What is the Definition of Soul?

I love listening to music like many people do. Something occurred to me as I was listening to my tunes one night. It's kind of interesting how many acclaimed music artists from the United Kingdom have soulful singing voices. I think it is kind of funny how British people can speak with their signature accents and then sound like Black Americans when they sing. I know many drift toward an R&B sound out of a deep respect for roots music like the blues and famous American artists like Aretha Franklin and B.B. King and that's cool. There are probably some people I haven't heard of and many that have yet to be discovered but these names come to mind as examples of my observation and are some of my favorites. Dusty Springfield in the 1960s was one of the first singers to gain stardom for an R&B tinged sound. Follow Dusty up with Annie Lennox, George Micheal, Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse, Adele. Throw in three singers (Van Morrison, Tom Jones and Joe Cocker) who fall into this category but who I think are technically Welsh, which I think is different from being a Brit. A related topic is how some people seem to lose their accents if they can sing in English. No matter who the person is or where they are from, as long as the music is good I'll be listening.