Editing The Stylistics (section)

===Success: The Bell/Creed years===
After signing to Avco, the record label approached producer [[Thom Bell]], who had already produced a catalogue of hits for [[the Delfonics]], to work with the group.<ref name="Jackson, John A 2004">Jackson, John A (2004). ''A House on Fire: The Rise and Fall of Philadelphia Soul''. USA: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-514972-2}}.</ref> The Stylistics auditioned for Bell, but he was initially unimpressed.<ref name="Jackson, John A 2004"/> He ultimately agreed to produce the group because he believed in the potential of lead singer [[Russell Thompkins, Jr.]]'s distinctive, nasal high tenor and [[falsetto]] voice.<ref name="Jackson, John A 2004"/> Avco gave Bell complete creative control over the Stylistics and he proceeded to focus the group's sound exclusively around Thompkins's voice.<ref name="Jackson, John A 2004"/> On most of the group hits, Bell would have Thompkins sing virtually solo.<ref name="Jackson, John A 2004"/> The first song recorded with Bell and his [[Collaboration|collaborator]], lyricist [[Linda Creed]], was "[[Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)|Stop, Look, Listen]]".<ref>[http://www.souljonespresents.com/heroes_thom.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211182351/http://www.souljonespresents.com/heroes_thom.html|date=February 11, 2009}}</ref>

Their hits from the period which are on three albums included "[[Betcha by Golly, Wow]]" (U.S. No. 3), "[[I'm Stone in Love with You]]", "[[Break Up to Make Up]]" (U.S. No. 5), "[[You Make Me Feel Brand New]]" featuring Thompkins singing a lead vocal duet with Airrion Love, "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)", "[[You Are Everything]]" and the Top 20 pop chart hit "[[Rockin' Roll Baby (song)|Rockin' Roll Baby]]" (U.S. No. 14).  "You Make Me Feel Brand New", the group's biggest U.S. hit, holding at No. 2 for two weeks in 1974, was one of the group's five U.S. [[RIAA certification|gold]] singles.

The Stylistics also found a path on to [[adult contemporary music|adult contemporary]] airwaves, and the group made ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine's Easy Listening singles chart twelve times from 1971 to 1976, with three entries ("Betcha by Golly, Wow", "You Make Me Feel Brand New" and "[[You'll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)#The Stylistics version|You'll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)]]") reaching the Top 10. Every single that Bell produced for the Stylistics was a Top Ten R&B hit, and several—"You Are Everything", "Betcha by Golly Wow!", "I'm Stone in Love with You", "Break Up to Make Up" and "You Make Me Feel Brand New"—were also Top Ten pop chart hits.<ref name="AMG" /> The group also had commercial success with hits with the songs throughout Europe.