The Intruders
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The Intruders were a Philadelphia Soul musical act, most popular during the 1960s and the 1970s. Formed around 1960, the group originally consisted of Sam "Little Sonny" Brown, Eugene "Bird" Daughtry, Phillip "Phil" Terry and Robert "Big Sonny" Edwards. In 1969, Sam Brown was replaced as lead singer by Bobby Starr only to rejoin the group in 1973.
In 1965, when legendary songwriters and producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff first contemplated leaving the Cameo/Parkway hit factory to risk launching their own recording label, the vocalists on which they pinned all their hopes and venture capital were The Intruders. Like many other subsequent acts the duo produced, which includes the widely popular Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and The O'Jays, The Intruders had already developed a vocal sound that was both uniquely theirs and uniquely Philadelphian.
Sam "Little Sonny" Brown, Eugene "Bird" Daughtry, Phillip "Phil" Terry and Robert "Big Sonny" Edwards had been recording and performing one-off singles together since 1961, blending Philly's street corner doo-wop tradition with just the right amount of black gospel fervor. The result was neither as slick and pop-inflected as Motown, nor as funky and blues-inflected as Stax, but had an appeal all its own. The sound which The Intruders refined for the Excel, Gamble and Philadelphia International imprints reflected a different attitude than either Stax or Motown.
Little Sonny's distinguishing characteristic as lead singer was a slightly hoarse and imprecise vocal timbre. The odder textures and colors in his range projected an appealing vulnerability which gave the group their aural signature. As for the rest of the group, Daughtry, Terry and Edwards usually tried to sound gruff and declamatory in their lower registers, but pretty and ethereal in the falsetto range. A decade or so before the emergence of hip hop music, they'd often stop singing during a breakdown and "rap" directly to or about the subject of a song. It always seemed important to The Intruders that they came across as "the kids from the hood", neither too effete nor too mature for the average high school kid to identify with. Identifying with an entire generation caught between genuine social progress and the stumbling block of institutionalized ethnic prejudice, The Intruders sang songs of tentative optimism and restless energy whose propulsive tempos featured horn, string, and guitar rifts that flickered in and out of the backing track as if dodging bullets.
Lyrically, The Intruders became famous for a kind of erudite nostalgia, idealizing black community values already in radical flux during the 1960s and 1970s. They scored early Top 20 R&B hits with "(We'll Be) United" (R&B #14, Pop #78) in 1966, followed by the soulful ballad "Together", (R&B #9, Pop #48) as well as their first album, The Intruders are Together in 1967. Other early recordings like "Gonna Be Stronger" and "A Love That's Real" amply illustrates an emerging formula in the group's consistent approach towards falsetto harmonies, melodic basslines and tasty instrumental fills. 1968, though, was a breakthrough year for the group. "Cowboys To Girls", a template for what would become Philly Soul's trademark sound, topped the R&B charts and climbed to number six on the Pop side, giving the group their biggest hit ever. The follow-up, a witty novelty hit, "Love Is Like A Baseball Game" (R&B #4, Pop #26) was their only other top 40 pop hit, and the accompanying LP, Cowboys To Girls, wound up being their most popular.
Gamble and Huff's success with The Intruders helped convince Columbia Records to grant them the money to launch Philadelphia International Records, which became the most successful soul label in the 1970s. Gamble and Huff acknowledged that their work with The Intruders was the very foundation of what they called "The Sound Of Philadelphia".
The Intruders, meanwhile, were undergoing some internal turmoil. When the group resurfaced on the 1970 Gamble LP, When We Get Married, lead singer Sam "Little Sonny" Brown was replaced by nightclub singer, Bobby Starr (born Robert Ferguson). The title song, "When We Get Married" (R&B #8, Pop #45), a dreamlovers cover, became a hit on the charts, as was the follow-up "(Win, Place Or Show) She's A Winner". Starr's tenure with the group was short-lived; Little Sonny returned to the group in 1973 for the album Save The Children, which spawned The Intruders' last two big hits, "I'll Always Love My Mama" (R&B #6, Pop #36) and "I Wanna Know Your Name" (R&B #9, Pop #60). But "Cowboys To Girls" will remain as the only chart topping single of their career.
In 1973, when The Intruders joined fellow Philadelphia International recording acts Billy Paul and The O'Jays on a UK tour to promote Philadelphia International in Europe, their sharper, slicker-sounding label mates had already garnered more than their equal share of attention from soul fans at home and abroad. Although The Intruders' next album, Energy of Love, now on Philadelphia International's subsidiary TSOP label, generated a few more charting singles (which included the charming, gentlemanly "A Nice Girl Like You"), it was less successful than the quartet's earlier releases. Their momentum--the true energy--behind the group was gone. By the time the group broke up in 1975, the public barely noticed because The O'Jays seemed so perfectly positioned to pick up where the Intruders left off.
Eugene "Bird" Daughtry revived The Intruders with a new line-up in 1984 (without any other original member). They recorded an album titled Who Do You Love? for the UK based Streetwave label, but charted no hits. Shortly after, the group disbanded once again. Euguene Daughtry died in 1994 after a bout with cancer, while Sam "Little Sonny" Brown committed suicide following years of drug and alcohol problems. Bobby Starr, meanwhile, continued to lead another version of The Intruders that features none of the surviving original members. However, there is a much better version of the group with younger members known as The Philly Intruders who match the original members' professionalism and singing ability much more than Bobby Starr's version.
Nevertheless, The Intruders' place in history is secure as a pivotal and innovative group for a most pivotal time in America's musical and social evolution.
[edit] Discography (singles)
- 1965 - Gonna Be Stronger
- 1966 - (We'll Be) United
- 1967 - Together
- 1967 - A Love That's Real
- 1968 - Cowboys To Girls
- 1968 - Love Is Like A Baseball Game
- 1969 - Sad Girl
- 1969 - Me Tarzan, You Jane
- 1970 - When We Get Married
- 1973 - Save The Children
- 1973 - I'll Always Love My Mama
- 1973 - I Wanna Know Your Name
- 1974 - Hang On In There
- 1974 - Energy of Love
- 1974 - A Nice Girl Like You
