The Detroit Spinners (as they were known in the UK) evergreen "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" just missed out on a UK Top 10 pop chart position peaking at #11 on
2 Jun 1973 and spent a total of ten weeks in the Top 40 having first
entered on 21 Apr 1973.
The song is the vehicle for a lead single from a forthcoming new
album "Riding Solo" by Russell Thompkins Jr. the former lead singer of
The Stylistics. Thompkins left the group in 2000 and released his
first solo album in 2002. In 2004 he formed Russell Thompkins Jr.
& The New Stylistics. The single will be available on 9 Feb and is a radio edit removing
the spoken intro.
The song was written by brothers Melvin and Mervin Steals (aka Lyric
& Maestro) who have written literally hundreds of songs but this
one is their biggest hit, and produced and arranged by the late Thom
Bell.
It has been covered many times with the most credible versions from
the UK's David Grant (Lynx) & Jaki Graham in 1985 (which reached
#5 on UK pop chart) and Regina Belle in 1995. Even Donny Osmond had a
crack at it in 2002, Vesta Williams in 2007 and Boyz II Men in 2009
are amongst many of the cover versions.
The Stylistics were formed in 1968 out of two
Philadelphia groups, The Monarchs and The Percussions, Thompkins
coming from The Monarchs. They released their first single in 1970 on
local label Sebring, the label's only release. They were signed by
Avco who also released it on the label and it climbed into the lower
echelons of the Hot 100 but made top 10 R&B. Avco teamed them with
an up and coming Thom Bell who was having some success with The
Delfonics and the rest is history. They went on to have 13 R&B top
10 hits with five of those also crossing over to top 10 on the Hot
100: "You Are Everything" (#9 1971), "Betcha by Golly, Wow" (#3 1972),
"I'm Stone in Love with You" (#10 1972), "Break Up to Make Up" (#5
1973), "You Make Me Feel Brand New" (#2 1973). Bell ceased working
with the group in 1974 and by 1976 the hits began to dry up with only
two later singles breaking into the R&B Top 40 "First Impressions"
(1978) (not the same songs as recorded in the 70s by The
Impressions) and "Hurry Up This Way Again" (1980) recently covered by
Raquel Rodriguez.
A great piece of Philadelphia music history in the YouTube interview
below. It's almost two hours long so buckle in!
| Explicit: | N |
| Genre/Style: | Retro Soul / Cover Version |
| Format: | Single |
| Media: | Digital |
| Label: | Self Released |
| Cat No: | None |
| Date: | 09/02/2024 |
| Key/BPM: | N/A |
| Price: | £1 |
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Russell still has that instantly recognizable voice and the track is superb. However I am a little nostalgic for the Stylistics era!!!
ReplyDeleteYves