Login
Login

Thom Bell

{{short description|American producer, arranger, and songwriter (1943–2022)}}

{{For|other people with similar names|Thomas Bell (disambiguation){{!}}Thomas Bell}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}

{{more citations needed|date=December 2022}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Thom Bell

| image = Thom Bell pic.jpg

| caption = Bell at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan, New York for the Grammy Salute to Music Legends, 2017

| birth_name = Thomas Randolph Bell

| birth_date = {{birth date|1943|01|26}}

| birth_place = Kingston, Colony of Jamaica

| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|12|22|1943|01|26}}

| death_place = Bellingham, Washington, U.S.

| occupation = {{hlist|Record producer|arranger|songwriter|composer|pianist|singer}}

| years_active = 1959–2022

| origin = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| genre = {{hlist|Philadelphia soul|R&B|soul|pop}}

| past_member_of = {{hlist|The Stylistics|The Delfonics|The Spinners|Elton John|Deniece Williams|James Ingram}}

}}

Thomas Randolph Bell{{Cite web|url=http://repertoire.bmi.com/title.asp|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714014921/http://repertoire.bmi.com/title.asp?blnWriter=True&blnPublisher=True&blnArtist=True&page=1&keyid=108308&ShowNbr=0&ShowSeqNbr=0&querytype=WorkID|url-status=dead|title=BMI | Repertoire Search|website=Archive.today|archive-date=July 14, 2012}} (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.{{cite book|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=Virgin Books|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=117}} Hailed as one of the most prolific R&B songwriters and producers ever, Bell found success crafting songs for Delfonics, Stylistics, and Spinners. In June 2006, Bell was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2016, Bell was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. In 2025, Bell was selected for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Excellence Award category.{{cite web |title=The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation unveils electrifying class of 2025 inductees |url=https://rockhall.com/press-release/the-rock-roll-hall-of-fame-foundation-unveils-electrifying-class-of-2025-inductees/ |website=Rock & Roll Hall of Fame |access-date=28 April 2025}}

Background

File:Thom Bell in 1950 US Census.jpgBell was born on January 26, 1943 in Kingston, Jamaica,{{Cite web |title=Thom Bell Biography, Songs, & Albums |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/thom-bell-mn0000639763/biography |access-date=2023-06-04 |website=AllMusic |language=en}} to Anna and Leroy Bell, and moved to Philadelphia with his parents when he was four, according to an interview Bell had with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air.{{Cite news |last=Friskics-Warren |first=Bill |date=2022-12-24 |title=Thom Bell, a Force Behind the Philadelphia Soul Sound, Dies at 79 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/arts/music/thom-bell-dead.html |access-date=2022-12-26 |issn=0362-4331}}

{{cite web

|url=https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/62308/images/43290879-Pennsylvania-093208-0020?pId=244738986

|title= 1950 Census of Population and Housing [database on-line], Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Enumeration District: 51-2484, Page: 19A, Line: 15, household of L. Randolph Bell

|publisher= U.S. Department of Commerce

|location= Washington, DC

|date=1950-04-01

|access-date=2022-12-24

|via=Ancestry.com

|url-access=subscription

}}

{{cite web

|url=https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2378/images/87485344_a5576b56-5ba3-4e85-9b8f-3cc12d3f8e6f?pId=1187485

|title= Washington, U.S., Marriage Records, 1854-2013 for Thomas Randolph Bell

|publisher=Washington State Archives

|location= Olympia, Washington

|date=2012

|access-date=2022-12-30

|via=Ancestry.com |url-access=subscription

}}

Both of Bell's parents were from Jamaica.

