The Controllers are an American soul and R&B vocal group, originally from Birmingham, Alabama, who had a series of successful recordings in the late 1970s and the 1980s. In 1976, the group came to the attention of Juana Records, run by Frederick Knight, also from Birmingham. Recording at the Malaco Studios in Jackson, Mississippi, their first single on Juana charted, but it was their second release, "Somebody's Gotta Win, Somebody's Gotta Lose", that really established them. The song, a ballad lasting over eight minutes on the album, climbed to #8 on US Billboard R&B chart, and #3 on the Cash Box soul chart in 1977. A follow-up ballad, "Heaven Is Only A Step Away" climbed to #37 R&B, but despite the release of two more albums on Juana, the group failed to find another major single success. In 1983, the group signed with the late Jimmy Bee, a San Francisco based manager, and got a recording contract with MCA Records. Their first release on the label, "Crushed" (which featured Stevie Wonder on harmonica) returned them to the charts, reaching #30 R&B in 1984, and two years later, "Stay" climbed to #12. Their cover version of the Marvin Gaye song, "Distant Lover" also proved popular. Under the guidance of Bee, the Controllers made a move to Capitol Records in 1989 for the album Just In Time, which failed to produce any hits but rekindled their popularity among the group's loyal following. After a break from touring and recording, the four returned in the late 1990s, and joined Malaco Records for their self-produced album, Clear View, which contained a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition", and a revised "Somebody's Gotta Win".

Below is a list of Controllers songs, sorted by the most popular first. Place mouse on to see information about song. Click song title to play song and to read details about the song including lyrics (if available). Click year to list all songs from that year. Click label to list songs from that record label. Songs with chart position "---" either never made it into the US top 100 R&B or UK charts or we have no details of their highest chart positions if they did.

(Song are sorted in highest US R&B Top 100 and/or UK Top 100 chart position order)