The Funk Brothers | |
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 Funk Brothers in early 1960s. Left to right:Benny Benjamin,James Jamerson,Joe Hunter, Larry Veeder,Hank Cosby,Mike Terry | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Detroit, Michigan, United States |
| Genres | Soul,funk,R&B |
| Years active | 1959–1972 |
| Labels | Motown |
| Members | NARAS membership Richard "Pistol" Allen Jack Ashford Bob Babbitt Benny Benjamin Eddie "Bongo" Brown Johnny Griffith Joe Hunter James Jamerson Uriel Jones Joe Messina Earl Van Dyke Robert White Eddie Willis |
The Funk Brothers were a group ofDetroit-basedsession musicians who performed the backing to mostMotown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972.
Its members are considered among the most successful groups of studio musicians in music history. Among their hits are "My Girl", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "Baby Love", " I Was Made to Love Her", "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", "The Tears of a Clown", "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", and "Heat Wave". Some combination of the members played on each of Motown's 100-plus U.S. R&B number one singles[1] and 50-plus U.S. Pop number ones released from 1961 to 1972.
There is no undisputed list of the members of the group. Some writers have claimed that virtually every musician who ever played on a Motown track was a "Funk Brother". There are 13 Funk Brothers identified in Paul Justman's 2002documentary filmStanding in the Shadows of Motown, based onAllan Slutsky's book of the same name. These 13 members were identified byNARAS for the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and were recognized with a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.
In 2007, the Funk Brothers were inducted into theMusicians Hall of Fame and Museum.
Early members included bandleaderJoe Hunter andEarl Van Dyke (piano and organ); Clarence Isabell (double bass);James Jamerson (bass guitar and double bass);Benny "Papa Zita" Benjamin andRichard "Pistol" Allen (drums);Mike Terry (baritone saxophone);Paul Riser (trombone);Robert White,Eddie Willis, andJoe Messina (guitar);Jack Ashford (tambourine, percussion,vibraphone,marimba);Jack Brokensha (vibraphone, marimba); andEddie "Bongo" Brown (percussion). Hunter left in 1964, replaced on keyboards byJohnny Griffith and as bandleader by Van Dyke.Uriel Jones joined the band as a third drummer. Late-era bassistBob Babbitt and guitaristDennis Coffey both joined the ensemble in 1966.
While most of Motown's backing musicians were African American, and many originally from Detroit, the Funk Brothers included white players as well, such as Messina (who was the featured guitarist onSoupy Sales's nighttime jazz TV show in the 1950s), Brokensha (originally from Australia), Coffey, and Pittsburgh-born Babbitt.
Unlike theirStax Records backing-band contemporariesBooker T. & the M.G.'s inMemphis, until the release of theStanding in the Shadows of Motown documentary, the members of the Funk Brothers were little known. Studio musicians were not credited by Motown untilMarvin Gaye'sWhat's Going On in 1971, although Motown released a handful of singles and LPs by Earl Van Dyke. The Funk Brothers shared billing with Van Dyke on some recordings, although they were billed as "Earl Van Dyke & theSoul Brothers", since Motown CEOBerry Gordy, Jr. disliked the word "funk".
Alternatively, the name "Funk Brothers" could have been given to the bandex post facto; the term "funky" as an adjective came to be associated with uptempo andbackbeat, Southern-styled soul music in the second half of the 1960s; the term "funk" as a noun is typically associated with uptempo soul music from the 1970s onwards. In theStanding in the Shadows of Motown documentary, Joe Hunter stated that the name "The Funk Brothers" came from Benny Benjamin. Hunter said that Benjamin was leaving the studio (known as the "Snake Pit", due to all the cable runs out of the ceiling) after session work, paused on the stairs, turned and said to his fellow musicians, "You all are the Funk Brothers." The band was then informally named.
The Funk Brothers often moonlighted for other labels, recording in Detroit and elsewhere, in bids to augment their Motown salaries. It became a worst-kept secret thatJackie Wilson's 1967 hit "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" did not have a Motown influence quite by accident—the Funk Brothers migrated to do the Wilson session, in an interesting reference to Motown's early history: Berry Gordy, Jr got his first music break by getting Wilson to record some of his songs (including "Reet Petite") in the 1950s. Various Funk Brothers also appeared on such non-Motown hits as The San Remo Golden Strings "Hungry For Love", "Cool Jerk" (the Capitols), "Agent Double-O Soul" (Edwin Starr, before that singer joined Motown itself), "(I Just Wanna) Testify" bythe Parliaments, "Band Of Gold" (Freda Payne), "Give Me Just a Little More Time" (The Chairmen of the Board), and blues musicianJohn Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom".[2] After he found out about the Edwin Starr session, Gordy fined members of the Funk Brothers band for moonlighting for another label; Eddie Wingate, owner of the Ric-Tic andGolden World labels, which released Starr's "Agent Double-O Soul", subsequently attended that year's Motown staff Christmas party and personally gave each of the fined session players double the amount of the fine in cash, on the spot. Gordy eventually bought out Wingate's label and his entire artist roster.
