For a veteran entertainer like R&B singer Russell Thompkins Jr., of the “New Stylistics”, the best advice he would give anyone who wants to go into the music business is to “educate yourself”. Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with the Legendary singer who launched the original “Stylistics” to fame in the 1970s.
“The Stylistics” had many gold and platinum recordings such as “Stop, Look, Listen, to Your Heart”, “People Make The World Go Round”, “You Make Me Feel Brand New”, “You Are Everything”, “Hurry Up This Way Again” and of course one of my favorites “Betcha By Golly Wow” which I call the trademark/signature song of the Stylistics. The minute you hear this song, the first person that comes to mind is Russell Thompkins Jr. His Falsetto/Tenor vocals gave the”Stylistics” and the “New Stylistics” their claim to fame. “Russell had the opportunity to work with such greats as Thom Bell, Linda Creed, Burt Bacharach, Carol Bayer Sager, Van McCoy, Teddy Randazzo, Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, Dexter Wansel, Cynthia Biggs, Preston Glass, Maurice Starr, and Jeff Tyzik”. He progressed with those two groups because he worked with the best of the best and the music was so well written.
The Legendary singer set aside time from his hectic schedule to speak with me via telephone from his Philadelphia home.
Welcome to Back Beat R&B Mr. Thompkins and thank you for sharing your voice with the world!
Belinda Barnes
Listen to our interview below:
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