Al Goodman (March 31, 1943 – July 26, 2010) – What's Your Name (1974)

The Moments bass vocalist co-wrote this beautiful slow jam with fellow member Harry Ray plus Walter Morris of All Platinum Records house band the Rimshots.

Apr 01, 2024

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Al Goodman was a singer/songwriter and bass vocalist who sang with the Moments, the group that later changed their name to Ray, Goodman & Brown and went to #1 R&B with their 1980 hit “Special Lady,” co-written by Goodman.

Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Willie Albert Goodman moved to New York City when he was nineteen. In 1968, he was hired to work for Joe and Sylvia Robinson’s All Platinum Records in Englewood, New Jersey as a singer/songwriter and production assistant. They put him in a new lineup of a vocal trio called the Moments, who had already released their debut single on the label’s Stang Records subsidiary.

With Goodman on bass vocals, new falsetto-voiced lead singer Billy Brown, and original member John Morgan, the Moments began putting out a string of hit R&B singles. The first was “Sunday” (1969) b/w the superb slow jam “Somebody Loves You, Baby,” with the order of the sides flipped on some pressings. The B-side’s title evoked the Delfonics’ beautiful “Somebody Loves You” which was released the previous year as one of that group’s B-sides, co-written by Thom Bell and William “Poogie” Hart. Yet the Moments’ song was not a rip off, but a masterpiece in its own right, and the single hit #13 R&B.

The following year, they scored the biggest hit of their time as the Moments with “Love on a Two Way Street.” It reached #1 R&B in May, 1970, and crossed over to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1971, Goodman produced their beautiful love anthem “To You With Love,” which he co-wrote with songwriters Tyrone Johnson and Sharon Seiger, the pseudonym for All Platinum staff writer Susan Phillips aka Sharon Soul. It peaked at #36 R&B.

New Moments member Harry Ray along with Goodman and Sylvia Robinson co-wrote and co-produced their #3 R&B slow jam “Sexy Mama” (1974) which they memorably performed on Soul Train.

Goodman co-wrote songs for other All Platinum artists including Sylvia herself. In 1973, he co-wrote her hypnotic seduction jam “Didn’t I” which went to #21 R&B with the anti-war anthem “Had Any Lately” on the flip. The following year Goodman, Ray, and Sylvia co-wrote and co-produced her stellar “Sweet Stuff” (1974) which reached #16 R&B and became the title track to her 1975 album.

Eleanore Mills’ phenomenal cut “The Same Routine” was co-written by Goodman and Ray along with lead guitarist Walter Morris of the All Platinum house band the Rimshots. It appeared on her rare, highly sought after album This Is Eleanore Mills (1974), released on All Platinum subsidiary Astroscope. Co-produced by Goodman and Ray along with Sammy Lowe Jr. and Rimshots rhythm guitarist Tommy Keith, original copies today sell for an average of $250 on Discogs.