Mel and Tim were an American

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

duo active from 1969 to 1974. They are best known for the

hit song A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

s " Backfield in Motion", " Starting All Over Again" and "Good Guys Only Win in the Movies".

Career

Melvin McArthur Hardin and Hubert Timothy McPherson were cousins from Holly Springs,

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

, who traveled to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, where they were discovered by

Gene Chandler Gene Chandler (born Eugene Drake Dixon; July 6, 1937) is an American singer, songwriter, music producer, and record-label executive. Chandler is nicknamed "the Duke of Earl" or, simply, "the Duke." He is best known for his most successful song ...

. Yolanda Hardin (who was Mel Hardin's mother and McPherson's aunt) along with their cousins Walita, Catha, Donny and Darris Maxwell, helped the duo with songwriting and publicity. Yolanda, formerly a singer, signed them to a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with her Bamboo Records, and they recorded their own song, " Backfield in Motion". The record was immediately successful, reaching number 3 on ''

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 ...

'' magazine's R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, 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 repres ...

and number 10 on its

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

in 1969. It 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 ...

. Their follow-up record was "Good Guys Only Win in the Movies", which was also the title of their first album. Hardin and McPherson subsequently moved to

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in September 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. ...

, for which they recorded a second top 5 R&B hit, the

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

"Starting All Over Again", released in the United States in June 1972. The record climbed to number 19 on the ''Billboard'' pop chart and stayed on the chart for 20 weeks. Five months after its release, it was their second million seller. It was also the title track of their second album, released in 1972, recorded in

Muscle Shoals Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located on the left bank of the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 census, its population was 13,146. The estimated popula ...

and produced by

Phillip Mitchell Leroy Phillip Mitchell (born June 27, 1944), often credited as Prince Phillip Mitchell, is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer. He wrote " Starting All Over Again" for Mel and Tim, and " It Hurts So Good" and "Leftovers", ...

. Mel and Tim performed at the

Wattstax ''Wattstax'' was a benefit concert organized by Stax Records to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the 1965 riots in the African-American community of Watts, Los Angeles. The concert took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Augus ...

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

concert that year, but later recordings could not repeat their earlier successes. Tim McPherson died in 1986. "Backfield in Motion" was covered by

Anthony Swete Anthony Swete was an American Soul music, soul and Popular music, pop singer who for a long time was associated with Ed Chalpin and his PPX (record company), PPX record label. Recording in the 1960s and throughout the 1970s, he had a multitude of ...

.Australian Record Labels
Page 32 101882 BACKFIELD IN MOTION / MAKE BELIEVE, MARK JUHNS/ANTHONY SWETE
/ref> "Starting All Over Again" was covered by

Hall and Oates Daryl Hall & John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, were an American rock duo formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1970. Daryl Hall was generally the lead vocalist, while John Oates primarily supplied electric guitar and backing vocals ...

in 1990 for their album ''

Change of Season ''Change of Season'' is the fourteenth studio album by American pop music duo Daryl Hall & John Oates. The album was released in October 1990, by Arista Records. The lead single " So Close" peaked at No. 11 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and w ...

''.

Discography

Charted singles

References

External links

Backfield in Motion lyricsAllMusic
{{Authority control African-American musical duos Family musical groups Rhythm and blues duos American male musical duos People from Holly Springs, Mississippi Musical groups from Mississippi Musical groups from Chicago Stax Records artists American soul musical groups American rhythm and blues musical groups Musical groups established in 1969 Musical groups disestablished in 1974