Richard Knight (born May 31, 1939) – Hurry, Don’t Linger (1968)

This phenomenal jam was the debut single from Detroit vocal group and songwriting team Brothers of Soul, co-produced with Motown Funk Brother Mike Terry.

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Richard Knight is a singer/songwriter and producer who sang with the Starfires in the late 1950s, was half of the Knight Brothers duo in the mid-60s, and then became a member of the Detroit-based vocal group and prolific songwriting team Brothers of Soul.

Born Richard Dunbar, Knight got his start singing with local church choirs in Washington, D.C. during the early fifties. He began using his stage name when he and his friend Jimmy Diggs helped form the doo-wop group the Starfires later that decade. They toured the East Coast, cut one single for Decca in Nashville, but broke up before long. A chance encounter on a bus between Knight and Diggs in 1962 led them to start a duo together, billed as the Knight Brothers.

They moved to New York City in 1963 and recorded their debut single with producers Bert Berns and Herb Cohen, the energetic jam “Love (Can't You Hear Me).” It was released on Chess Records’ subsidiary Checker.

The Knight Brothers released a couple more singles but were without a hit until 1965, when their mellow slow jam “Temptation 'Bout To Get Me” went to #12 R&B and #70 on the Billboard Hot 100. They followed it up with more singles for Checker and later Mercury, but didn’t climb the charts again and split up in 1968.

Knight’s day job at this point was working at a Dodge assembly plant in Detroit, where he met another singer/songwriter named Fred Bridges who had been writing for local groups and had recorded as a solo artist. Knight and Bridges began writing songs together for Detroit’s La Beat label. One of their first collaborations was a single for Al Williams, the superb jam “I Am Nothing” which was destined to become a Northern soul classic.

The two of them soon crossed paths with songwriter and producer Robert “Bobby” Eaton, who joined their songwriting team. They named themselves the Brothers of Soul.

After signing with Zodiac Records owner Ric Williams, they started writing and producing several dozen soul and funk songs for artists on Zodiac, Williams’ other labels, and various side projects. One of the singers they worked with the most was the great Ruby Andrews. See our earlier posts on Andrews for more on songs they wrote for her, including the stellar “You Made A Believer Out Of Me.”

Ruby Andrews (born March 12, 1947) – You Made A Believer Out Of Me (1969)

Williams set up a Detroit-based subsidiary for them called Boo Records, and they released records on Boo as the Brothers of Soul. Their 1968 debut single was the phenomenal jam “Hurry, Don’t Linger” b/w “Can't Get You Off Of My Mind.” Bridges, Knight and Eaton co-wrote both sides, and Bridges and Knight co-produced them along with Motown Funk Brother saxophonist Mike Terry, Jack Ashford’s partner in Pied Piper Productions.

Another of the first artists Bridges, Knight and Eaton wrote for on Zodiac were the Creations, penning the stellar, haunting “Footsteps” (1967) which was the B-side to “A Dream.” Both sides were again co-produced by Knight, Bridges, and Terry.

In 1970, Knight ran afoul of the law and was replaced as the lead singer in Brothers of Soul by Ben Knight (no relation), which broke up their songwriting team. He later served time in New York state but after his release kept performing on the doo wop and oldies circuit for the next four decades.

Happy 85th Birthday to the great Richard Knight.

Further info:

“Musical Episode #058 : 45s from The Knight Brothers Universe,” Musical Episode.

#soul #funk #Detroit #KnightBrothers #BrothersOfSoul #RichardKnight