Today’s classic Philly Soul song of the day is “Games People Play” by the Spinners. This track, released in May of 1975, peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, #2 on the Billboard Easy Listening and Cash Box Top 100 charts, and #1 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles Chart.
“Games People Play” was written by the team of Joseph B. Jefferson, Bruce Hawes, and Charles Simmons and produced by Philly Soul legend Thom Bell. It was released on Atlantic Records, the label the group signed with when they left Motown in 1972.
The Spinners have been around in one form or another since 1954, when Billy Henderson, Henry Fambrough, Pervis Jackson, C. P. Spencer, and James Edwards formed The Domingoes in Ferndale, Michigan, near Detroit. Edwards left after just a few weeks and was replaced by Bobby Smith, who took over lead vocal duties. They renamed themselves the Spinners in 1961 and embarked on a decades-long recording career.
Their first tracks were released on Harvey Fuqua’s Tri-Phi Records label, although only one (“That’s What Girls Are Made For”) broke into the top forty. They joined Motown in 1963 when Berry Gordy bought the Tri-Phi label, and labored there for almost a decade with little to show for it. It wasn’t until 1970 and their recording of Stevie Wonder’s “It’s a Shame” that the group hit the big time.
By then G.C. Cameron had joined the group and was sharing lead vocal duties with Bobby Smith. (That was Cameron’s bravura performance on “It’s a Shame.”) Still, the group felt neglected at Motown and, when their contract expired in 1972, they made the switch to Atlantic.
G.C. Cameron left the group when they moved from Motown to Atlantic, replaced by Aretha Franklin’s cousin, Phillippe Wynne. That and hooking up with Thom Bell made everything click, resulting in a string of R&B and mainstream hits, including “I’ll Be Around” (#3 in 1972), “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love?” (#4, 1972), “One of a Kind (Love Affair)” (#11, 1973), “Ghetto Child” (#29, 1973), “Mighty Love” (#20, 1974), “I’m Coming Home” (#18, 1974), “Then Came You” (with Dionne Warwick) (#1, 1974), “Love Don’t Love Nobody” (#15, 1974), “The Rubberband Man” (#2, 1976), “Working My Way Back to You/Forgive Me Girl” (#2, 1979), and “Cupid/I’ve Loved You for a Long Time” (#4, 1980).
Wynne left the group in 1977, after unsuccessfully lobbying for a name change to “Phillippe Wynne and the Spinners,” and further personnel changes followed. The group touring the oldies circuit today as the Spinners contains no members who served prior to 2009, so it’s the Spinners in name only. Still, we have all those wonderful sweet Philly Soul hits to remember the real Spinners by.
