Billboard Hot Soul Singles – April 6, 1974

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Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye
Enjoy this weekend's Billboard soul top 20 from 1974, counting down from 20 to 1! 😊 It is a special year to me, because 1974 was the year that I discovered pop music. 

The Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart from exactly 50 years ago mainly contains a lot of classic (Motown) soul, with some early disco here and there. Only some lyrics are no longer acceptable in 2024. For instance, Bobby Womack mainly wants a woman to clean the house and prepare delicious food for him and Leon Haywood seems to justify domestic violence by stating that problems should be kept indoors. Ecstasy Pleasure & Pain, Spinners, Billy Paul and MFSB are the representatives of The Sound Of Philadelphia, or Philly Soul for short, the sound that would start the disco craze in years to come. 

The sessions for Diana & Marvin, a duets album by then super stars Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye, started in 1971 and took until the beginning of 1973. Diana Ross told in an early 1973 interview in Blues & Soul magazine that the album, produced by Ashford & Simpson, was to be titled Art & Honey. Motown held the album from being released, because Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye had solo albums ready to be launched. Diana Ross brought out her album Touch Me In The Morning, which coincidentally contained a cover of a Marvin Gaye song, Save The Children, which was part of a medley. Marvin Gaye released his LP Let's Get It On by the end of the summer. Both albums were very successful and both peaked in the top ten. Marvin Gaye's album sold more than three million copies, becoming his best-selling Motown album ever, surpassing his masterpiece What's Going On. Eventually Motown renamed the long-awaited duets album Diana & Marvin and dropped it on October 26, 1973. The LP reached number 26 on the Billboard 200 and number 7 on the R&B albums chart, selling over half a million copies in the United States.

Next up is a new part of Sunny Breeze From The West Coast!

Tracklist:

Tyrone Davis – I Wish It Was Me
Jackson 5 – Dancing Machine
Diana Ross & Marvin Gaye – My Mistake Was To Love You
Ecstasy Pleasure & Pain – I Wouldn’t Give You Up
The Temptations – Heavenly
Eddie Kendricks – Boogie Down
Earth, Wind & Fire – Mighty Mighty
Spinners – Mighty Love
Billy Paul – Thanks For Saving My Life
Leon Haywood – Keep It In The Family
James Brown – The Payback
New Birth – It’s Been A Long Time
Main Ingredient – Just Don’t Want To Be Lonely
Barry White – Honey Please, Can't Ya See
Chi-Lites – Homely Girl
Staple Singers – Touch A Hand, Make A Friend
MFSB Feat. The Three Degrees – TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia)
Bloodstone – Outside Woman
Bobby Womack – Lookin’ For A Love
Gladys Knight & the Pips – Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me

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