Gamble & Huff
Kenny Gamble grew up at 15th and Christian in South Philadelphia, self-taught, no formal training at all. Leon Huff was conceived in Camden, New Jersey, with an upright piano waiting for him in the living room—his mother played for church, and he learned by ear, gravitating to the instrument so naturally that his piano teacher told his mother the lessons were a waste of money. By age ten, Huff was already playing really good. When they met at Scribner's Record Shop in 1964, they recognized complementary talents: Gamble's gift for street-level storytelling and Huff's sophisticated musical arrangements, that powerful ear trained on his mother's church playing. "We're all friends, we all knew each other," Gamble explained to BMI in 2022. "We all come from the same band, Kenny Gamble & The Rodeos." Their early work together, writing and producing for various labels through the sixties, built toward something bigger. In 1971 they launched Philadelphia International Records as a Black-owned alternative to Motown, backed by CBS distribution. "We never missed a beat," Huff said of their chemistry. "I go to sleep and wake up with music on my mind. Every time I sit down and play it, I have the tape recorder running because there's no telling what I might come up with." The label became the driving force behind 120 albums and over 40 gold and platinum records. Gamble was named BMI Songwriter of the Year in 1970, 1973, 1974 and 1977; Huff in 1974 and 1977. They won five Grammy Awards including the Recording Academy's Trustees Award in 1999, were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994, and received BMI Icon Awards in 2009. It's been reported that one of their songs plays on radio somewhere in the world every 13.5 minutes. Their catalog—"Love Train," "Back Stabbers," "If You Don't Know Me By Now," "Me and Mrs. Jones"—defines an era and continues influencing contemporary artists from Kanye West to Mary J. Blige. "We didn't do it for the money," as Thom Bell said. "We did it for the love for what we were doing."