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| From | Stewart Mason <flamingo@theworld.com> |
| Subject | Re: Whatever happened to Thom Bell? |
| Date | Fri, 15 Aug 2003 14:27:14 -0400 |
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At 11:16 AM 8/15/2003 -0400, David Pearlman wrote:
>So what happened to him? I checked and he's still alive, but he basically
>seemed to retire after the '70s (producing a random song here or there
>since). Seems like a lot of talent to just pack up and go home with. Are
>there personal issues?
I have no idea why he retired, but it seems to me that his style of music
(the whole Philly Soul sound is as identifiably Thom Bell's -- both in fact
and as an influence -- as the girl group era was Phil Spector's) went
profoundly out of fashion in the late '70s, when under the influence of
Giorgio Moroder and other Eurodisco producers, R&B records started getting
more stripped-down and electronic. Perhaps he decided to go out on top
rather than change his sound to fit with the times, or perhaps he decided
he had enough money and didn't want to make records he didn't like. Or
maybe he got addicted to blow and has been living in a decaying mansion for
the last 25 years, who knows.
But those '70s singles are awesome.
S
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