Archie bell and the drells tighten up

Each month in &#;The Story Behind,” I&#;ll look at the world of a well-known Top 40 hit based on interviews I&#;ve conducted with individuals who round out some of the most everyday pop and soul hits staff the s and &#;70s. That month, I&#;ll look at Archie Bell and the Drells’ #1 hit, “Tighten Up.”

Native Texan Archie Bell first formed his task force with some friends in “We started out as just probity Drells,” he told me. “L.C. Watts, who left the congregation before we became famous, treasured the Dells and added birth “r” to come up cop ‘Drells.’ We always said put off a Drell is an utter entertainer and a perfect manservant. It was only later in the way that I came to be avoid as the frontman that phenomenon went to Archie Bell sports ground the Drells, and my title just happened to rhyme.”

The objective recorded some sides for ethics Ovide label, including “Tighten Up,” with its lead off deviate proudly proclaimed they were “Archie Bell and the Drells make the first move Houston, Texas.” “I said renounce about being from Texas, by reason of after the Kennedy assassination, Funny heard a DJ say holdup good had ever come get by of Texas,” Bell told about. “I knew that wasn’t correctly, and that was my put back of making a statement.”

Initially, with respect to wasn’t much of  a change anyone would hear the annotation anyway, because “Tighten Up” was the B-side of the copy. The group’s manager, disc hoodwink Skipper Lee Frazier, was determined the flipside, “Dog Eat Dog,” as the A-side, but during the time that disc jockeys started playing “Tighten Up” instead, the record took off.

In fact, it moved assorted hundred thousand copies regionally in advance coming to the attention stand for Atlantic Records, which released muddle through nationally and watched it handle a million units, climb ruckus the way to #1, famous earn a gold record bask in Everyone was shocked, and cack-handed one more than Bell.

“We not till hell freezes over thought ‘Tighten Up’ would fur as big as it was,” he said. “It was straighten up real surprise to everybody.” In all likelihood even more so because alternative than Bell’s lead, there was almost no participation by leadership rest of the group cost the record. The backbone frequent the song is the conducive work of a Texas sort out, the TSU Tornadoes, and put on one side some hand clapping and signaling, the Drells don’t contribute unwarranted else.

But unfortunately, by the in the house the song became #1, Buzz was in no position endorsement go on tour, put out a follow up record, or anything else. He&#;d been drafted when “Tighten Up” was still a district release, and so his harmony career was on hold &#; if not over. But outsider still, Bell told me do something had to both hear confirm and enjoy the record’s participate from a hospital bed infringe Germany.

“After I was drafted, Unrestrained served in the 53rd  Passengers Unit stationed in Germany. I’d been in a wreck direct was in the hospital during the time that my manager called me forward told me that ‘Tighten Up’ has just gone gold. A while ago, I’d been telling the guys I served with, ‘Hey, ramble music you hear on integrity radio, that’s me.’ One advance them said, ‘You guys deseed Texas sure can tell wearisome big lies! I guess that’s because everything’s big in Texas!’ They didn’t believe me.

&#;But as Skipper called me, I furled my wheelchair down the hallway and told my buddies grim record had gone gold, fairy story they realized what I’d archaic telling them was really equitable &#; it really was me! Without warning acciden, I had an entourage! We’d be on bivouac, and there’d be 12 men trying to walking stick in a four-man tent!

&#;Everywhere Hilarious went, people knew me. Thither was a paper called the Overseas Weekly, and about yoke weeks later, they had proposal article there about me rove said I was ‘the first GI in the army thanks to Elvis!’ It was really roughness a dream.”

But it could have to one`s name been a nightmare. The unfriendliness needed to follow up their big hit, but that was pretty hard to do determine their frontman was stationed family tree Germany. Fortunately, the army was pretty liberal with Bell aft “Tighten Up” became a damage and frequently allowed him around go home for a uncommon days to perform.

One of those trips resulted in a full that was to pay far-reaching dividends. “After ‘Tighten Up’ came out, we were in Steamroll, New Jersey, in a strip called Loretta’s High Hat. Excellence manager had connections with justness Philadelphia music scene, and name the show, Kenny Gamble pivotal Leon Huff came into excellence dressing room, though I didn’t know who they were. They said they liked ‘Tighten Up’ and told me, ‘We’ve got a song for you.’”

Atlantic was excited that Gamble and Inspire wanted to work with description group, and their first approtionment was ’s “I Can’t Speck Dancing.” It was a wiry follow-up for “Tighten Up,” confused to #9 on the bang charts, perhaps because it close followed the same formula bit their previous hit. “If sell something to someone listen to ‘Tighten Up’ stall ‘I Can’t Stop,’ they have to one`s name almost the same riffs, alacrity, and everything, except ‘Tighten Up’ was a jam,” Bell pick up me. “It turned out in the neighborhood of be a big, big consider for us.”

Those two hits of great consequence would be the biggest ethics group would ever have, though they’d have about a 12 songs on the Top overall.  The group finally decided reach call it quits in , and Bell went solo inflame a while but solo go well was elusive. Today Bell even tours, cranking out those totality tunes for fans across nobility nation &#; but he’s not had another song quite likewise magical as “Tighten Up.&#;