The Stylistics

Featuring Airrion Love, Herb Murrell, Jason Sharp, and Barrington Henderson

Thursday, March 12, 2020 at 7:30 PM at SOPAC

The Stylistics were formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1966 from two groups, The Percussions and The Monarchs. When members from each group were drafted for the Vietnam war effort, the remaining members joined forces and changed their name to The Stylistics. The group was then approached by Bill Perry, offering to record a song. Their first song, “You’re a Big Girl Now” was recorded at Virtue Recording Studio in Philadelphia, written by their guitarist at the time, Robert “Doc” Douglas and road manager, Marty Bryant. Before long, the song became a #1 hit in Philadelphia and soon after in other major cities across the U.S.

Interested in promoting the record nationally, Bill Perry contacted Avco Records and made a record deal. Hit veteran producer Tom Bell was hired to produce the group’s first album titled The Stylistics and out of that album came hit songs like “Stop, Look, Listen To Your Heart,” “You Are Everything” and “Betcha By Golly Wow.” The success of this album was phenomenal and the ball continued to roll with the release of their second album Round Two. The Stylistics soon became known as the Philly group with the sweet love songs.

Herbert Murrell and Airrion Love are the remaining original members of The Stylistics. Friends since junior high school, Herb and Airrion have managed to keep the music alive. Their new lead singer, Grammy Award-winning recording artist Barrington “Bo” Henderson, began his professional career with groups such as The Dramatics and Lakeside and later he became the lead singer of world-renowned group, The Temptations. He was featured on The Temptations album Phoenix Rising, which nearly went double platinum. Bo was also on the album Ear-Resistible, helping to win The Temptations a Grammy Award. The Stylistics are honored to welcome Barrington “Bo” Henderson to the group.

Dana Fuchs

Thursday, November 7, 2019 at 7:30 PM at SOPAC Folk in the Loft

Dana Fuchs’ dazzling career began in the early aughts when she ignited the New York club scene with a run of Soul-drenched albums and a voice acclaimed by Classic Rock magazine as “juke-joint dirty and illicit, evoking Joplin, Jagger and a cigarette bobbing in a glass of bourbon.”

It takes a brave artist to rip it up and start again. Anyone who has followed the life and times of Dana Fuchs will know this fearless New Yorker has always broken the boundaries in pursuit of art and truth. She blazed her own trail with her fourth, hotly anticipated album, Love Lives On, on which she bursts defiant from her darkest days with a sound inspired by the siren call of American Soul. “It’s a new beginning for me in every way,” Dana explains. “I’m looking forward to starting chapter two…”

Of course, chapter one was quite a ride. Raised in rural Florida, Dana Fuchs made her mark after a move to New York City, where she ignited Manhattan’s Blues-Rock circuit with her burnt-honey vocals and bruisingly honest songwriting. Meanwhile, her band’s acclaimed studio catalogue grew steadily, with 2011’s Love To Beg toasted as Classic Rock’s Blues album of the month and 2013’s Bliss Avenue dubbed “blisteringly good” by Bluesdoodles.

Now, out of that fascinating early career emerges an older, wiser Dana Fuchs, armed with the album of her life. New label. New city. New sound. New possibilities for an artist who has so far only hinted at her potential. “Love Lives On,” she says, “is who I am at this moment in time, captured on tape…” “This album is all about hope and perseverance,” she says. “It’s a new beginning for me in every way…”