Thom Bell (born January 26, 1943) is a Jamaican-born American songwriter, arranger and producer, best known as one of the creators of the Philadelphia style of soul music in the 1970s. (More from Wikipedia)
In the late 1960’s, Mikki Farrow was in a group called the Producers with Karl Chambers, Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, Roland Chambers, Thom Bell, and Win Wilford. They released one single on Huff Puff Records (named for Leon Huff, and having a simply adorable label), “Love is Amazing” b/w “Lady, Lady, Lady”. Mikki provides lead vocals and co-wrote “Love is Amazing” with Kenny Gamble and Thom Bell; while “Lady, Lady, Lady” is a gorgeous instrumental version of a Dee Dee Sharp song, “What Kind of Lady”.
Writing for funky16corners.com, Larry Grogan writes: “‘Love is Amazing’ is one of those records that has everything going for it, from top-shelf songwriting (Kenny Gamble, [Mikki] Farrow and Thom Bell), fantastic production (Gamble/Huff) and a fantastic lead vocal by Farrow (I suspect that Gamble is the supporting male vocalist). The record, matching superb melody and hooks with enough rhythmic heat for the dancers, ought to have been a hit, instead of the footnote that it is.”
(July 2014)
