Philly Soul

Philly soul, or the Sound of Philadelphia, is a style of soul music developed in the late 1960s and 1970s around producers *Kenneth Gamble*, *Leon Huff* and *Thom Bell*, the label #Philadelphia International# and its house band *MFSB*. It pairs funk-derived rhythm sections — tight drums, wah-wah guitar, electric piano — with lush orchestral arrangements of strings, horns and vibraphone, and smooth group harmony vocals singing songs of romance and social uplift. Sweeter and more polished than contemporary Southern soul, Philly soul dominated Black popular music in the early 1970s, supplied the direct template for disco, and remains foundational to modern R&B.