marvin gaye was certainly a soul singer, as was Wilsonn Pickett & Otis Reading, but all three were completly differant, Marvin was more known for his classy soul vocals, Pickett was as they call "a screamer" which was poplular in that period of the 60's, however Otis was one of those gems that could sing smooth soul like Marvin or Sam Cooke, then sing a screaming stomper like wilson, probably the complete all rounder.

what helped Otis was that he had the best backing band ever assempled, with Donald "Duck" Dunn on Bass, Steve Cropper (Who wrote many of Wilson Pickets hits including Midnight Hour), Booket T on Key Boards plus the drummer who's name escapes me at the moment, all later went on to appear in the Blues Bros Films.

incidently marvin was not originally employed for his vocal talents, but as the maoin session drummer at the motown label, it was not until he married Berry Gordy's sister in 1961 that his vocal talents were recognised, originally as a Jazz vocalist, not until 1962 did he try R&B, the rest is history.

I think this is a little unclear!
As you said; the majority of punters think of the mid 60's to very early 70's when they think of Motown even though the Motown label released stuff right through the rest of the 70's, 80's, 90's etc., but many people who are into Motown, and who ask for this type of music will not appreciate 80's soul being played in a Motown set, even if it was on the Motown label.

These artists were all on the Motown label and so technically could be classed as Motown but you'll find that most punters would term them simply 'Soul' acts.
A lot of the 'soul' stuff from the 80's (and even late 70's) was often referred to as Jazz-Funk even though many of the tracks in question contained neither jazz nor funk

Well seeing as James Brown's nickname is "The Godfather of Soul", I think you could safely say that yes, he is soul
Barry White is most definitely Soul, and there is no other catagory/genre that he could possibly be put in?!

Yep, this is what most punters would probably regard as being 'Motown' and you could add some tracks by The Temptations, Stevie Wonder (i.e. 'Uptight' etc) & Mary Wells too, among others.

There are no rules; it all boils down to what your punters like, it doesn't matter one bit what so called experts dictate!

For example, to me artists such as Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera & Britney Spears are not R&B, they are pop. Likewise Ja Rule, Jay-Z & Biggie are not R&B they are rap, yet I know that when yer average punter asks for R&B they are probably referring to one of these artists.
Artists that I personally would class as R&B are Michael Cooper, Jill Scott, Angie Stone, Rahsaan Patterson etc. Most of these artists will NEVER get to the top of the pop chart, and that is not their main objective. They make music from the heart and from the 'Soul'. Artists such as J-Lo, Christina & Britney make music simply to gross as much money as possible and have no idea what soul is!... however, if a punter asks me for R&B and J-Lo et al is their definition of R&B, then that is what I'll play

Interesting discussion, Motown of course was a famous Detroit record label, of which there were many offshoots

of which Anna, and Soul are a couple, Anna named after Berry Gordy's wife!

Tamla Motown really became popular in Britain due to the Mods and of course the late great Dave Godin, who started up the Tamla Motown Appreciation Society who in the 70's came up with the term Northern Soul following a visit to the North of England.

One of the earliest people to play Tamla on the radio in the 60's, was of course that noted soul fan Tony Blackburn.

Who started his own late night soul show on the then offshore Radio London.

Tamla had many copycats in the 60's, such fine records as Candy and The Kisses"The 81" recorded in Philly amongst others.

Along with such classic labels as RicTic and Golden World,(two more Detroit record labels) who used the Funk Brothers(who backed all the big Motown hits)as their in house band

Such Motown stars as Edwin Starr amongst others recorded for these legendary labels, along with the writing team of Holland Dozier Holland, who of course did loads of stuff for Hot Wax and Invictus!

When someone asks for Motown at a disco its usually stuff like the Supremes, Isley Bros, Marvin Gaye, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas etc...

Fine music which still sounds great through a good system or on the radio!

Candi Staton of course made earlier records in the 70's than Young Hearts Run Free.

And of course Barry White had been recording and producing and writing hits since the mid 60's! Yup Barry White is Soul, as is Johnnie Taylor, Teddy P etc!

As Eskie says what passes for R and B and Rap charts, of course tends to be a watered down version of the real thing.

People like Soulboy Records in London keep the flag flying for real sou/R and B etcl music!

Same as the 1970's when everyone and their granny, following the success of Saturday Night Fever, jumped on the so called disco bandwagon....

With bands like the Fatback Band and Bar Kays and Kay Gees etc continuing to make some fine records!

of course old Motown and other soulful music is still being discovered in dusty old thrift stores and record stores across the US

on publishers demos and master tapes!