The Intruders (music group)

The Intruders
The Intruders in 1968 (clockwise from bottom): Sam "Little Sonny" Brown, Phil Terry, Eugene "Bird" Daughtry, and Robert "Big Sonny" Edwards.
Background information
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Genres	R&B, Soul
Years active	1960–1985
Labels	Excel, Gamble, TSOP, Streetwave, Moor Ent.
Members	Sam "Little Sonny" Brown (deceased) Robert "Big Sonny" Edwards (deceased) Phillip "Phil" Terry Eugene "Bird" Daughtry (deceased) Robert "Bobby Starr" Ferguson

The Intruders were an American soul music group most popular in the 1960s and 1970s. As one of the first groups to have hit songs under the direction of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, they had a major influence on the development of Philadelphia soul. The Intruders are also noted for having 24 R&B chart hits, including 6 R&B Top Tens, and 14 chart hits in the Billboard Hot 100,including their signature song, the million-selling Top 10 smash, Cowboys to Girls.

Formed in 1960, the group originally consisted of Sam "Little Sonny" Brown, Eugene "Bird" Daughtry, Phillip "Phil" Terry and Robert "Big Sonny" Edwards. In 1969, Sam Brown was replaced as lead singer by Bobby Starr, only to rejoin the group in 1973.

In 1965, when songwriters and record producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff first contemplated leaving the Cameo-Parkway record label to risk launching their own label, the vocalists on which they pinned all their hopes and venture capital were The Intruders. Like many other subsequent acts the duo produced, which included Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and The O'Jays, The Intruders had already developed a vocal sound that was both theirs and uniquely Philadelphian.

Brown, Daughtry, Terry and Edwards had been recording and performing one-off singles together since 1961, blending Philly's street corner doo-wop tradition with black gospel fervor. The result was neither as pop-infected as Motown, nor as funky and blues-inflected as Stax. The sound which The Intruders refined for the Excel, Gamble and Philadelphia International imprints reflected a different attitude than either Stax or Motown.