In 1971, Philadelphia songwriter-producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff created what soon became one of the most successful black-owned business of the '70s, Philadelphia International. Like Motown had in the Funk Brothers, this phenomenally hot label had its own house band, MFSB. Based in the city's sonically superior Sigma Sound Studios, MFSB featured a largely black rhythm section and predominantly white string and horn sections. The musicians played together so often on the Philadelphia International hits of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, the O'Jays, Billy Paul, Lou Rawls and dozens of others beyond the P.I. stable that they developed an astonishingly uplifting cohesion. MFSB quite literally defined the sound of Brotherly Love.

But unlike the Funk Brothers, MFSB scored monster hits under its own name. The theme song to the hugely popular dance TV show Soul Train, "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" topped the pop, R&B and adult contemporary charts in 1974 — an early confirmation of disco's broad appeal. Repeatedly remixed and reedited, "Love Is the Message" formed the template of countless disco classics with its dramatic shifts in tone and tangible spirit of togetherness, while MFSB's fiery 1975 remake of the Nite-Liters' "K-Jee" sound-tracked the… read more »