Philadelphia International was founded in Philadelphia in 1971 by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. In the beginning, most of the artists in the Philadelphia International roster were coming from the closed Gamble and Neptune labels, but it soon expanded. 1972 was a very good year as the newly founded label struck gold with Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes' "I Miss You" and "If You Don't Know Me By Now," and Billy Paul's wonderful "Me And Mrs. Jones". Billy Paul had already released two albums on the Gamble and Neptune labels, but Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes were a real "discovery," having previously released only two singles on Landa (as the Blue Notes) in 1964 and Arctic in 1967. Their lead singer was Theodore Pendergrass, who began a successful solo career in 1977 on the same label before switching to Elektra.

Until the mid-'70s, these three artists, along with the occasional albums by the likes of the Intruders and the Three Degrees, provided most of the label output. The Three Degrees had already released singles on Swan, Metromedia, Roulette and Neptune in the '60s and early '70s, as well as a Richard-Barrett- produced album on Roulette, Maybe.

Most of the tracks were recorded at the Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, with the help of the same session musicians. These included Earl Young (drums), Ronnie Baker (bass), Roland Chambers, Norman Harris and Bobby Eli (guitars), Larry Washington (percussion), Vincent Montana Jr. (vibes), Leon Huff, Ron Kersey and Leonard Pakula (keyboards) and Don Renaldo's strings and horns. These recording sessions were mostly produced by Gamble and Huff, but sometimes production was by in-house arrangers Bobby Martin and John "Kack Faith", songwriter's-arrangers Dexter Wansel and Walter "Bunny" Sigler, or session musicians (and sometimes composers) Norman Harris and Lenny Pakula. This core of musicians also released albums under the co-operative name of MFSB (Mother Father Sister Brother) and hit big in 1974 with the instrumental "TSOP", which included backing vocals by the Three Degrees.

Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, along with their musicians and arrangers, did not write and produce solely for the Philadelphia International label, but also for others artists : the Spinners and Blue Magic on Atlantic, First Choice and the Delfonics on Philly Groove, the Persuaders on Atco, Eddie Kendricks on Tamla, the Temptations on Atlantic, the Love Committee on Gold Mind, and others. They also strongly influenced David Bowie for his "Young Americans" album.

Like most of the labels distributed by Epic/Columbia, the Philadelphia International label is plain and unimaginative, with a mustard color with a logo of a stylized script "PI," which in fact looked like two stylized pale purple P's head-to-toe at the top of the label . The following text is written in pale purple lettering in the form of an arc at the bottom of the label : "Distributed By CBS Records/CBS, Inc., 51 West 52 Street, New York City". This label remains the same for all the CBS distributed releases with the exception of the pale purple logo growing darker or slightly red over the years. Promotional copies used the same design, with a white label with black print. For all the Epic/Columbia distributed releases, the CBS common numbering policy is used (this numbering system begins at 30000 in 1970 and uses various prefixes). This explains why the numbers are discontinued. Note : the letter Q within the prefix means Quadrophonic. Except for the quad issues, all releases were stereo.

When the distribution switched to Manhattan, the label remained the same, but the text changed to a much longer one crediting Capitol Industries/EMI Inc. as the manufacturing and distributing company.

We would appreciate any additions or corrections to this discography. Just send them to us via e-mail. Both Sides Now Publications is an information web page. We are not a catalog, nor can we provide the records listed below. We have no association with Philadelphia International or CBS Records. Should you be interested in acquiring albums listed in this discography (which are all out of print), we suggest you see our Frequently Asked Questions page and follow the instructions found there. This story and discography are copyright 2003 by Mike Callahan.