Never before released Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes gem comes out of the vault

Share this article

    (August 19, 2021) There weren’t many R&B groups that had a bigger decade in the 1970s than Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. With #1 hits like “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” and “The Love I Lost,” the quintet, with the great Teddy Pendergrass up front, delivered Philly soul to the world with aplomb.

    Things got leaner for The Blue Notes after Pendergrass’s 1977 departure, but Harold Melvin soldiered on with the group, continuing to record independently into the 1990s.

    Back in 1996 (the year before Melvin died), the group went into the studio with songwriter and producer McKinley Horton (Cashmere, Eugene Wilde) to record the Gospel song “Pray Before You Start Your Day,” featuring Iziaiah James. The song that has remained in the vaults for a quarter century.

    (August 19, 2021) There weren’t many R&B groups that had a bigger decade in the 1970s than Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes. With #1 hits like “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” and “The Love I Lost,” the quintet, with the great Teddy Pendergrass up front, delivered Philly soul to the world with aplomb.

    Things got leaner for The Blue Notes after Pendergrass’s 1977 departure, but Harold Melvin soldiered on with the group, continuing to record independently into the 1990s.

    Back in 1996 (the year before Melvin died), the group went into the studio with songwriter and producer McKinley Horton (Cashmere, Eugene Wilde) to record the Gospel song “Pray Before You Start Your Day,” featuring Iziaiah James. The song that has remained in the vaults for a quarter century.

    “Pray Before You Start Your Day” is now being released in two mixes, and it is a nice addition to the Blue Notes discography. Check it the brand new music video for the song below, and enjoy hearing this lost gem from Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes.

    Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
    “Pray Before You Start Your Day”