Today we wish a very Happy Birthday to Marshall Thompson, co-founder, leader and last surviving original member of the legendary group The Chi-Lites, born August 24, 1942.
In the 60s, Smokey Robinson virtually reinvented the sweet soul ballad and paved the way for a number of groups that would make the early 70s a ballad lovers dream era. And no act epitomized that genre more than this hard working group from Chicago.
Like many popular soul groups of the 60s and 70s, the Chi-Lites found each other as teens, singing together and apart in various groups in their native Chicago until joining together as the Hi-Lites in the mid 60s. By the time they signed with the local Brunswick label in the late 60s, they had added a "C" and become the Chi-Lites. The Chi-Lites marriage with Brunswick bore fruit quickly, as they had their first R&B hit in 1968 with the sweet ballad, "Give It Away."
Today we wish a very Happy Birthday to Marshall Thompson, co-founder, leader and last surviving original member of the legendary group The Chi-Lites, born August 24, 1942.
In the 60s, Smokey Robinson virtually reinvented the sweet soul ballad and paved the way for a number of groups that would make the early 70s a ballad lovers dream era. And no act epitomized that genre more than this hard working group from Chicago.
Like many popular soul groups of the 60s and 70s, the Chi-Lites found each other as teens, singing together and apart in various groups in their native Chicago until joining together as the Hi-Lites in the mid 60s. By the time they signed with the local Brunswick label in the late 60s, they had added a "C" and become the Chi-Lites. The Chi-Lites marriage with Brunswick bore fruit quickly, as they had their first R&B hit in 1968 with the sweet ballad, "Give It Away."
While their early Brunswick songs were typical of the Smokey-influenced soul group sound of the late 60s, over time the Chi-Lites developed their own unique sound around the writing and production of lead singer Eugene Record, along with impeccable harmonies of Thompson, Squirrel Lester and Craedel Jones. But the Chi-Lites distinguished themselves from other silky soul groups like the Stylistics and Blue Magic by balancing sweet soul ballads about loneliness and vulnerability with funky thumpers about race relations and social justice like "Give More Power to the People."
The Chi-Lites moved from "soul superstars" to simply superstars in 1972, as two group ballads rocketed to the top of the charts and became among the most memorable songs of the decade. "Have You Seen Her," with its sad opening monologue, took the pop world by storm, only to be topped by the forlorn harmonica lead and impeccable harmonies of the group's most popular song, "Oh Girl."
Personal issues led Jones to leave the group in 1973, but the remaining trio soldiered on. "Homely Girl," "Stoned Out of My Mind," and "Toby" kept the group near the top of the R&B charts, though, by 1975, crossover success had waned and their label, Brunswick, was suffering serious financial difficulties.
Eugene Record left the group in 1976 and released three solid but underrated albums for Warner Brothers. Thompson continued to lead a revamped Chi-Lites line-up through the remainder of the 70s, dropping two surprisingly good albums (Happy Being Lonely and The Fantastic Chi-Lites) without Record's participation.
In 1980, the most popular Chi-Lites lineup, consisting of Record, Thompson, Lester and Jones, reunited and released the Heavenly Body LP. Jones left the group after two more albums, but the remaining members continued on for four more years and several more albums on various labels, with limited chart success, before Record again left the group to pursue a form of ministry.
The Chi-Lites had a big year in 2004. Their early 70s hit, "Are You My Woman," was remade by Beyonce Knowles as the across-the-board hit and Grammy winning, "Crazy In Love." And their 1974 song "That's How Long" was used as the backdrop for one of the cuts on Jay-Z's Black Album. Also, the group reunited with Eugene Record for the March 2004 PBS Soul Music special and they sounded great. Sadly, Record died in July 2005 after a long bout with cancer.
Marshall Thompson and Squirrel Lester continued the Chi-Lites tradition with new members (including Thompson’s wife Tara), recording sporadically and touring unceasingly from the 90s through the 10s with other classic soul groups such as the Stylistics and Ray, Goodman and Brown. Sadly, Lester died in January of 2010, leaving Marshall Thompson the sole remaining founding member of the group. He wrote about the history of the group and his position as its leader in his autobiography, Last Man Standing.
Marshall Thompson also had a health scare in 2014, as he suffered a stroke. While it has affected his ability to walk distances, it has not affected his effervescent personality, which continues along with his performances with a reconstituted version of the group. A well deserved honor for The Chi-Lites happened on September 30, 2021, when Marshall Thompson accepted on behalf of the group a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Marshall Thompson and the Chi-Lites' have left a legacy of great harmonies and classic material that continue to influence today's pop and soul artists and still wow soul music fans after more than a half century.
By Chris Rizik