Dear music lovers,
2021 is a milestone anniversary year for Philadelphia International Records. They are marking 50 years of groundbreaking, dance-floor shaking, chart-topping music!
To celebrate, Legacy Recordings/Sony Music Entertainment has just released an exciting collection of 50 classic recordings from their PIR catalog, and made them available in Player.
The magic began back in 1971 with the label’s inception. Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff – both songwriters and producers in their own right – gathered a vast network of talented and prolific songwriters, producers, engineers and musicians such as Thom Bell, Dexter Wansel, Bobby Martin, MFSB, Joe Tarsia, and more, to help craft some of the most indelible lyrics and melodies of the past half century.
Today their musical output is regarded as some of the finest to ever grace the airwaves (or indeed the grassroots DJ and club scene at the time.) Their trademark sound – combining elements of disco, R&B, soul and funk – became known as “The Sound Of Philadelphia” and it inspired countless other artists, and launched the careers of legends and icons you know and love: The O’Jays, Patti LaBelle, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Billy Paul, Teddy Pendergrass, Lou Rawls, McFadden & Whitehead, The Three Degrees, Phyllis Hyman, The Intruders and many others.
And so, Play MPE is proud and excited to be able to offer a massive and eclectic compendium of PIR recordings, available to listen and download now in *Player!
Additionally, on Wednesday November 17th Legacy Recordings/Sony Music Entertainment will unleash one more surprise: the brand new Teddy Pendergrass x D-Nice remix “The More I Get, the More I Want”. Are you excited?! We sure are!
If you are a tastemaker and are new to Player, you can request access to these recordings and take part in this momentous occasion.
Happy listening!