Kool And The Gang

 

In 1964 there was a band in Jersey City, New Jersey formed by Robert "Kool" Bell. They were called The Jazziacs and played mostly jazz and pop instrumentals. In this band were Bell on bass guitar, his brother Ronald on tenor saxophone, Dennis Thomas on alto saxophone, guitarist Claydes E.X. Smith, drummer George Brown, Robert "Spike" Mickens on trumpet, and keyboardist Rick Westfield. In 1967 they changed their name to Kool And The Flames, which lasted until 1969 when, to avoid confusion with James Brown's band of the same name, the band re-christened itself Kool And The Gang.                       

 

                                                                            
They were signed to Gene Redd's fledgling label De-Lite Records in 1969 and released an epynomous debut album as well as three singles ,"Kool And The Gang", "The Gang Is Back" and "Funky Man". While none of the releases went far in the pop charts,they all enjoyed extensive airplay and sales in the r&b market. Steady growth followed , and with the release of their 1973 album Wild And Peaceful, they began to achieve mainstream success with the singles "Jungle Boogie" and "Hollywood Swinging".


The 1974 album "Light Of Worlds" and 1975's "Spirit Of The Boogie" and "Open Sesame" remain magnificent examples of funk at it's best . Many personnel changes followed, the most significant being the addition of vocalist J.T. Taylor, who did lead vocals on the band's first #1 hit, "Celebrate". While ushering in the band's most commercially successful period, it along with subsequent hits "Fresh","Joanna","Ladies Night" and "Cherish" resulted in a disappointing lack of the powerful sound the band had as its roots. "Get Down On It" was, however at least a partial return to classic Kool And The Gang.



Kool And The Gang...true funk pioneers, still tour extensively worldwide.

Fleetwood Mac

                                                                                                                                         In the history of rock music, probably no one band has gone through not only the number of personnel changes, but also the number of musical style changes, not to mention the number of personal life upheavals (all of this in a single band,mind you) and still have been able to steadily through it all rise to the level of superstardom as have a band called Fleetwood Mac. Navigating this group through drug addiction, marriages,divorces,imposters, and even a presidential campaign...from the group's birth to this very day have been two men...drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie.


The band was formed in 1967 in London By guitarist Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood , both former members of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. The pair desperately wanted Mayall's current bassist at the time, John McVie to join the band, but McVie had no wish to give up the steady employment of Mayall's outfit. They instead got Bob Brunning on bass with the understanding that he would vacate the spot should McVie ever agree to join up.After recruiting talented slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer, the band began gigging and weeks after their debut performance at the Windsor Jazz Festival later that year, John McVie finally decided to come on board. The band was then named "Fleetwood Mac at Green's suggestion after the group's rhythm section.


The first album, "Fleetwood Mac" was released in 1968 as well as two singles, "Black Magic Woman",which later became a hit for the band Santana, and "Need Your Love So Bad". Shortly after the release of theur second album, "Mr.Wonderful" later that same year, (yes they worked fast in those days!) they added Danny Kirwan. A talented,self taught guitarist with a signature vibrato and unique style, Kirwan added another dimension to an already complete group.  The band proceeded to become well known as a no-frills authentic blues act that got the opportunity to record an album on the legendary Chess Records label with Chicago blues giants such as Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy and Ots Spann in 1969.


Though a highly popular band in Europe at the time, Peter Green began to suffer ill health. Green was one of the top blues guitarists to come out of England, in my opinion in the top three along with Eric Clapton and Savoy Brown's Kim Simmonds. B.B. King, never the humblest of souls, was quoted thus, "Peter Green has more talent in his little finger than I have in my whole body". A bit exaggerated, perhaps, but obvious proof of Green's specialness nonetheless. Unfortunately his experimentation with LSD contributed to the onset of his schizoprenia. His last hit with the group was "The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown), and his last Fleetwood Mac performance was in 1970,after which he left the band due to his deteriorating condition.
                                                                               
Christine McVie, wife of bassist John joined the band later in 1970 on keyboards and vocals. She formerly performed those duties in the band Chicken Shack as Christine Perfect (her maiden name) and had a fairly successful solo career.
While on tour in 1971, guitarist Jeremy Spencer went out to "get a magazine" and never returned.  After a frantic search it was discovered several days later that he had joined a religious group called the Children of God. Peter Green stood in to finish the tour, atfer which the group held auditions for a replacement. This resulted in American guitarist Bob Welch joining the band. The subsequent albums, "Future Games" and "Bare Trees", showed a very different sound from anything the band had done previously due to the vocal and songwriting contributions of Welch and Mrs. McVie . At the same time Fleetwood Mac's popularity in the States began to increase.


