1950 – Born on this day, James Dunn, vocals, The Stylistics, (1975 US No.1 single ‘You Make Me Feel
on February 4th, 1950 at 8:59 am
1950 – Born on this day, James Dunn, vocals, The Stylistics, (1975 US No.1 single ‘You Make Me Feel Brand New’, 1975 UK No.1 single ‘Can’t Give You Anything But My Love’ plus 15 other UK Top 40 singles).
The Stylistics were one of the best-known Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. They formed in 1968, and comprised lead Russell Thompkins, Jr., Herbie Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith, and James Dunn. All of their US hits were ballads, graced by the soaring falsetto of Russell Thompkins, Jr. and the lush yet graceful productions of Thom Bell, which helped make the Stylistics one of the most successful soul groups of the first half of the 1970s.” During the early 1970s, the band had twelve straight U.S. R&B top ten hits, including “Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)”, “You Are Everything”, “Betcha by Golly, Wow”, “I’m Stone in Love with You”, “Break Up to Make Up”, and “You Make Me Feel Brand New”
Career
Early years
The Stylistics were created from the remaining members of two defunct Philadelphia groups, The Percussions and The Monarchs.
Success: The Bell/Creed years
After signing to Avco, the record label approached producer Thom Bell, who had already produced a catalogue of hits for The Delfonics, to work with the group.
The first song the Stylistics recorded together with Bell and his collaborator, lyricist Linda Creed, was the lush “Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)” . Bell imported the sweet soul techniques he had perfected with The Delfonics, and his arrangements worked perfectly with Thompkins’ falsetto. The bittersweet lyrics from Creed were a key factor in creating memorable music.
Their hits—distilled from three albums—from this period included “Betcha by Golly, Wow” (U.S. #3), “I’m Stone in Love with You”, “Break Up To Make Up” (U.S. #5), “You Make Me Feel Brand New” featuring a rare double lead with Airron Love, the aforementioned “Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)”, “You Are Everything”, and the minor hit “Rockin’ Roll Baby” (U.S. #14). “You Make Me Feel Brand New” was the group’s biggest U.S. hit, holding at #2 for two weeks in the spring of 1974, and was one of five U.S. gold singles the Stylistics collected. The Stylistics’ smooth sound also found an easier path onto adult contemporary airwaves than other soul artists, and the group made Billboard magazine’s Easy Listening singles chart twelve times from 1971 to 1976, with three entries (“Betcha by Golly, Wow”, “You Make Me Feel Brand New”, and “You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)”) reaching the Top 10. Every single that Bell produced for the Stylistics was a Top Ten R&B hit, and several—”You Are Everything”, “Betcha by Golly Wow!”, “I’m Stone in Love with You”, “Break Up to Make Up”, and “You Make Me Feel Brand New”—were also Top Ten pop chart hits. This commercial success was not confined only to the U.S., with the band also having big hits with this material throughout Europe.
Changing style
Thom Bell stopped working with the Stylistics in 1974,
Notwithstanding this, the Stylistics began to struggle with what many saw as increasingly weak material after 1976. Although the singles and albums came out as before, chart success vanished. This decline also coincided with the rise of New Wave in Europe around this time. It was also stated by Russell Thompkins Jr. (in the re-issue sleevenotes for the 1976 album Fabulous) that the band began to feel that the music they were recording was becoming increasingly dated, and not in keeping with the emerging disco sound of the late 1970s.
In 1979, they had a small part in the movie Hair, directed by Milos Forman, where they play conservative army officers. They double Nell Carter in singing a tongue-in-cheek song called “White Boys”.
Later years
In 1980, James Dunn departed due to health problems, and James Smith left shortly thereafter. The group continued, recruiting new member Raymond Johnson, and releasing the album Some Things Never Change, in 1985. Johnson departed shortly afterward, leaving the group a trio. Love, Murrell, and Thompkins continued to tour until 2000, when original lead Russell Thompkins, Jr. left. Love and Murrell brought in two new members, Harold “Eban” Brown, formerly of the Delfonics, as lead and tenor Van Fields. The present group is featured live on the DVD The Stylistics Live at the Convention Center (2006), as well as along with other artists of the 1970s on the DVD, The Big Show.
In 2004, Russell Thompkins, Jr. started a new group, the New Stylistics, with the returning Raymond Johnson, James Ranton, and Jonathan Buckson. They are featured on the DVD Old School Soul Party Live!, which was part of the PBS My Music series.
