The Persuaders (band)

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Not to be confused with The Persuaders (film) or The Persuaders!.

The Persuaders are a New York based soul vocal group , with some fame in the 1970s, known for their hit single, "Thin Line Between Love and Hate". The original members formed in New York in 1969 ,and were signed by Atlantic Records in 1971, with the original line- up of : Douglas " Smokey " Scott , Willie Holland , James Holland , and Charles Stoghill.

The Persuaders' sound involved close harmony and a heavily-orchestrated soul and rhythm and blues approach, the trademark of the Poindexter brothers, Richard and Bobby, who produced most of the early 1970s hits.

The Persuaders perform to this day, although with a changed line-up that features Richard Poindexter who co-wrote most of their earlier hits including "Thin Line Between Love And Hate", "Peace In The Valley of Love" and "Love's Gonna Pack Up".

The group brought out four albums in the 1970s and then in 2006, The Persuaders released a new CD called Made To Be Loved on It's Soul Time! Records.

[edit] Hit singles

"Thin Line Between Love & Hate" (1971) U.S. Pop #15, U.S. R&B #1
"Love is Gonna Pack Up" U.S. R&B #8
"Some Guys Have All The Luck" (1973) U.S. Pop #39, U.S. R&B #7
"Peace In The Valley Of Love"

among others.

The Persuaders also recorded the original versions of songs later covered by other artists , most notably: "You're The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me" (from their Atlantic / ATCO album of the same name), later covered and made a major hit by Gladys Knight & The Pips, "Some Guys Have All The Luck" , covered by Rod Stewart, and "Thin Line Between Love & Hate", covered by The Pretenders. The song's title and theme were also used for a 1996 Martin Lawrence movie of the same name.

The Persuaders did an album on the Calla label(distributed by CBS) with Philly producers Baker-Harris-Young around 1977 entitled It's All About Love with the following catalog number and track listing:

Calla ZX-34802 - It's All About Love - Persuaders [1977] . It's Love/Count The Ways/I Need Love/The Quickest Way Out (Vocal)/Who Will It Be Tonight//Sure Shot (Gamblin' On A Sure Shot)/Hey Sister I'm Your Brother (She's My Sister)/Tryin' To Love Two Women/The Quickest Way Out (Instrumental)