Originally the backing band for Cliff Nobles & Co., MFSB (short for "Mother, Father, Sister, Brother", although schoolyard rumours would have had this stand for "Mother Fucking Son of a Bitch" or, in Northern Soul circles in England it stood for "Music For Soul Brothers") were a loose conglomeration of studio musicians who provided backing tracks for dozens of seminal Philadelphia soul recordings in the 1970s, and later released successful songs and albums as a standalone recording act.