b. Linda Creed (a.k.a. Linda Creed Epstein), 6th December 1949, Mount Airy, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
d. 10th April 1986, Ambler, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Lyricist Linda Creed formed a fine songwriting partnership with composer/producer Thom Bell resulting in a series of hugely successful Soul Music global hits throughout the Seventies.
Born in Philadelphia in 1949, Linda was raised in the city's Mt. Airy section, where she attended the Germantown High School.
Linda's early career saw her as a singer in her own right (singing with her group Raw Soul), meeting Thom Bell in 1968 as a result.
Thom produced some songs for Linda, however these sessions were never released.
Whilst working at the Mills Music publishing company in 1969, Linda met Sly Stone, who Linda stated, taught her the songwriting technique she utilised during her later career.
linda and thom
On returning to Philadelphia, Linda was, (as she described herself) 'broke and discouraged', so she teamed up with Thom, then a staff writer, producer and arranger at Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff's Philadephia International Records.
Her career was launched in 1971 when Dusty Springfield recorded her's, Thom's, and Gamble and Huff's song, 'I Want To Be A Free Girl' (taken from Dusty's album 'Brand New Me').
Another songwriting collaboration with Thom, 'Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart),' became a Top 40 pop hit for The Stylistics.
The association blossomed, resulting in some Soul classics, including 'You Are Everything', 'Break Up To Make Up', 'Ghetto Child', 'Betcha By Golly, Wow' and 'I'm Stone in Love with You'.
betcha by golly wow
1971's, 'Betcha By Golly, Wow' has since been recorded by many performers, including Norman Connors, The Trammps, Phyllis Hyman, Aaron Neville, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Jordan, Prince, Gary Bartz, Johnny Mathis, Grant Green, The Lovelites, Smokey Robinson, Kuh Ledesma, Ramsey Lewis and Pat Metheny amongst others.
Thom and Linda also penned a number of hits for the Detroit Spinners, including 'Ghetto Child,' 'I'm Coming Home', 'Living a Little, Laughing a Little' and the 1976 chart topper, 'The Rubberband Man'.
The duo also penned songs for Ronnie Dyson ('I Think I'll Tell Her'), New York City and Eloise Laws ('If You Don't Watch Out').
greatest love of all - george benson / betcha by golly wow - the stylistics
Linda Creed's own personal favourite song was 'The Greatest Love Of All', which she co-wrote with Michael Masser for the Muhammed Ali film biography 'The Greatest'.
The track was sung by George Benson and became a worldwide hit.
Sadly, weeks before Whitney Houston's version reached number one in 1986, Linda's battle with cancer ended on 10th April, that year.
Linda was laid to rest at the Roosevelt Memorial Park, Trevose, Bucks County in Pennsylvania.
The following year, her family and friends established the Linda Creed Breast Cancer Foundation.
For more than 10 years, Linda was aware of her breast cancer but constantly refused to allow disease to interfere with her work and continued until it was physically impossible for her to do so.
In 1992, she was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
http://www.songwritershalloffame.org
Many people never realised that Linda Creed was white as her writing had a distictly black feel and was accepted totally by black recording artists and soul music fans across the globe.
Linda is survived by her husband Stephen Lee Epstein (who were married in 1972), two daughters (Roni and Dana), two brothers and her parents.
