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A Website dedicated to the Creators the Memories and the Recollection of all the FUNK music on the Planet
“The Real FUNK!”
FUNK is a black American art form derived musical category created in the early 1960s with emphasis on danceable complex grooves with strong rhythmic bass and drum lines. Funk music has been an amalgam of music to its time of emergence. Jazz, Blues, R&B and Rock have all play their part in its creation.
- Acknowledgment and Appreciation -
To Soulwalking and Wikipedia for their thorough research and data on the music of America, specifically the Black American Funk genre in which I am bringing to focus on this website.
JAMES BROWN was one of the first to navigate the Funk Music genre successfully to prominence with such tunes as Cold Sweet and Sex Machine as well as many others. Musician like The Meters and Sly Stone have risen to fame with this exciting musical form also.
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James Joseph Brown |
Born James Joseph Brown from Barnwell, South Carolina, and reign with many titles singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader the ultimate show man the originator of funk music and crowned "Godfather Of Soul" crowned. A career that spanned over fifty years that influenced countless entertainers and musicians of several genres.
The latest James Brown video
Brown began singing in the late 50's gospel then R&B with singer Bobby Byrd of The Famous Flames and later The James Brown Band. He had many hits like Papa's Got a Brand New Bag and I Got You (I Feel Good) just to name a few. Brown established a funkier sound in the early 70’s with the formation of the J.B.s with records such as Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machines and The Payback. Brown continued to perform and record until his death in 2006
Click for more information on James Brown at Soulwalking
The backbone & rhythmic pulse of Funk Music is the bass guitar and Bootsy Collins willed it expertly. When Bootsy joined James Brown sound in the late 60's Funk was well on its way into an established music genre.
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| Bootsy Collins |
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| The JB's |
Bootsy band The Pacemakers predates James Brown as well the 70's transition with Parliament-Funkadelic Band establishing himself as one of the leading names and innovators in Funk. Bootsy Collins' band known as Bootsy Rubber Band reign in the 70's and 80's and beyond.
Sly and the Family Stones were formed in San Francisco California in 1967, and disbanded as a group in 1975.
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| Sly And The Family Stone |
Sly And The Family Stone was a hard driving band and navigated the funk scene elegantly, strong artistic presents and superb musical showmanship, formed in San Francisco and active from 1966 to 1983. The bands constituent were Sly Stone the leader a multi-instrumentalist, singer/guitarist Freddie Stone, singer/keyboardist Rose Stone, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, drummer Greg Errico, saxophonist Jerry Martini, and bassist Larry Graham. It’s was one of the first and few American bands to be racially and gender intergrated.
Some of the hits Sly & the Family Stone reached were, Dance to the Music, Everyday People are Just a few of the many. You bet this was a very innovative band & greatly influenced the sound of many musicians & producers to come.
The Meters were an American R&B/Funk band based in New Orleans, Louisiana.
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| The Meters |
The Meters - Art Neville keyboards, Leo Nocentelli guitar, George Porter bass and Joseph Ziggy Modeliste drums
Reigning from the very early time in the Funk genre, their musical journey begins in 1965 in New Orleans. The Authentic American Funk Band with classics like Cissy Strut and Look-Ka Py Py recorded long before funk took its roots as a category of artistic composition and backed many musicians of their time. They are considered originators of funk along with James Brown and have chopped up many awards of greatness and grandeur, one of their most successful albums was Fire on the Bayou
Reigning from the very early time in the Funk genre, their musical journey begins in 1965 in New Orleans. The Authentic American Funk Band with classics like Cissy Strut and Look-Ka Py Py recorded long before funk took its roots as a category of artistic composition and backed many musicians of their time. They are considered originators of funk along with James Brown and have chopped up many awards of greatness and grandeur, one of their most successful albums was Fire on the Bayou
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Parliament were an American Doo-Wop vocal group formed in Plainsfield, New Jersey later changed its genre into Rock, and Funk
Parliament - Funkadelic
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Parliament-Funkadelic |
Parliament Funkadelic formed in the 60’s and ruled in
the 70’s with their unadulterated Funk/Rock sound and pushed the musical genre to
the extreme. The members of the band are numerous but in the beginning the band
was small, vocals George
Clinton, bassist Billy Bass Nelson, guitarist Eddie Hazel, guitarist Tawl Ross, organist Mickey Atkins and drummer Tiki Fulwood, but this is in no
way a definite list of the exact beginnings.
