Modern soul is a style of music with associated clothing and dance styles (precursors to the Disco era), that developed in Northern England in the early 1970s.

Modern soul developed from the northern soul scene, when some DJs began looking in record shops of the United States and United Kingdom for something more complex and contemporary. What emerged was a richer sound that was as lyrically and melodically soulful as northern soul, but more advanced in terms of Hi-Fi and FM radio technology. Another benefit was that unlike northern soul, it offered a steady stream of new releases. Modern soul records are not necessarily modern at any one point in time; some current modern soul favourites are over 30 years old. The records are simply modern-sounding relative to the traditional northern soul sound.

A large proportion of modern soul's original audience members came from the northern soul scene, retaining their adoration of underground and rare, independent label soul music. One of the first modern soul clubs was Blackpool Mecca, which was fronted by the DJ Ian Levine. He broke from the northern soul mould by playing a new release by the Carstairs ("It Really Hurts Me Girl") in the early 1970s. Around the same period, Colin Curtis played The Anderson Brothers' "I Can See Him Loving You", and another key modern soul track emerged: Don Thomas' "Come on Train".

Luther Vandross (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times. He won four Grammy Awards in 2004 including the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for the track "Dance with My Father", co-written with Richard Marx.

Luther Vandross was born on April 20, 1951 at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, United States. He was the fourth child and second son to Mary Ida Vandross and Luther Vandross, Sr.

Born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City in the NYCHA Alfred E. Smith Houses public housing development, Vandross began playing the piano at the age of three. He grew up in a musical family that moved to the Bronx when he was thirteen. His sister, Patricia, sang with the vocal group The Crests, who had a number two hit in 1958 with "16 Candles", though she left the group before the recording. Vandross's father died of diabetes when Vandross was eight years old. Luther Vandross was in a high school group, Shades of Jade, that once played at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. He was also a member of a theater workshop, "Listen My Brother" who released the singles "Only Love Can Make a Better World" and "Listen My Brother", and appeared on the second and fifth episodes of Sesame Street in November 1969.

Conner Reeves (born 8 April 1972) is an English singer-songwriter. He is best known for his 1997 album Earthbound which was released on Colin Lester's and Ian McAndrew's Wildstar label.

Reeves scored five Top 40 singles in the UK Singles Chart, was nominated for a BRIT Award and performed as support act for many singers such as Whitney Houston. After his recording contract was terminated, Reeves wrote songs for other artists like Artful Dodger, Joss Stone and Sami Yusuf. He also gave his written song "As Love Is My Witness" to the record-breaking Irish pop band Westlife for their album Where We Are.

In November 2005 he released a new EP called "Welcome to the Future" through Still Waters Recordings.

On 17 March 2007 a song he wrote called "I Can", performed by the former East 17 singer Brian Harvey, participated in the United Kingdom's national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest.

2. "Jet Lag" (Stone, Jonathan Shorten, Reeves)
6. "Less Is More" (Stone, Shorten, Reeves)
9. "Snakes and Ladders" (Stone, Shorten, Reeves)

Michael Watford is an African American dance music singer, who was born in Virginia and raised in New Jersey. He is best known for his gospel-influenced vocals on house records through the 1990s and 2000s. Four of his singles charted on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in the mid-1990s, including "So Into You," which hit #1 in 1994. The same track peaked at #53 on the UK Singles Chart.