[edit] The hit years with Philippe Wynne
When The Spinners signed to Atlantic in 1972, they were a respected but commercially unremarkable singing group who had never had a top-ten pop hit -- despite having been a recording act for over a decade. However, under the helm of producer and songwriter Thom Bell, The Spinners would chart five top 100 singles (and two top tens) from their first post-Motown album, The Spinners (1972), and would go on to become one of the biggest soul groups of the 1970s.
The Bobby Smith-led "I'll Be Around", their first top ten hit, was actually the B-side of their first Atlantic single, "How Could I Let You Get Away". Radio airplay for the B-side led Atlantic to flip the single over, with "I'll Be Around" hitting #3 and "How Could I Let You Get Away" reaching #89.
The 1973 follow-up singles "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love" (led by Smith), "One of a Kind (Love Affair)" (led by Wynne), and "Ghetto Child" (led by Wynne) would cement the group's reputation, as well as further that of Bell, a noted Philly soul producer.
Following their Atlantic successes, Motown also issued a "Best of the Spinners" LP which featured selections from their Motown/V.I.P. recordings. They also remixed and reissued the 1970 B-side "Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music" as a 1973 A-side. In the midst of their Atlantic hits, it crawled to number #91 US.
The group's 1974 followup album, Mighty Love, featured three Top 20 hits, "I'm Coming Home," "Love Don't Love Nobody," and the title track. Their biggest hit of the year, however, would be a collaboration with Dionne Warwick, "Then Came You", which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming each act's first number-one hit.
The Spinners would hit the Top 10 twice in the next two years with the Smith-led "They Just Can't Stop It (Games People Play)" (Billboard #5) and the Wynne-led "The Rubberband Man" (Billboard #2). "Games People Play" featured guest vocalist Barbara Ingram, and would lead to a nickname of "12:45" for bass singer Jackson, after his signature vocal line on the song),