This is a blog used to help promote DJ Kool Emdee and dedicated to GOOD music and those
who love good music, be it old or new school. Any music or links posted are for SAMPLE PURPOSES ONLY. We wish that you would support all artists by purchasing their bodies of work.
For this week, we take you back to 1978. The album is Motor Booty Affair, the fifth consecutive gold album by Parliament, under the creative leadership of the funktastic maestro George Clinton. The song of reference for this post is "One of Those Funky Things", a driving bass and synth heavy dance groove with hypnotizing vocals that has been borrowed by Hip-Hop groups such as EPMD, Ruff Ryders and others.
The music world was still in a bit of shock upon learning of the passing of Adam Yauch, known as MCA of the Beastie Boys. This week has been one of the most devastating weeks as we lost four legendary artists only days apart who made contributions to help change the course of music. We send our condolences to the families and fans around the world.
Donald “Duck” Dunn
(November 24, 1941 – May 13, 2012)
Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame bassist, songwriter and producer for Booker T. and The MG's and also a session musician for Stax Records. He was also a bassist for The Blues Brothers Band and featured in both Blues Brothers movies. He is also featured on several recordings by other notable acts and performances as a sideman.
Belita Karen Woods
(October 23, 1948 – May 14, 2012)
Was the lead singer for 1970's R&B group Brainstorm. She also sang with Parliament-Funkadelic for two decades. Brainstorm had a disco hit in 1977 called "Lovin' Is Really My Game". Their follow-up album, 1978's Journey To The Light, featured a more soul-funk sound, anchored by the album tracks "We're On Our Way Home" and "If You Ever Need To Cry". Prior to joining Brainstorm, Woods released a single "Magic Corner"/"Grounded" on Detroit's Moira label in 1967.
Chuck Brown
(August 22, 1936 – May 16, 2012)
Affectionately known as the "Godfather of Go-Go", Brown is regarded as the fundamental force behind the creation of go-go music. Brown's early hits include "I Need Some Money" and "Bustin' Loose". "Bustin' Loose" has been adopted by the Washington Nationals baseball team as its home run celebration song. Brown also recorded go-go covers of early jazz and blues songs, such as "Go-Go Swing" Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing If Ain't Got That Swing", "Moody's Mood for Love", Johnny Mercer's "Midnight Sun", Louis Jordan's "Run Joe", and T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday". The song "Ashley's Roachclip" from the Soul Searchers' 1974 album Salt of the Earth contains a famous drum break, sampled countless times in various other tracks.
Donna Summer
(December 31, 1948 – May 17, 2012)
Commonly known by the "Queen of Disco" moniker, Summer was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach number one on the U.S. Billboard chart. Bad Girls, an album that had been in production for nearly two years, was based the whole concept on prostitution, even with Summer dressing as a hooker herself on the cover art. The album became a huge success, spawning the number one hits "Hot Stuff" and the title track and the number two "Dim All the Lights". With "MacArthur Park", "Hot Stuff", "Bad Girls", and the Barbra Streisand duet "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)", Summer achieved four number one hits within a thirteen month period. Those aforementioned songs, along with "Heaven Knows", "Last Dance", "Dim All the Lights", and "On the Radio" (from her upcoming double-album) would give her eight US Top 5 singles within a two year period. "Hot Stuff" later won her a second Grammy in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, the first time the category was included.
Mahalia Jackson
(October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972)
Mahalia Jackson, a woman with a very powerful voice and fondly known as "The Queen of Gospel" was born on this day in New Orleans. Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world, and was heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist; entertainer Harry Belafonte called her "the single most powerful black woman in the United States". She recorded about 30 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen "golds"—million-sellers.
In 1929, Jackson met the composer Thomas A. Dorsey, known as the Father of Gospel Music. He gave her musical advice, and in the mid-1930s they began a fourteen-year association of touring, with Jackson singing Dorsey's songs in church programs and at conventions. His "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" became her signature song.
Her good friend Martin Luther King Jr said, "A voice like hers comes along once in a millennium." She was a close friend of Doris Akers, one of the most prolific gospel composers of the 20th century. In 1958, they co-wrote the hit, "Lord, Don't Move The Mountain". Mahalia also sang many of Akers' own compositions such as, "God Is So Good To Me", "God Spoke To Me One Day", "Trouble", "Lead On, Lord Jesus", and "He's A Light Unto My Pathway", helping Doris to secure her position as the leading female Gospel composer of that time. In addition to sharing her singing talent with the world, she mentored the extraordinarily gifted Aretha Franklin. Mahalia was also good friends with Dorothy Norwood and fellow Chicago-based gospel singer Albertina Walker. She also discovered a young Della Reese. On the twentieth anniversary of her passing, Smithsonian Folkways Recording commemorated Jackson with the album I Sing Because I'm Happy, which includes interviews about her childhood conducted by Jules Scherwin.
