The
Stylistics
The
Stylistics was formed in Philadelphia, PA in 1966 from two groups,
"The Percussions" and "The Monarchs". When
members from each group were drafted or went on to further their
education, the remaining members under the guidance of their English
teacher Beverly Hamilton joined forces and changed the name to
"The Stylistics". After working locally for a number
of years, the group was approached by Bill Perry who asked if
they would be interested in recording. Their first song "You're
a Big Girl Now" was recorded at Virtue Recording Studio,
a local studio in Philadelphia. This song was written by the group
guitarist at the time, Robert "Doc" Douglas and Road
Manager, Marty Bryant. The sessions cost Bill Perry a little over
$500.00 to produce and was released locally. It was soon picked
up in the tri-state area and before long, it became a number 1
hit in Philadelphia and a few other cities. Bill was interested
it promoting the record national but didn't have the resources.
He decided to contact Avco Records and made a deal. Rumor has
it, Bill received over $10,000.00 from Avco of which the group
never saw a dime. After the success of "You're A Big Girl
Now", Avco wanted to naturally follow up with an album release.
Hit veteran producer Tom Bell was contacted and was hired to produce
the group's first album. The album was entitled "The Stylistics"
and from that album came "Stop, Look, Listen to your Heart",
"You Are Everything" and "Betcha By Golly Wow".
The success of the first album was phenomenal for that time along
with an unheard release of six singles in total. The ball continued
to roll with the release of their second album entitled "Round
Two". The Stylistics were becoming known as the Philly group
with the sweet love songs. (Check out Discography for the full
list of album releases.) Herbert Murrell and Airrion Love are
the remaining original members of The Stylistics. Friends since
junior high school, Herb and Airrion have managed to keep their
institution of 70's music alive. It was thought to be the end
of the Stylistics following the departure of their original lead
singer, but as in life "THE SHOW MUST GO ON"
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