Thom Bell

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For other people with similar names, see Tom Bell and Thomas Bell.

Thom Bell was the record producer behind much of the Philadelphia soul subgenre of soul music in the 1970s. He was born in Kingston, Jamaica on January 26, 1943 but moved to Philadelphia as a child.

[edit] Biography

Bell was classically trained but as a teenager had sung with Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Daryl Hall (of Hall and Oates fame). Bell’s first big break in soul music came with Cameo Records in Philadelphia in 1967, where he was introduced to a local group called the Delfonics. Thom Bell brought a smooth, lush style to soul, and his production talents yielded several big hits for the group including "La, La Means I Love You" and "Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time?"

By 1972, Bell had left the Delfonics to produce another local group, the Stylistics, this time on Avco Records. By then he had teamed up with Philadelphia-born songwriter Linda Creed, whose bittersweet lyrics merged perfectly with Bell's arrangements and the soaring falsetto of Russell Thompkins Jr, lead singer with the Stylistics. This partnership generated three albums full of hugely memorable tracks.

Two years later, Bell moved again, this time to Atlantic Records, to produce for The Spinners, who had long been with Motown but were not getting the attention they needed on a label jam-packed with superstars. Bell revitalised the group, producing five albums including chart successes such as "Ghetto Child" and "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love?" An album followed with Dionne Warwick: Track of the Cat, in 1976, but his work was beginning to lose its originality. Subsequently, Bell worked with artists such as Johnny Mathis, Billy Paul and Elton John, and even teamed up, briefly, with the Stylistics in 1982. It is for his staggering success with the Philadelphia sound in the 1970s, particularly with the Stylistics, who never recovered from losing Bell, that he is remembered best.