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Edwin Starr ,

(January 21, 1942 – April 2, 2003) was an American soul music singer. Starr is most famous for his Norman Whitfield produced Motown singles of the 1970s, most notably the number one hit “War”.
Starr was born Charles Edwin Hatcher in Nashville, Tennessee in 1942. He and his cousins (soul singers Roger and Willie Hatcher) moved to Cleveland, Ohio where they were raised. He has a wife named Annette Mary Hatcher and a son named Andr’e Hatcher and two grandchildren Alont’e Renfroe and Maryah Hatcher.

In 1957, Starr formed a doo-wop group, The Future Tones, and began his singing career. Starr lived in Detroit, Michigan in the 1960s and recorded at first for the small record label Ric-Tic, and later for the famed Motown after it absorbed Ric-Tic in 1968. ….Read More

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The Weather Girls ,

are an American girl group that formed in 1982, best known for their single “It’s Raining Men”.

The original members were Martha Wash and Izora Armstead. They are best known for their 1982 #1 club and pop hit, “It’s Raining Men”. Although the group is considered a one hit wonder by the mainstream pop market, they were previously known as Two Tons O’ Fun, under which name they recorded three songs which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart: “Earth Can Be Just Like Heaven” (1980); “Just Us” (1980 and also made #29 on the US R&B chart); and the Hi-NRG song “I Got the Feeling” in 1981. They also backed Sylvester and Bob Seger (1986). After the success of “It’s Raining Men”, other hits with the original line-up included “Dear Santa (Bring Me a Man this Christmas)” (for which an accompanying music video was made) and “No One Can Love You More Than Me”.

The current members of the group are sisters Dynelle Rhodes and Ingrid Arthur, who are the daughters of Armstead, who died in 2004. They released a new Weather Girls album, Totally Wild, in late 2005. It scored an underground club hit with “Wild Thang”. Like the original Weather Girls, the duo has proven very successful with its gay male core audience. ….Read More

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The Brand New Heavies ,

are an acid jazz and funk group formed in 1985 in Ealing, a suburb of London, England.
The Brand New Heavies began in the 1980s as an instrumental acid jazz group called Brother International.

The group came up with the Heavies name after signing their first record contract, borrowing from a liner note on a James Brown single declaring the artist “Minister of New Super Heavy Funk”. As The Brand New Heavies they gained a cult following in the London club scene and soon signed to Cooltempo as acid jazz replaced rare groove in clubs. The band issued a debut recording for Eddie Piller’s Acid Jazz label in 1990 with Jay Ella Ruth as lead singer. ….Read More

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One Way ,

was an R&B/funk band that was popular in the late 1970s, and throughout most of the 1980s. One Way was formed in 1979 in Detroit, Michigan and were originally known as Soul Partners. Al Hudson, Alicia Meyers, guitarists Dave Roberson and Cortez Harris, bassist Kevin McCord, drummer Gregory Green and keyboardist Jonathan Meadows were the original members. They first recorded as “Al Hudson and the Partners”, scoring an R&B hit on the ABC label called “You Can Do It” in 1979.

At that time, however, ABC Records was in the process of being taken over by MCA Records as part of a buyout, and when the band moved to the MCA label, they subsequently changed their name to One Way featuring Al Hudson before becoming One Way. They were on MCA from 1980 to 1988. They scored five Top 10 U.S. R&B chart hits, with the biggest being “Cutie Pie,” which reached number four in 1982. Candye Edwards was the female lead of the group from 1981 to 1985. Edwards’ debut was on the Fancy Dancer album, and she remained with the group throughout the biggest successes, including “Cutie Pie.”

They had minor minor hits on the UK Singles Chart with “Music” (1979) and “Let’s Talk About Shhh” (1985).

They moved to Capitol Records in 1988, where they released their final album (to date), A New Beginning later that same year. ….Read More

One Way – One Way Featuring Al Hudson

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Eramus Hall ,

are actually a group of musicians which formed in the late 70’s. Apparently it was George Clinton of Parliament that named the band after seeing a building named “Eramus Hall” in Chicago. The two albums they released did show evidence of a post P-Funk flavour but it was their smooth soul sound and tight jazz funk that really shine on their stand out tracks.

Eramus Hall – Your Love Is My Desire

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Tower of Power ,

is a 10-member horn-based soul band from Oakland, California.
In the mid-1960s, 17-year-old tenor saxophonist Emilio Castillo moved from Detroit, Michigan, to Fremont, California. He started a band called ‘The Gotham City Crime Fighters’ which evolved into ‘The Motowns’, including bassist Francis ‘Rocco’ Prestia, specializing in soul music covers. During 1968, Castillo teamed up with baritone saxophonist Stephen Kupka (later to be dubbed ‘The Funky Doctor’) and trumpet/trombone player Mic Gillette, moved to Oakland, and together began writing and performing original material. One of their early influences was Soul artist James Brown. They changed the band’s name to ‘Tower of Power’ and began playing frequently in the Bay Area. ….More

Tower Of Power – What Is Hip Anthology – CD1

Tower Of Power – What Is Hip Anthology – CD2

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Michèle Torr ,

Betty Davis (Born Betty Mabry) is an American funk and soul singer. She was also Miles Davis’s second wife.
She worked as a model, appearing in photo spreads in Seventeen, Ebony and Glamour. In her time in New York, Mabry met several musicians including Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. ….More

Betty Davis – Nasty Gal

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The Everyday People ,

Copping their name from Sly & the Family Stone and their funk formula from Kool & the Gang, what set The Everyday People apart is the sheer virtuosity of its performances, each track on I Like What I Like is tighter than a vise grip, complete with vibrant arrangements and a genuine esprit de corps that transcends the obvious and often pedestrian material. It’s no surprise because the album was produced by Gene Redd, has a few K & the G. covers (like Funky Granny and Who’s Gonna Take the Weight), and was issued on the related Red Coach label.
Enjoy it!

