MFSB, officially standing for "Mother Father Sister Brother", was a pool of more than 30

studio musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a record ...

s based at

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Sigma Sound Studios Sigma Sound Studios was an American independent recording studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded in 1968 by recording engineer Joseph Tarsia. Located at 212 North 12th Street in Philadelphia, Sigma Sound is closely associated with Philade ...

. They worked closely with the production team of

Gamble and Huff Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production duo credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as ...

and producer/arranger

Thom Bell Thomas Randolph Bell (January 26, 1943 – December 22, 2022) was an American record producer, arranger, and songwriter known as one of the creators of Philadelphia soul in the 1970s. Hailed as one of the most prolific R&B songwriters and prod ...

, and backed up

Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes were an American soul and R&B vocal group. One of the most popular Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s, the group's repertoire included soul, R&B, doo-wop, and disco. Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in ...

the O'Jays The O'Jays are an American Rhythm and blues, R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in summer 1958 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert, Walter Lee Williams, William Powell, Bobby Massey, and Bill Isles. The O'Jays made their first chart appea ...

the Stylistics The Stylistics are an American Philadelphia soul group that achieved their greatest chart success in the 1970s. They formed in 1968, with a lineup of singers Russell Thompkins Jr., Herb Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith, and James Dunn. All ...

, the Spinners,

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded more than 50 songs that made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the '' ...

, and

Billy Paul Paul Williams (December 1, 1934 – April 24, 2016), known professionally as Billy Paul, was an American soul music, soul singer, known for his 1972 Record chart, No. 1 single "Me and Mrs. Jones". His 1973 album and single ''War of the Gods (alb ...

. In 1972, MFSB began recording as a named act for the Philadelphia International label. "

TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia) "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" is a 1974 recording by MFSB featuring vocals by The Three Degrees. It was written by Gamble and Huff as the theme for the American musical television program ''Soul Train'', which specialized in African American ...

", also known as the ''

Soul Train ''Soul Train'' is an American musical variety television show. After airing locally on WCIU-TV in Chicago, Illinois, for a year, it aired in syndication from October 2, 1971, to March 25, 2006. In its 35-year history, the show primarily featu ...

'' theme, was their second and most successful single. Released in March 1974, it peaked at number one on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

and R&B

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

. "TSOP" was influential in establishing the

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

sound. The track sold over one million copies, and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

in April 1974.

Overview

MFSB formed in 1971 and disbanded in 1985, three years after

Teddy Pendergrass Theodore DeReese Pendergrass (March 26, 1950 – January 13, 2010) was an American Soul music, soul and R&B singer and songwriter. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pendergrass lived most of his life in the Philadelphia area, and initial ...

' car accident, which left him paralyzed. Assembled by

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

Kenneth Gamble Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production duo credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as P ...

and

Leon Huff Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production duo credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as P ...

, MFSB was the

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

for their

Philadelphia International Records Philadelphia International Records was an American record label based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1971 by songwriting and production duo Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, along with their longtime collaborator Thom Bell. The ...

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

and originated " Philly sound" that dominated the early 1970s for the artists who recorded at the Sigma Sound Studios, including The O'Jays, The Spinners, Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes, the Intruders,

the Three Degrees The Three Degrees are an American female vocal group formed circa 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although 12 women have been members over the years, the group has always been a trio. The current line-up consists of Helen Scott, Valerie Ho ...

Jerry Butler Jerry Butler Jr. (December 8, 1939 – February 20, 2025) was an American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and politician. He was the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, who were inducted into the Rock and ...

, and

. Later in the decade, the collective would become known for the

hi-hat A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock music, rock, popular music, pop, jazz, an ...

-dominated

sounds that became popular in the late 1970s with groups such as

the Trammps The Trammps are an American disco and soul band, who were based in Philadelphia and were one of the first disco bands. The band's first major success was their 1972 cover version of " Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", while the first disc ...

, First Choice, Ripple and

Double Exposure In photography and cinematography, a multiple exposure is the superimposition of two or more exposures to create a single image, and double exposure has a corresponding meaning in respect of two images. The exposure values may or may not be id ...

