Marshall Thompson (born August 24, 1942) – We Are Neighbors (1971)
Marshall Thompson (born August 24, 1942) – We Are Neighbors (1971)
The last original living member of the Chi-Lites sang on this funky, powerful call for racial unity, co-written by the group's leader Eugene Record.
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Singer and producer Marshall Thompson is the last original living member of the Chi-Lites, whose records were staples of 1970s R&B charts, and continues performing today.
Thompson was born into a musical family on the South side of Chicago. His father played piano for Redd Foxx and Joe Williams at the Apollo and Cotton Club. As a child, his uncle taught him how to play the drums.
In high school, Thompson and his classmate Creadel “Red” Jones sang together in a doo wop vocal group. In 1959, they joined the Hi-Lites, which included lead singer Eugene Record, Robert “Squirrel” Lester, and Clarence Johnson. They changed their name to Marshall & the Chi-Lites in 1966, and the following year settled on the Chi-Lites. Thompson also worked as a drummer for other groups during these years, including Major Lance.
After coming to the attention of producer and talent scout Otis Leavill (who was also a singer/songwriter himself), the Chi-Lites signed with Brunswick Records in late 1968. Their first charting single came a year later, the laid back jam “Give It Away,” which was co-written and produced by Record and producer Carl Davis. It went to #10 R&B, became the title track to their 1969 debut LP and the group was on its way.
Several singles later, the group had not recorded enough new material for an album, but Brunswick decided to rush their next LP into stores in 1970. I Like Your Lovin' (Do You Like Mine?) contained mostly material from their debut LP, with only three brand new tracks. One of them was “Trouble's A Comin',” written and produced by Record. Its lyrical message was subdued, but lines like “Somebody get together, and come on, we gotta make it better” left no doubt that the Chi-Lites had something to say.
The group made their most socially conscious statements on their breakthrough third studio album, (For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People, produced by Record and released in 1971. The superb title track was a #4 R&B hit, and crossed over to #26 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Its follow up single was the stirring call for racial unity “We Are Neighbors.” The track was co-written by Record and the unsung songwriter Quinton Joseph, who drummed for both Curtis Mayfield and MFSB and co-wrote one of the Jones’ Girls all-time funkiest cuts, “Hey Lucinda.”
“We Are Neighbors” was credited to “Eugene Acklin,” which was a pseudonym used by Record on this release and only one other Chi-Lites single, the poetic message song “Yes I'm Ready (If I Don't Get To Go).” Co-written by Record and Revé Gipson, an aspiring songwriter and Capitol Records' first Black publicist, “Yes I'm Ready (If I Don't Get To Go)” told the story of a Black child waiting for a bus that will take them to a desegregated school.
Gipson showed the song’s lyrics to Record following a Chi-Lites performance. It was the opening cut from (For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People, and was also released as the B-side to their biggest single from the album, the #1 R&B / #3 Pop hit “Have You Seen Her.”
Also on (For God's Sake) Give More Power to the People was the beautiful anthem “Love Uprising,” written by Record. It was issued as the B-side to the album’s third single, “I Want to Pay You Back (For Loving Me),” which only reached #35 R&B.
See our earlier post on Otis Leavill and his version of “Love Uprising” (the singer/songwriter and record company executive who discovered the Chi-Lites), for more on the group's history.
Happy Birthday to the last man standing of the Chi-Lites, the great Marshall Thompson.
Further info:
Last Man Standing: The Chi-Lites Featuring Marshall Thompson, by Marshall Thompson and Dane Ladwig, 2014.
“The Chi-Lites – Marshall Thompson on the 50th Anniversary of “A Lonely Man”: Chicago, Perseverance, and Soul’s Golden Age,” by Austin Saalman, Under The Radar, April 28, 2022.
#soul #funk #ChiLites #MarshallThompson
You’re going to love this. Probably.
In 2014 my older sister Kathy was hospitalized at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC). She had paralyzed vocal chords for which she had to undergo a lot of speech therapy; at some point she later had to have an esophageal transplant. Her hospital room was on the 5th floor in the children's wing of the hospital. Which is where she met Marshall Thompson.
They became good friends and both elected to remain on the fifth floor to be with the children. At some point she and Marshall cooked pancakes together to serve the children. Here's a portion of an email she sent me from the RIC, which included a picture of Marshall Thompson and her together:
“This is a picture of me with Marshall Thompson, lead singer/composer for the Chi-Lites, Chicago r&b soul band during the Motown ERA. He has 6 songs on the r&b chart right now, including "Crazy in Love," a song he wrote and gave to Beyonce (vs sold). Marshall had a stroke on a Soul Train cruise and was flown to Chicago/Rehab Institute.
“We performed together for all the children on the children's floor. He led us in the Temptations' "My Girl", I led a spelling bee, and read Messy Penny, a first book by dear friend Roopa Patel Weber.
“Marshall asked me to write in my voice about our experience at RIC. I have, but I feel it is embargoed until the fancy NYC biographer rewrites or does not use. The book entitled "Last Man Standing" is due out in May. Like the other r&b singers of that era, he had a big afro and I hear over 350 performance suits in varying colors with matching hats. One cool dude.
“Just by chance, one of the Temptations --original-- stopped by as Marshall and I were doing our exercises. Can it get any better for a gal who was 25-30 and teaching at [a Virginia boarding school] with a great gang of teacher friends during that period? The performance was part of our speech therapy. The children, ages 8 months to 17, with a wide range of serious disabilities, had a great time. I expected ice cream....nope.”
I’ll send you the picture she to me sent via [Twitter]. She also sent a short video of them in the hospital singing “My Girl” from their hospital beds with the children -- sorry, not sending that because of HIPPA. 😥