{{cite web

|url=https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2238/images/44044_10_00010-00071?pId=10166135

|title= World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 [database on-line], Leroy Bell

|publisher=National Archives

|location= St. Louis, Missouri

|date=2011

|access-date=2022-12-24

|via=Ancestry.com |url-access=subscription

}}

{{cite news |author= |date=14 February 2020 |orig-date= |title=Anna Burke-Bell-Payne-Williams (obituary) |script-title= |language= |trans-title= |edition= |volume= |page=A6 |pages= |no-pp= |at= |work=The News Tribune |publisher= |agency= |issue= |location=Tacoma, Washington |publication-date= |type= |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/638051032/?focus=0.65347224%2C0.7073134%2C0.8071286%2C0.8135137&xid=3355 |url-status= |url-access=subscription |access-date=24 December 2022 |archive-url= |archive-date= |arxiv= |asin= |bibcode= |doi= |isbn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |quote=She is survived by her eldest son, Thom Bell, and only daughter, Barbara Bell; she had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. |via=Newspapers.com |series=}} Thomas Bedward Burke, Bell's maternal grandfather, was born in Kingston.His father was a botanist, and his mother a secretary.{{cite news |author= |date=14 February 2020 |orig-date= |title=Anna Burke-Bell-Payne-Williams (obituary) |script-title= |language= |trans-title= |edition= |volume= |page=A6 |pages= |no-pp= |at= |work=The News Tribune |publisher= |agency= |issue= |location=Tacoma, Washington |publication-date= |type= |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/638051032/?focus=0.65347224%2C0.7073134%2C0.8071286%2C0.8135137&xid=3355 |url-status= |url-access=subscription |access-date=24 December 2022 |archive-url= |archive-date= |arxiv= |asin= |bibcode= |doi= |isbn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |quote=She is survived by her eldest son, Thom Bell, and only daughter, Barbara Bell; she had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. |via=Newspapers.com |series=}}

Known as Thom, Bell was one of eleven siblings. His mother, Anna, worked as a stenographer and was a pianist. Leroy, his father, owned a fish market and restaurant in addition to being musical, playing the accordion and Hawaiian guitar.{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=Richard |date=2022-12-29 |title=Thom Bell, Obituary |language=en-UK |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/dec/29/thom-bell-obituary | access-date=2023-02-28}}

Career

Bell was classically trained as a musician and sang as a teenager with Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Daryl Hall (of Hall & Oates fame). Bell's first big break in soul music was with Cameo Records in Philadelphia where he worked as a session player and arranger. In 1967, he was introduced to a local group called The Delfonics, and he produced two early singles for them on Moon Shot and Cameo labels. Bell brought a mellifluous and hypnotic style to soul music. Soon this production aesthetic yielded several big hits for the group on the Philly Groove label, run by their manager Stan Watson. The releases included "La-La (Means I Love You)" and "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time),"{{cite book |title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=1997 |publisher=Virgin Books |isbn=1-85227-745-9 |editor=Colin Larkin |editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer) |edition=Concise |page=117}} the latter of which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1970.

Bell joined the fast-growing record production company operated by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff in Philadelphia, working as an arranger for acts including Jerry Butler, Archie Bell & the Drells, Jerry Bell, The O'Jays, and Dusty Springfield. He arranged big hits, including the O'Jays' popular "Back Stabbers," on Gamble and Huff's record label, Philadelphia International Records, which the two launched in 1971. Bell then joined Gamble and Huff in setting up a publishing company for their songs, Mighty Three Music.[https://www.gamble-huffmusic.com/home/index.php/pir-news/219-mighty-three-unite-for-50th Gamble-Huff website recognizing 50th-year anniversary of Mighty Three Music]

By 1971, Bell had moved on to produce a local group, the Stylistics on Avco Records. He had started to work with songwriter Linda Creed, from Philadelphia; their partnership became one of the era's dominant soul songwriting teams, writing Stylistics hits including "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)", "You Are Everything", "Betcha by Golly, Wow", "Break Up to Make Up", "You Make Me Feel Brand New", and "I'm Stone in Love with You" (the last co-written with Bell's brother Tony). In 1972, Bell agreed to produce The Spinners for Atlantic Records. The group had left their longtime label, Motown, after years of only occasional success there. He made them a hit recording act, producing five gold albums and top-ten singles including "I'll Be Around", "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love", "Games People Play", and "The Rubberband Man".{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AXfvmkm-BzEC&q=spinners+i'll+be+around++1st+million+seller&pg=PA141 |title=A House On Fire: The Rise And Fall Of Philadelphia Soul |author= John A. Jackson |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-534880-4 |access-date=May 6, 2020}} In 1974, he was awarded a Grammy for Best Producer of the Year.[https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/17th-annual-grammy-awards-1974 1974 Grammy Awards]

