*In a new interview with The Guardian, the Stylistics fondly recall how they made their hit “You Make Me Feel Brand New,” and their early days touring with the legendary James Brown.
As the group’s popularity grew with each performance, they noticed a surprising shift — the Godfather of Soul himself began cutting their stage time. With his commanding presence, Brown likely felt the group was beginning to overshadow him, yet he couldn’t deny their undeniable talent.
“Everything happened so fast for us. We did a tour opening for James Brown, and in the US South we saw the remnants of segregation – they’d painted over the separate signs on bathrooms for black and white people, but you could see them beneath,” said singer Airrion Love. “I think James liked us. When we first opened for him, we got 20 minutes. Then when he heard the crowd respond to us, he cut it down to 15. By the end of the tour, he’d cut us to five. He knew we were good.”
Songwriter and producer Thom Bell created “You Make Me Feel Brand” with lyricist Linda Creed. Stylistics singer Herb Murrell said, “Thom and Linda were a songwriting partnership made in heaven. Linda was in her late 20s, not that much older than us. But she could take a simple phrase like “I love you” and turn it into a story. I don’t know whether it’s true that she wrote You Make Me Feel Brand New just after getting engaged, but she sang it to us with Thom playing piano and suggested the two separate lead vocals,” he explained.
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“By the time a song reached us, Thom had everything in his mind and would play the piano, creating the recordings with the musicians called MFSB – Mother Father Sister Brother. While he was recording the rhythm section, he’d already know what the horns or violin were going to do. The moment we walked in the studio, it was down to business,” Murrell continued.
He added, “The strange thing with You Make Me Feel Brand New is that, although it got amazing responses from audiences whenever we performed it, our label thought it was too long to be a single. We kept knocking at their door and eventually, someone must have said: “These guys are right.” So they shortened it for radio. When we sing it now, 50 years later, fans respond to it like it was just yesterday.”
The Stylistics are on tour in the UK until November 30.
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