You don’t have to read far in the biographies of Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and Otis Redding to discover that they grew up singing in one church or another. In fact, practically every classic-era soul or R&B singer either first lifted his or her voice in sanctified settings, or was directly influenced by those who did.
Unfortunately, such origin stories can give the impression that African-American churches were a farm system whose only purpose was to supply the “big leagues” with marquee talent.
A more accurate baseball metaphor would be the pre-Jackie Robinson Negro leagues. Like the action taking place on those segregated diamonds, the
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