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Parliament-Funkadelic |
The band was infused with influences of Rock, Soul and Funk music and evolved into one of the most musical and theatric band on the stage of that time. It’s creation of the P-Funk Sound is what morphed out of all the dynamic distinct elements Parliament-Funkadelic brought forth over all the many years a patent recognizable style in its own right and were influential in many future funk, rock and hip hop artist.
The Barkays – An American Soul, R&B and Funk group formed in 1966, a studio session group out of Memphis backing major artists for Stax Records. it's hard to define the Barkays time line because of the very traumatic incident that happened in 1967 of the death of many members along with Otis Redding in a plane crash, but I will focus on the re-form band and their instrumentation in elevating the Funk era.
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| The Bar-Kays |
Surviving members Ben Cauley, trumpet & bassist James Alexander re-formed the band consisting of Harvey Henderson, saxophone; Michael Toles, guitar; Ronnie Gorden, organ; Willie Hall, drums; and later Larry Dodson, lead vocals. One of their hits Soul Finger top the charts of U.S. Billboard Hot 100 at no. 17 and R&B no. 3 and what followed was many more hits. The Bar-Kays appeared in the 1973 film documentary, Wattstax in the height of Funkmania of the day.
Were studio session musicians based in Detroit that backed most Motown recordings from 1959 to 1972. Their musicianship was the bedrock of the Motown record label that traverse Gospel, Blues, Soul, R&B, Rock, Funk, Disco and Pop music.
THE FUNK BROTHERS – formed in 1959 by Berry Gordy were the sound of Motown in the 1960's, studio Session Musicians based in Detroit that backed most Motown recordings from 1959 to 1972. The Funk Brothers playing on hundreds of hits for Motown numerous singers from The Temptations, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye to Stevie Wonder and many more.
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The Funk Brothers |
An American documentary film Standing in the Shadows of Motown recounts the story of The Funk Brothers, the uncredited and largely unheralded studio musicians, a must see.
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Originally were a vocal trio from Cincinnati, Ohio, consisting of brothers O'kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley. Their first charting single was “Shout”, which although not a big hit has become one of their most classic tunes over time.
The Isley Brothers
The group has been cited as having enjoyed one of the longest most influential and most diverse careers in the pantheon of popular music. it still survives to this day with Ronald Isley, vocals and Ernie Isley, lead guitar, drums. Past members are Vernon Isley, vocals; Marvin Isley, bass guitar; Chris Jasper, keyboards.
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| The Isley Brothers |
Influenced from the beginning by gospel and doo-wop music, the group began experimenting with different musical styles incorporating elements of rock and funk as well as pop balladry. THE ISLEY BROTHERS are among the few groups ever to have hit the Billboard Hot 100 with new music in five different decades. They received the
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Charles Wright the leader of the musical group began in 1967 from theWatts area of Los Angeles California.
Charles Wright contribution to Funk, R&B and Pop was enormous.
