"You Are Everything" is a

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 att ...

song written by

Thom Bell Thomas Randolph Bell (January 27th, 1943 – December 22, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, pianist, and composer known as one of the creators of Philadelphia soul in the 1970s. He found success as a producer ...

and

Linda Creed Linda Diane Creed (December 6, 1948 – April 10, 1986), also known by her married name Linda Epstein, was an American songwriter and lyricist who teamed up with Thom Bell to produce some of the most successful Philadelphia soul groups of the 1 ...

and originally recorded by the

Philadelphia soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often featu ...

group

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 ...

The Stylistics version

An R&B

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, it was the sixth track from their 1971 debut self-titled album and was released as a single in 1971 and reached number 9 on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

chart. Allmusic – Charts & Awards/ref> It also climbed to number 10 in the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and reached number 24 in the ''Billboard''

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, ...

chart. The Stylistics' record sold over one million copies globally, earning the band a gold disc The award was presented by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

on January 3, 1972. It was the band's first gold disc. Group member Airrion Love only sang the opening harmony part with Russell. The actual background vocals were done by Russell, producer Thom Bell, Carl Helm, Bunny Sigler, Kenny Gamble, and Phil Hurtt. The rest of the Stylistics never sang on the first three albums that Thom Bell produced, as Russell explained in several interviews. The song was used in two episodes of the TV series ''

The Wonder Years ''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age comedy/drama television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol Black. It ran on ABC from January 31, 1988, until May 12, 1993. The series premiered immediately after ABC's coverage of Super ...

'', entitled "Denial" and "Double Double Date". It was also used in a 2002 episode of ''

The King of Queens ''The King of Queens'' is an American television sitcom that ran on CBS from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007, a total of nine seasons and 207 episodes. The series was created by Michael J. Weithorn and David Litt, who also served as the show ...

'', called "Business Affairs". The song was featured at a dance in the 2005 comedy, '' The Ringer''.

Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross version

Another version of the song was recorded by one-time

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

singing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music ( arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or ...

duo,

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups ...

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

. Released as the second UK single from their '' Diana & Marvin''

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

, the song reached #5 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in April 1974, and also became the first official Motown single to be awarded with silver disc for sales in excess of 250,000 copies. It also reached #13 on the

Dutch charts Dutch Charts, GfK Dutch Charts, MegaCharts is a chart company responsible for producing a number of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Single Top 100 and the Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Dutch Charts are also part of GfK ...

and #20 on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

. It was never released as a single in the U.S.

Certifications

Notable cover versions

Many artists have covered the song. Among the most widely known are: * In 1973, the Pearls, a 1970s vocal girl duo from Liverpool, were the first artists to chart with this song in the UK, early that year. It was released on the Bell label and reached number 41 on the

. * In 1995, English singers

Melanie Williams Melanie Williams (born 28 October 1964) is a British singer. She sang on the hit single "Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use)" alongside the Manchester-based electronic group Sub Sub. Career Williams was a friend of Sub Sub at the time, and the band, sea ...

and Joe Roberts scored a UK top 40 hit with their version of the track, which peaked at number 28. * In 2005, Vanessa L. Williams performed the song on her covers album titled ''

Everlasting Love "Everlasting Love" is a song written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, originally a 1967 hit for Robert Knight and since remade numerous times, most successfully by Love Affair, as well as Town Criers, Carl Carlton, Sandra Cretu, and Gloria ...

''. Her version was a hit on the

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the ...

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

and

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

charts.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1970s ballads 1971 singles 1974 singles The Stylistics songs Diana Ross songs Marvin Gaye songs Maxine Nightingale songs Roberta Flack songs Melanie Williams songs Vanessa Williams songs The Pearls songs Soul ballads Male–female vocal duets Songs written by Thom Bell Songs written by Linda Creed 1971 songs Avco Records singles Song recordings produced by Hal Davis