During the mid- to late-1960s, one-fifth of Motown records began using session musicians based in Los Angeles, usuallycovers and tributes of mainstream pop songs and showtunes.[citation needed] By 1970, Motown sessions were increasingly scheduled in Los Angeles instead of Detroit, including all of those forthe Jackson 5's hit recordings. Nevertheless, Motown producers such asNorman Whitfield,Frank Wilson,Marvin Gaye, andSmokey Robinson steadfastly continued to record in Detroit.
The Funk Brothers were dismissed in 1972, whenBerry Gordy moved the entire Motown label to Los Angeles; a development some of the musicians discovered only from a notice on the studio door. A few members, including Jamerson, followed to the West Coast, but found the environment uncomfortable. For many of the L.A. recordings, members ofthe Wrecking Crew worked for Motown, including drummerEarl Palmer, percussionist Gary Coleman, bassistCarol Kaye, guitaristTommy Tedesco, and keyboardistLarry Knechtel.
In February 2004, surviving members of the Funk Brothers were presented theGrammy Legend Award at the46th Annual Grammy Awards at theStaples Center in Los Angeles in March 2006, some remaining Funk Brothers were invited to perform on Philadelphia writer-producer-singerPhil Hurtt's recording session at Studio A, Dearborn Heights, Detroit, where they contributed their performances to "The Soulful Tale of Two Cities" project. The double-album sleeve notes read: "Motown's legendary Funk Brothers and members of Philadelphia's world renownedMFSB take you 'back in the day' with an album filled with classic Philly and Motown hits."Bob Babbitt,Joe Hunter, Uriel Jones, and Eddie Willis performed alongside other notable Detroit session musicians, likeRay Monette, Robert Jones,Spider Webb, and Treaty Womack. The musicians played on the Philly hits, giving their unique Detroit interpretations of the songs under the leadership of Phil Hurtt,Bobby Eli, Clay McMurray and Lamont Dozier. Many other ex-Motown and Detroit artists performed vocals on the session, includingthe Velvelettes,Carolyn Crawford,Lamont Dozier,Bobby Taylor,Kim Weston,Freda Payne, andGeorge Clinton.
In 2008, Ashford and Riser played onRaphael Saadiq's albumThe Way I See It, recorded in the style of the Motown Sound.[3] That same year, the Funk Brothers' surviving members recordedLive in Orlando, an album and video.
In 2010, surviving members of the Funk Brothers accompaniedPhil Collins on his Motown covers album,Going Back, and appear in the liveGoing Back concert DVD.
In 2010, the Funk Brothers were voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.[4]
The Funk Brothers have received threeGrammy awards:
Bassist James Jamerson was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, and drummer Benny Benjamin in 2003. In 2003, surviving members were invited to theWhite House to meet PresidentGeorge W. Bush,Secretary of StateColin Powell, andNational Security AdvisorCondoleezza Rice, in an event tied toBlack History Month.[5]
In 2007, the Funk Brothers were inducted into theMusicians Hall of Fame and Museum inNashville.[6] On March 21, 2013, the Funk Brothers were honored with a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame. In August 2014, the Funk Brothers were inducted into theRhythm and Blues Hall Of Fame at the induction ceremony, which was held in Canton, Ohio that year.
As discussed above, the name "The Funk Brothers" was a loosely applied designation. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences recognizes 13 musicians as official "Funk Brothers", but the name is often casually used as a catch-all designation to cover any musician who played on a Motown record.
The following list covers the musicians most frequently used on Motown recordings from 1959 through 1972; it is not an exhaustive list of every musician ever used. The 13 Funk Brothers recognized as official band members by NARAS are marked with an asterisk. Some also count backing vocalist triothe Andantes (Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps) as notable contributors to the Funk Brothers and Motown's sound.[7]
Membership lists based upon research by Allan Slutsky, with some minor corrections.[8]
Los Angeles was analternate recording center for Motown artists beginning in the mid-1960s, utilizing a different set of musicians. Hit tracks recorded in L.A. includethe Miracles' "More Love", many ofBrenda Holloway's songs, and all the early hits ofthe Jackson 5.
Many of the Los Angeles players were members ofthe Wrecking Crew, a loose-knit group of studio musicians.
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{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)This article appeared in print on October 5, 2011, on page B13 of the New York edition with the headline:Marv Tarplin, 70, Motown Guitarist And Songwriter.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| #1 hit singles | |
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