Biography
Songwriter, vocalist, and producer Harvey Scales earned his greatest renown for co-authoring Johnnie Taylor’s blockbuster “Disco Lady,” and he also shared writing credit on the R&B chart entry “Love Is Better in the A.M., Pt. 1.” The Arkansas-born musician launched the Milwaukee-based R&B outfit Harvey Scales and the Seven Sounds in 1961. Steeped in the style of James Brown, the ensemble focused its efforts on funk. Signed to Lenny LeCour’s Magic Touch Records, the band scored a regional success with the single “Get Down” backed by “Love-Itis,” a track later interpreted by the J. Geils Band.
In 1969 the group moved to Chicago’s Chess Records and issued three LeCour-produced sides—“The Yolk,” “I’ll Run to Your Side,” and “Leave It for the Trashman”—on the Cadet subsidiary. Scales next teamed with Davis, whose productions were then propelling Stax artist Johnnie Taylor, to record material for the Memphis label such as “What’s Good for You (Don’t Have to Be Good to You)” paired with “I Wanna Do It.” After Stax folded, Taylor joined Columbia yet kept Davis aboard. At Davis’s preferred room, United Sound Studios in Detroit, the producer drew on the Impressions’ “Gypsy Woman” and an African dancer observed during a Spanish holiday to shape an unfinished Scales composition titled “Disco Baby.” Davis enlisted Collins and Worrell to refine and lock the groove, while arranger David Van DePitte supplied the horn charts.
The triumph of “Disco Lady” enabled Scales to land a Casablanca contract. His 1978 debut for the label, Confidential Affair, presented a set of disco-infused soul that later gained cult status among dance-music collectors and Northern soul enthusiasts. The follow-up, 1979’s Hot Foot: A Funque Dizco Opera, featured the singles “I Get Off on You” and the extended “Baby Let’s Rock.” Scales also partnered with Bunny Sigler on “You’re Gonna Get Yours,” which appeared on Instant Funk’s V LP, and on the basketball tribute “Slam Dunk the Funk,” included on the group’s Looks So Fine album. In 1997 he released the album Somebody Else’s Somebody through Four Sight.
In 1969 the group moved to Chicago’s Chess Records and issued three LeCour-produced sides—“The Yolk,” “I’ll Run to Your Side,” and “Leave It for the Trashman”—on the Cadet subsidiary. Scales next teamed with Davis, whose productions were then propelling Stax artist Johnnie Taylor, to record material for the Memphis label such as “What’s Good for You (Don’t Have to Be Good to You)” paired with “I Wanna Do It.” After Stax folded, Taylor joined Columbia yet kept Davis aboard. At Davis’s preferred room, United Sound Studios in Detroit, the producer drew on the Impressions’ “Gypsy Woman” and an African dancer observed during a Spanish holiday to shape an unfinished Scales composition titled “Disco Baby.” Davis enlisted Collins and Worrell to refine and lock the groove, while arranger David Van DePitte supplied the horn charts.
The triumph of “Disco Lady” enabled Scales to land a Casablanca contract. His 1978 debut for the label, Confidential Affair, presented a set of disco-infused soul that later gained cult status among dance-music collectors and Northern soul enthusiasts. The follow-up, 1979’s Hot Foot: A Funque Dizco Opera, featured the singles “I Get Off on You” and the extended “Baby Let’s Rock.” Scales also partnered with Bunny Sigler on “You’re Gonna Get Yours,” which appeared on Instant Funk’s V LP, and on the basketball tribute “Slam Dunk the Funk,” included on the group’s Looks So Fine album. In 1997 he released the album Somebody Else’s Somebody through Four Sight.
Albums
Singles
On The Move b/w World's Greatest Lover
2024
Groove On Sexy Lady b/w Rock The World
2024
Young Thang b/w All In A Nites Work
1991
Spend The Nite Forever b/w Single Girls
1985
Trying To Survive b/w Bump Your Thang
1975
Follow The Disco Crowd b/w Love Thief
1975
Welcome Home b/w Trackdown
1969
Don't You Ever Let It End b/w The Sound Of Soul
1969
(It's Too Good) Too Good To Be True b/w Love Is A Gas (But How Sweet It Is)
1969
Broadway Freeze b/w I Can't Cry No More
1968
Get Down b/w Love - It Is
1967