Thomas Randolph Bell (January 27, 1943 – December 22, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, pianist, and composer known as one of the creators of Philadelphia soul in the 1970s. He found success as a producer and songwriter for the Delfonics, Stylistics, and Spinners. In June 2006, Bell was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2016, Bell was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. Background Thomas Randolph Bell was born in Jamaica and brought over by his Jamaican parents at the age of four based on his interview with Terry Gross.Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaBoth his father and mother were from Jamaica, His grandparents were born in Jamaica and so too Thomas Bedward Burke, his maternal grandfather, who was born in Kingston, Jamaica. Thom Bell was one of ten children born to Anna and Leroy Bell. Anna his mother who worked as a stenographer was also a pianist. Leroy his father who owned a fish market and a restaurant also played the accordion and Hawaiian guitar. Career Bell, classically trained as a musician, sang as a teenager with Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Daryl Hall (of Hall & Oates fame). Bell's first big break in soul music came with Cameo Records in Philadelphia where he worked as a session player and arranger. In 1967, he was introduced to a local group called The Delfonics, producing two singles for them on subsidiary label, Moonglow. Bell brought a mellifluous, hypnotic haut en couleur style to soul music and soon his production talents yielded several big hits for the group on the Philly Groove label, run by their manager Stan Watson. These releases included "La-La (Means I Love You)" and "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)", the latter of which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1970. Bell had also joined the fast-growing record production company operated by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff in Philadelphia, working as an arranger for acts such as Jerry Butler, Archie Bell & The Drells, Jerry Bell, The O'Jays, and Dusty Springfield. He arranged some of the early big hits, including the O'Jays' "Back Stabbers", on Gamble & Huff's own record label, Philadelphia International Records, which they launched in 1971. He also joined the two in setting up a music publishing company for their songs, Mighty Three Music. By 1971, Bell had moved on to produce another local group, The Stylistics,