For the second year in a row, music legends Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff were respectably inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame this week, this time in the distinguished "producer"category for creating an "outstanding body of work," which for three decades has packed dance floors around the world. Songs like I Love Music, Expressway to Your Heart, Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Lose, Love Train, Bad Luck, I'm Not Jivin,' I'm Jammin' and Now That We've Found Love, drew Gamble and Huff a standing ovation from the audience of hundreds of cheering music industry professionals when they took the stage together at the famed Manhattan Center as the showpiece and grand finale of the induction ceremony.
"We are honored by this incredible distinction and humbled by this exceptional tribute," Gamble said. "It feels wonderful to be recognized by dance music experts around the globe for a collection of music that we put our hearts and souls into producing and worked tirelessly, day and night, to create." A concurring Huff said, "We are especially ecstatic and overjoyed that such a prestigious honor has been bestowed upon us for two years in a row," and enthusiastically instructed the audience to "keep on dancing." Harold Melvin's Blue Notes, Sharon Paige and Bunny Sigler performed a medley of songs in the Gamble-Huff music collection, including Hope That We Can Be Together Soon, For The Love Of Money, Me And Mrs. Jones and Backstabbers, in a special Dance Music Hall of Fame tribute to Gamble and Huff. Their music collection accounts for the majority of classic R&B songs played on R&B-themed radio stations nationwide and represents the second largest R&B/Soul music catalog in the world. When developing the catalog some 30 years ago, Gamble and Huff coined the catch-phrase "understand while you dance," a philosophy reflecting their commitment to writing and producing "message" music of love, peace, strength, unity and empowerment - even for the dance floor.
Last year, the co-founders of Philadelphia International Records enjoyed induction into the Dance Music Hall of Fame's esteemed "record" category for creating dance songs Love Is The Message, recorded by MFSB featuring The Three Degrees and Don't Leave Me This Way, recorded by Thelma Houston. The Hall of Fame hailed Love Is The Message as "a timeless classic" embodying "the highest calling of music" and lauded Huff's keyboard solo as a "critical" component to the song. It recognized Don't Leave Me This Way for its "supercharged rhythm playing" and "breathtaking tambourine-driven break."
"One go-round at the Dance Music Hall of Fame is tremendous but a back-to-back induction takes the cake," said Philadelphia International Records Executive Vice President Chuck Gamble, who accepted the high honor on behalf of Gamble and Huff last year. "Two years in a row is a huge testament to the commanding rhythms, seamless melodies and impeccable beats that round out the thought-provoking messages in the Gamble and Huff music collection."
Gamble and Huff have been very active since last year's Dance Music Hall of Fame induction. The legendary songwriters and producers appeared on "American Idol" during the TV show's nationally-televised tribute to their music catalog; they represented in-person at the 2005 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony as The O'Jays, one of their most successful and
influential recording artists, were honorably inducted; they announced an intense campaign to aggressively license the abundance of songs in the Gamble-Huff music catalog for active commercial use around the world through label executive vice president Chuck Gamble; and Kenny Gamble became a doctor as Cheyney University presented him with an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree.
Other music industry veterans inducted at the ceremony were Gloria Gaynor, Cheryl Lynn, Quincy Jones, Chic, The Trammps and the Bee Gees. Each year, the Dance Music Hall of Fame's nominating committee and board of advisors select nominees in the categories of performer, record, producer, remixer and DJ. Ballots are then sent to an international voting committee of more than 1,000 dance music experts. Artists, producers and others who helped shape the dance music industry become eligible for induction 25 years after their first contribution or record release.
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