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Neil Cox
"You Make Me Feel Brand New" is a 1974 single by the Philadelphia soul group The Stylistics. An R&B ballad, the song was written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed.[3]
Background and composition
According to a Thom Bell interview for Record Collector :
"When Creed broke one of their golden songwriting rules by mentioning religion (“God bless you”) in You Make Me Feel Brand New, Bell tore a strip off her. He then felt like a heel when she told him that she had written the song about him, and the lyric stayed intact." [4]
Stylistics co-founder, baritone Airrion Love opens the song, then alternates with the falsetto of lead vocalist Russell Thompkins Jr. The song, in a longer five-minute version, had first appeared as a track on the Stylistics' 1973 album, Rockin' Roll Baby, though that version was not released as a single.[3]
Chart performance
"You Make Me Feel Brand New" was the fifth track from their 1974 album, Let's Put It All Together[5] and was released as a single and reached No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks,[3][6] barred from the No. 1 spot by "Billy Don't Be a Hero" by Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods.[7] In addition, it climbed to No. 5 on the Billboard R&B chart.[6] Billboard ranked it as the No. 14 song for 1974.
"You Make Me Feel Brand New" also reached No. 2 (for one week) behind "When Will I See You Again by The Three Degrees on the UK Singles Chart in August 1974.[8] The Stylistics' recording sold over one million copies in the US, earning the band a gold disc[3] The award was presented by the RIAA on May 22, 1974.[3] It was the band's fifth gold disc.[3]
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