. It was the 1973 release of their first album, ''

MFSB MFSB, officially standing for "Mother Father Sister Brother", was a pool of more than 30 studio musicians based at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios. They worked closely with the production team of Gamble and Huff and producer/arranger Thom ...

'', that put them on the map. This marked the beginning of a string of instrumental hits that brought major attention to a large orchestra who laid the foundation for the Sound of Philadelphia. The line-up of musicians included Karl Chambers, Earl Young, and Norman Fearrington on drums; Norman Harris, Roland Chambers,

Bobby Eli Bobby Eli (born Eli Tatarsky; March 2, 1946 – August 17, 2023) was an American musician, arranger, composer and record producer from Philadelphia. He was a founding member and lead guitarist of Philadelphia studio band MFSB. Overview Bobby ...

, and T. J. Tindall on guitar; Winnie Wilford and Ronnie Baker on bass; Vincent Montana Jr. on vibes,

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

orchestra bells The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The ...

chimes Chimes are a percussion instrument, sets of bells in varying pitches. These include: * Chime (bell instrument), an array of large bells, typically housed in a tower and played from a keyboard * Cymbalum or cymbala, word from which chimes derives, ...

, percussion, arrangements and conductor, and Larry Washington on

congas The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are stave (wood), staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (drum), quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), an ...

and

bongos Bongos (Spanish language, Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' ...

, Harold Ivory Williams Jr. Jr. on keyboards, plus Leon Huff and

on keyboards and Don Renaldo on strings and horns featuring Rocco Bene on trumpet. MFSB's disco sound first hit the top of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 charts as the backing band for

' "

Love Train "Love Train" is a hit single by the O'Jays, written by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Released in 1972, it reached No. 1 on both the R&B Singles and the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in February and March 1973 respectively, and No. 9 on the UK Singles C ...

" in March 1973. In 2005, drummer Keith Benson (who along with Charles Collins and Quinton Joseph, had joined the group in 1975 upon Earl Young's departure) revived the group with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s help. The lineup included himself on drums, Jimmy Williams and Stacey McGee on bass,, Dennis Harris and Barton French on guitars, Carla Benson and Michael Clark on vocals.

Career

In the spring of 1974, Philadelphia International released an

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

track which had been recorded by the band as the

theme music Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

for the television show ''

'' as a single. The record, titled "

", reached number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and also topped the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

and the

adult contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by stati ...

. The success of "TSOP" launched a recording career for the band under their own name. MFSB albums and singles were released for the rest of the decade. MFSB recorded a cover of the Nite-Liters's 1971 instrumental "K-Jee", which gained some popularity later when it was featured in a key scene in the film ''

Saturday Night Fever ''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American Dance in film, dance Drama (film and television), drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian Americans, Italian-America ...

'' (1977). It is also included in the soundtrack to that movie. "Sexy" (1975) was later used as a prize cue for the "Big Deal of the Day" on the 1980 version of ''

Let's Make a Deal ''Let's Make a Deal'' (also known as ''LMAD'') is a television game show that originated in the United States in 1963 and has since been produced in many countries throughout the world. The program was created and produced by Stefan Hatos and Mo ...

''. Another popular MFSB number, "Love Is the Message", has been a favorite of dance/disco DJs since its release; countless

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

es, both official and unofficial, exist of the song. On September 20, 2004, the record became among the first to be inducted into the newly formed Dance Music Hall of Fame. In October 2004, the song appeared in the

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

'' Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'', playing on funk radio station, Bounce FM. An episode of the television series ''

Pose Human positions refer to the different physical configurations that the human body can take. There are several synonyms that refer to human positioning, often used interchangeably, but having specific nuances of meaning. *''Position'' is a gen ...

'' named after the song aired on July 18, 2018, and the song appeared prominently in the episode. Due to a disagreement with Gamble & Huff over finances, several members of the group moved on to

Salsoul Records Salsoul Records is an American New York City based record label, founded by three brothers, Joseph Cayre, Kenneth Cayre, and Stanley Cayre (the Cayre brothers). Salsoul issued about 300 singles, including many disco/post-disco 12-inch releases ...

, where they became known as the

Salsoul Orchestra The Salsoul Orchestra was the backing Band (music), band of session musicians for many acts on the New York City label Salsoul Records and, under its own name, recorded several hit singles and albums between 1975 and 1982. History The orchestr ...

