MacArthur J. Munford (January 20, 1943 – September 5, 2006) was a Jersey City soul and doo-wop singer, the bass voice of The Spellbinders.
With The Spellbinders, “For You” reached the Billboard R&B Top 25 (1965).
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Born into a working-class Jersey City family, he began in street-corner singing and joined his first group, the Valitons, by 1960 before co-founding the Spellbinders.
In the fall of 1962, while singing with Mark Stevens and the Charmers, Munford was critically injured in an automobile accident on the Lincoln Highway Bridge (Route 1 & 9) heading toward Newark on a stormy night; fellow member Percy Fair and two young women, the Oliver sisters of Bayonne, were killed. The crash ended the group, and Munford spent a long time in critical condition before recovering to co-found the Spellbinders.
Signed to Columbia Records in 1965 under producer Van McCoy, the Spellbinders charted with the Top-25 R&B hit “For You” and “Help Me (Get Myself Back Together Again)”; their album The Magic of the Spellbinders is considered a soul classic, and the group toured with Jackie Wilson, Joe Tex, and Wilson Pickett.
He later formed the a cappella group Vintage with Ray Block of the Valitons, and died of cancer in 2006 at the age of 63.
Through the Van Liew family, Munford is a cornerstone of a six-decade Jersey City musical dynasty: he is a grandson of Fredrick Van Liew — one of the twin brothers, with Sheldon Van Liew, who anchor the family — through his mother, Kathryn Van Liew.
He is the maternal uncle of multi-platinum songwriter Mary Brown (daughter of his sister Lorraine H. Brown), and an elder of the line that reaches Chill Divine (Gary Van Liew) and DJ DX (Robert Van Liew) through Fredrick's twin, Sheldon.
Photographs§
Sources§
- Obituary of MacArthur Munford, Manifesto magazine (2006)
- Van Liew family history, contributed by Robert Van Liew (DJ DX), The Jersey City Sound, 2026
- Interview recollection by Ray Block (the Valitons / Vintage), The Jersey City Sound, 2026
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