In 1975, Bell produced an album for Dionne Warwick called Track of the Cat which followed "Then Came You," her collaboration with Bell and the Spinners from 1974. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 reaching number two on the R&B chart. Bell worked in the mid-to-late '70s with Johnny Mathis (two albums), Billy Paul, Ronnie Dyson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, the R&B group New York City, and others. Then Bell had success with Deniece Williams including her R&B number-one and top-ten remake of The Royalettes' "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" in 1982;{{cite book |title= Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=625}}Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 - {{ISBN|0-89820-089-X}} Elton John, whose EP The Thom Bell Sessions featured backing vocals by the Spinners and produced the top-ten hit "Mama Can't Buy You Love" in 1979; and James Ingram, whose "I Don't Have the Heart" became Bell's second number-one pop hit, in 1990. Other artists Bell produced in the 1980s included The Temptations, Phyllis Hyman, and Dee Dee Bridgewater; he also re-united briefly with the Stylistics in 1981 on Philadelphia International's subsidiary, TSOP. Warner Chappell Music acquired Mighty Three Music in 1990.{{Cite news| issn = 0458-3035| pages = 2| last = SHIVER| first = JUBE| title = L.A. Company Buys Catalogue of Black Music: [Home Edition]| work = Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext)| location = Los Angeles, Calif., United States| access-date = December 30, 2020| date = July 28, 1990| url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/281123647| id = {{ProQuest|281123647}}}} A December 2008 interview with Bell featured on the Philly Soul box set, Love Train, stated he would soon compose a piece for the Philadelphia Orchestra. Past Orchestra members played in MFSB, the house band who played on many Bell productions.

Bell was known for being a perfectionist in his writing and very budget-conscious, demanding that session musicians play his compositions as they were written and not improvise.{{cite web |title= Philadelphia producer. Thom Bell, - Praise, Comments, Music, Social Topics| website=YouTube | date=December 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S8Y88GHoOM}}

Personal life

Bell married Sylvia Bell in 1965 and they divorced in 1984. He married Vanessa Joanne Wittrock in Seattle on December 29, 1985. He had six children.{{Cite news |date=2022-12-23 |title=Thom Bell: Philadelphia soul pioneer dies at 79 |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64074788 |access-date=2022-12-26}}

On December 22, 2022 at the age of 79, Bell died at his home in Bellingham, Washington north of Everett, after a lengthy illness.{{Cite web |title=Thom Bell, an architect of 1970s Philadelphia soul, dies |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/thom-bell-an-architect-of-1970s-philadelphia-soul-dies/ |access-date=2022-12-26 |website=www.cbsnews.com |date=December 23, 2022 |language=en-US}}{{cite web |date=December 22, 2022 |title=Iconic Philadelphia Soul pioneer Thom Bell dies at 79 |url=https://www.soultracks.com/story-thom-bell-dies |access-date=22 December 2022 |website=Soultracks}}

Producing and songwriting

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{allMusic}}
  • {{discogs artist|Thom Bell}}
  • {{IMDb name|0068543}}
  • [http://souljoneswords.blogspot.com/2012/01/betcha-by-golly-wow-exclusive-thom-bell.html Exclusive Thom Bell Interview published January 2012]
  • [http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Thom%20Bell.html Bio at soulwalking.co.uk]
  • [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6181419 2006 Interview with Terry Gross on "Fresh Air"]
  • [http://www.soulexpress.net/deep1_2018.htm#thombell An interview with Soul Express in February 2018]
  • [https://www.soulexpress.net/thombell2024cd.htm Thom Bell comments on his music on a tribute CD]

{{Navboxes

|title = Awards for Thom Bell

|list =

{{Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical}}

{{2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame|state=collapsed}}

}}

{{MFSB}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Thom}}

Category:1943 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:American musicians of Jamaican descent

Category:Grammy Award winners

Category:Record producers from Pennsylvania

Category:American music arrangers

Category:American male organists

Category:20th-century American keyboardists

Category:Musicians from Philadelphia

Category:Singer-songwriters from Pennsylvania

Category:American male pianists

Category:21st-century American pianists

Category:21st-century American organists

Category:20th-century American male singers

Category:20th-century American singer-songwriters

Category:American male singer-songwriters

Category:MFSB members