One Of A Kind (Love Affair) – Spinners | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#11) & R&B (#1 for 4 weeks); 1973
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
Detroit’s Spinners celebrated their 17th year as a working act by scoring their first #1, I’ll Be Around, in mid-October, 1972. Their producer was Thom Bell, who’d already crafted a string of hits for the Delfonics and Stylistics, and his latest charges hoped he could do the same for them.
Thom could, and did, as Could It Be I’m Falling In Love also topped the rhythm list four months later and made it to #4 on the pop side. The group’s third shot with Bell involved a song inspired by writer Joe Jefferson’s recent romantic break-up.
Joe told Thom the title – One Of A Kind (Love Affair) – but didn’t mention that he hadn’t written the song, yet. When Thom finally heard Joe’s latest effort, he was ecstatic.
Once again Philippe Wynn and Bobbie Smith shared the lead with Wynn throwing in some gospel-styled adlibs at the end. On June 9th, 1973, One Of A Kind made it three consecutive R&B #1’s: the third in a five year run of 16 straight Top 15 singles.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Thom Bell
Lyrics Written by:
- Joseph B. Jefferson
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).