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Following the success of The o'Jays, The Spinners and The Delfonics, the City of Brotherly Love has just enough room for another highly successful soul group. That group came in the form of The Stylistics. The Stylistics, with their charisma, style and harmony, evolved into one of the best-selling soul groups ever, as the Philadelphia-based quartet, recorded a remarkable 10 straight-top ten hits during the early 1970's. The story of The Stylistics is not only of success, it is one of early disappointment that eventually led to their meteoric rise. When The Monarchs and The Percussions, two moderately successful Philadelphia high school bands dissolved in the late 1960's, it set the state for a merger that would impact soul music for years. In 1968, under the suggestion of a teacher, the two disbanded high school groups decided to join forces. Russell Thompkins, Jr., Airrion Love and James Smith of The Monarchs, joined forces with James Dunn and Herbert Murrell of The Percussions, it was then that The Stylistics were born.
In 1971, the group collaborated with producer Thorn Bell, the ingenious creator of the "Philly Sound" to release their debut self-titled album. The Stylistics would capture the imagination of the nation and the hearts of its women with their first single. "You're a Big Girl Now", which immediately became a top-ten hit. The Stylistics had started a contemporaries or predecessors that appealed to the masses. With his style and delivery, fans and artists alike were mesmerized.
Under the production of Bell, The' Stylistics went on to produce 12 consecutive top-ten hits from 1971 to 1974, culminating with their Grammy-Nominated hit, "You Make Me Feel Brand New." It seemed every song the quintet released, greeted the airwaves with fresh, artistic fervor. Their emphasis on smoother, sweeter ballads made them the antithesis if many of their popular contemporaries. Their tempo and style would vary effortlessly with each song. The Stylistics had carved themselves a reputation as perhaps the premier soul group during that span.
They released their final album under Bell, "Heavy", in 1974, but their popularity would not end there. Their 1975 release, "The Best of The Stylistics", eventually earned double-platinum honors, making it their highest selling album ever.
As the years following their Bell/Creed collaboration passed, and their production underwent a facelift, The Stylistics would undergo even more changes when Dunn and Smith left the group in the early 80's. Still, they persevered, replacing the duo with Van Fields and Harold Brown.
As they evolved, The Stylistics would appeal to a more mature audience while maintaining a global popularity. The release of their "Stylistics Christmas", album kicked off their 25th Anniversary World Tour. The Stylistics toured South Africa in 1996, playing in front of a crowd of 35,000 at Johannesburg Stadium. They began another World Tour in November of 2000 in England, which stormed into Singapore and finished off in Hong Kong on New Year's Eve. The Stylistics also continue to tour with the 70's Soul Jam Tour, which plays to sold-out crowds across the nation.
With their 1996 release of "Love Talk", The Stylistics have proven themselves to be a pillar of longevity in a genre of rife with "one-hit wonders" and breakups. Altogether, The Stylistics appeared on over 40: albums, including compilations.
What started as the innocent union of two ex-high school bands, developed into one of the longest standing, most accomplished soul bands to grace the R&B scene. They continue to perform as only they can, bringing with them the sweet, soulful memories of year's past.
While casual Soul Music fans associate Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes solely with the classic period of their association with Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia International Records from 1972-76, the group had been around in Philadelphia for twenty years before hooking up with PIR. With Melvin as lead vocalist and principal songwriter, the group, with various personnel changes, remained principally a regional act in the 50s and 60s, scoring only a few minor Soul hits.
Then in the late 60s Melvin discovered Theodore (Teddy) Pendergrass, a young drummer for the Cadillacs, and recruited him as a member of the Blue Notes' backing band. Ultimately Teddy's vocal talents led him into the group as its lead singer and brought the group to the attention of the blazing hot songwriters/producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, who signed the group to their PIR label in 1971. Success was immediate, as the group scored on two smash ballads in 1972, "I Miss You" (later covered by David Ruffin) and the now classic "If You Don't Know Me By Now" (later taken to #1 by Simply Red). With the latter release Pendergrass quickly emerged as one of the bright young stars of Soul Music, with his distinctive sexy, growling voice ripping through Gamble & Huff's highly orchestrated, sophisticated material. 1973 brought the group its first dance hit, "The Love I Lost," and another smash album.
By 1975's "Wake Up Everybody" and "Bad Luck," Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes were Soul Music royalty, on par with the O'Jays and the Stylistics. However, it appeared incongruent that the group name continued to spotlight Melvin while the vocal and visual highlight was the handsome lead singer, Pendergrass. The issue came to a head in 1976, and Pendergrass left the group for what would be a very successful solo career. Gamble & Huff stuck with Pendergrass the solo artist, and the Blue Notes were soon off to MCA Records to try and recover from the loss of their lead singer.
