Your classic Philly Soul song of the day is “Love Train” by the O’Jays. This classic track was released in late December 1972 and rose all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Billboard R&B, and Cash Box Top 100 charts early the next year.
“Love Train” was written and produced by the legendary Philly team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. Seventeen year-old Kenny Gamble was discovered by producer Jerry Ross in 1963 when he was singing with a group called the Romeos. Gamble first teamed up with Leon Huff, who was playing keyboards at the time, on a recording for Candy & the Kisses. The three of them—Gamble, Huff, and Ross—collaborated on the hit song “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” for Jay & the Techniques, later a much bigger hit for Diana Ross & the Supremes and the Temptations.
Gamble and Huff had their first really big hit in 1967 with “Expressway to Your Heart” by the Soul Survivors. In 1968, for their own Gamble Records label, they wrote and produced the top 10 hit “Cowboys to Girls” for the Philadelphia group the Intruders. They formed Philadelphia International Records in 1971 as competition to Berry Gordy’s still-hot Motown label. They got a distribution deal with Clive Davis’ CBS Records and nothing could stop them now.
Together, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff defined a new Philadelphia Soul sound with their Philadelphia International Records label and hits for Jerry Butler, Billy Paul, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, MFSB, the Three Degrees, the Trammps, and the O’Jays. They even wrote and produced hits for Joe Simon, Wilson Pickett, Dusty Springfield, Archie Bell and the Drells, Laura Nyro and Labelle, and the Jacksons. Put simply, Gamble and Huff were the Philly Soul sound.
The O’Jays started out, as did many Philly Soul groups, as a doo-wop vocal group in the late ’50s. They struggled to stay relevant through the ’60s then signed with Philadelphia International in 1972. Now a trio consisting of members Eddie Levert, William Powell, and Walter Williams, they recorded a series of hits that included “Back Stabbers’ (#3 in 1972), “Put Your Hands Together” (#10, 1973), “For the Love of Money” (#9, 1974), “I Love Music (#5, 1975), and “Use ta Be My Girl” (#4 in 1978).
The group continued to have minor success on the R&B chart through the ’80s but didn’t have any further mainstream hits. They’ve continued, with a variety of replacement members, to perform on the oldies circuit. The O’Jays were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, were inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2013, and were awarded a BET Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. Their songs “Love Train” and “For the Love of Money” were both inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Not a bad legacy.