The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences created the Gospel Music or Other Religious Recording category for Jackson making her the first Gospel Music Artist to win the prestigious Grammy Award. American Idol winner and Grammy Award-winning R&B singer Fantasia Barrino has been cast to play Mahalia Jackson in a biographical film about her life. The movie will be based on the 1993 book Got to Tell It: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel. The film is said to be directed by Euzhan Palcy.
Funk bassist, singer, and songwriter William Earl "Bootsy" Collins rose to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the '70s, Collins's driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk. With his elder brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins, and Kash Waddy and Philippé Wynne, Collins formed a funk band called The Pacemakers in 1968. In March 1970, after most of the members of James Brown's band quit over a pay dispute, The Pacemakers were hired as Brown's backing band and they became known as The J.B.'s. (They are often referred to as the "original" J.B.'s to distinguish them from later line-ups that went by the same name.) Although they worked for Brown for only 11 months, the original J.B.'s played on some of Brown's most intense funk recordings, including "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine", "Super Bad", "Soul Power", and "Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing".
After parting ways with James Brown, Bootsy returned to Cincinnati and formed House Guests with his brother Phelps Collins, Rufus Allen, Clayton "Chicken" Gunnels, Frank Waddy, Ronnie Greenaway and Robert McCullough. The House Guests released two singles on the House Guests label as well as a third as The Sound of Vision on the House Guests label.
Collins next moved to Detroit, following the advice of singer and future Parliament member Mallia Franklin. Franklin introduced both Collins brothers to George Clinton, and 1972 saw both of the Collins brothers, along with Waddy, join Funkadelic. Bootsy played bass on most of Funkadelic and Parliament's albums through 1980, garnering several songwriting credits as well.
In 1976 Bootsy, Catfish, Waddy, Joel Johnson, Gary "Mudbone" Cooper, Robert Johnson and The Horny Horns formed Bootsy's Rubber Band, a separate touring unit of Clinton's P-Funk collective. The group recorded four albums together, the first three of which are often considered to be among the quintessential P-Funk recordings. The group's 1978 album Bootsy? Player of the Year reached the top of the R&B album chart and spawned the #1 R&B single "Bootzilla".
Like Clinton, Bootsy took on several alter egos, from Casper the Funky Ghost to Bootzilla, "the world's only rhinestone rockstar monster of a doll", as parts of the evolving character of an alien rock star who grew gradually more bizarre as time went on. He also adopted his trademark "space bass" around this time.
In July 2010, Collins, in partnership with former child actor Cory Danziger, launched Funk University ("Funk U"), an online-only bass guitar school in which he also serves as curator and lead professor. Funk University offers an intense curriculum tailored for intermediate to advanced bass players as well as anyone interested in a deeper understanding of funk. The curriculum is based on bass theory, history of funk, and Collins' own musical history given by Collins himself, augmented by lessons and exercises in bass and rhythm from guest bassist professors such as Les Claypool, Meshelle Ndegeocello, John B (Williams) and Victor Wooten.
George Clinton (born July 22, 1941) is the principle architect of the P-Funk sound. As a singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer, Clinton was the mastermind behind Parliament-Funkadelic collective, which included The Brides of Funkenstein, Parlet, Zapp and Bootsy's Rubber Band.
My apologies for being late on some of these artists, as their transitions were recently brought to my attention. I pray for all the families and that we never forget these artists. May they all REST IN POWER.
Busi Mhlongo (October 28, 1947 – June 15, 2010)
Born Victoria Busisiwe Mhlongo, was originally from Inanda in Natal, South Africa, was a virtuoso singer, dancer and composer whose music defies categorization. Drawing on various South African styles such as mbaqanga, maskanda, marabi and traditional Zulu, fused with contemporary elements from jazz, funk, rock, gospel, rap, opera, reggae and West African music she produced a fresh and exciting sound. Her infectious music and singing style have a universal appeal and her lyrics carry powerful and poignant messages. In the 1960s, she adopted the artistic name Vickie; only later did she became known by Busi Mhlongo.
Mhlongo has worked with other top African folk / pop artists, like Hugh Masekela, Mariam Makeba, Dr. Philip Tabane, Mabe Thobejane, and many legends - Robert "Doc" Mthalane making meticulously produced, melodic and modern South African music.
