Who was Thom Bell? Tributes pour in as Grammy-winning producer dies aged 78

Well-known singer, songwriter, record producer, and musician Thom Bell passed away on December 22 at the age of 79. The news was disclosed by his attorney Michael Silver.

Musician Gail Ann Dorsey expressed her grief on a social media post featuring Bell’s picture. Gail disclosed in the post that she was raised in West Philly in the '60s and '70s when Bell was reigning over the music industry. She said that he was the reason why she decided to pursue a career in music, and ended the post by writing:

Record producer and composer Nile Rodgers also shared a picture of Bell and said that he sends his condolences to Bell’s family and friends. He continued:

Bell’s cause of death has not been revealed yet, but his publicist confirmed that he passed away at his residence in Bellingham, Washington.

"Father of the Philly soul sound": Netizens pay tribute on Twitter

Thom Bell gained recognition all these years for his flawless work as a musician. Twitter was flooded with tributes when people heard about his demise:

Thom Bell became popular as an arranger and composer

Born on January 26, 1943, he joined Cameo Records at the initial stage of his career and worked on a few songs for the vocal group, The Delfonics. He also arranged for several artists from the music industry.

Bell worked for the musical group, The Stylistics, during the '70s. He released three albums in collaboration with lyricist Linda Creed and singer Russell Thompkins. Jr. Thom and Linda worked on several other singles that received decent feedback from the audiences.

Thom then joined the rhythm and blues vocal group, The Spinners. With his help, the group released five albums that were certified gold. He collaborated with Dionne Warwick on a song called Then Came You, which topped the Billboard charts.

Bell worked on a few tracks with Deniece Williams, James Ingram, Elton John, and a few others. His collaborations led to the release of several hit singles like It’s Gonna Take a Miracle, I Don’t Have the Heart, The Thom Bell Sessions, and more.

Across his entire career, Thom produced 27 singles with different bands and artists. This includes Pass Me By, La-La (Means I Love You), You Are Everything, I’ll Be Around, I’m Doing Fine Now, Rockin’ Roll Baby, Mighty Love (Part I), Mama Can’t Buy You Love, and more.

About the author

Anupal is a pop culture writer at Sportskeeda with a degree in Political Science. He developed a keen interest in the lives of celebrities, films, TV shows, and box office collections since an early age. After accumulating significant experience as a content writer across varied fields at companies such as The Indian Wire, DigiStatement, and QuirkyByte Media, he eventually settled on writing about his favorite genre - pop culture.

Anupal believes in conducting in-depth research while writing about any topic and relies on varied sources to ensure he produces holistic articles. He also often glances through content that was published in the 80s and 90s to gain a better understanding of the subject he is covering.

Anupal admires Robert Downey Jr., who played one of his favorite Marvel superheroes, Iron Man. He is inspired by the actor's resilience and the determination in overcoming past struggles to building a successful Hollywood career and admires the way he articulates his thoughts while speaking in interviews.

If Anupal could travel back in time, he would love to experience James Cameron's 2009 film 'Avatar' in a theatre full of fans. When he's not busy working, he binges on the latest OTT titles across languages.

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