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

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, best known for their 'sweet'

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

recordings of the 1970s.

History

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 fr ...

label (later renamed

H&L Records H&L Records (1976–1979) was a record label founded by Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore after they left Avco Records. They took The Stylistics with them. History Releases The dual artist record, "That Old Black Magic" by The Softones backed with " ...

) 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 music, 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 sung by Johnnie Johnston, Johnny Johnston and da ...

" (#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 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 of ...

, 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 Bors ...

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 w ...

, and arranger/producer

Van McCoy Van Allen Clinton McCoy (January 6, 1940 – July 6, 1979) was an American musician, record producer, arranger, songwriter, singer and orchestra conductor. He is known for his 1975 internationally successful song " The Hustle". He has approximat ...

, 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 has 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". 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. The group is notable for lead singer J. Marvin Brown's high falsetto, similar to that of

' 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 (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million re ...

Philip Bailey Philip James Bailey (born May 8, 1951) is an American R&B, soul, gospel and funk 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, Wi ...

, and derived from

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

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