Best BLACK VOCAL GROUP of the 1970s?

[NightTrain]

Poll question: Best BLACK VOCAL GROUP of the 1970s?

As usual, I'm dedicating this poll to groups who were noted for their vocal harmony. As a result, I did NOT include such indispensable '70s acts as Earth Wind & Fire, Parliament/Funkadelic, or the Ohio Players.

And of course, "other" is always an option!

[freestyle]

1. WAKE UP EVERYBODY

is a great song, especially this line: "No matter your race, creed or color/ Everybody, we need each other"

[NightTrain]

3. Lyrics

Wake up everybody, no more sleeping in bed.
No more backward thinking, time for thinking ahead.
The world has changed so very much from what it used to be.
There is so much hatred, war, and poverty.

Wake up all the teachers, time to teach a new way.
Maybe then they'll listen to what you have to say.
They're the ones who's coming up and the world is in their hands.
When you teach the children, teach them the very best you can.

Wake up all you doctors, make the old people well.
They're the ones who suffer and who catch all the hell.
They don't have so very long before the Judgment Day.
Won'tcha make them happy before they pass away.

Wake up all the builders, time to build a new land.
I know we can do it if we all lend a hand.
The only thing we have to do is put it in our mind.
Surely things will work out, they do it every time.

The world won't get no better if we just let it be.
The world won't get no better
We gotta change it yeah, just you and me.

[wryter2000]

2. Hard choice

I couldn't vote for the Isleys and Gladys Knight and the Pips, so I chose the latter because they seemed more vocal rather than musical somehow. Now I hate myself for stiffing the Isleys. :)

[madrchsod]

4. went with the staple singers

but in reality they are timeless..

[seventhson]

5. delfonics, temptations, miracles, impressions???

The delfonics are a must - altho arguably were in the late 60's.

But to leave of the Temptations is a mortal sin.

I saw most a lotof these folks at the Apollo during this period.

I still think that the Stylistics were the best, but the Delfonics and others were great.

Nothing beats "Just my Imagination" Though.

and Sly Stone also qualifies.

This poll is just too hard to respond to.

I did a R&B radio show in the 1970's (using Jet Magazine as my meter for top hits and WLIB (Liberation Radio now AAR) radio in NYC as my daily listening guide).

[NightTrain]

9. They all did most of their best records in the '60s.

[sangh0]

6. I had to vote for the Isley Bros

by coincidence, I just bought "It's Your Thing - The Story of The Isley Brothers"

[HerbieHeadhunter]

7. Sly and Family Stone, the Delfonics, 5 Stairsteps, Temptations...

if you add these, it's a very tough choice for me.

[BigMcLargehuge]

8. Tavares

Can't be a 70's vocal group poll without them.

[Magrittes Pipe]

10. The Chi-Lites.

Eugene Record is the only man I'm aware of who had the nerve to use a harmonica as a lead instrument in a soul single. And he's the only one I'm aware of with the talent to make such a song a hit.

Have you ever seen such a helpless man?

[NightTrain]

11. El kicko!

[Commendatori]

12. No contest, 5th Dimension (n/t)

[Westegg]

13. For me, it's the Temps. Don't see 'em on your poll.