Plot
Coleman Buckmaster (Harvey Keitel), also known as "the Golden Ear", is a producer extraordinaire for A-Chord Records. In the midst of working slavishly to complete the debut album of "the Group" (Earth, Wind & Fire), Buckmaster is forced to put their project on the back-burner in favor of a new signing to A-Chord, "the Pages," Velour (Cynthia Bostick), Gary (Jimmy Boyd) and Franklin (Bert Parks). According to label head Carlton James (Ed Nelson), the Pages represent good, old-fashioned, wholesome family values. According to Buckmaster, they represent everything wrong with the music business: a soulless pastiche of cheese-on-white-bread, and he wants nothing to do with them. However, due to his contract, he is forced to turn the flat song of their demo, "Joy, Joy, Joy" into a workable hit. In the meantime, he ends up in a relationship with Velour, seemingly also against his will, but he is able to use the relationship to his and the Group's advantage, then to break the news of a makeshift marriage to Velour, updated her part of the music contract, the Pages. A twist where everybody wins.
Harvey Keitel is an American actor known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running association with director Martin Scorsese, starring in six of his films: Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967), Mean Streets (1973), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and The Irishman (2019).
Earth, Wind & Fire is an American musical group. Their style and sound span various music genres such as jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin, and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling music artists of all time, with sales of over 90 million records worldwide.
Killing Joke are an English rock band from Notting Hill, London, England, formed in 1978 by Jaz Coleman, Paul Ferguson (drums), Geordie Walker (guitar) and Youth (bass).
Saturn 3 is a 1980 British science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Farrah Fawcett, Kirk Douglas and Harvey Keitel. The screenplay was written by Martin Amis, from a story by John Barry. Though a British production, made by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment and shot at Shepperton Studios, the film has an American cast and director.
Maurice White was an American singer, band leader, musician, songwriter, and record producer. He was best known as the founder, leader, main songwriter and chief producer of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, also serving as the band's co-lead singer with Philip Bailey.
Verdine Adams White is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist for the band Earth, Wind & Fire. White was placed at No. 19 on Rolling Stone's list of The 50 Greatest Bassists of All Time.
On the Corner is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer Miles Davis. It was recorded in June and July 1972 and released on October 11 of the same year by Columbia Records. The album continued Davis's exploration of jazz fusion, and explicitly drew on the influence of funk musicians Sly Stone and James Brown, the experimental music of Karlheinz Stockhausen, ideas by composer Paul Buckmaster, and the free jazz of Ornette Coleman.
That's the Way of the World is the sixth studio album by American band Earth, Wind & Fire, released on March 3, 1975, by Columbia Records. It was also the soundtrack for a 1975 motion picture of the same name. The album rose to No. 1 on both the Billboard 200 and Top Soul Albums charts. That's the Way of the World has also been certified Triple Platinum in the U.S. by the RIAA. In 2002, the band released live version of the album, recorded in 1975 – That's the Way of the World: Alive in '75.
Paul John Buckmaster was a British cellist, arranger, conductor and composer, with a career spanning five decades.
Gratitude is a double live album by American band Earth, Wind & Fire, issued in November 1975 by Columbia Records. The album spent six weeks atop the Billboard Top Soul Albums chart and three weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart. Gratitude has also been certified Triple Platinum in the US by the RIAA.
"After the Love Has Gone" is a single by Earth, Wind & Fire released in 1979 on ARC/Columbia Records. The song reached No. 2 on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and the US Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart, No. 4 on the UK Pop Singles chart, and No. 3 on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary Songs chart. "After the Love Has Gone" was certified gold in the US by the RIAA and silver in the UK by the BPI.
"Subterraneans" is a song by David Bowie, the closing track of his 1977 album Low. As with most of Side 2, "Subterraneans" is mostly instrumental, with brief, obscure lyrics sung near the song's end.
"Shining Star" is a song by Earth, Wind & Fire's album That's the Way of the World, issued as a single in January 1975 on Columbia Records. The song rose to No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Billboard Hot Soul Songs chart, becoming their first single to top both charts. It has also been certified Gold in the US by the RIAA.
Sig Shore was an American film director and producer. His 1972 film Super Fly is considered one of the first blaxploitation films.
"September" is a song by the American band Earth, Wind & Fire released as a single in 1978 on ARC/Columbia Records. Initially included as a track for The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1, "September" was very successful commercially and reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart, No. 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart. The song remains a staple of the band's body of work and has been sampled, covered, remixed, and re-recorded numerous times.
Donald Myrick was an American saxophonist. A member of the Phenix Horns, he was best known for his work with Earth, Wind & Fire and Phil Collins.
Ralph Randolph Johnson is an American singer, songwriter, musician and producer. Johnson is a member and percussionist of the funk/soul/disco band Earth, Wind & Fire.
Charles Stepney was an American record producer, arranger, songwriter and musician. Stepney is noted for his work with artists such as The Dells, Ramsey Lewis, Rotary Connection and Earth, Wind & Fire.
That's the Way of the World is a 1975 album by Earth, Wind & Fire.
Holiday is the twenty-first studio and the first Christmas album by the American band Earth, Wind & Fire, released in October 2014 by Sony/Legacy. The album reached No. 26 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums and No. 8 on the Billboard Holiday Albums charts.
