Leon Huff - The Sound of Philadelphia
In 1962 songwriter/record producer John Madara visited a club in West Philadelphia. There was a group playing there called The Lavenders. The piano player was a young black man by the name of Leon Huff. John was so impressed with Leon that he invited him to play on some of his and partner, Dave White's, productions.
John and Dave's offices were in the Shubert Building in Philadelphia. The Shubert building, like the Brill Building in New York, housed some of the most successful songwriters and artists in the business -- Linda Creed, Thom Bell and an unknown at the time by the name of Kenny Gamble, who worked with record producer Jerry Ross.
As fate would have it, Leon and Kenny met at the Shubert Building and began working together, writing and producing songs for John's production company. Eventually they would team together as Gamble & Huff, and would write and produce some of the most iconic songs in the history of soul music, including Expressway To Your Heart," "If You Don't Know Me By Now," "Love Train" and "Me and Mrs. Jones," to name just a few.
This CD is a compilation of Leon's early Philly Northern Soul Productions from 1963-1969. It features 25 songs by some of Philadelphia's finest artists and groups that were part of the sound in the 60's known as Northern Soul. They include The Lavenders, Bunny Sigler, Cindy Scott, The Formations, The Tymes, The Sweet Three, The Mellow Moods, The Sherrys, Johnny Caswell, Len Barry, Daryl Hall and Naomi & Harris.
10 songs are written, 9 songs co-written, 3 songs produced and 15 songs co-produced by Leon Huff. 6 songs are co-written and/or co-produced by Kenny Gamble. 4 songs are co-written, 2 songs produced and 13 songs co-produced by John Madara.
This historical CD contains valuable information, when available, on the musicians who played on each song, the arranger, as well as the date the song was recorded and the studio where it was recorded.
This one-of-a-kind CD is presented by John Madara. Along with partner, Dave White, John wrote and produced such timeless classics as AT THE HOP (Danny and The Juniors), ROCK AND ROLL IS HERE TO STAY -- Producer (Danny and The Juniors), THE FLY (Chubby Checker), YOU DON'T OWN ME (Leslie Gore) and 1-2-3 (Len Barry, who also co-write the song with Madara & White).
All songs have been digitally restored and digitally mastered.
Make this historical CD a part of your oldies record collection!
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Fan Reviews
***** A must have for a hard core Philly fan - Reviewer: Mart van de Stadt - Amazon
View Track List on iTunes
