Kenny Gamble's Enduring Message in His Music
A salute to a producer, songwriter and businessman who dominated the '70s and whose legacy should still inspire
With this Juneteenth Day slowly receding into a new day and various messages floating through social media I found myself looking back to one of the most politically potent and philosophically consistent figures in black music history -- Kenny Gamble, co-producer and lyrical mastermind behind the O'Jays, Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes, Teddy Pendergrass and countless other hits groups of the '70s and '80s. Along with his partners, the gifted keyboardist/arrangers Leon Huff and Thom Bell, he founded Mighty Three Music and, with Huff, one of the great labels, Philadelphia International Records. "The Sound of Philadelphia" this trio created dominated radio for a time in the ‘70s and ushered in the disco era. Gamble was quite adept at sexy love songs and lush dance floor jams, but Gamble had a very pointed black nationalist, up-from-your-bootstraps viewpoint that separated him from Marvin Gaye, Sly and most everyone else. Gil Scott-Heron and Curtis Mayfieldl were Gamble’s only peers in message music, though Gil’s vision was more radical than Gamble’s and Mayfield’s more focused. Heron and Mayfield were basically singer-songwriters. Gamble used his entire artist roster to dissiminate his ideas. For example, every PIR album had a short essay from Gamble that always ended with the phrase "There's a Message in the Music." (Vinyl re-issues have removed them.) The O'Jays were his chief vehicle of expression. "For the Love of Money" was a pop hit, but the that same 'Ship A'hoy' LP had songs about air pollution ("This Air That I Breathe"), people of questionable character ("Don't Call Me Brother") and the nearly ten minute title track about the Middle Passage and slavery. While the 'Family Reunion' LP was anchored by the pop hit "I Love Music" and the sensual ballad "Stairway To Heaven," the albums first two tracks are message music: a song that calls for "Unity" in the black community and the title song, a long song/spoken word piece about the role of men and women in a family. It's not a "progressive" vision of male/female relations, but it is a demand for black men to be responsible fathers at a time when single parent black families were first exploding. Aside from his own writing Gamble encouraged his staff writers to put a message in their music: Gene McFadden & John Whitehead co-wrote Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes's "Wake Up Everybody" plus their own anthem "Ain't Nobody Stoppin' Us Now." Songwriters like Bunny Sigler, Dexter Wansel and Victor Castarphen, all contributed message songs amid the R&B hits that sustained PIR. The apex of this direction was the ‘Let's Clean Up the Ghetto' album. Released in 1977, it features Lou Rawls, Billy Paul, Teddy Pendergrass, the Three Degrees, the Intruders and others backed by the label's tremendous house band MFSB. What makes Gamble's story so inspiring is that when the hits dried up the commitment to black America didn’t. He invested heavily in South Philadelphia, buying blocks of property, opening schools and mosques. Unlike so many black giants who were either ripped off or squandered their money in excess, Gamble reinvested in his community and became a fixture in his hometown. Gamble also played a key role in an sadly short lived organization, the Black Music Association, that attempted to advocate for the music's creators, broadcasters and executives. Issues that came have come up recently about "urban" and financial abuse of black artists were addressed by the BMA, but at the time the will to correct them within the industry wasn't strong enough for real change. I don't believe any other artists/businessman in the grand history of African-American music has been as musically successful, actively engaged in message music, and as smart in putting his musical earnings back into his city. The billionaires of hip hop would be wise to sit down with Gamble and see how its done. But that's not gonna happen. The transference of cross generational information is one of black music's problems as well as in the overall black community. But I do suggest that as we look forward don't forget to glance backwards. There’s a message in the music.