The Spinners from the Era of 1970’s.

A group of friends from Ferndale High School in 1954, assembled to make some good music including Billy Henderson, Henry Fambrough, C. P. Spencer, James Edwards and Pervis Jackson. The group named their band as “The Domingoes”, but essentially they came up as “The Spinners”, from the trendy car hubcaps and the way they spin around the wheels, in the year 1961.

Then in the year 1961, The Spinners along with Tri Phi Records as well as Harvey Fuqua, who was an American song writer, record producer, soul singer and record label executive, recorded “That’s what girls are made for” that was a hit and ranked twenty seven on the charts. Due to some reasons the members of the band were constantly replaced. After that in 1964, at Apollo Theatre they gave their debut album that was truly cherished by the audience and became a hit that ranked thirty fifth on the charts, in the year 1965. Subsequently some other albums were also launched, but they were not favored by people, leading to a decline in the graph of succession for “The Spinners”.

They came back after a long break of five years with two smashing hits “It’s a shame” and “We’ll have it made” from the album Second Time Around, which was written and produced by Stevie Wonder. Subsequent to this album, one of the members was replaced by Philippe Wynne who became the lead singer and signed a new contract with Atlantic. In 1972, escorted by singer Bobby Smith, The Spinners gave out two singles namely, “I’ll be around” and “How could I let you get away”, which were on top ten ranks on the charts. “I’ll be around” and “How could I let you get away”, both were written and produced by Thom Bell and Phil Hurtt, moreover, above one million copies were sold, for the two versions. Even after this grand hit, the song “I’ll be around” has been covered by several other artists as well.

In 1973, some other singles were also produced by the Philadelphia soul producer “Thom Bell” namely, “One of a kind”, “Ghetto Child” and “Could it be I’m falling in love”. The band also remixed the song “Together we can make such sweet music” that ranked ninety one on the charts. Then again in 1974, they launched their new song in collaboration with Dionne Warwick named “Then came you”.

The song was produced by Thom Bell and written by Sherman Marshall as well as Phillip Pugh along with genre soul & pop under the label Atlantic. “Then came you” was a sizzling hit that ranked first on the Billboard Hot 100 and not just this, it was also nominated for Grammy Awards. Again in the year 1975, came some innovative songs like “They just can’t stop it”, written by Bruce Hawes, Joseph B.

Jefferson, Charles Simmons and produced by Thom Bell, which peaked fifth on the charts, “The Rubberband Man”, which was written and produced by Thom Bell and “Games people play”, all these were a mega blaster on the R&B charts.

In 2004, a group member was dismissed named “Billy Henderson” because he brought a claim to the band’s conglomerate and manager, to acquire all the financial statements.

TJ Grooves

Rare Soul Grooves & Soul Music TV