Danny Kirwan developed an alcohol dependancy that resulted in missed performances and numerous quarrels with the rest of the group.He was finally asked to leave. This was 1972 .Over the next three years the band was challenged by almost constant personnel changes, the McVies'  dissolving marriage, and the band's former manager Clifford Davis putting together a fake "Fleetwood Mac" claiming he had ownership rights to the name. After this was settled, Bob Welch left due to touring fatigue. His departure was an amicable one,  and while in the group contributed greatly to the group's musical and business direction.


 Engineer Keith Olsen played a track from an album called "Buckingham-Nicks" called "Frozen Love" for Mick Fleetwood. Fleetwood liked the song and was subsequently introduced to Lindsey Buckingham, one of the duo. Buckingham was asked to join the group as Welch's replacement. Buckingham was willing on the condition that Stephanie (Stevie) Nicks be allowed to join him.Fleetwood agreed , and the band's most successful period had begun.


This success unfortunately was accompanied by the dissolution of the McVies' marriage as well as that of Mick and Jenny Fleetwood. Also split were Buckingham and Nicks. Members struggled with drugs and alcohol, as well as the personal tensions new-found riches can bring. Not to mention even more personnel changes. The band withstood it all, and managed to win a Grammy Award for the album "Rumours", Three American Music Awards, A Diamond Album for Rumours,selling over 40 million units worldwide, induction into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1998, and performed at president Bill Clinton's first Inaugural Ball in 1993, the band's song "Don't Stop" as the theme for his campaign.

Starting as a humble, blues-purist club band to become a decades-spanning, multi- platinum, Hall Of Fame pop giant, all the while withstanding enough drama to break up a dozen bands, and ending up looking and sounding not one bit like the band when it was formed...a pretty neat trick, people...that only Fleetwood Mac could pull off.

Soul Singers of the '60s - a list

 In the sixties we had a  number of male soul singers  hitting the charts regularly. There were a few however, that stood out clearly from the rest. Each one possessing their own unique style, they not only were great performers, but they influenced many other singers from their time and for generations to follow. The artist that claims the #1 spot on this list of the five greatest of that era to me is obvious. to follow are the men whom I feel are the remaining four...in my humble opinion, of course.



#5) Wilson Pickett                                         


#4) Joe Tex



#3) Otis Redding



#2) Jackie Wilson


Now if you really don't know the artist that sits at the top of this list, Please, Please, Please ask somebody! Here's a hint :

Supergroups

Here's another intriguing rock and roll term..."supergroup". It's pretty much like Superman... you know, like a regular man but better. And we all know what makes him better ; flying, really strong, x-ray vision, and so on. But what makes a supergroup better than a regular group?  It seems that a supergroup is made up of members that have achieved fame and sometimes fortune while previously playing in regular groups. Examples include Cream with Eric Clapton (Yardbirds,Bluesbreakers) , Jack Bruce (Manfred Mann,Graham Bond) and Ginger Baker (Graham Bond) , and Them Crooked Vultures with John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) , Dave Grohl (Nirvana,Foo Fighters) and Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age). These types of groups tend to be short-lived or sporadicly regrouping. The word "supergroup" itself has its roots in the release of the album "Super Session" in 1968 which featured Al Kooper (Blood Sweat And Tears) Mike Bloomfield (Electric Flag) and Steve Stills (Buffalo Springfield) performing as one. In 1969 Rolling Stone then-editor Jann Wenner proclaimed that the aforementoned Cream were the first supergroup.



The definition of supergroup has however has been stretched a bit . It has also been used to describe a band whose member or members gained acclaim after the band came into existence, such as Free or Genesis. other times a supergroup is considered a group who takes one or  more famous artists into its ranks while keeping the original group's name, as did Van Halen with Sammy Hagar or The Eagles with Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmidt. And sometimes  bands that simply create an extreme amount of revenue ,such as Led Zeppelin or Fleetwood Mac are christened "supergroups"



I, myself have my own opinion of what makes a supergroup. First of all, at least two members must have achieved acclaim through their past work. Secondly, the group must give itself a new name. (using the names or initials of the members is permitted,but not encouraged). Moreover , no more than two members can be from the same former group (I'm sorry, Velvet Revolver is merely Guns 'N' Roses with Stone Temple Pilots' singer...Black Sabbath did the same thing more often and with better vocalists,and nobody called them a supergroup). Lastly,the members have to have some actual individual fame (sorry, no Captain Beyond, no Tinted Windows).



