"Rockin' Roll Baby" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by The Stylistics | ||||
from the album Rockin' Roll Baby | ||||
B-side | "Pieces" | |||
Released | October 1973 | |||
Genre | Soul | |||
Length | 4:31(album version) 3:17 (single edit) | |||
Label | Avco | |||
Songwriter(s) | Linda Creed, Thom Bell | |||
Producer(s) | Thom Bell | |||
The Stylistics singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Official audio | ||||
"Rockin' Roll Baby" on YouTube |
"Rockin' Roll Baby" is a song written by Linda Creed and Thom Bell and performed by The Stylistics. It reached #3 on the U.S. R&B chart, #6 on the UK Singles Chart, #14 on the U.S. pop chart, #44 on the U.S. adult contemporary chart, and #57 on the Canadian pop chart in 1974. [1] It was featured as the title song from their 1973 eponymous album. [2]
The song was arranged and produced by Thom Bell. [3] Lead vocals are by Russell Thompkins Jr.
The song ranked #96 on Billboard magazine's Top 100 singles of 1974. [4]
The narrator, a hard-working touring musician, describes his infant son, a child prodigy, who was "born in a theater in Bluefield, West Virginia". Although only a toddler, "Little Joey" has great singing talent and has a "funky walk in his little orthopedic shoes." The musician is successful and buys a house in Beverly Hills, attributing his success to the child.
Brenda Mae Tarpley, known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Primarily performing rockabilly, pop, country and Christmas music, she achieved her first Billboard hit aged 12 in 1957 and was given the nickname "Little Miss Dynamite". Some of Lee's most successful songs include "Sweet Nothin's", "I'm Sorry", "I Want to Be Wanted", "Speak to Me Pretty", "All Alone Am I" and "Losing You". Her festive song "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", recorded in 1958, topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 2023, making Lee the oldest artist ever to top the chart and breaking several chart records.
The Stylistics are an American Philadelphia soul group that achieved their greatest chart success in the 1970s. They formed in 1968, with a lineup of singers Russell Thompkins Jr., Herb Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith and James Dunn. All of their US hits were ballads characterized by the falsetto of Russell Thompkins Jr. and the production of Thom Bell. During the early 1970s, the group had twelve consecutive R&B top ten hits, including "Stop, Look, Listen", "You Are Everything", "Betcha by Golly, Wow", "I'm Stone in Love with You", "Break Up to Make Up" and "You Make Me Feel Brand New", which earned them 5 gold singles and 3 gold albums.
Thomas Randolph Bell was an American record producer, arranger, and songwriter known as one of the creators of Philadelphia soul in the 1970s. Hailed as one of the most prolific R&B songwriters and producers ever, Bell found success crafting songs for Delfonics, Stylistics, and Spinners. In June 2006, Bell was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2016, Bell was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum.
Linda Diane Creed, also known by her married name Linda Epstein, was an American songwriter and lyricist who teamed up with Thom Bell to produce some of the most successful Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s.
Diana & Marvin is a duets album by American soul musicians Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye, released October 26, 1973 on Motown. Recording sessions for the album took place between 1971 and 1973 at Motown Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. Gaye and Ross were widely recognized at the time as two of the top pop music performers.
"Betcha by Golly, Wow" is a song written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed, originally titled "Keep Growing Strong" and recorded by American actress and singer Connie Stevens under the Bell label in 1970. Stevens' recording runs two minutes and thirty seconds. The composition later became a hit when it was released by the Philadelphia soul group the Stylistics in 1972 under its better known title, "Betcha by Golly, Wow".
"Stop, Look, Listen " is a soul song written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed originally recorded by Philadelphia soul group the Stylistics.
The Stylistics is the debut album by American R&B group the Stylistics, released in November 1971 on the Avco record label. It was produced by Thom Bell and recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. The album has been called "a sweet soul landmark."
"You Are Everything" is a soul song written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed and originally recorded by the Philadelphia soul group The Stylistics.
"Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)" is a 1975 single by the Stylistics. It reached number one for three weeks in the UK in August 1975.
Airrion Love is a baritone singer, who is a founding member of The Stylistics. He formed The Stylistics in 1968, and is still in the group as of 2024. Love shared lead vocals with Russell Thompkins Jr. on their Grammy-nominated song "You Make Me Feel Brand New".
"You Make Me Feel Brand New" is a 1974 single by the Philadelphia soul group The Stylistics. An R&B ballad, the song was written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed.
"Break Up to Make Up" was a 1973 hit by the Philadelphia soul group the Stylistics. The song was written by Thom Bell, Linda Creed, and Kenneth Gamble.
Russell Allen Thompkins Jr. is an American soul singer, best known as the original lead singer of the vocal group The Stylistics and noted for his high tenor, countertenor, and falsetto vocals. With Russell as lead singer, The Stylistics had 12 straight Top 10 Billboard R&B singles, and 5 gold singles from 1971 through 1974.
Rockin' Roll Baby is the third studio album recorded by American R&B group The Stylistics, released in November 1973 on the Avco label. It was produced by Thom Bell and recorded at Sigma Sound Studio North in Philadelphia. This was the group's last album produced by Bell.
Let's Put It All Together is the fourth studio album recorded by American R&B group The Stylistics, released in May 1974 on the Avco label. It was produced by Hugo & Luigi and recorded at Mediasound Studios in New York City. This was the group's first album recorded outside of Philadelphia.
"I'm Stone in Love with You" is a 1972 single by the Philadelphia soul group The Stylistics. The song is noted for lead singer Russell Thompkins Jr.'s distinctive falsetto singing, which he employs through most of the record. The song was written by Thom Bell, Linda Creed, and Anthony Bell.
I'm Coming Home is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on September 21, 1973, by Columbia Records and was mainly composed of material written by the songwriting team of its producer, Thom Bell, and Linda Creed. Unlike several of the Mathis albums before it, I'm Coming Home relied primarily on new songs and included only two covers of established chart hits, both of which were by The Stylistics.
"People Make the World Go Round" is a song written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed, originally recorded by The Stylistics and released in 1972 through Avco Records as the final single from their self-titled debut studio album, The Stylistics (1971). It reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, #25 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and #6 on the Soul Singles chart in the United States.
Billboard magazine only charted Christmas singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday records until the 1958 holiday season when they published their first section that surveys only Christmas music.