. Other members began performing as

the Ritchie Family The Ritchie Family are an American vocal group based in Philadelphia that achieved several chart-topper, hits during the disco era. They have reunited and continue to perform. Their latest single "Whatcha Got" was released in 2021. Background ...

orchestra, and

John Davis and the Monster Orchestra John Davis and the Monster Orchestra were an American disco band, noted for their lead member (John "the Monster" Davis), who lent his name to the band as well as producing all of their output. History The ensemble released its first album, ...

. Not to be outdone, Gamble & Huff replaced them with a new

rhythm section A rhythm section is a group of musicians within a music ensemble or band that provides the underlying rhythm, harmony and pulse of the accompaniment, providing a rhythmic and harmonic reference and "beat" for the rest of the band. The rhythm ...

consisting of Charles Collins on drums, Michael Foreman on bass guitar, and Dennis Harris on lead guitar. They also employed

Dexter Wansel Dexter Gilman Wansel (born August 22, 1950) is an American R&B/jazz fusion artist, singer, arranger, musician, composer, conductor, synthesist and A&R director. Early life Dexter Wansel began as an errand boy backstage at the Uptown Theater i ...

and others on MFSB's latter recordings for the label. For decades, MFSB's "My Mood" has been the closing theme music for the Friday 6 p.m. news on

WRC-TV WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A television service, Class A Telemundo outlet W ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's owned-and-operated television station in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Longtime WRC-TV anchor

Jim Vance James Howard Vance III (January 10, 1942 – July 22, 2017) was an American television news presenter in Washington, D.C. Early life Born on January 10, 1942,Heil, Emily, "5 minutes with Jim Vance", ''The Washington Post'', January 11, 201 ...

said the theme was chosen to help soothe viewers after a week of particularly difficult news but also gave the station a chance to acknowledge the staff responsible for gathering it. MFSB's "TLC" (Tender Lovin' Care) was used for decades as the closing credits theme for the Washington, DC, version of the ''

It's Academic ''It's Academic'' is the name for a number of televised academic student quiz shows for high school students through the United States and internationally. ''It's Academic'' programs have notably aired on NBC-owned WRC-TV (and, as of October ...

'' quiz show recorded at WRC-TV. In 2008, some of the members appeared together on new recordings made at Bobby Eli’s Studio E/The Grooveyard in the Philly suburbs. Musicians on the session were Earl Young on drums, Bobby Eli and Dennis Harris on guitars, Jimmie Williams on bass guitar, Rikki Hicks on percussion and T G Conway on keys. Two songs have been released from that session: "Soul Recession" by Double Exposure and "There I go falling in love again" by Chiquita Green.

Name origin

According to the book ''A House on Fire: The Rise and Fall of Philadelphia Soul'', by John A. Jackson, the "clean" version of the MFSB name means "Mother, Father, Sister, Brother", because according to Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, despite the diversity at Philadelphia International Records, all were connected musically. This was in line with their spiritual views at the time. The "other" version was "motherfuckin' son-of-a-bitch", an expression that was used among the musicians to compliment a person's musical prowess.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

*''End of Phase I: A Collection of Greatest Hits'' (1977,

Philadelphia International Philadelphia International Records was an American record label based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1971 by songwriting and production duo Gamble and Huff, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, along with their longtime collaborator ...

) *''Greatest Hits'' (1990, TSOP) *''Love Is the Message: The Best of MFSB'' (1995,

Legacy Legacy or Legacies may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * " Batman: Legacy", a 1996 Batman storyline * '' DC Universe: Legacies'', a comic book series from DC Comics * ''Legacy'', a 1999 quarterly series from Antarctic Press * ''Legacy ...

/ Epic Associated) *''All in the Family'' (1997,

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

) *''Deep Grooves'' (1999, Epic Associated) *''The Essentials: MFSB'' (2018,

)

Singles

References

External links

*
MFSB on Philly Soul ClassicsCarl Dixons Bandtraxs home page and blog
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mfsb American soul musical groups Philadelphia International Records artists Grammy Award winners Musical groups from Philadelphia Musical groups established in 1971 Musical groups disestablished in 1985 1971 establishments in Pennsylvania 1985 disestablishments in Pennsylvania