The Billboard Book of Number One Rhythm & Blues Hits
The Billboard charts have a currency acknowledged around the world. The Billboard Book of Number One Rhythm & Blues Hits, written by Adam White and Fred Bronson, pays tribute to many of those who helped to create a quarter-century of unimpeachable music: singers, songwriters, musicians, producers and more – even some of the record executives whose hustle delivered the hits and sent them to the soul summit.
“Through hundreds of interviews with the musicians, producers and songwriters involved in the making of such classics as “Respect,” “Rainy Night In Georgia” and “One Nation Under A Groove,” it provides a fascinating insight into the sound of black America”
Excerpt
LET’S DO IT AGAIN
The Staple Singers
Curtom 0109
Writer: Curtis Mayfield
Producer: Curtis Mayfield
November 22, 1975 (2 weeks)
Curtis Mayfield never traded the chill of lakeside Chicago for the warmth of oceanside Los Angeles, but he wrote for Hollywood, all the same.
Superfly was Mayfield’s first movie score — and a gold-plated smash, at that. The 1972 soundtrack album sold a million, topped the pop charts, and spun off a couple of gold singles. His second was successful, too: the Claudine score with Gladys Knight & the Pips.
No surprise, then, that Mayfield should be tapped to write the music for 1975’s Let’s Do It Again, a comedy starring Sidney Poitier (who also directed) and Bill Cosby. “Having had some experience with Superfly and Claudine, I was totally ready to lock in for a movie like that,” Mayfield says. “Of course, the whole idea was to save the movie people a lot of money by not only having a score, but also a soundtrack LP out on the street prior to the movie.”
In addition, the project gave Mayfield a chance to work with the Staple Singers — after his Curtom label lost out to Warner Bros. Records in a contest to sign the group. “We bid on the Staples and lost,” said Marv Stuart at the time, “and ended up producing them.” Stuart was Mayfield’s manager and partner in Curtom Records, which was then distributed by…Warner Bros.
And so Curtis travelled to Hollywood for the making of Let’s Do It Again. He recalls, “They had me come out and showed me their first film, which was Uptown Saturday Night. This was to be the sequel, but it was different enough where you could come totally with your music and create something different. I felt very good with Mavis and Pops and the Staples. You could bring in the love and the feelings and all the sweet things that I knew they would be introducing. It would be something nice they could do, and still have it blend into parts of the movie.”
After their gospel-rooted years at Stax Records, the Staples appeared ready to stretch out. The sisters “had become women,” says Mayfield, “and we could speak totally on the love side. But Pops was always leery at to what type of music and lyrics should be a part for his girls. They being totally brought up in the church, you could understand that. So he was always there. I even wrote a [vocal] part for him.”
The group recorded “Let’s Do It Again” at Curtom’s Chicago studios, with a rhythm section comprising Phil Upchurch and Gary Thompson on guitars, Joseph Scott on bass, Quinton Joseph on drums, and Floyd Morris on keyboards. Mayfield played guitar, too, and the sessions were arranged by Gil Askey, a former Motown stalwart, and Rich Tufo, A&R director at Curtom.
“Let’s Do It Again” proved to be “just perfect” for the Staples, according to Mayfield, and for the film. The single soared to the summit of both the R&B and pop charts in ‘75, and went gold. Did Mayfield expect such a sizeable success? “I loved it so much, I didn’t care,” he says. “Sometimes you just feel that way.”