Event Appearance
- 2008: 2nd Classic R&B Weekend
- 2010: 4th Classic R&B Weekend
- 2013: 7th Classic R&B Weekend
- 2017: 11th Classic R&B Weekend
- 2021: 14th Classic R&B Weekend
- 2022: 15th Classic R&B Weekend
- 2025: Maurice Watts Classic R&B Music Festival
Russell Thompkins Jr & The New Stylistics
Biography
After the Spinners and the O’Jays, the Stylistics were the leading Philly soul group produced by Thom Bell. During the early ’70s, the band had 12 straight Top Ten hits, including “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.” Of all their peers, the Stylistics were one of the smoothest and sweetest soul groups of their era. All of their hits were ballads, graced by the soaring falsetto of Russell Thompkins, Jr. and the lush yet graceful productions of Bell, which helped make the Stylistics one of the most successful soul groups of the first half of the ’70s.
The Stylistics formed in 1968, when members of the Philadelphia soul groups the Monarchs and the Percussions joined forces after their respective band dissolved. Thompkins, James Smith, and Airrion Love hailed from the Monarchs; James Dunn and Herbie Murrell were from the Percussions. In 1970, the group recorded “You’re a Big Girl Now,” a song their road manager Marty Bryant co-wrote with Robert Douglas, a member of their backing band Slim and the Boys, and the single became a regional hit for Sebring Records. The larger Avco Records soon signed the Stylistics, and single eventually climbed to number seven in early 1971.