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| Charles Wright Watts 103 Street Rhythm Band |
The original members consisted of Charles Wright: guitar, vocals & piano; Bernard Blackman: guitar; Raymond Jackson: trombone; John Rayford: tenor sax; Gabe Flemings: piano, trumpet; Melvin Dunlap: bass; Larry Cotton: drums; A young Al Mckay: guitar, before joining, Earth Wind & Fire in the very early days of it's greatness
Additional musician are
James Gadson: drums; Bill Cannon: saxophone; Leslie Milton: drums; Yusuf Rahman: horns
The band before the Watts Street Band was called, The Soul Runners
Dyke & The Blazers The band was formed in 1964 and created the original Funky Broadway song. Being one of the first band to utilize the term Funk long before the genre was stylish
song. Being one of the first band to utilize the
Maurice White Brainchild and Leader of the Earth Wind & Fire band which was formed in 1969 in Chicago IL. A dynamic lyrical rhythmic band with beautifully written song of desires and togetherness with excellent showmanship & stage presents.
At the age of 22 partly into his music career Maurice landed engagements with Ramsey Lewis that help hone his keenness for the music business, that would take him and all who joined the EWF band to one of the greatest most successful Funk, RnB & Soul bands/groups in musical history.
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| Earth Wind & Fire |
The original members to the band (Most not pictured) were Maurice White, Vocals, drums; Verdine White, bass; Don Whitehead, keyboards; Wade Flemons, vocals; Sherry Scott, vocals; Michael Beale, guitar; Leslie Draton trumpet; Chet Washington, tenor sax; Alex Thomas, trombone; Yackov Ben Israel, Percussion.
Even today "2022" you can book tickets to still see & listen to this miraculous musical ensemble with all its splendid air.
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From the mid 60's Kool and the Gang was established as a musical band with a few different names before settling on its iconic name and released it first album in 1969. Their many musical styles span Jazz, R&B, Soul, Funk, Disco, Rock and Pop.
Robert 'Kool' Bell: bass, vocals
Robert 'Spike' Mickens: trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals
Ronald 'The Captain' Bell: tenor, soprano saxophones, keyboards
Dennis DT Thomas: alto saxophone, flute, congas, vocals
Claydes Charles E.X. Smith: guitar, percussion
Rick West: piano, vocals, electric piano
George 'Funky' Brown: drums, vocals, percussion
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| Kool and the Gang |
The songs "Jungle Boogie" and "Hollywood Swinging" were Kool and the Gang's first taste in commercial success. It took some time before the band reach the pinnacle in the Funk idiom but they surely were instrumental in establishing the foundations in other genre in which Funk was built on.
The Ohio Players cut from the music sheets of Blues, R&B and Soul but honed the grooves & up tempo styles of Funk some time after they hit the musical stage.
Robert Ward: guitar, vocals; Clarence Satchell: sax, flute, vocals; Ralph Middlebrooks; sax, trumpet; Cornelius Johnson: drums; Leroy Bonner: guitar, vocals; James Williams: drums, vocals; Clarence Williams: rhythm guitar, vocals; Walter Morrison: piano, vocals; Marshall Jones: bass; Greg Webster: drums
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The Ohio Players |
The band originally named The Ohio Untouchables were around some years before changing to The Ohio Players along with band members but before their stapled Funk sound took hold. With songs like Fire, Love Rollercoaster and Skin Tight.
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a high school creation by
Louis A. McCall & Michael V. cooper
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ConFunkShun |
Delivering Funk and RnB with romantic ballads and danceable party groves. Their essential elements with inventive horn arrangements were revolutionary to the genre.
Charting an impressive platinum album and 4 gold albums, numerous Funk hit singles including top RnB hits.
ConFunkShun Original Members
Michael V. Cooper, guitar, vocals
Louis A. McCall, drums
Felton Pilate, trombone, lead vocal
Karl Fuller, trumpet
Paul Harrell, saxophone, flute
Cedric A. Martin, bass
Danny Thomas, keyboards
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| Mandrill |
Tower of Power
Fatback band
Lakeside
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| Cameo |
GAP Band
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| Commodores |
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| Slave |
B T Express
L.T.D.
SOS
Midnight Star
Instant Funk
Mass Production
The Brothers Johnson
Rick James Prince
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* A Funk Music Archival *
A Website dedicated to the Creators the Memories and the Recollection of all the FUNK music on the Planet
“The Real FUNK!”
