>My co-worker actually blames Stevie, and that people started
>to mimic his singing instead of ol' church singers.

Stevie has ruined and will continue to ruin generations of singers. Everyone tries to emulate the licks only, but they forget the context, the setup, the subtlety. Stevie has runs out the ass, but he can still sing a song straight without melisma...well, he used to anyway. Now even he's become a bad imitation of himself when he performs live.