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60 free Soul Music trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This soul music trivia quiz covers the genre from its gospel-and-R&B roots in the 1950s to the neo soul revival of the 1990s. The easy questions are the ones any record collector knows: who is the Queen of Soul, who is the Godfather, which label Berry Gordy started with an $800 loan, where Stax was based, and which song was a posthumous number one for Otis Redding. From there it moves into the labels and studios that defined regional sounds, from Hitsville U.S.A. and the Funk Brothers to Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Muscle Shoals, Philadelphia International and Hi Records. The hard end covers the details behind the hits: whose idea it was to spell out R-E-S-P-E-C-T, who wrote the song in the first place, who was crowned King of Rock 'n' Soul in Baltimore, which record shop coined the phrase northern soul, who named neo soul, and how Stevie Wonder became the youngest solo artist to top the Hot 100. There are also questions on Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, Solomon Burke and Wilson Pickett. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the genre, its labels and its artists, and each question links to the page that establishes it. Fifty questions, free, with an explanation after every answer.
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Q 01Soul music, a blend of gospel and rhythm and blues, originated in African-American communities in which period?
The late 1950s and early 1960s
The phrase "soul music", meaning gospel-style singing with secular lyrics, was first attested in 1961.
Q 02Which singer, a contemporary of Sam Cooke and James Brown, is counted a soul forefather thanks to crossover hits such as 1957's "Reet Petite"?
Jackie Wilson
Berry Gordy wrote hits for him before founding Motown; he was known for his dramatic delivery.
Q 03Which nickname was given to James Brown?
The Godfather of Soul
He was also billed as the Hardest-Working Man in Show Business and Soul Brother No. 1.
Q 04Sam Cooke was lead singer of which gospel group before controversially going secular?
The Soul Stirrers
He first recorded pop under the alias Dale Cook, but his voice was too recognisable for the disguise to work.
Q 05Sam Cooke's 1957 recording of which song launched his pop career?
You Send Me
His 1962 "Bring It On Home to Me" has been called perhaps the first record to define the soul experience.
Q 06Sam Cooke died in 1964 after being shot by whom?
A motel manager
The shooting took place at a motel in Los Angeles; the circumstances remain disputed.
Q 07Berry Gordy founded Motown in 1959 with a family loan of how much?
$800
Smokey Robinson encouraged him; his first label was called Tamla because his preferred name was already taken.
Q 08Before founding Motown, Berry Gordy had a brief professional career doing what?
Boxing
He dropped out of high school to box, then worked at a Lincoln-Mercury plant, before writing hits for a rising Detroit star.
Q 09Motown's original Detroit headquarters and studio, at 2648 West Grand Boulevard, was known as what?
Hitsville U.S.A.
The former photographer's studio ran 22 hours a day; it is now the Motown Museum.
Q 10Motown's house band, largely uncredited until a 2002 documentary, was known as what?
The Funk Brothers
Standing in the Shadows of Motown identified 13 members, including bassist James Jamerson.
Q 11Which songwriting and production trio were rarely off the charts writing for the Supremes, the Four Tops and Martha and the Vandellas?
Holland-Dozier-Holland
Their departure over royalties in 1967, along with the Detroit riot, preceded Motown's move to Los Angeles.
Q 12How many number-one singles did the Supremes have on the Billboard Hot 100?
Twelve
They started in 1959 as the Primettes, sister act to the Primes, who became the Temptations.
Q 13Motown remained independent until it was bought by which company in 1988?
MCA
PolyGram bought it in 1993 and Universal Music absorbed PolyGram in 1999.
Q 21"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was begun on a rented houseboat in which California town?
Sausalito
He recorded the whistling ending just three days before his plane crashed on 10 December 1967.
Q 22"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" made chart history in 1968 as what?
The first posthumous number one on the Hot 100
The album of the same name was also the first posthumous number one on the UK Albums Chart.
Q 23Who wrote and first recorded "Respect", before Aretha Franklin's 1967 version made it hers?
Otis Redding
Q 14Stevie Wonder became the youngest solo artist to top the Hot 100 at 13 with which single?
Fingertips
He had signed to Tamla at 11 as Little Stevie Wonder.
Q 15Stevie Wonder is the only artist to win the Grammy for Album of the Year with three consecutive releases. Which three?
Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, Songs in the Key of Life
He was also the first Black musician to win the award.
Q 16Smokey Robinson led which Motown group from its 1955 origins until 1972?
The Miracles
They began as the Five Chimes; he left to concentrate on being Motown's vice president.
Q 17Stax was founded in Memphis in 1957 under what original name?
Satellite
It became Stax in 1961, combining founder Jim Stewart's surname with that of his sister Estelle Axton.
Q 18The name Stax was formed from the surnames of which sibling founders?
Stewart and Axton
Jim Stewart, a country fiddle player, started the label in a garage.
Q 19Stax's racially integrated house band, whose 1962 instrumental hit was "Green Onions", was called what?
Booker T. & the M.G.'s
Two white members and two Black members made them unusual for the segregated South.
Q 20Which Stax house-band guitarist co-wrote "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" with the singer who recorded it?
Steve Cropper
He also co-wrote several of Wilson Pickett's hits.
His 1965 original was a man's plea; Franklin flipped the gender with her sisters Erma and Carolyn.
Q 24According to engineer Tom Dowd, whose idea was it to spell out "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" in Aretha's version?
Her sister Carolyn
The "sock it to me" refrain, sung by her sisters, became a household expression.
Q 25Aretha Franklin was crowned "the Queen of Soul" on stage at Chicago's Regal Theater by which radio personality?
Pervis Spann
She went on to win 18 Grammys and was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1987.
Q 26Aretha Franklin won the first eight Grammys ever awarded in which category?
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
She won the category every year from 1968 to 1975.
Q 27Aretha was first noticed as a gospel singer at which Detroit church, where C. L. Franklin was pastor?
New Bethel Baptist
C. L. Franklin was a nationally famous preacher; she signed with Columbia at 18 before Atlantic revived her career.
Q 28Writer Peter Guralnick argues soul "started, in a sense" with the 1961 success of which Solomon Burke record on Atlantic?
Just Out of Reach
Guralnick saw the pairing of Burke and Atlantic as the first thing resembling a movement.
Q 29Solomon Burke was crowned with what title in a 1963 ceremony at Baltimore's Royal Theatre, and wore a cape and crown on stage ever after?
King of Rock 'n' Soul
He was also known as the Bishop of Soul, having been consecrated a bishop at birth by his grandmother.
Q 30Which 1965 breakthrough hit did Wilson Pickett co-write at the Stax studio in Memphis?
In the Midnight Hour
The house band's guitarist and drummer built the rhythm track with producer Jerry Wexler.