The Softones were an American male singing group from the city of

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, best known for their 'sweet'

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

recordings of the 1970s. The group was notable for lead singer J. Marvin Brown's high falsetto, similar to that of

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 ...

' lead singer

Russell Thompkins Jr. Russell Allen Thompkins Jr. (born March 21, 1951) is an American soul singer, best known as the original lead singer of the vocal group The Stylistics and noted for his high tenor, countertenor, and falsetto vocals. With Russell as lead singer, ...

and

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (abbreviated as EW&F or EWF) is an American band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Their music spans multiple genres, including jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling ba ...

Philip Bailey Philip James Bailey (born May 8, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and percussionist, best known as an early member and one of the two lead singers (along with group founder Maurice White) of the band Earth, Wind & Fire. Noted for his fo ...

, and derived from

Eddie Kendricks Edward James Kendrick (December 17, 1939 – October 5, 1992), better known as Eddie Kendricks, was an American tenor singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group the Temp ...

' falsetto style with The Temptations. Also in the group were Steven Jackson, Elton Lynch and Byron Summerville.

History

The group was founded in the late 1960s by Steve Jackson, who was joined by Elton Lynch and Marvin Brown. They recorded for the New York-based

Avco Records Avco Records was a record label started by music producers/composers Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore together with film and TV producer Joseph E. Levine in 1968 as Avco Embassy Records. History Hugo and Luigi had previously worked together ...

label (later renamed H&L Records) from the early 1970s, releasing three albums and about a dozen singles. The most popular tracks were "My Dream", "Can't Help Falling In Love", "I'm Gonna Prove It", and "

That Old Black Magic "That Old Black Magic" is a 1942 popular song written by Harold Arlen (music), with the lyrics by Johnny Mercer. They wrote it for the 1942 film '' Star Spangled Rhythm'', when it was first sung by Johnny Johnston and danced by Vera Zorina. Th ...

" (#29 Billboard R&B, #2 Disco; 1976). Their first single, "Any Street", was picked up from tiny Baltimore label Thereway, along with a few other early recordings including "My Dream". They were initially known as "The Soft Tones" until the release of their first album in late 1973. Like later recordings for Avco by

, The Softones were produced by label owners,

Hugo Peretti Hugo E. Peretti (December 6, 1916 – May 1, 1986) was an American songwriter, trumpeter, and record producer. Born in New York City to an Italian American family, Peretti began his music career as a teenager, playing the trumpet in the Bor ...

Luigi Creatore Luigi Federico Creatore (December 21, 1921 – December 13, 2015) was an American songwriter and record producer. Creatore was born in New York City in 1921, the son of noted Italian-born bandleader and composer Giuseppe Creatore. After serving ...

, and arranger/producer

Van McCoy Van Allen Clinton McCoy (January 6, 1940 – July 6, 1979) was an American record producer, arranger, songwriter and singer. He is known for his 1975 internationally successful hit " The Hustle". He has approximately 700 song copyrights to his c ...

, whose orchestra, comprising some of the top New York session players of the time, served as the house band for many of their Avco records. Since then, the group released several further recordings, including a joint album in 1979 on Park-Way International with another Baltimore group, First Class, called ''Together'', which included the popular "Carla My Love". The group found success in the

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, often abbreviated as simply the East, is a macroregion of the United States located to the east of the Mississippi River. It includes 17–26 states and Washington, D.C., the national capital. As of 2011, the Eastern ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Although not as successful as some of their peers, such as The Stylistics and The Moments, most of their recorded output has gained in reputation among collectors over the years. Byron Summerville died in 2012 at the age of 60. J. Marvin Brown died in July 2020 at the age of 66.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Softones, The American soul musical groups Avco Records artists H & L Records artists