The Stylistics dominated the early Seventies with their smooth soul ballads, defining the smooth soul sound synonymous with producer Thom Bell.
So when they split from the king of Philly production after a dozen hit singles, you might have expected them to lose their magic touch. Instead they got their first number one single a year later.

While their US success began to dwindle, they found fresh fans in Europe after teaming up with proders Hugo & Luigi, a pair of Italian cousins who worked in the Brill Building (presumably when not ‘cleaning windows’).

The hitmaking team was completed by George David Weiss, who took songwriting credit alongside Peretti and Creatore, with the arrangements handled by Van ‘The Hustle’ McCoy.

It turned out to be a winning formula and Can’t Give You Anything (But My Love) was their biggest UK hit to date, topping the charts in the summer of 1975.

The Stylistics had formed back in the late Sixties when two other vocal groups, The Monarchs and The Percussions, merged to form a new five-man outfit.

Their USP was the soaring falsetto of Russell Thompkins Jr, and Bell recgnised that by making him effectively their lead singer on the string of hits he masterminded with songwriter Linda Creed – a hit list including Betcha By Golly Wow, You Make Me Feel Brand New, Let’s Put It All Together, Rockin’ Roll Baby, and Sing Baby Sing.

Impressively, The Stylistics are still going strong as a quartet featuring two original members, Airrion Love and Herb Murrell, while Thompkins, who left in 2000, could recently be found in a rival group, The New Stylistics.