New Birth

New Birth , sometimes The New Birth , is an American radio - and R & B - band that was active in the 1970s. The group had ten hits each in the album and single charts, twelve albums and 18 singles made the jump into the R&B charts. The most successful were the album Birth Day and the I Can Understand It from 1973, as well as the single Dream Merchant from 1975.

biography

Leslie and Melvin Wilson were gospel singers in Muskegon , Michigan before moving to Detroit in the late 1960s and joining the funk band The Nite-Liters. Through Anne Bogan of The Marvelettes , they met R&B producer Harvey Fuqua .

Fuqua, Motown songwriter and producer Vernon Bullock and music industry veteran Tony Churchill formed the band New Birth. The group, whose name symbolizes a new sound and a beginning, consisted of members of the Nite-Liters, the male vocal quartet Now Sounds and the female quartet Mint Juleps as well as the singer Alan Frye. Together they created the 1969 single Pretty Words Don't Mean a Thing (Lie to Me) and the accompanying debut album The New Birth, which followed in 1970 . A little later, the members of the trio Love, Peace & Happiness also joined New Birth.

In the 1970s, nine studio albums made it into the pop charts and eleven long players made it onto the R&B charts. The most successful was Birth Day , which climbed to number 1 on the R&B album charts in 1973, the accompanying single I Can Understand It rose to number 4. It's Been a Long Time reached number 9 in 1974, and Dream Merchant even reached number 1 on the R&B hit list in 1975 . The singles K-Jee and It's Impossible (1971), Wildflower (1974) and The Mighty Army (1978) made it into the R&B top 20 four times.

In 1977 Leslie and Melvin Wilson left New Birth, in 1979 the remaining members disbanded the band. In 1994 the Wilsons re-formed the group and toured the United States again.

Members

• Leslie Wilson (Muskegon, Michigan) - vocals , percussion
• Melvin Wilson (Muskegon, Michigan) - vocals, percussion, songwriting
• Allen Frey (Louisville, Kentucky) - vocals, percussion
• Jerry Bell (Philadelphia) - vocals
• James Baker (Louisville, Kentucky) - vocals, piano , keyboards , percussion, songwriting
• Londee Wiggins (Louisville, Kentucky) - vocals, percussion, songwriting
• Robert Jackson (Louisville, Kentucky) - trumpet , percussion, vocals, songwriting
• Carl McDaniel (Dayton, Ohio) - guitar
• Charles Hearndon (Detroit, Michigan) - guitar
• Leroy Taylor (Louisville, Kentucky) - guitar
• Austin Lander (Louisville, Kentucky) - saxophone
• Tony Churchill (Louisville, Kentucky) - saxophone
• Robin Russell (Los Angeles, California) - drums , percussion
• Nate Neblett (Louisville, Kentucky, * in Nashville, Tennessee) - drums

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	R&B
1971	Morning, Noon & the Nite-Liters	US167 (13 weeks) US	R&B31 (12 weeks) R&B	Instrumental album as The Nite-Liters
	Ain't No Big Thing, but It's Growing	US189 (2 weeks) US	R&B50 (2 weeks) R&B	Recording: RCA ’s Mid-America Recording Center
1972	Coming together	-	R&B40 (4 weeks) R&B
	Instrumental Directions	US198 (2 weeks) US	R&B41 (3 weeks) R&B	Instrumental album as The Nite-Liters
1973	Birth Day	US31 (29 weeks) US	R&B1 (29 weeks) R&B
	A-nal-y-sis	-	R&B34 (8 weeks) R&B	as The Nite-Liters
1974	It's been a long time	US50 gold (31 weeks)US	R&B7 (44 weeks) R&B
	Comin 'from all ends	US56 (15 weeks) US	R&B20 (18 weeks) R&B
1975	Blind baby	US57 (17 weeks) US	R&B17 (15 weeks) R&B
1976	Love Potion	US168 (4 weeks) US	R&B22 (12 weeks) R&B
1977	Behold the Mighty Army	US164 (6 weeks) US	R&B28 (12 weeks) R&B	feat. Leslie Wilson

More albums

• 1970: The Nite-Liters (as The Nite-Liters)
• 1970: The New Birth
• 1972: Different Strokes (as The Nite-Liters)
• 1976: Reincarnation
• 1976: The New Birth Disco
• 1976: Love Potion
• 1979: Platinum City
• 1982: I'm Back

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	R&B
1975	The Best of the New Birth	US175 (2 weeks) US	R&B45 (5 weeks) R&B

More compilations

• 1988: Golden Classics
• 1995: The Very Best of the New Birth Inc.
• 1998: Wild Flowers: Best of the New Birth
• 2001: Greatest Funk Classics

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		US	R&B
1971	K-Jee Morning, Noon & the Nite-Liters	US39 (16 weeks) US	R&B17 (13 weeks) R&B	as The Nite-Liters
	It's Impossible Ain't No Big Thing, but It's Growing	US52 (9 weeks) US	R&B12 (14 weeks) R&B
1972	Afro-Strut Instrumental Directions	US49 (8 weeks) US	R&B24 (9 weeks) R&B	as The Nite-Liters
	I Don't Want to Do Wrong Coming Together	-	R&B41 (3 weeks) R&B
	Unh Song Coming Together	-	R&B45 (2 weeks) R&B
1973	I Can Understand It Birth Day	US35 (13 weeks) US	R&B4 (12 weeks) R&B
	Until It's Time for You to Go Birth Day	US97 (3 weeks) US	R&B21 (10 weeks) R&B
1974	It's Been a Long Time It's Been a Long Time	US66 (6 weeks) US	R&B9 (17 weeks) R&B
	Wildflower Golden Classics	US45 (9 weeks) US	R&B17 (13 weeks) R&B
	I Wash My Hands of the Whole Damn Deal, Part I.	US88 (3 weeks) US	R&B46 (9 weeks) R&B
1975	Comin 'from All Ends Comin' from All Ends	-	R&B76 (8 weeks) R&B
	Granddaddy (Part 1) Blind Baby	US95 (3 weeks) US	R&B28 (9 weeks) R&B
	Dream Merchant Blind Baby	US36 (11 weeks) US	R&B1 (16 weeks) R&B
1976	Fallin 'in Love - Part I Love Potion	-	R&B51 (6 weeks) R&B
	The Long and Winding Road Love Potion	-	R&B91 (5 weeks) R&B
1977	Deeper Behold the Mighty Army	-	R&B65 (10 weeks) R&B
1978	The Mighty Army Behold the Mighty Army	-	R&B19 (7 weeks) R&B
1979	I Love You Platinum City	-	R&B28 (11 weeks) R&B

More singles

• 1969: Pretty Words Don't Mean a Thing (Lie to Me)
• 1971: Honeybee
• 1972: Come Back into My Life
• 1972: Two Kinds of People (I Am)
• 1973: Oh, baby, I Love the Way
• 1974: Comin 'from All Ends
• 1974: What'll I Do
• 1975: Do It Again
• 1976: We Are All God's Children
• 1978: How Will I Live
• 1982: Kute Girls

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: US
2. ↑ ^{a b} The Billboard album by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .
3. ↑ ^{a b c} gold / platinum database US
4. ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .
5. ^ Joel Whitburn: Hot R&B Songs. Billboard 1942-2010. 6th edition. Record Research Inc., Menomonee Falls 2010, pp. 479f.

Web links

• New Birth at Allmusic (English)
• New Birth at Discogs (English)
• Nite liter at Discogs (English)