Willaim DeVaughn: Be Thankful For What You Got

Well it took some time to find a song that met the criteria of being a song of thanks and a one-hit-wonder, but have no fear as we dug into the vaults of Roxbury Records for William DeVaughn’s “Be Thankful for What You Got.”

DeVaughn who wrote the song in 1972 invested $900 of his own hard earned money and hired Philadelphia’s Omega Sound team, John Davis and Frank Fioravanti, and the MFSB band to create a hit record sound . . . and they did just did that. Roxbury Records picked up the option in 1974 and two million copies were sold.

While DeVaughn had another R&B hit with “Blood is Thicker than Water,” “Be Thankful for What You Got” was his only Top 40 hit. It charted at #4 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and #1 on the R&B chart. It’s good advice – “Be Thankful for What You Got.”