We recently got an early-morning phone call from our friend Weldon Arthur McDougal III. He is the energetic promo man for Philadelphia International Records, the Philadelphia-based, black-owned record company, and he reminded us that once in a conversation with him we had said that, along with Brenda and the Tabulations, Jay and the Techniques, and Martha and the Vandellas, Archie Bell and the Drells, the black singers from Houston, Texas, had the best name for a singing group, and that their two hit songs from the late sixties, “Tighten Up” and “I Can’t Stop Dancing,” had remained in the best-for-dancing category. “Well,” McDougal said, “Archie Bell and the Drells are now with us. They have a new album, and I’m bringing them to town tomorrow to meet New York, and then I’m throwing a party for them at Leviticus.”
At noon the next day, with McDougal, we hopped over to the Statler Hilton hotel, where Archie Bell and the Drells were staying, to get a daylong view of them. McDougal, who
was dressed from head to foot in black, introduced us around—first to Archie Bell and then to Willie Parnell, James Wise, and Lee Bell (Archie’s brother), who make up the Drells. When we were introduced to Archie Bell, he said “Hey, what’s happening, ain’t nothing to it” in one breath. Later, we learned that this is his favorite way of greeting people. We focussed on Archie Bell, because the Drells deferred to him, and because, while the Drells wore a collection of patchwork-denim and polyester outfits, Archie Bell was wearing a smart-looking leisure suit. It was beige, with deep-brown stripes running down the pants legs, and the jacket had darts and tucks that made it fit snugly. After telling us how glad he was to be in New York, he said, “I would like to mention that we have one of the finest tailors in the country. He’s from Houston, Texas, and his name is Johnny Burton. He makes clothes for people like the Temptations and James Brown. He made this suit I am wearing, and he made the suits we are wearing on our album cover—the ones with the little bells all over them.” Then Archie Bell said, “We have been waiting so long to come back. When I had those hit songs ‘Tighten Up’ and ‘I Can’t Stop Dancing,’ I was in the Army, so I couldn’t do any entertaining. When I got out, I was cold. James and Willie and me have been working since we were in high school. We lived in the same neighborhood and went to the same high school. My brother Lee joined the group in 1969. But all the time we didn’t have any hits we were working. We’ve been on the road for three hundred and twenty days out of a year. Sometimes three hundred and fifty.
We worked the South a lot. My mother always told us that we could do anything. She has seven children, all of them boys. You ever heard of Ricky Bell? He is a top college football player, and he is my brother.”
At a quarter to one, McDougal, who had been busy all this time taking pictures, announced that it was time to make the first stop. The first stop was an autographing session at the record store Disc-O-Mat, which was a few blocks away from the hotel, and for the next nine hours this is what Archie Bell and the Drells did: At Disc-O-Mat, they autographed fifty records and about twice that number of publicity stills, and Archie Bell also autographed pictures of Ricky Bell. At a quarter past two, they went to Leviticus for rehearsal. At four o‘clock, they left Leviticus and taxied up to the midtown offices of Cash Box, the music trade magazine, for an interview with a young reporter, who asked them questions like “Do your producers make you feel comfortable in the studio?” and “I’ll confess that I’m a little ignorant about what you guys have been up to, so how about if we kind of clear this up?” On their way out, they met Steve Ostrow, the man who compiles the weekly album charts for Cash Box, and he told them that their new album had just débuted on the charts at No. 183. At five o’clock, the Drells took a taxi to their hotel, and Archie Bell went off to a Nunn Bush shoe store to buy a pair of shoes. At half past six, they were back at Leviticus for the party, wearing the same clothes they had been wearing earlier. There were lots of black people at Leviticus. There were even some easily recognizable black people there. We picked out
Lou Rawls, the singer; David Ruffin, the former lead singer of the Temptations; Don Covay, the important R. & B. singer from the sixties; and Harold Melvin, of Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes. At eight o‘clock, Archie Bell and the Drells disappeared into the dressing rooms at Leviticus to change into their show clothes. At half past eight—show time—they reappeared, and they were quite incredible to see. They were wearing identical white skin-tight jumpsuits that had gold studs and brown bells running down the sides, and tight-fitting white bolero jackets over the jumpsuits, and white platform shoes. They sang most of the songs from their new album, plus “Tighten Up” and “I Can’t Stop Dancing.” The audience was very pleased, and cheered and danced. Archie Bell was very pleased. He said to us,”I could do this all day, all night.”
—February 9, 1976