UNSUNG HEROES OF SOUL #1964

In 1964, Mitty Collier transformed a James Cleveland gospel classic into an R&B smash.

Best known for "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)," Betty Everett spent 1964 as one of Black music's hottest stars.

Two years before Percy Sledge recorded "When a Man Loves a Woman," Jimmy Hughes made the Billboard top twenty with Southern Soul's first major pop hit.

Nicknamed the Soul Queen of New Orleans, Irma Thomas never attained the level of commercial success enjoyed by some of her contemporaries; but it wasn't for lack of talent or tenacity.