40 Soul Music Artists who died in 2023

One of our saddest jobs at SoulTracks is to inform SoulTrackers about the deaths of soul music artists. And 2023 is a year in which we lost some great ones.

We feel it is part of our mission to pay tribute to the legacies of these all time greats. On this page we provide a list of those artists who have died during 2023, and a link to our extensive tributes to them. They are shown in the order of the date we reported on their deaths during the year. 

Rest in peace, friends.

(click on links below to see full tributes)

Anita Pointer of The Pointer Sisters

Freddie White of Earth Wind & Fire

George White of The Dynamics

Grady Harmon of The Whispers

Keith Beaton of Blue Magic

Sonny Baker of The Dynamics

Barrett Strong (Motown writer and singer)

Charlie Thomas of The Drifters 

Lillian Walker-Moss of The Exciters

Chuck Jackson (singer)

Wayne Shorter (jazz legend)

James Holland of The Holidays

Leon Hughes of the Coasters

Bobby Caldwell (singer and songwriter)

Fuzzy Haskins of Parliament Funkadelic

Peggy Scott-Adams (singer)

“Sweet Charles” Sherrell (James Brown music director)

Ronald Coleman of The Broadways

Booker Newberry  (singer)

Otis Redding III (singer and musician)

Isaac Wiley of The Dazz Band

Harry Belafonte (singer and activist)

Tina Turner (singer)

Vicki Anderson (singer)

Bobby Eli (songwriter and producer)

Toussaint McCall (singer)

Clarence Avant (music empresario)

Wendell B (Blues singer)

Sunny Hawkins (Gospel singer)

Katherine Anderson of The Marvelettes

Fred Lewis of Lakeside

Rudolph Isley of The Isley Brothers

Richard Roundtree (actor and singer)

George Brown of Kool & the Gang

Nidra Beard of Dynasty

Amp Fiddler (singer and musician)

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