Melvin Steals

Melvin Steals is one of a pair of songwriters and alongside his twin brother, Mervin, wrote one of the greatest songs in the 1970s. With Melvin handling lyrics and Mervin creating the melodies on piano, the two entered Pittsburgh duo traveled to Philadelphia to audition for eventual-Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff as songwriters. After impressing the legendary songwriting duo, the Steals began writing songs for Gamble and Huff who diverted the songs to Archie Bell & the Drells, to start. They wrote for the Pittsburgh band The Jaggerz, offering “Gotta Find My Way Back” and “Forever Together – Together Forever”. They also gave Gloria Gaynor the hit dance song “Honey Bee”. But, it was in 1972, inspired by a coin flip, the teenagers created the hit single, “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love”, recorded by The Spinners, a tune that has made an indelible mark on the music industry. The song reached #4 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100 for The Spinners in 1972. The story goes that as teens, the twins found themselves on the front porch of a young girl, Adrena, flipping a coin to see who would woo the young maiden. Melvin won the coin flip, wooed and ultimately married Adrena and that courtship laid the foundation for the lyrics for the iconic standard. But, while they enjoyed a few years creating music and penned some enduring songs, songwriting would not provide for the duo and they went back to Pittsburgh where Melvin returned to school to get his Ph.D degree and then taught for 25 years and served as principal of Pittsburgh area schools for another 11 years. Mervin settled in New Jersey and became a carpenter.