Editing The Stylistics (section)

===Changing style: Continuing international success===
Thom Bell stopped working with the Stylistics in 1974,<ref name="AMG"/> and the split proved commercially difficult for the group in the U.S. They struggled to find the right material, although their partnership with label owners [[Hugo & Luigi]] as producers and arranger [[Van McCoy]] started well, with "Let's Put It All Together" (No. 18 pop, No. 8 R&B) and "Heavy Fallin' Out" (No. 4 R&B, No. 41 pop). Later singles were notably less successful, but as U.S. success began to wane, their popularity in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom, increased.<ref name="AMG"/> Indeed, the lighter 'pop' sound fashioned by McCoy and Hugo & Luigi gave the group a U.K. [[Chart-topper|No. 1]] in 1975 with "[[Can't Give You Anything (But My Love)]]".<ref name="AMG"/><ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book
| first= David
| last= Roberts
| year= 2006
| title= British Hit Singles & Albums
| edition= 19th
| publisher= Guinness World Records Limited
| location= London
| isbn= 1-904994-10-5
| page= 537}}</ref> Further success with "Sing Baby Sing", "Na Na Is the Saddest Word", "Funky Weekend" and "[[Can't Help Falling in Love]]" continued the group's European popularity.<ref name="AMG"/><ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums"/> The Stylistics recorded "Disco Baby", "Love is the Answer" and "16 Bars" also. They are one of the few U.S. acts to have two chart-topping [[Greatest hits album|greatest hits]] albums in the U.K.<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums"/>

The Stylistics switched record labels during this period as Avco Records transitioned into [[H & L Records|H&L Records]] in 1976.<ref name="AMG"/> Notwithstanding this, the band began to struggle with increasingly weak material, and although the singles and albums came out as before, by 1978 chart success had vanished; even a move to Mercury in 1978, for two albums produced by Teddy Randazzo, failed to produce any major success. Russell Thompkins Jr. wrote (in the sleevenotes for the re-issue of the 1976 album, ''Fabulous'') that the group began to feel that the music they were recording was becoming dated, and not in keeping with the popular [[disco]] sound of the late 1970s.

In 1979, they had a small part in the movie ''[[Hair (film)|Hair]]'', directed by [[Miloš Forman]], where they play conservative army officers. They double [[Nell Carter]] in singing a song called "White Boys".