Onus Records is proud to be able to present to you this legacy recording group The Gladhanders!
As a vocal group, The Gladhanders had been around in some form or another in Philadelphia since 1961, recording songs no one on either side of the R&B or pop chart divide could identify with, from “Lipstick on Your Car Door” to “Lollygaggin’” to “None of Your Shenanigans” to “Show Me The Fool Again.”
By 1973, lead singer Melvin Hampton was ready to pack it in and return to his first love, resource consumption accounting, but as he puts it, “that’s when disco saved The Gladhanders and we recorded “I’ve Got So Much to Forgive.” We went from being nobodies singing nonsense to somebodies singing nonsense overnight. That thump thump thump behind us, that gave us some authority. We could sing ‘bull mallarky’ and no one would question us.”
This bouncy ode to forgiveness, their first on the German-owned Philly-Stein label, had the additional bonus of getting the Gladhanders national exposure on all the then-popular TV music programs including Soul Train.
“Meeting Don Cornelius, man, that was THE moment the Gladhanders knew we had made it,” laughs Hampton. “Usually... more
credits
released July 7, 2016
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