In 1976 โLet Your Love Flowโ became a No. 1 pop hit and carried David and Howard Bellamy far beyond Florida, yet their first real opening had come years earlier from a song David did not get to sing himself.
David wrote the key and someone else turned it first.
Before the duo had a national hit, David Bellamy was writing songs between gigs and long drives. One of them was โSpiders & Snakesโ a strange and playful song that landed with singer Jim Stafford.
Stafford recorded it. The record became a major hit and sold more than three million copies.
A Hit With His Name Only On The Writing Side
David had not become a star from it. His name was on the writing side, not on the front of the record. But the success changed what was possible.
It brought David and Howard closer to Los Angeles, where the brothers suddenly had access to producers, musicians and rooms that had been far beyond two Florida performers playing regional shows.
They entered a scene crowded with singer songwriters and country rock musicians in the world around Poco, the Byrds, James Taylor, Van Morrison and Bob Dylan. The Bellamys were still outsiders, but now they were standing close enough to see how records got made and how one song could move a life.
Ready When Their Own Song Finally Arrived
That connection mattered a few years later. When โLet Your Love Flowโ finally reached them, David and Howard were ready. They had the studio contacts, the confidence and a sound of their own.
In 1976 the song became a No. 1 pop hit and carried the brothers far beyond Florida.
But the first real opening had come from that earlier Stafford hit. David Bellamy proved he could write a song millions wanted to hear, and that writing success placed him and Howard close enough to the right rooms when their own moment finally opened.