Archie Bell & the Drells

Archie Bell (born in Henderson, Texas on September 1, 1944) & the Drells were a Houston soul vocal group, one of the main acts on Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International Records. The band’s hits include “Tighten Up” and “I Can’t Stop Dancing” (both 1968), “The Soul City Walk” (1976), and “Everybody Have A Good Time” (1977).

Bell, the brother of American footballer Ricky Bell (1955-1984), moved to Houston as a young boy and formed the group in 1966 with his friends James Wise, Willie Parnell and Billy Butler. They signed with local label Ovid.

After a spell in Vietnam for Archie, the group released Tighten Up, which was picked up by Atlantic for distribution and toppped both the R&B and pop charts. The song’s line “we dance just as good as we walk” was a little ironic given that Archie had been shot in the leg and was consigned to a military hospital bed at the time.

The phenomenal success of the single prompted the band to rush out an album, despite their incapacitated leader.

In 1969, after Bell had left the army, the group recorded their first full album with Gamble and Huff, I Can’t Stop Dancing, which reached number 28 on the R&B chart.

After mediocre chart showings in the late ’70s, the group split in 1980. Archie Bell later released one solo album on Beckett Records.