[5] John Abbey, a devotee of American R&B music, established a magazine entitled Home of the Blues in 1966.

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.

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.

[16] Blues & Soul has also, from its inception, bestowed awards to artistes based upon an annual readers poll.