The group's first post-Pendergrass album, Reaching For The World was clearly structured to sound like their work on PIR, but neither the material nor new lead singer David Ebo could match the Gamble & Huff/Pendergrass combination, and the title cut barely snuck into the Soul top 10. It was the group's last hit. Sporadic group member Sharon Paige (who had duetted with Pendergrass on the previous hit "I Hope That We Can Be Together Soon") took a more prominent role on the group's next LP, 1980's The Blue Album, but it barely charted. More shake-ups led to a new group composition that lasted nearly a decade, consisting of Melvin, Rufus (Fuss) Thorn, Bill Spratley, Dwight (Blackey) Johnson and new lead singer Gil Saunders. This line-up released Talk It Up (Tell Everybody) on Philly World Records, but the disc generated little interest domestically (though it received some minor overseas airplay). By the early-90s, Melvin and a rotating posse of Blue Notes had become permanent fixtures on the oldies circuit. Sadly, Melvin died in 1997 at age 57.
Remaining members of the Blue Notes have continued successfully touring in multi-artist soul music shows as "Harold Melvin's Blue Notes."
It seems only fitting that the current resurgence of 'real R&B' should coincide with the re-emergence of one of the genre's influential pioneers: THE MAIN INGREDIENT.
The harmonic convergence that pumped out such still-played '70s hits such as 'Everybody Plays The Fool,' 'Spinning Around (I Must Be Falling In Love),' 'I'm So Proud,' 'You've Been My Inspiration,' 'Just Don't Want To Be Lonely,' and 'Happiness Is Just Around The Bend' returns with its first new album in 12 years, 'PURE MAGIC,' on New York-based Magnatar Records owned and founded by Yusef H. Shabazz.
Original founding members Tony Silvester and Luther Simmons, Jr. joined forces with new lead singer Cartton Blount to seamlessly meld old school and contemporary R&B. The resulting 12-track set carries on The Main Ingredient tradition of smooth, classy soul.
'Excellence and quality have been and are our two key words,' says Silvester. 'The music of today is just a recycling of yesterday's music. But there's still a huge audience out there thirsting for quality R&B and they're being ignored. That's what inspired us to come back and take a shot, reinventing ourselves a third time,' Adds Simmons, 'We have a chance to do something meaningful again. When singing is in your blood, it's an itch you just have to keep scratching.'
That itch is what precipitated the first coming of The Main Ingredient, back when 'boy groups' meant such up-and-comers as The Temptations, the Delfonics, the Dells, Chi-Lites and the Impressions. Jumping into that daunting arena were New Yorkers Silvester, Simmons, and then-lead singer, Donald McPherson, who started out in 1964 as The Poets. The Panamanian-born Silvester had moved to Harlem, New York with his family at the age of eight. 'Singing and basketball were the things to do,' recalls Silvester, who begin singing with school buddy McPherson in local talent shows and on the proverbial street corner.
After a stint in the military, Silvester and McPherson decided to team up musically, meeting church-bred Simmons while all three were doing background sessions at New York's famed Brill Building. As The Poets, the trio signed its first label deal with Red Bird Records and recorded a couple of singles. Changing the group name to the Insiders, the threesome segued to RCA Records where they became the first act signed under the label's new R&B division.
But it was the third name change to The Main Ingredient that clicked. The trio scored its first top 30 R&B hit in 1970 with the Simmons-written 'You've Been My Inspiration,' followed by a top 20 cover of the Impressions' 'I'm So Proud.' Next up was another Simmons tune, 'Spinning Around', which became The Main Ingredient's first top 10 R&B single in 1971.
With the untimely 1971 death of McPherson from leukemia, the group found itself undergoing its second transformation. Enlisted as the new lead singer was neighborhood cohort Cuba Gooding. The Gooding era yielded three top 40 hits, including the crossover pop gems 'Everybody Plays The Fool' and 'Just Don't Want To Be Lonely'. Opting for a solo career in 1978, Gooding returned to the group in 1980 and left once again in 1999.
Meanwhile, Simmons himself left in 1975 to become a stockbroker and returned again in 1980. During these transitions, the group switched label homes to Mercury and later Zakia and Polydor, releasing the album 'I Just Wanna Love You' on Polydor in 1989. Silvester also took time out to further hone his production skills, working with Prince, Brenda Russell, Sister Sledge, and others. But after the release 'I Just Wanna Love You', the group decided to retire.
Then two years ago a new ingredient was added to the mix: lead singer Carlton Blount. After a college track injury, the sports enthusiast and Richmond, Virginia native began seriously pursuing his second love, singing. Winning first-place during a 1988 'Showtime at the Apollo' talent competition eventually led to stints opening for Al Green, Ray Charles, The Temptations, and Patti LaBelle as well as collaborations with Grover Washington, Jr. and Roberta Flack, In between he recorded his first single, the regional hit 'Right On Loving You,' and continues to lend his rich vocals to commercials for Pepsi, Mobil Oil, ad the Marriott Hotel chain.
A mutual friend put his demo tape in the hands of Silvester, who was planning on producing a solo Blount project when he instead invited the singer to join The Main Ingredient's third incarnation. 'We still capture the original Main Ingredient feel,' says Blount, 'but it's definitely a contemporary sound. The trick is to make people think you're not doing it differently when you are.'
A smooth and classy R&B trick, The Main lngredient has successfully accomplished throughout its several incarnations. With quality, integrity and innovation as the keys, The Main Ingredient still remains 'PURE MAGIC.'