Blues & Soul

John Abbey, a devotee of American R&B music, established a magazine entitled Home of the Blues in 1966. This came about while Abbey was working for a travel agency in London. The magazine went on to publish its own musical charts, cover events and clubs and feature reviews, interviews and other musical articles. Blues & Soul's R&B charts were compiled via a poll record sales throughout Britain. The publication soon gained further popularity in the UK and Europe covering genres of music such as soul, R&B, Funk, dance, jazz, hip hop, reggae and world music. With issue number 12 the magazine's title was changed to Blues & Soul.

In addition to Abbey's contributions, material was provided by writers such as former Motown press officer Sharon Davis and British soul fan Dave Godin. Within a June 1970 column of Blues & Soul, Godin went on to coin the term "Northern soul". The business gradually expanded and Abbey set up an associated record label called Contempo Records,^[6] which released the UK's first 12-inch singles. Abbey moved to Atlanta, Georgia in the mid-1970s and established Ichiban Records,^[6] while the editorship of the magazine was taken over by Bob Killbourn in 1979.^{[7][8][9][10][11]} Another important contributor, David Nathan, began writing for Blues & Soul in the early 1970s, first in London, then from 1975 as the magazine's principal New York correspondent.^[12]

Blues & Soul's charts, from the start of such, became increasingly popular within the UK.^[13] During 1979, DJ Pete Tong started being a journalist at Blues & Soul. Within the following year, he became the features editor of the magazine.^[14][15] Fellow UK publication Black Music was also absorbed in April 1984 by Blues & Soul.^[16] Blues & Soul has also, from its inception, bestowed awards to artistes based upon an annual readers poll.^[17][18]

By 2006, the magazine had published 1000 issues.^[7] The magazine returned in printed form in August 2010 with a special vintage edition.

In July 2011, Blues & Soul was relaunched as an in print twice-monthly magazine alongside its ongoing presence online, helmed by then editor Lee Tyler plus assistant editor (and long-time contributor) Pete Lewis.