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Commodores, often billed as The Commodores, is an American funk and soul group. The group's most successful period was in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Lionel Richie was the co-lead singer.
Parliament-Funkadelic is an American music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic, both active since the 1960s. Their eclectic style has drawn on psychedelia, outlandish fashion, and surreal humor. They have released albums such as Maggot Brain (1971), Mothership Connection (1975), and One Nation Under a Groove (1978) to critical praise, and scored charting hits with singles such as "Tear the Roof Off the Sucker" (1975) and "Flash Light" (1978). Overall, the collective achieved thirteen top ten hits in the American R&B music charts between 1967 and 1983, including six number one hits. Their work has had an influential effect on subsequent funk, post-punk, hip-hop, and techno artists of the 1980s and 1990s, while their collective mythology has helped pioneer Afrofuturism.
Mingo Junction is a village in eastern Jefferson County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 3,347 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Weirton–Steubenville metropolitan area.
The Dazz Band is an American R&B/funk band most popular in the early 1980s. Emerging from Cleveland, Ohio, the group's biggest hit songs include "Let It Whip" (1982), "Joystick" (1983), and "Let It All Blow" (1984). The name of the band is a portmanteau of the description "danceable jazz".
Donnie Iris is an American rock musician known for his work with the Jaggerz and Wild Cherry during the 1970s, and for his solo career beginning in the 1980s with his band, the Cruisers. He wrote the #2 Billboard hit, "The Rapper", with the Jaggerz in 1970 and was a member of Wild Cherry after the group had a #1 hit with "Play That Funky Music." He also achieved fame as a solo artist in the early 1980s with the #29 hit "Ah! Leah!" and the #37 hit "Love Is Like a Rock."
Wild Cherry was an American funk rock band formed in Mingo Junction, Ohio, in 1970 that was best known for its song "Play That Funky Music".
Funk rock is a fusion genre that mixes elements of funk and rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s road band, the Upsetters, were the first to put the funk in the rock and roll beat, with a biographer stating that their music "spark[ed] the musical transition from fifties rock and roll to sixties funk".
"Play That Funky Music" is a song written by Rob Parissi and recorded by the band Wild Cherry. The single was the first released by the Cleveland-based Sweet City record label in April 1976 and distributed by Epic Records. The performers on the recording included lead singer Parissi, electric guitarist Bryan Bassett, bassist Allen Wentz, and drummer Ron Beitle, with session players Chuck Berginc, Jack Brndiar (trumpets), and Joe Eckert and Rick Singer (saxes) on the horn riff that runs throughout the song's verses. The single hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 18, 1976; it was also No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of over 2 million records and eventually sold 2.5 million in the United States alone.
Wild Cherry is the first studio album by Wild Cherry, released in 1976. The album includes the group's only major single success, "Play That Funky Music".
Steve Swindells is an English singer-songwriter, keyboardist, party organizer, club promoter and journalist.
Mark Avsec is an American rock keyboardist, songwriter, and producer. He was a member of the funk rock band Wild Cherry.
"Fire" is a song by R&B/funk band Ohio Players. It was the opening track from the album of the same name and hit No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Soul Singles chart in early 1975. It spent two weeks atop the soul chart. "Fire" was the Ohio Players' only entry on the new disco/dance chart, where it peaked at No. 10. The song is considered to be the band's signature one, along with "Love Rollercoaster".
I Love My Music is the third studio album by Wild Cherry, released in 1978. It includes "Don't Stop, Get Off", a single with no lyrics outside the title itself, sung in a strident voice, backed by horns playing a funky riff. Also featured on the album is "1 2 3 Kind of Love", which, while never released as a single, did receive radio airplay.
Ohio Players are an American funk band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their songs "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster", and for their erotic album covers that featured nude or nearly nude women. Many of the women were models featured in Playboy.
Electrified Funk is the second studio album by the funk rock band Wild Cherry, released in 1977. It contains the track "Baby Don't You Know", which roughly continues the theme and story of their 1976 hit "Play That Funky Music" by effectively explaining that, contrary to popular belief, all of the band's members were white despite its typically-Black funk/R&B sound. The song peaked at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became their second-highest charting hit. It also contains a repeat of a song from the first album, "Hold On ", this time with added violins.
Only the Wild Survive is the fourth and final studio album by Wild Cherry, released in 1979. It contains the single "Keep On Playin' That Funky Music" a sequel to their 1976 hit "Play That Funky Music". It was also the first and only Wild Cherry album to feature Donnie Iris as a performer. After Wild Cherry's breakup, Iris and bandmate Mark Avsec would launch Donnie Iris and the Cruisers.
Bryan Bassett is an American guitarist who has played with several notable bands, but is best known as a member of Wild Cherry in the 1970s who had a hit with "Play That Funky Music".
Heatwave was a disco-funk band formed in London, England in 1975. Its most popular line-up featured Americans Johnnie Wilder Jr. and Keith Wilder (vocals) of Dayton, Ohio; Englishmen Rod Temperton (keyboards) and Roy Carter (guitar); Swiss Mario Mantese (bass); Czechoslovak Ernest "Bilbo" Berger (drums); and Jamaican Eric Johns (guitar).
The 2001 Club was a chain of franchised disco nightclubs begun in the Pittsburgh area in 1972 that eventually grew to one of the most successful disco franchises in the country.
References
- ↑ "Vanilla Ice's style freezes". The Telegraph-Herald. 1 February 1991. p. 1. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ↑ Kaufman, Gil (1 April 2009). "Wild Cherry had a huge hit with the song during the 1970s disco era". MTV. p. 1. Archived from the original on 6 November 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
- ↑ Adams, Deanna R. (13 January 2010). Cleveland's Rock and Roll Roots. Arcadia Publishing. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7385-7786-9.
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