Kenny Gamble 79th Birthday Tribute by Gary Van Den Bussche Starpoint Radio 11th Aug 2022

In celebration of Kenny Gamble's 79th birthday today, Gary Van Den Bussche dedicated his two hour lunchtime show on Starpoint Radio (11:00-13:00) to predominantly Gamble & Huff written songs, released mainly on their Philadelphia International Records.

For my money the TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia) has to be the most enduring of soul music with a lot of 60s material beginning to sound dated. Disco music was borne out of the Philly sound and so much of house music and today's Nu Disco and soulful house music owes much to the 70s sound created by Gamble & Huff's PIR label and the orchestration of in-house band MFSB (Mother Father Sister Brother which in actual fact originally stood for something else ... I'll let you use your imagination but first word is correct and the third is Son!).

According to Wiki they have written and produced 175 gold and platinum records which earned them an entry to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in March 2008 ... what took so long?

Gamble was discovered by songwriter Jerry Ross when he was 17 and made his recording debut in May 1962 as part of duo Kenny & Tommy (Thom Bell) with a single on small, short-lived, Philly label Heritage run by Ross which they wrote with Murray Wecht. The label ran from 1961-62 but was resurrected in 1968 with a distribution deal with MGM and many records became known on the Northern Soul scene such as Cherry People, The Show Stoppers, Bill Deal & The Rhondells and Billy Harner to name a few.

Kenny & Tommy also did background vocals on many of The Sapphires recordings i.e. "Slow Fizz" and "It's Gonna Be A Big Thing".

The first Kenny Gamble solo single appeared in 1963 on Mate "No Mail On Monday" / "You Don't Know What You Got" the latter side written with Ross which was released on Columbia a year later with "Our Love". In between, the A side, along with a different B side "Standing In The Shadows", was released on Epic.

In 1965 he recorded for Jimmy Bishop's Arctic setup, first as Kenny Gamble & The Floaters and then Kenny Gamble & The Romeos. followed in 1966 by two solo singles on the label before his final single on Atco in 1967 as Kenny Gamble & The Romeos.

His first hit was with the song "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" co-written with Jerry Ross and Leon Huff (although some credits replace Huff with Jerry Williams Jr. and others just credit Gamble & Ross). The song is probably best known by Diana Ross & The Supremes and The Temptations 1968 version but was first a #13 R&B (#88 Hot 100) hit for Dee Dee Warwick in 1966 and covered by many others including Jerry Butler ("Soul Artistry" 1967), Madeline Bell (Mod/Phillips 45 1967) (allegedly after it was offered to Dusty Springfield who turned it down and gave it to her backing singer Madeline) and Aesops Fables (Cadet Concept 45 1968) beforehand and also by Ross produced group Jay & The Techniques on their "Lost & Found" album in 1968.

His first big hit was The Soul Survivors "Expressway to Your Heart" released in July 1967 which reached #3 R&B / #4 Hot 100 followed by a song on his own label, Gamble, which was posted only last week as a version excursion, The Intruders "Cowboys To Girls".

He formed Gamble Records with Leon Huff in 1966 (whose main act was The Intruders) followed by Neptune Records in 1969 which included The O'Jays, The Three Degrees, Bunny Sigler, Linda Jones, The Vibrations, Billy Paul and The Corner Boys (who also had other incarnations as The Formations, Silent Majority and Hot Ice) on the roster. When Philadelphia International Records was founded in 1971 Neptune was folded and Gamble became a PIR imprint and then later became TSOP.

The rest, as they say, is history. You don't need me to list all the Philly hits but you can listen to the selections made by Gary in his show today.

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