The “Gospel Roots and Rock and Soul” project illustrates the often reciprocal nature of gospel, R&B and rock influences. In the article, The R&B-Gospel Connection, ten artists that straddle gospel and secular music are identified including Al Green, Aretha Franklin, James Ingram, Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child and others. In the articles, the author Elle Breeze writes:
There’s always been a connection between Gospel and R&B music. Gospel is the mother who goes to church every Sunday while R&B is her offspring who went to the club the night before. That’s because R&B/soul music was birthed from Gospel, which is a spiritual Christian music filled with emotion/soul to praise a deity. R&B/soul music kept that same emotion/soul, the only difference are the lyrics which reflects on human situations and emotions, or “secular” topics.