They had their first
U.S. hit in
1971 with "You're a Big Girl Now".
Signing to
Avco Records, The Stylistics began working with
producer Thom Bell, who had already produced a catalogue of hits for
The Delfonics, and
songwriter Linda Creed. Bell imported the sweet
soul techniques he had perfected with The Delfonics, and his
arrangements worked perfectly with Thompkins'
falsetto. The bittersweet
lyrics from Creed were a key factor in creating hugely memorable
music.
Their hits - distilled from three
albums - from this period included "
Betcha by Golly Wow!", "I'm Stone in Love with You", "You Make Me Feel Brand New" featuring a double lead with Love, "
Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" and "
You Are Everything". "You Make Me Feel Brand New" was the group's biggest U.S. hit, holding at #2 for two weeks in the spring of
1974, and was one of five U.S.
gold singles the Stylistics collected. The Stylistics' smooth sound also found an easier path onto
adult contemporary airwaves than other soul artists, and the group made
Billboard magazine's Easy Listening singles chart twelve times from 1971 to 1976, with three entries ("Betcha by Golly Wow!," "You Make Me Feel Brand New," and "You'll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart)") reaching the
Top 10.
The group split with Thom Bell in 1974, and the split proved devastating commercially to the group's success in the U.S. Just as with The Delfonics, The Stylistics were to some extent a vehicle for Bell's own creativity. They struggled hard to find producers who could come up with the right material, and partnerships with Hugo & Luigi and
Van McCoy were notably less successful. They left Avco for
H&L Records and the Stylistics' popularity rapidly declined in the U.S. However, just as that success began to wane their popularity in
Europe, and especially the
United Kingdom, increased. Indeed, the lighter 'pop' sound fashioned by Van McCoy and Hugo and Luigi gave the band a UK
Number one in 1975 with "
I Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)". Further successes with "Na Na is the Saddest Word", "Funky Weekend" and "
Can't Help Falling in Love" consolidated the band's European popularity.
Notwithstanding this, the Stylistics began to struggle with what many saw as increasingly weak material after 1976. Although the singles and albums came out as before, chart success vanished. This decline also coincided with the rise of
New Wave in Europe around this time. It was also stated by Russell Thompkins Jnr himself in the re-issue sleevenotes for the 1976 album
Fabulous, that the band began to feel that the music they were recording was becoming increasingly dated, and not in keeping with the emerging
disco sound of the late 1970s.
In
1980, James Dunn departed due to health problems, and James Smith left shortly thereafter. The group continued, recruiting new member Raymond Johnson, and releasing the album
Some Things Never Change, in
1985. Johnson departed shortly afterward, leaving the group a trio. Love, Murrell, and Thompkins continued to tour until 2000, when original lead Thompkins left. Love and Murrell brought in two new members, Harold "Eban" Brown, formerly of the Delfonics, as lead (who sounds amazingly like a young Russell Thompkins), and
tenor Van Fields. The present group is featured live on the
DVD's "The Stylistics Live at the Convention Center" (2006), as well as along with other artists of the
1970s on the DVD "The Big Show."
In 2004, Russell Thompkins, Jr. started a new group, the New Stylistics, with the returning Raymond Johnson, James Ranton, and Jonathan Buckson. They are featured on the DVD "Old School Soul Party Live!," which was part of the
PBS "My Music" series.
t:
never see that again. 
