Gunsnhalen said:

I know he always wanted to come of as blues and soul. And I've heard a lot of people refer to him a soul singer. I grew up always thinking he was more country of soft rock... but can now see the soul qualities.

I've met a lot of people who told me Michael & The Doobies were popular on the ''black charts'' as they were called back in the day. And not just popular on the pop or rock charts.

Would you classify McDoanld as soul? or more soft rock?

[Edited 7/17/14 14:25pm]

Yeah I think he's the real deal.

bashraka said:

Michael McDonald, Phil Collins, Sting and others were soulful without pandering to trends in Black music like Robin Thicke has throughout his career. Michael McDonald has my respect and his work with the Doobie Brothers is incredibly significant and indelible.

Please don't put Robin Thicke in the same sentence as Michael McDonald

popgodazipa said:

So many one of a kind voices coming out of the 70s and 80s, and now everbody sounds the same...I don't get it. MDs is one of the greatest soul singers of our times, black or white.

I was thinking about that a while back myself. Maybe it's the technology in the studio that ends up making everyone sound the same? I don't know how it happens but it seems that everyone just sounds like Katy Perry or Lil Wayne now.

RodeoSchro said:

popgodazipa said:

So many one of a kind voices coming out of the 70s and 80s, and now everbody sounds the same...I don't get it. MDs is one of the greatest soul singers of our times, black or white.

It started with Nirvana and Kurt Cobain. He took a low-pitched voice approach, whereas rock to that point was dominated by high-pitched singers. The horrid Eddie Vedder copied/followed, and that eventually spawned garglers like Scott Stapp.

"Rock" has been dominated with singers who couldn't hit a high "C" if their lives depended on it for the last 20 years, and you're right - they all sound exactly the same. They only vary in degrees of gutteralness.

I forgot you hated Nirvana Now i recall the hate

Gunsnhalen said:

RodeoSchro said:

It started with Nirvana and Kurt Cobain. He took a low-pitched voice approach, whereas rock to that point was dominated by high-pitched singers. The horrid Eddie Vedder copied/followed, and that eventually spawned garglers like Scott Stapp.

"Rock" has been dominated with singers who couldn't hit a high "C" if their lives depended on it for the last 20 years, and you're right - they all sound exactly the same. They only vary in degrees of gutteralness.

I forgot you hated Nirvana Now i recall the hate

I don't hate them. They did what they knew how to do. But what they did became the roots of the destruction of rock and roll. I doubt Kurt Cobain had any idea he was destroying rock and roll at the time.

He's a great singer and those "disembodied head" backing vocals on Steely Dan's "Peg" are really something. And I dug the Doobies.

Listening to most of his music makes me sympathize with Paul Rudd though. If I have to listen to Ya Mo Be There one more time, ya mo burn the place down.

The term is "Blue-eyed Soul".

Jestyr said:

The term is "Blue-eyed Soul".

American music has always been this thing of interplay between African and European influences. That’s the core of American music. The way it goes back and forth on both sides is where the vitality is. Some people do it better than other people. And that confused people every once and awhile. People like the Righteous Brothers early on, they were really singing soul music, real soul music. So that confused a lot of people and they didn’t know what label to put on that. Sort of put what I thought was a racist label. You know you don’t call a somebody a brown-eyed opera singer, if they’re a diva in opera and they happen to be black. It’s all about the interplay. It’s always been here since the dawn of America, since the 1600’s. Anyway, it’s one of those things… I come from Philadelphia, I come from all that. I grew up with all that. I grew up in a very racially integrated and musically integrated music scene. It was my baby food and it defines me. I don’t think about it, it’s just the kind of music I make. ~ Daryl Hall

Jestyr said:

The term is "Blue-eyed Soul".

That is a media marketing term that came along to compartmentalize white people who sing R&B. In the 70s & 80s, people cared more about the music, although race was still an issue. The music came out first back then, before pictures and videos.

[Edited 7/18/14 17:32pm]

I Admit the factor of just radio... and not video is interesting. Liking a song justf or the song... not knowing if a person is white or black. Is kind of weird to think about in 2014. With internet and everything at our hands. Makes sense when people tell me they really though Michael McDonald. Hall & Oates, Teena Marie etc. Were black when they just heard them on radio.

I used to think Annie Lennox was black woman till i saw the Eurtyhmics videos.

[Edited 7/18/14 17:46pm]