“Rubberband Man” by The Spinners

"The Rubberband Man" started life as a father's pep talk. Producer Thom Bell wrote it with Linda Creed after his son was teased at school for being overweight, hoping to give the boy a better picture of himself, and somewhere along the way "The Fat Man" turned into "The Rubberband Man", a song that bounces like its title.

The Spinners took it to the top of the US R&B chart for Atlantic and parked it at number two on the Hot 100 for three weeks, with a number three on Cash Box and a number 16 in Britain besides. It was the group's last major hit with Philippé Wynne singing lead, and the Detroit Free Press later ranked it 70th on its list of Detroit's 100 greatest songs.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.