Archie Bell & The Drells – “Dancing Souls”

Archie Bell & The Drells was a Houston based R&B and Soul group. The group was active from 1966 to 1980 and worked with Atlantic Records. The members were Archie Bell, Lee Bell, Joe Cross, Willie Parnell, James Wise, Lucious Larkins and Billy Butler. The group was much popular for their hits “I Can’t Stop Dancing”, “Tighten Up”, Girl You’re Too Yong”, Here I Go Again”, “Everybody Have a Good time” and “Soul City Walk”.

Archie Bell was born on 1st September 1944 in Texas and soon moved to Houston when he was young to form a group in 1966. He made his group with Willie Parnell, James Wise and Billy Butler and the group was named The Drells. The Drells signed with Ovide which was a Houston record label in 1967. The Drells were very talented and they won several local talent shows and were discovered by DJ Skipper Lee Frazier who became the producer for the group.

The group recorded multiple songs with the label including “Tighten Up”.

After this, Bell let the group and started serving in Vietnam for the US Army. Skipper Lee Fazier, who was the Bell’s promoter, pushed the flip side of song “Tighten Up” and it became a hit in Houston. It was written by Archie Bell and Billy Butler and was picked by Altantic Records in April 1968 for distribution. This song topped the Billboard R&B and pop charts and received R.I.A.A. gold status s 1 million copies were sold.

Before the release, Archie and the Drells had recorded the single “She’s My Woman” which also gained success and was a regional hit. Bell was shot in the leg and was in military hospital for sometime after which the army allowed him to tour and discharged him on 15th April 1969. It was then that Archie came to know about the success of his last recording.

After this the band again recorded “I Can’t Stop Dancing” and this reached No 28 on the R&B chart. Some changes were made when Lee Bell replaced Butler as the band’s choreographer.
The band was reunited in 1975 with Gamble and Huff and they gave several R&B hits with Philadelphia International label and this included their hit “Let’s Groove (Part I)” in 1976 and “Soul City Walk” in 1975 which rocked the charts and reached the UK Top 20 in 1976.

The group gave some albums which include “Tighten Up” in 1968 which was on the U.S. Black Album chart and No 142 on the U.S. Pop Albums chart, “I Can’t Stop Dancing” in 1968 which was No 28 on the U.S. Black Albums chart, “There’s Gonna Be a Showdown” in 1969 which was No 163 on the U.S. Pop albums chart, “Dance Your Troubles Away” in 1976 which was No 95 on the U.S. Pop albums chart and No 11 on the U.S. Black albums chart, “Where Will You Go When the Party’s Over?” in 1976, “Hard Not top Like It” in 1977 and “Strategy” in 1979. Archie gave his solo album “I Never Had It So Good” in 1981 which was also a big hit.

The band could not deliver well in the late 1970’s and was split in 1980. Archie gave his solo album “I Never Had It So Good” in 1981 with Beckett Records. His hit single was “Any Time Is Right” from the hit album. He is still an active singer and the current members are Archie Bell, Neal Sharpe and Alfred Manor.

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Rare Soul Grooves & Soul Music TV