In 2006, their hit single “Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love)” was used as the base for a Japanese advertisement campaign by Gatsby, to launch their new male hair styling product, ‘Moving Rubber’. The campaign was successful and featured one of Japan’s most popular celebrities Takuya Kimura of the pop group SMAP. They were also featured guests on SMAP’s television show, SMAP×SMAP, one of the highest rated shows in Japan to promote the ‘Moving Rubber’ product.
In October 2009, they featured on the UK BBC One television program, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.
Their song “People Make the World Go Round” was used by Spike Lee in the soundtrack for his movie Crooklyn, made in 1994.
Discography
Studio albums
Year Album Chart positions US
certifications
Record label
US
Pop US
R&B UK
Pop
1971 The Stylistics 23 3 — Gold Avco
1972 Round 2 32 3 — Gold
1973 Rockin’ Roll Baby 66 5 42 —
1974 Let’s Put It All Together 14 4 26 Gold
Heavy 43 8 — —
1975 From the Mountain — — 36 —
Thank You Baby 72 9 5 —
You Are Beautiful 99 12 26 —
1976 Fabulous 117 32 21 — H&L
Once Upon a Juke Box 209 45 — —
1977 Sun & Soul — — — —
Wonder Woman — — — —
1978 In Fashion — 43 — — Mercury
1979 Love Spell — — — —
1980 Hurry Up This Way Again 127 11 — — TSOP
1981 Closer Than Close — 44 — —
1982 1982 — — — — Philadelphia Int’l
1984 Some Things Never Change — 63 — — Streetwise
1986 A Special Style — — — —
1991 Love Talk — 65 — — Amherst
1996 Love Is Back in Style — — — — Bellmark
“—” denotes the release failed to chart or was not certified
Other albums
Year Album Chart positions Record label
US
Pop US
R&B UK
Pop
1992 Christmas — — — Amherst
“—” denotes the release failed to chart
Compilation albums
Year Album Chart positions Record label
US
Pop US
R&B UK
Pop
1975 The Best of the Stylistics 41 13 1 Avco
1976 The Best of the Stylistics, Vol. 2 — — 1 H&L
1990 Greatest Love Hits — — — Amherst
1992 The Greatest Hits of the Stylistics — — 34 Mercury
2005 The Very Best of the Stylistics…and More! — — — Amherst
2007 The Very Best of the Stylistics — — 30 UMTV
“—” denotes the release failed to chart
Singles
Year Single Chart Positions
US
Pop US
R&B UK
Pop
1971 ”You’re a Big Girl Now” 73 7 —
“Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)” 39 6 —
“You Are Everything” 9 10 —
1972 ”Betcha by Golly, Wow” 3 2 13
“People Make the World Go Round” 25 6 —
“I’m Stone in Love with You” 10 4 9
1973 ”Break Up to Make Up” 5 5 34
“You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)” 23 8 —
“Peek-a-Boo” — — 35
“Rockin’ Roll Baby” 14 3 6
1974 ”You Make Me Feel Brand New” 2 5 2
“Let’s Put It All Together” 18 8 9
“Heavy Fallin’ Out” 41 4 —
1975 ”Star on a TV Show” 47 13 12
“Thank You Baby” 70 7 —
“Sing Baby Sing” — — 3
“Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love)” 51 18 1
“Na-Na Is the Saddest Word” — — 5
“Funky Weekend” 76 23 10
1976 ”You Are Beutiful” 79 17 —
“Can’t Help Falling in Love” — 52 4
“Because I Love You, Girl” — 43 —
“Sixteen Bars” — — 7
“You’ll Never Get to Heaven” (EP) — — 24
“Only You (And You Alone)” — — —
“Satin Doll” — — —
1977 ”Shame and Scandal in the Family” — — —
“$7000 and You” — — 24
“I’m Coming Home” — — —
“Fool of the Year” — — —
1978 ”First Impressions” — 22 —
“You’re the Best Thing in My Life” — — —
1979 ”Love at First Sight” — — —
1980 ”Hurry Up This Way Again” — 18 —
1981 ”And I’ll See You No More” — 70 —
“What’s Your Name?” — 79 —
“Mine All Mine” — — —
“I’ve Got This Feeling” — — —
1982 ”Call on You” — — —
“We Should Be Lovers” — — —
1984 ”Give a Little Love” — 47 —
1985 ”Some Things Never Change” — 86 —
“Love Is Not the Answer” — — 91
1986 ”Special” — 77 —
“Let’s Go Rockin’ (Tonight)” — 63 —
1990 ”Me – U = Blue” (Glenn Medeiros featuring the Stylistics) 78 — —
1991 ”Love Talk” — 68 —
1992 ”Always on My Mind” — 89 —
“—” denotes the release failed to chart
Awards and recognition
* The Stylistics were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.
