Departed but not Forgotten

Not to get all maudlin, but it's been thirty-five years or more since Funk was popular, and many of its innovators have since passed. Music on the One recognizes the contributions of these great musicians, and wishes to thank them for the love & inspiration. I see the arc of Funk rather broadly, so some of these performers might not fit into your paradigm of the funky.

The list is ongoing, & if I've missed anybody, please let me know. Some bands just don't have that much detailed information about them where I could find it.

It blows my mind that the entire lineup of the original Ohio Players has died. That's sad — and Junie too (though he joined later). Pretty much all the Funk Brothers too... Losing James and Prince was a blow, of course, but the parts of them that touched my life cannot go away, and I will pass them to my children & my readers.

Why did I do this? Not to be all mournful, but to celebrate the true depth & power of the Funk movement — a musical enterprise that transcends star power and the heroic individual. Past bourgeois exceptionality and into the collective, past present & future. Genius is always a part of it but all geniuses require partnership for expression. How could there be a James Brown without Bobby Byrd, Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Clyde Stubblefield, etc. Even the Godfather of Soul needed the JBs...

Lots of humans struggled to make this music come to life, but you can dig forever in the vaults for dusty 45s—the lone output of a single struggling band, their members unlisted, possibly forgotten. Individuals working towards the realization of a cultural force, a wave of innovation. A person will die, it's inevitable — but a movement, even a distant movement, never goes away so long as people remember it. And Funk lives in ways more productive & satisfying than any resurgence or imitation.

The break lives, it burns in the collective memory, and it continues to give life. Whether it is merely celebrated, like I do, or made into strikingly new forms, like a hip hop DJ or producer would, we live the Funk, now and ever. The Black Gold of the Sun.

Hank Ballard

May these Funk warriors rest in peace:

Mark Leslie Adams (Slave) (d. 2011)
Richard "Pistol" Allen (The Funk Brothers) (1932-2002)
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)
Bob Babbit (The Funk Brothers) (1937-2012)
Baby Huey (James Ramey) (1944-1970)
Hank Ballard (1927-2003)
Ron Banks (The Dramatics) (1951-2010)
Allan Barnes (The Blackbyrds) (1949-2016)
Roy Bedeau (aka Spartacus R) (Osibisa) (1948-2010)

Eddie Bo

Benny Benjamin (The Funk Brothers) (1925-1969)
Eddie Bo (1930-2009)
Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner (Ohio Players) (1943-2013)
Charles Bradley (1948-2017)
Michael Brecker (1949-2007)
Chuck Brown (1936-2012)
Eddie "Bongo" Brown (The Funk Brothers) (1932-1984)

James Brown & Bobby Byrd

James Brown (1933-2006)
Al Bryant (The Temptations) (1939-1975)
Bobby Byrd (1934-2007)
Donald Byrd (1932-2013)
Ronnie Caldwell  (The Bar-Kays) (1948-1967)*
Jimmy Castor (1940-2012)
Ben Cauley  (The Bar-Kays) (1947-2015)

Catfish Collins

Arlester "Dyke" Christian (Dyke & The Blazers) (1943-1971)
Jessica Cleaves (Earth Wind & Fire) (d. 2014)
Lyn Collins, The Female Preacher (1948-2005)
Phelps "Catfish" Collins (James Brown, Bootsy's Rubber Band) (1943-2010)
Carl Cunningham (The Bar-Kays) (1948-1967)*
King Curtis (1934-1971)
Miles Davis (1926-1991)
"Sting Ray" Davis (P-Funk) (1940-2005)

Lee Dorsey

Bo Diddley (1928-2008)
Bill Doggett (1916-1996)
Lee Dorsey (1926-1986)
George Duke (1946-2013)
Donald "Duck" Dunn (Booker T & The MGs) (1941-2012)
Dennis Edwards (The Temptations) (1943-2018)
Sulaiman El-Hadi (The Last Poets) (d. 1995)
Wade Flemons (Earth Wind & Fire) (d. 1993)
King Floyd (1945-2006)
Melvin Franklin (The Temptations) (1942-1995)

Glenn Goins, ca. 1976

Lowell Fulson (1921-1999)
Ramon "Tiki" Fulwood (P-Funk) (1944-1979)
Marvin Gaye (1939-1984)
Glen Goins (P-Funk) (1954-1978)
Johnny Griffiths (The Funk Brothers) (1936-2002)
Donny Hathaway (1945-1979)
Isaac Hayes (1942-2008)
Leon Haywood (1942-2016)
Eddie Hazel (P-Funk) (1950-1992)
Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)

Joseph Henry

Joseph Henry (d. 2005)
Mark "Drac" Hicks (Slave) (d. 2011)
Arzell "Z.Z." