"The Bells" is a 1970 single recorded by The Originals for

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

's Soul label, produced by

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...

and co-written by Gaye, his wife

Anna Gordy Gaye Anna Ruby Gaye (née Gordy; January 28, 1922 – January 31, 2014) was an American businesswoman, composer and songwriter. An elder sister of Motown Records, Motown founder Berry Gordy, she became a record executive in the mid-to-late 1950s dist ...

, Iris Gordy, and Elgie Stover.

History

Shortly after the release of the Originals' first hit " Baby, I'm for Real", Motown issued this similarly produced record, which was a Marvin Gaye production. Gaye had proved skeptics at the label wrong by producing a hit song for another act. Both "Baby I'm for Real" and "The Bells" set the precedent for Gaye's 1971 landmark album '' What's Going On''. Primarily functioning as background session singers at Motown during much of the 1960s, The Originals would continue to provide background vocals for Gaye until 1973. "The Bells" peaked at number 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United States, and reached number four on the Hot Black Singles chart. It remains the most successful single of the group's career, the rest of which included several more Gaye-produced R&B hits and the Frank Wilson and Michael B. Sutton's disco dance hit " Down to Love Town".

Chart performance

Personnel

* Lead vocals by Walter Gaines, Henry Dixon and C.P. Spencer * Background vocals by The Originals: Freddie Gorman, Walter Gaines, Henry Dixon and C.P. Spencer * Spoken interlude by Freddie Gorman * Instrumentation by

The Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

, Marvin Gaye (drums) and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Other Covers

Laura Nyro version

On her 1971 album '' Gonna Take a Miracle'', singer-songwriter Laura Nyro performed a version of "The Bells" with backing vocals by the group Labelle.

Color Me Badd version

Two decades later, 1990s R&B band Color Me Badd covered the song on their 1993 album, '' Time and Chance''. Much like After 7's cover of "Baby I'm for Real" two years prior, the song entered the R&B charts again, but didn't prove to be as successful as After 7's venture.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bells, The 1970 singles 1971 singles 1994 singles The Originals (band) songs Motown singles Songs written by Marvin Gaye Songs written by Anna Gordy Gaye Song recordings produced by Marvin Gaye Songs written by Elgie Stover 1970 songs