Lincoln Barrington 'Sugar' Minott (May 25, 1956 - July 10, 2010)
Sugar Minott born in Kingston, Jamaica is a reggae singer, producer and sound-system operator known for his sweet roots dancehall style. Minott spent his youth hanging around the legendary Studio One record label listening to the artists that recorded there.
After working as a selector on the Sound of Silence Keystone sound system, and then his own Gathering of Youth system, he began his singing career as part of The African Brothers in 1969, along with Tony Tuff and Derrick Howard. The group released several singles in the first half of the 1970s on labels such as Micron and their own Ital label, and were an early example of the Rastafari movement's influence on the Jamaican music scene. After recording "Mysterious Nature" for producer Rupie Edwards, the group recorded 1974's "No Cup No Broke" for Studio One, breaking up shortly after. Minott then teamed up with the producer Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, as studio apprentice at Dodd's Studio One, working as a singer, guitarist and percussionist, and soon began recording his own singles.
When the young Minott started recording at Studio One, he didn't use a backing band as in conventional recording, but elected to sing over instrumental versions of old Studio One classics. This is considered to be the birth of "dancehall," which lead to countless artists making new hits out of old classics, a tradition that continues in Jamaica today.
Garry Marshall Shider (July 24, 1953 – June 16, 2010)
Garry Shider was musical director of the P-Funk All-Stars for much of their history. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic.
Shider was born in Plainfield, New Jersey. At the age of ten and under the guidance of his father Jesse, Garry and his brothers played and sang behind many gospel artists of the time including legends such as Shirley Caesar, The Five Blind Boys, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, and others. As a youth Shider was also a regular customer at the Plainfield barbershop owned by George Clinton, where the future members Parliament would sing doo-wop for customers and counsel local youngsters. Clinton made note of the young Shider's talents on guitar and his ability with gospel singing.
Shider and his friend Cordell "Boogie" Mosson left for Canada where Shider married and had a son. Shider and Mosson formed a funk/rock band called United Soul, or "U.S.". George Clinton was living in Toronto, Ontario at the time and began hearing about United Soul from people in the local music business, and took the band under his wing upon learning that Shider was a member. In 1971, Clinton produced several tracks by United Soul with input from members of Funkadelic. After producing United Soul, Clinton then invited Shider and Mosson to join Parliament-Funkadelic. Two United Soul songs were rerecorded on later Funkadelic albums with Shider as a member. Clinton groomed Shider for an important role in the P-Funk roster, which Shider joined full-time in 1972.
During Parliament-Funkadelic performances Shider was known for appearing in a diaper, making him instantly recognizable on stage and earning him the nickname "Diaper Man". Shider is featured prominently in the hit songs like, "Cosmic Slop," "Getting to Know You," and "One Nation Under a Groove". He co-wrote many noteworthy Parliament-Funkadelic songs, and he made important contributions to P-Funk spin-off acts including Bootsy Collins and Eddie Hazel.
Rammellzee born in Far Rockaway, Queens, New York, was a visual artist, graffiti writer, performance artist, rap/hip-hop musician, art theoretician and sculptor. Rammellzee's graffiti and art work are based on his theory of Gothic Futurism, which describes the battle between letters and their symbolic warfare against any standardizations enforced by the rules of the alphabet. His treatise, Iconic Panzerisms, details an anarchic plan by which to revise the role and deployment of language in society. He has stated that his name is derived from RAM plus M for Magnitude, Sigma (Σ) the first summation operator, first L - longitude, second L - latitude, Z - z-bar, Σ, Σ - summation. Rammellzee is often identified as an artist apart of the Afrofuturism canon; Afrofuturism is identified discourse concerned with revisioning racial identity through the tropes of science fiction and fantasy narrative or aesthetics.
Rammellzee performed in self-designed masks and costumes of different characters which represented the "mathematical equation" that is Rammellzee. On the basis of his Gothic Futurism approach, he described his artistic work as the logical extension into a new phase which he calls Ikonoklast Panzerism. This artistic work has been shown in art galleries throughout the US and Europe. His Letter Racers, and other Noise includes artistic works by individuals mostly identified with their musical contributions. Rammellzee was also instrumental as one of the original hip hop artists from the New York area who introduced specific vocal styles which date back to the early 1980s. His influence can still be heard in contemporary artists such as The Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill. His song Beat Bop was featured in the film Style Wars.
Melvin McCullough aka Mr.Fantastik of Berkeley, CA who was head of the crew ROYAL ROCKERS passed away Saturday June 12th. He was a hip-hop icon and pioneer here in the bay area of northern California. Partners with the Incredible Rubberman Damon Frost, they both influenced the early bay area hip-hop scene especially through dance, mainly poppin' and the robotic dance movement that includes waving, Tuting and slides.