The videos in this post are of acts that I feel are true supergroups. Included are Cream and Them Crooked Vultures as well as Crosby Stills Nash And Young (Buffalo Springfield, The Hollies, The Byrds), Humble Pie (The Small Faces, Spooky Tooth, The Herd), Lucy Pearl (En Vogue, Shalamar, A Tribe Called Quest), The Traveling Wilburys (George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne), Emerson, Lake and Palmer (The Nice, King Crimson, Atomic Rooster), LSG (Gerald Levert, Keith Sweat,
and Johnny Gill) and Bad Company ( Mott The Hoople, Free and King Crimson).

  

Chaka Khan and Rufus

Born Yvette Marie Stephens , raised Catholic ,she became a member of the Black Panther Party after befriending party member Fred Hampton in 1967. soon after she was given the name Chaka Adunne Aduffe Hodarhi Karifi by an African shaman. Dropping out of high school in 1969 , she began performing with the band Lyfe which included her boyfriend, bassist Hassan Kahn, whom she would later marry. Afterwards she was asked to replace the late Baby Huey in his band Baby Huey and The Babysitters after his untimely death in 1970. The band broke up soon after and she was approached by two members of a band known as Rufus to fill the lead vocalist position. She accepted and adopted the stage name Chaka Kahn. It was 1973.
 At this point, I cannot in good conscience fail to explore the fortunes of the band called Rufus . This worthy group of musicians were tragically stricken with a malady known as talented-charismatic-female-vocalist-leaves-band-by-the-side-of-the-road-itis , a disease that has claimed such bands as No Doubt , The Fugees ,Big Brother And The Holding Co. and others. The Black Eyed Peas are desperately battling this disease as we speak...but seem to be surviving.

At any rate ,Rufus was a funk band whose origins lie with The American Breed ,who had a top ten hit called "Bend Me,Shape Me in 1967. After the departure of a few f the members , remaining members Kevin Murphy and Al Ciner recruited replacements and carried on under the name Smoke . Paulette McWilliams was added on vocals and the band changed their name this time to Ask Rufus. (famed session bassist Willie Weeks was a member during this time). Drummer Andre Fischer returned to the band and singer McWilliams ,as stated earlier, got eighteen -year-old Chaka Khan to replace her. The group's name is then shortened to Rufus. The band's first album, titled "Rufus" tanked. Their sophomore release , "Rags To Rufus" , marked by an emphasis on Kahn's Voice and the personnel changes that brought guitarist Tony Maiden and bassist Bobby Watson to the band resulted in a platinum album and two hits , "You Got The Love" and "Tell Me Something Good" , which by the way,got them their first Grammy Award.

From then on, most of the group's tracks would feature Chaka Kahn and in short order she became one of pop music's most popular and critically acclaimed artists ,not to mention a bonafide sex symbol. Next stop , solo career.

To Chaka's credit , however she did maintain ties with her former band and occasionally re-united with them for gigs and recordings. And her solo success was well-deserved as was evident on her solo debut,which featured her soaring , Aretha Franklin-influenced range and power. The album included the crossover hit , "I'm Every Woman",an Ashford and Simpson composition that helped the album go platinum in 1978. The Rufus reunion "Masterjam" came in 1979 ,followed by 1982's jazz oriented "Echoes Of An  Era" and a funk-pop self titled release that contained the jazz-inflected "Bebop Medley" that showed off her impressive jazz and scatting chops ,won a Grammy and earned praise from venerable jazz legend Betty Carter.
During this somewhat experimental period in Kahn's artistic endeavors, she received much critical praise, however commercially there was a noticable drop-off. It was in 1984 with the release of her sixth studio album, I Feel For You that her career underwent a major resurgence. The album's title track was a Prince composition that featured a harmonica solo by Stevie Wonder and an intro by Grandmaster Melle Mel. It went to #3 in the Billboard top 100 and remained on the charts for 26 weeks, well into 1985,  when it netted a Grammy Award for Prince as Best Song. Chaka Kahn herself has won 10 Grammy Awards , the BET Life Achievement Award , 2 Soul Train Awards , and many other well-deserved items of recognition. She also plays drums as evidenced in the following vid:
Chaka Kahn is my personal favorite r&b female singer ,and in my opinion no contemporary artist has matched her combination of chops, power,and diversity . A vocalist like her is a rare breed these days.