Tag Archives: 70s R&B Music

Mar6

Over The Hump Old School Soundcheck-Earth Wind & Fire

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Happy Thursday! Earth Wind & Fire is one of the all-time best bands. Enjoy!

Earth, Wind & Fire is an American band that has spanned the musical genres of R&B, soul, jazz, pop, rock, funk, disco, latin, african and gospel. They are one of the most successful and critically acclaimed bands of the twentieth century. Rolling Stone has described them as “innovative, precise yet sensual, calculated yet galvanizing” and has also declared that the band “changed the sound of black pop”.

Also known as EWF, the band was founded in Chicago by Maurice White in 1969. Other members have included Philip Bailey, Verdine White, Ralph Johnson, Larry Dunn, and Al McKay. The band has received 20 Grammy nominations; they won six as a group and two of its members, Maurice White and Bailey, won separate individual awards. Earth, Wind & Fire have 12 American Music Awards nominations and four awards. They have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and sold over 90 million albums worldwide.

Five members of Earth, Wind & Fire were also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame: Maurice White, Philip Bailey, Verdine White, Larry Dunn and Al McKay. The music industry and fans have bestowed Lifetime Achievement honors from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (Rhythm & Soul Heritage Award – 2002), NAACP (Hall of Fame – 1994) and the BET Awards (Lifetime Achievement Award – 2002).

Earth, Wind & Fire is known for the dynamic sound of their horn section, their energetic and elaborate stage shows, and the interplay between the contrasting vocals of Philip Bailey’s falsetto and Maurice White’s tenor. The kalimba (African thumb piano) is played on all of the band’s albums. In the 1970s and early 1980s, the band had many hits, including “Shining Star”, “That’s the Way of the World”, “Devotion”, “Reasons”, “Sing a Song”, “Can’t Hide Love”, “Getaway”, “Fantasy”, “Love’s Holiday”, “September”, “Boogie Wonderland”, “After the Love Has Gone”, and “Let’s Groove”. Two Earth, Wind & Fire classic songs have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame: “That’s the Way of the World” (2004) and “Shining Star” (2007).

The band is also known as having been the first African-American act to sell out Madison Square Garden and to receive the MSG Gold Ticket Award.President Barack Obama invited Earth, Wind & Fire to perform at the White House for the first social event of the new administration. Credit: Wikipedia

Feb27

Over The Hump Old School Soundcheck – The Jackson 5

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I think we can all agree, the Jackson Five deserve a double play! Happy Thursday #musicfriendsofTenaciousM!

Feb20

Over The Hump Old School Sound Check- Rufus

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Happy Thursday! #MusicfriendsofTenaciousM

Rufus was an American funk band from Chicago, Illinois best known for launching the career of lead singer Chaka Khan. They had several hits throughout their career, including “Tell Me Something Good”, “Sweet Thing”, and “Ain’t Nobody”.

In 1967, The American Breed (Gary Loizzo, Al Ciner, Charles (Chuck) Colbert and Lee Graziano) had a top ten hit with the classic rock single, “Bend Me, Shape Me”. After much success, Ciner, Colbert and Graziano (without Loizzo who pursued a successful production career) created a new group, adding Kevin Murphy on keyboards and Vern Pilder from the bar band “Circus”. They re-emerged in 1969 under the name “Smoke”. In 1970 vocalists Paulette McWilliams and James Stella were added and the group’s name changed again to “Ask Rufus”; after which, Willie Weeks replaced Vern Pilder.

In 1971, the band signed a contract with Epic Records recording an album that wasn’t released after which Epic dropped their contract in early 1972. Willie Weeks was in turn replaced by Dennis Belfield, James Stella was replaced by keyboardist and vocalist Ron Stockert, Lee Graziano was replaced by Andre Fischer (former drummer with Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler), Paulette McWilliams and Chaka Khan had met and became the best of friends through their spouses Howard Towles and Hassan Khan. Chaka would come to most of Ask Rufus gigs when they were performing in Chicago. When Paulette decided she was leaving Ask Rufus, she went to the band and told them she had the perfect singer to replace her; she had also asked Chaka if she was interested. After the band members hesitantly submitted, Paulette remained with Ask Rufus for a few more weeks to teach Chaka all of their material. Paulette also got Chaka a gig with the group formed by Chicago’s Cash McCall called Life. Chaka had been performing at the Pumpkin Room on the south side of Chicago, with a local Chicago group called Lock and Chain, led by drummer Scotty Harris. With that change, and Paulette McWilliams leaving to pursue her solo career, the group recorded the first two albums as Ask Rufus and later dropped the “Ask” and simply became known as Rufus. Wikipedia

Feb19

Black History Month Salute – Tina Turner

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Black History Tina Turner

Tina Turner has long been one of my role models. Born in Nutbush, Tennessee in 1939, international superstar Tina Turner (née Anna Mae Bullock) moved to St. Louis in her teen years and from there she left for California. Although Tina lived in the Los Angeles area for about 25 years, in 1986 she moved to Europe and has lived there since. Living first in London, she later moved with her then boyfriend (current husband) to Cologne, Germany.

Tina formally filed paperwork with the U.S. Embassy in Bern, Switzerland on October 24, 2013 to relinquish her United States citizenship, declaring that she “has no plans to reside in the United States in the future.” But before she lived in Switzerland full time, Tina divided her time between Zurich and Nice, France at the French Côte d’Azur. Just like countries everywhere in the world, France adores Tina.

