MFSB

Mother Father Sister Brother was Philadelphia International's house band, though calling them a "band" undersells their significance. They were the Sound of Philadelphia made flesh: bassist Ronnie Baker, drummer Earl Young, and guitarist Norman Harris forming the B-H-Y rhythm section that played on virtually every Philadelphia International hit, surrounded by rotating members including vibraphonist Vincent Montana Jr., percussionist Larry Washington, and a horn section that could shift from tight funk punctuation to sweeping orchestral soul. An intensely talented pool of session musicians and orchestra players, they worked together six days a week, could communicate through glances and subtle cues. "We were writing and arranging every day, sometimes three and four arrangements a day within hours," as Thom Bell recalled of the PIR era. "We never thought about how hard it was." By 1973, MFSB had become Philadelphia International's not-so-secret weapon. Their debut album that year spotlighted them as composers and arrangers in their own right, and "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)"—featuring The Three Degrees on vocals—became Soul Train's theme song and climbed to number one, an unprecedented achievement for an instrumental track. The extended groove and orchestral build of tracks like "Love Is the Message" provided a template that would influence disco, house music, and every groove-based genre that followed. They recorded at Sigma Sound between sessions for vocal acts, capturing a chemistry that came from constant collaboration. The feeling in those recordings wasn't just about sound—it was unmistakable, music that captured Philadelphia so perfectly the songs resonate today just as much as they did in the seventies.

Featured in

Discography