I was in my pre-teen/early teen years when the Righteous Brothers were on the charts. I thought they were black. Ditto Gene Pitney, from the same era, till I saw his picture. But the Young Rascals sounded white to me from the get-go, even though they were covering all those great Wilson Pickett songs.
Half of Booker T. & the MGs were white, including Steve Cropper, arguably the greatest soul guitarist. They were the Stax records house band in the 60’s and besides their own records (Green Onions, Hip Hug Her, Time is Tight, etc) they played behind Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas and many others.
Also- the Muscle Shoals Rythym Section. All white guys. They played on many funky soul records, including Aretha Franklin’s calssic Atlantic albums, Wilson Pickett and the Staples Singers.
Also- Dr. John’s voice sounds way black.
I heard an audiotape of Jackie Robinson (for you kids, he was the first black Major League Baseball player) and his voice (as opposed to the merits of what he was saying) sounded very nasally, almost like a stereotypical uptight white guy in an old comedy sketch, not at all like I expected.
Your son isn’t the only one. When Another One Bits the Dust was originally released, it got a lot of airplay on black stations in the U.S. from broadcasters who really did think Queen was a black group.
That information is from a Queen biography I read in high school. I can’t remember the exact name of the book.
Listening to Michael Jackson, you’d think he was black.
I was surprised to learn that Tommy Bolin was an American Indian, although I’m not sure just what I’d expected an Indian guitarist should sound like.
Lieu Reed and Frank Zappa can, at times, throw me for an ethnic loop as well.
Lieu Reed, huh?
[you guys are cracking me up with the Tony Gwynn speak!]
I get this – she has that same kind of hollow-mouthed, consonant-eliding voice that’s common in a japanese accent. Of course, her name is Bjork.
–Cliffy
P.S. I second Dusty Springfield.
KC of “the Sunshine Band” fame.
(I have to admit; “Another one Bites the Dust” doesn’t sound black at all to me!)
Me neither.