Photo 1: Tina Turner, Paris, 1984: “Tina’s fantastic. She’s one of the best, original entertainers [and] performers in rock ‘n’ roll, in the world. I actually just happened to be in Paris, found out Tina was there shooting a video and went and met her there. It’s kind of great, because Tina’s such a classy lady. To have a picture of her in Paris in front of the Eiffel Tower is just kind of a natural, because she is such a world-class celebrity. Paris is the city of romance, and it’s a great place for her to be.” ~Bob Gruen, Rock N Roll Photographer

In 1996, Tina was awarded with France’s highest honor, the Legion D’Honneur Award. “France is very special to me. I received my first encore here in Paris.” > http://youtu.be/ot_JfudQv3c.

In Photo 2 at Paris’ Élysée Palace on July 3, 2008 at France’s Prestigious Legion D’Honneur Award celebrating Giorgio Armani.

Photo 3: Tina Turner receiving the honorary citizenship of Villefranche sûr Mer, her [former] home in France, August 7, 1995.

Photo 4: Those famous legs on the back cover of her 1984 Private Dancer album, Tina’s fifth solo album. It has been alleged that Tina’s trademark legs were insured for upwards of $3 million.

Photo 5: Singer Tina Turner performs in concert at Bercy in Paris on April 29, 2009.

Photo 6: Tina Turner on the front cover of Architectural Digest. Her house in France was built especially for her and she decorated it herself > http://ow.ly/tHOtf. Video of her former home in France via Oprah: http://youtu.be/GfpwyzSz_mY.

Feb13

Over The Hump Old School Sound Check-The Stylistics

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Betcha By Golly Wow, and Happy Thursday!!

The Stylistics are a soul music vocal group, and were one of the best-known Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. They formed in 1968, and were composed of lead Russell Thompkins, Jr., Herb Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith, and James Dunn. Wikipedia

Feb6

The Chi-Lites – Over The Hump Old School Sound Check

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Happy Thursday! For those of you who have never heard the Chi-Lites, enjoy! For those of you who have, here’s to reminiscing…

In the late 1950s, the Chanteurs (Record, Robert Squirrel Lester, and Clarence Johnson) teamed up with Marshall Thompson and Creadel “Red” Jones of the Desideros to form the Hi-lites. Wishing to add a tribute to their home town of Chicago, they changed their name to “Marshall and the Chi-Lites” in 1964. Johnson left later that year, and their name was subsequently shortened to The Chi-Lites.

Record was the group’s primary songwriter, though he frequently collaborated with others, such as Barbara Acklin. Their major hits came in 1971 and 1972, “Have You Seen Her” and “Oh Girl”, the latter a #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 on 27 May 1972. Other transatlantic chart hits followed, although the output became more fragmented as the group’s personnel came and went. Bass singer Jones left in 1973, and was replaced in quick succession by Stanley Anderson, Willie Kensey, and then Doc Roberson. Shortly thereafter, Eugene Record left, and David Scott and Danny Johnson entered. More personnel changes ensued, when Johnson was replaced by Vandy Hampton in 1977. The Chi-lites cut some tracks for the Inphasion label in 1979, that appeared on an obscure album for the Excello label. Credit: Wikipedia

Jan30

The Isley Brothers – Over The Hump Old School Sound Check

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The Isley Brothers are an American musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, originally a vocal trio consisting of brothers O’Kelly Isley, Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley.

The group has been cited as having enjoyed one of the “longest, most influential, and most diverse careers in the pantheon of popular music”. Alongside a fourth brother, Vernon, the group originally performed gospel music until Vernon’s death a couple years after its original formation. After moving to the New York City area in the late 1950s, the group had modest chart successes during their early years, first coming to prominence in 1959 with their fourth single, “Shout”, written by the three brothers. Initially a modest charted single, the song eventually sold over a million copies.

Afterwards the group recorded modestly successful works for a variety of labels, including the top 20 single, “Twist & Shout” and the Motown single, “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)” before recording and issuing the Grammy Award-winning hit, “It’s Your Thing” on their own label, T-Neck Records. Initially influenced by gospel and doo-wop music, the group began experimenting with different musical styles incorporating elements of rock and funk music as well as pop balladry. The inclusion of younger brothers Ernie Isley (lead guitar, drums) and Marvin Isley (bass guitar), and Rudolph’s brother-in-law Chris Jasper (keyboards, synthesizers) in 1973 turned the original vocal trio into a self-contained musical band. Credit: Wikipedia

The Isley Brothers won me over with their albums: “Go For Your Guns” and “The Heat Is On”, featuring “For the Love of You”,”Make Me Say It Again, Girl” and “Voyage to Atlantis.” Here is one of my favorite versions of the song “Caravan of Love.”

Jan16

Carlos Santana – Over The Hump Old School Sound Check

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Happy Thursday everyone and welcome to “Over The Hump Old School Sound Check” for the week!!!

Carlos Santana is a Mexican American musician who first became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered a fusion of rock and Latin American music. The band’s sound featured his melodic, blues-based guitar lines set against Latin and African rhythms featuring percussion instruments such as timbales and congas not generally heard in rock music. Santana continued to work in these forms over the following decades. He experienced a resurgence of popularity and critical acclaim in the late 1990s. In 2003 Rolling Stone magazine listed Santana at number 20 on their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is a song written by George Harrison, first recorded by the Beatles in 1968 for their eponymous double album (also known as The White Album). The song features a lead guitar solo by Eric Clapton, though uncredited on the record. Credit: Wikipedia

I love how Santana has continued to evolve by collaborating with other amazing musicians and singers. Here he performs with one of my favorite artists, India Arie.