The great Chicago soul sound of the early 1970s has seldom been better personified on wax than the recordings of The Independents. Protégés of soul giant Jerry Butler and one of the leading groups of their era, between 1972 and 1975 Chuck, Helen, Maurice, Eric and their non-performing fifth member Marvin made some of the best and most beautiful music to come out of the Windy City. They were rewarded for their music efforts by a string of Billboard R&B chart hits, most of which also reached the pop Hot 100 too. Much of the group's catalogue has never been available on CD. The material that has been previously digitized has been deleted for many years, with copies of that CD selling for up to £100. This CD marks the first time all their Wand recordings have appeared in the same collection, including two special remixes by Tom Moulton that were first issued, after the group broke up, on the renowned Disco Gold compilations. Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy went on to produce and write for many soul and pop artists from Yancy's wife Natalie Cole to divas Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston but as you will hear, they saved plenty of their best songs for their own group