Russell Thompkins Jr.

Russell Allen Thompkins Jr. (born March 21, 1951) is an American soul singer. Noted for his high tenor, countertenor, and falsetto vocals, Thompkins is the former lead singer of the Philadelphia soul vocal group The Stylistics.

Russell Thompkins Jr.
Birth nameRussell Allen Thompkins Jr.
Born (1951-03-21) March 21, 1951
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
GenresR&B, soul, disco
Occupation(s)Singer
Years active1968–present
LabelsAvco, H&L, Forevermore Music
Websitewww.russellthompkinsjr.com

Career

Born in Philadelphia, Thompkins was introduced to music by his father and started singing formally in school.[1] During high school, Thompkins was a member of a local vocal group called the Monarchs who defeated another group called the Percussions in a talent show at Benjamin Franklin High School.[1] Both groups disbanded shortly thereafter. Their remaining members, Thompkins, James Smith, and Airrion Love from The Monarchs, and James Dunn and Herbie Murrell from the Percussions, joined together to form a new group called The Stylistics in 1968.[2]

In 1970, the Stylistics recorded "You're a Big Girl Now", which soon became a regional hit for Sebring Records. The larger Avco Records soon signed the Stylistics, and the single eventually climbed to number seven on the R&B charts in early 1971. Avco approached record producer Thom Bell to work with the group.[2] After the Stylistics auditioned for Bell he was unimpressed, but he ultimately agreed to produce them, because he believed in the potential of Thompkins's soaring high tenor voice.[2] Thom Bell focused the group's sound completely around Thompkins's voice. On most of the group's hits, Bell would have Thompkins sing virtually solo.[2]

From 1971 to 1974, the Stylistics had twelve consecutive U.S. R&B top ten hits and five top ten U.S. pop hits, including "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)", "You Are Everything", "Betcha by Golly, Wow", "Break Up to Make Up", and "You Make Me Feel Brand New". All of these songs (and everything the group ever recorded) were led by Thompkins, and with the exception of "You're a Big Girl Now", written and composed by Thom Bell and lyricist Linda Creed (1974's "You Make Me Feel Brand New", a No. 2 pop hit, was also sung lead by group member Airron Love).

Thom Bell stopped working with the group in 1974, and the split proved commercially devastating to the group's success in the U.S. However, in 1975, the Stylistics did release one single which was commercially successful as an early disco track entitled, "Hey, Girl, Come and Get It". After 1976, the Stylistics general commercial decline was more pronounced, and they would only sporadically make the R&B charts in the next two decades. However, just as U.S. success began to wane, their popularity in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom, increased. The lighter "pop" sound fashioned by Van McCoy and Hugo & Luigi gave the band a UK No. 1 in 1975 with "Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)".

In 2000, Thompkins left the group saying he even regretted he had not left much earlier.[1] After his split from the group, Thompkins studied music formally and learned to play the piano.[1] In 2002, he released a solo album entitled A Matter of Style, which includes cover versions of George and Ira Gershwin's "Embraceable You" and the Thom Bell and Linda Creed song "Jealousy", originally recorded by Dionne Warwick.

In 2004, Thompkins Jr. started a new group, Russell Thompkins Jr. and the New Stylistics, with Raymond Johnson, James Ranton, and Jonathan Buckson. They continue to tour and are featured on the DVD Old School Soul Party Live!, which was part of the PBS My Music series. James Ranton left the group due to health reasons but the group continues as a trio.

Russell Thompkins, Jr. & The New Stylistics are scheduled to perform on The Ultimate Disco Cruise in February of 2021.[3]

gollark: Not really. I mean, with a big passcode like that, it would be hard to bruteforce it, but you also probably couldn't remember that and would have to, say, write it down somewhere, and the rest of this "lock" thing could be insecure in some way.
gollark: You could get the same hard-to-brute-force-ness with, apparently, a 37 digit base 10 one.
gollark: It's basically just a convoluted way to express a 60-digit base-4 number.
gollark: The important thing is how much y increases each time x goes up by 1, which is the gradient.
gollark: I think so, yes. Generally I would take the equation (y = 3x + c) and substitute in one of the points' x and y values, but I guess for this that works.

References
  1. "Russell Thompkins Jr. and The New Stylistics 06/19 by WDKK Radio | Music Podcasts". Blogtalkradio.com. 2009-06-19. Retrieved 2014-07-29.
  2. Jackson, John A (2004). A House on Fire: The Rise and Fall of Philadelphia Soul. USA: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-514972-2.
  3. "The Ultimate Disco Cruise".
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.