The Everyday People – The Everyday People

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The Brothers Johnson ,

is a band consisting of American musicians, and brothers, George aka ‘Lightnin’ Licks’ and Louis Johnson aka ‘Thunder Thumbs’.
Guitarist/vocalist George and bassist/vocalist Louis formed the band Johnson Three Plus One with older brother Tommy, and their cousin Alex Weir, while attending school in Los Angeles, California.[1] When they became professionals, the band backed such touring R&B acts as Bobby Womack and the Supremes. George and Louis Johnson later joined Billy Preston’s band, and wrote Music in My Life and The Kids and Me for him before leaving his group in 1973. In 1976, The Brothers covered the Beatles’ song, Hey Jude, for the ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II. ….More

The Brothers Johnson – Light Up The Night

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The Deirdre Wilson Tabac ,

A beautiful bit of funky rocking soul and the one and only album by the Deirdre Wilson Tabac – A group whose name is as strange as their grooves are funky! The group are best known for their well-compiled track “I Can’t Keep From Cryin Sometimes” – an uptempo jazzy gem that mixes skipping Hammond with soaring vocals and some really great horns – and the rest of this set has a very similar feel – one that blends jazz rock with more soulful vocals, in a groove that’s totally unique!

The two covers here are also among the best tracks: a helluva funky rework of the Beatles’ “Get Back” and a straight cover of “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay”, with nice vocal arrangements. Sonny Casella wrote, arranged, and produced the record – and he’s also the drummer in the group, so there’s keen attention to rhythms on all tracks. Titles include “I Can’t Keep From Cryin”, “Magic One”, “I Go To You”, the beautiful “Other Side Of Life”, “Angel Baby”, “Get Back”, “The Last Thing On His Mind”, and “Let’s All Join Together”.

The Deirdre Wilson Tabac – The Deirdre Wilson Tabac

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Shades Of Brown ,

Amazing soul from Chess Records, and an album that almost feels like some lost small-label soul set, or a batch of rare funky 45s! Shades Of Brown are an ultra-hip male group from Chicago, a quartet of singers with the range and depth of The Temptations or Dells at their best, supported by a small combo of very lively instrumentalists who bring a really funky edge to their music, that sort of self-contained sound than you might find more in the hinterlands of the 60s soul scene than at Chess. But there’s also plenty of key Chess touches too, including production by Dells maestro Bobby Miller, who also penned all the tunes for the record, giving the group some wonderful material to work with. Richard Evans handled most of the arrangements, but Charles Stepney also did a few too.

Shades Of Brown – S O B

AlterLink

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The Brothers Johnson ,

is a band consisting of American musicians, and brothers, George aka ‘Lightnin’ Licks’ and Louis Johnson aka ‘Thunder Thumbs’.
Guitarist/vocalist George and bassist/vocalist Louis formed the band Johnson Three Plus One with older brother Tommy, and their cousin Alex Weir, while attending school in Los Angeles, California. When they became professionals, the band backed such touring R&B acts as Bobby Womack and the Supremes. George and Louis Johnson later joined Billy Preston’s band, and wrote Music in My Life and The Kids and Me for him before leaving his group in 1973. In 1976, The Brothers covered the Beatles’ song, Hey Jude, for the ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II. ….More

The Brothers Johnson – Blam!!

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Matata ,

Hard funky soul with an Afrobeat backbone from Matata — who arrived on the London scene (via Kenya) in the mid 70s! Matata leaned mightily on the JBs for their groove, and laid out a heavy, rock solid variation on JBs funk with an African percussion base of congas and bongos at the core. The horns take a more Afrobeat tack, too, with punchy blasts and solos peppering the numbers. Tracks include “Wanna Do My Thing”, “Return To You”, “Getting Together”, “I Don’t Have To Worry”, “I Want You”, “Love Is The Only Way”, “Gimme Some Lovin” and more. ….More

Matata – Feelin’ Funky

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Dance Your Ass Off ,

This album lives up to its title; truly a dance album to the last beat. Hamilton Bohannon concocts a never-ending groove on this seven-song set. Three songs share a similar looping bassline and special effects; the other four share a close resemblance to their respective rhythmic attributes. Notwithstanding, all selections offer that pumped-up beat and enticing aria. On a few tracks, Bohannon injects some faintly urgent vocals. With this being his last recording for Dakar, no songs from this album charted. However, “The Groove I Feel” is a good pick.

Hamilton Bohannon – Dance Your Ass Off

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Hamilton Bohannon,

(born Hamilton Frederick Bohannon, 7 March 1942, in Newnan, Georgia) is an American percussionist, band leader and record producer, who was one of the leading figures in 1970s disco music. ….More

Bohannon – Music Is In The Air

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