Do you know Motown, or Philly music?

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Throughout the 60’s and 70’s Sly and The Family Stone was all over AM radio with Grammy winning hits. Here’s their Hot fun in the summertime.

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In 1964 Bill Haley and Bobby Hatfield teamed for a slew of hits both as a duo and solo careers. They defined soul even in the face of Motown’s success. The Righteous Bros were as good as gets. Here’s their You’ve lost that lovin feeling, which had a revival when the movie Top Gun was released in 1985.

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In 1969 Jr Walker and the All Stars had a chart topping Grammy winning hit in What does it take to win your love.

[gcb]

Just to pay hommage to these warriors irrespective of the labels they worked to:

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Bobby Womack with his 1972 hit That’s the way I feel about ya.

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She’s in the top 40 of all time hits in the Billboard top 100. She and the great songwriter Burt Bacharach teamed for many of those. But she had a career of hits that spanned from 1955-1999.

Here’s Dionne Warrick’s I’ll never love this way again.

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Here’s the 1964 powerhouse of a hit that was Ike and Tina Turner with Proud Mary.

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Women wept and threw their panties when he was on stage. In 1965 this mega hit stormed through the air waves, for it was everywhere. A Billboard Hall of Famer with 16 top 20 hits, 6 of which were top 10. Here’s Jackie Wilson with his Higher and Higher.

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Not many know Brownstone. But they were an all female group that harmonized with the best of them. They had a solid hit in the 1994 that topped the charts with, If you love me. The song was included in the great 1999 film with Danny Devito and Holly Hunter, Living Out Loud.

[Gitfiddler]

In 1964 Bill Haley and Bobby Hatfield teamed for a slew of hits both as a duo and solo careers. They defined soul even in the face of Motown’s success. The Righteous Bros were as good as gets. Here’s their You’ve lost that lovin feeling, which had a revival when the movie Top Gun was released in 1985.

I'm currently deep into bassist Carol Kaye's autobiography, and she discusses this Righteous Brothers recording quite a bit.

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I'm currently deep into bassist Carol Kaye's autobiography, and she discusses this Righteous Brothers recording quite a bit.

it was Phil Specters finest work. They knew in the studio they had a hit! And who could forget Unchained Melody, or You’re my Soul and Inspiration!

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Sam Cooke. A man who began singing in the 50’s. His life was cut short in his early 30’s. One wonders what might have come had he hit his stride along with Motown. Here’s his 1957 hit You send me.

Sam Cooke had a huge rep as a gospel singer with "The Soul Stirrers", before he went into R&B:

[sgcim]

In 1970 Freda Payne’s Band of Gold was gold.

Freda Payne grew up Detroit, and was known as a jazz singer before she switched to R&B. Here she is singing an Ornette Coleman tune!

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A huge 1969 hit from The Friends Of Distinction - Going in Circles

On some of the FOD albums, a great bop pianist, Bob Harris (Listed as Robert M. Harris) arranged a lot of the tunes. Harris played with Gabor Szabo and The Mothers of Invention, and was keyboard player for his idol, Ray Charles, for a few years on his road tours. Like RC, he played a Wurlitzer, and was a long time junkie.
He married the singer/songwriter, Judee Sill, and did the arrangements on her first album.

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I don’t know if there’s ever been a greater married songwriting team than Ashford and Simpson. With writing hits like Ain’t no mountain high enough they had a very successful tour with Motown. And when Motown folded the couple launched a successful career as recording artists. Here’s their, Somebody told a lie.

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Patti Austin was a gifted artist in both pop and jazz categories. Now that’s nearly unheard of. Here’s her performance of Come to me with James Ingram.

[Marcel_A]

is it still required that is has a link with motown? Or are we just selecting music pretty much at random.

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is it still required that is has a link with motown? Or are we just selecting music pretty much at random.

Select away my friend!

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Before Lionel Ritchie launched a long running solo career he was the lead singer for a group known as The Commodores. That Grammy winning group had a long run of hits, many of them ballads. No group could do ballads like them. One such hit was a tune about love lost, yet a love and respect for their former partner’s still existed. Here’s Still.

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This song seemed to define the Philadelphia sound just as Philadelphia International Records was beginning. Here’s The Delfonics with, Didn’t I blow your mind.

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There was no tighter band, who basically could play jazz as well as RnB. From 1969 when a former drummer for Ramsey Lewis created a band to end all bands. Here’s EWF with their dance hit, September.

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A serious artist with a multitude of hits. Here’s Hall of famer Aretha Franklin with what is essentially a jazz based hit, Ain’t no Way.

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Al Green with his uniquely soulful rendition of, How can you mend a broken heart.

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Here Donny Hathaway with his version of What’s going on.

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And Donny again with a live version of Carole King’s hit, You’ve got a friend.