Bobby Eli (March 2, 1946 – August 17, 2023) – Telling It Like It Is (1975)
The great guitarist, songwriter and producer who was one of the core original members of MFSB co-wrote this truth-to-power anthem for T.U.M.E.
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Bobby Eli was a multi-talented guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and producer who was one of the core original members of MFSB, the house band for Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International Records. He helped create hundreds of Philly soul and disco records during the 1970s, and co-wrote classics including the Main Ingredient’s “Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely” and “Sideshow” by Blue Magic.
See our earlier post on Bobby Eli for more on his musical career.
Born in North Philadelphia, Eli Tatarsky’s Jewish family stayed in the neighborhood as more and more Black families moved into that part of the city, even as many whites left. “All my buddies were Black,” said Eli in an early 00s interview for John A. Jackson’s excellent 2004 book A House on Fire: The Rise and Fall of Philadelphia Soul. “All my experiences were Black. And when I started getting into music, that was Black, too.”
Eli first met Leon Huff in 1961, and Kenny Gamble in 1963. He was holding down a steady gig as the guitarist at a West Philly bar, and Gamble, who wanted to become a singer at the time, lived around the corner. As Eli remembered:
“He used to come in there all the time to get up on the stage and sing a number. There were like two or three that were his favorites, that he would sing all the time. (He liked that Eli) could do all the songs and knew all the changes. He did that so much that we started hangin’ out.”
One evening in 1965, when Eli was at Huff’s place rehearsing a vocal group, Gamble called on the phone and Huff told him about “this bad white dude over here playin’ a guitar.” When they both realized they knew Eli, they decided he needed to be in the future rhythm section that would back the records they planned to make together.
Unbeknown to them, Eli was already playing with that soon-to-be legendary rhythm section. Bassist Ronnie Baker showed up at one of Eli’s early gigs, and they began talking. Soon they were playing together at Eli’s house. When Baker told his girlfriend they were looking for another guitarist, she mentioned that her brother Norman Harris could play. The three of them began jamming in 1963.
Local producer Weldon McDougal spotted Eli with his guitar one day and invited him to come by Virtue Studios, where he met session drummer Earl Young. Starting around 1965, Eli, Baker, Harris and Young were regularly playing together. By the end of the decade, they would be writing and producing songs with each other, and working as the core of the backing band for Gamble and Huff’s growing number of productions.
But before that, Eli produced several records with other collaborators. In 1967, he and fellow songwriters Erwin Gripman and Jeff Prusan co-wrote and co-produced the upbeat jam “Action Speaks Louder Than Words” for Philly soul singer James Bounty, b/w “Rags to Riches” and released on Compass Records. Later that year, along with Ross Matico the same team co-wrote and produced another single for Bounty, the stellar “Prove Yourself A Lady” b/w “Life Will Begin Again.” It was destined to become a Northern Soul anthem, and original copies today sell for hundreds of dollars on Discogs.
The following year in 1968, they co-wrote and produced a pair of heartfelt songs for the Universals, “New Lease On Life” and “Without Friends” on the B-side, issued on Modern Records. In 1970, Eli and songwriters/producers Len Barry and John Madara (the latter who originally had Huff under contract as a songwriter until Gamble and Huff bought out that contract in 1968) co-wrote two proto-disco classics for George Tindley, “Wan-Tu-Wah-Zuree” b/w “Pity The Poor Man.” They were co-produced by Barry and Madara and released on Wand. Five years later, as the disco movement was exploding into the mainstream, Tom Moulton remixed extended versions of both songs for Scepter Records’ 1975 Disco Gold compilation.
Bobby Eli and Weldon McDougal, 1975
Eli put together an exceptionally talented group called T.U.M.E. (The Ultimate Musical Experience) and produced and arranged their self-titled debut LP in 1975.
Vocalists were Lois Brown and Susan Grindell, with additional vocals by guitarist Chuck Bynum and drummer Howard Huntsberry. Brown sang lead on one of the LP’s singles, the album’s stellar opening cut “I Got Everything I Need,” written by Victor Thomas.
The band also featured bassist Michael Thomas, James Mims on saxophone, and Richard Jackson on trumpet and trombone. Eli’s fellow MFSB member Ron “Have Mercy” Kersey played keyboards and wrote the closing cut instrumental “One On One.”
The album’s masterpiece was arguably the truth-to-power message song “Telling It Like It Is,” co-written by Eli and his frequent songwriting partner Vinnie Barrett (aka Gwendolyn Hines Woolfolk), with lines like “Need a system change...can it be arranged?” and this powerful verse:
"Tell how many soldiers really died in Vietnam...and the ones surviving who can't find a decent job...while the cost of living's taking every dime you got...man you call this living when you know the system's shot!"
Sadly, Eli suffered a major stroke several years ago, and last summer died from its complications. He was 77 and greatly missed by all who knew and loved him, but the music he helped create will live on forever.
Happy Heavenly Birthday to the great Bobby Eli.
Further info:
“Bobby Eli Makes His Home in Heaven at age 77,” by John Luongo, JohnLuongoMusic.com, August 18, 2023.
“Bobby Eli, guitarist, songwriter, cofounder of Philadelphia International Records' MFSB,” obituary, Philadelphia Inquirer, August 20, 2023.
“Philadelphia International session guitarist Bobby Eli,” by Felix Hernandez, WBGO, August 26, 2023.
“Remembering Producer, Songwriter & Musician Bobby Eli,” slideshow, The National R&B Music Society, October 12, 2023.
#soul #funk #disco #MFSB #TSOP #PIR #BobbyEli
That was so dope!