THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

911-Stargard-‘Theme Song from ‘Which Way Is Up.’

1978-Number 19 single.

Best Bit-At 5.22. On the Richter scale of ‘Funky’ music, this one has a seismographic oscillation of 8.9. …, and I’m not exaggerating!!!!!!!

Stargard were an American R&B, Funk, And Soul girl group, originally consisting of Rochelle Runnells, Debra Anderson, and Janice Williams. They were similar in appearance to the ‘Disco’ group ‘Labelle,’ and could possibly described as a more raunchy ‘Pointer Sisters.’ They were active between 1977-1982, and as of 1979 when Debra Anderson left to pursue a solo career, the other two continued as a duo. The discography of Stargard includes four studio Albums released between 1978-1982, (the final two as a duo) and 10 singles that were issued between 1977-1982. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, only this song charted, when peaking at Number 21 in 1977, although it did make Number 1 on the Billboard ‘Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs’ chart. In the UK, Stargard have achieved two top 40 hits, with ‘What You Waitin’ For,’ being the other, which reached Number 39 in 1978.

All three members of Stargard have also provided backing vocals on other artists Albums, including on Junior Walker’s 15th studio Album ‘Back Street Boogie,’ from 1979. In 1978 Stargard also appeared in the American jukebox musical comedy film,’Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ as the fictitious group the ‘Diamonds.’ They were featured on two songs that were released on the films soundtrack Album in 1978, on ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy,’) and ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,’ both songs were originally written and performed by John Lennon, (1940-1980) and Paul McCartney.

‘Theme Song from ‘Which Way Is Up’ was the debut single from Stargard, and the opening track on side 2 of the groups self titled debut Album from 1978. The song was written by the legendary songwriter, and producer Norman Whitfield, and produced by Mark Davis. Whitfield had written the song for the 1977 American comedy film ‘Which Way Is Up? starring Richard Pryor (1940-2005.) Whitfield also wrote ‘The Force,’ which was another track on the Stargard debut Album.
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Norman Jessie Whitfield (see also best songs 777-569-533-480-346 and 233) was born on May 12th, 1940, in Harlem, New York, New York, United States, during the last few months of his life he was bed-ridden, where he underwent treatment for diabetes and other ailments. He fell into a coma, briefly improved, but eventually succumbed to diabetic complications, and died on September 16th, 2008, at the age of 68. At the age of 19, Whitfield made himself known to the founder of ‘Motown’ records Berry Gordy Jr. who was impressed enough to hire him to work in ‘Motown’s’ quality control department, determining which songs would or would not be released. Whitfield soon joined Motown’s in-house songwriting team, and in 1966 took on the role as the main producer of the ‘Temptations.’ Together with the lyricist Barrett Strong, (1941-2023) (see also best songs 777 and 569) Whitfield moved the Temptations (see also best songs 1031-777 and 569) away from ‘mellow love songs,’ into a harder, darker sound, that featured a blend of ‘Psychedelic Rock,’ and ‘Funk,’ heavily inspired by groups such as ‘Sly & the Family Stone,’ (see also best songs 589) and ‘Funkadelic’ (see also best songs 340 and 26.)

In 1975 Whitfield left Motown, to form his own record label ‘Whitfield Records,’ taking the Motown act ‘Undisputed Truth’ with him, soon to be followed by Yvonne Fair, (1942-1994) (see also best songs 480) and Junior Walker (1931-1995.) Another of his big signings were ‘Rose Royce,’ (see also best songs 533 and 233) who in 1976 had a worldwide hit with the Whitfield song ‘Car Wash,’ the theme song of the motion picture ‘Car Wash,’ for which Whitfield won a ‘Grammy Award’ for ‘Best Album of Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special.’

‘I had a little trouble in my hometown, things got funky, so I had to leave right away. So I went to the city on the bus next morning, ha, but trouble had a way of finding me, and I ain’t joking.’