The Showstoppers

The Showstoppers
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Genres	R&B, Soul
Years active	1967-1972
Labels	Showtime, Guyden, Heritage, MGM, Beacon.
Past members	"Alex" Burke "Laddie" Burke Earl Smith Timmy Smith

The Showstoppers (alternatively The Show Stoppers) was a four-piece African American vocal soul group formed in Philadelphia about 1967. They are best remembered for their 1967 hit, "Ain't Nothin' But a Houseparty", which was the debut release on three record labels: Showtime Records, Heritage Records, and Beacon Records.

The Showstoppers was formed about 1967 by brothers, Elec Edward "Alex" Burke (born 16 February 1948 in Philadelphia) and Vladimir H. "Laddie" Burke (born 31 July 1949 in Philadelphia), who were the two oldest of the five younger brothers of Atlantic Record's star Solomon Burke, who joined with fellow Germantown High School students, brothers Earl Smith (born 1949 in Massachusetts) and Timmy Smith (born 1 February 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts). The Burke brothers had been in show business since at least 1957 as part of a four-member group with two of their two younger brothers.

After rehearsing under the guidance of Solomon Burke, they modeled themselves initially on The Vibrations. After signing to local Philadelphia label Showtime Records, The Showstoppers had a couple of local hit singles in Philadelphia. Their 1967 hit "Ain't Nothin' But a Houseparty" b/w "What Can a Man Do?" (STR 101), sold well in Pittsburgh, and New York City, and sold about 40,000 copies in Philadelphia, and reached #118 on the Billboard charts on May 27, 1967. The session musicians on the song included Carl Chambers, who was later drummer with Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Joe Thomas, who went on to become the guitarist with The Impressions.

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