While Thom Bell’s work with the Delfonics ushered his sound into the 1970s, the debut he produced for the balladeers in the Stylistics proved that sound could carry even further into one of the most characteristic styles of the decade. The proven formula of combining glittering orchestral sweetness with lover-man falsetto — brilliantly provided by Russell Tompkins, Jr., whose voice was as delicate and captivating as a spiderweb — made them beloved sentimentalist soulsters that everyone from the disco-era Bee Gees to peak Ghostface Killah took to heart.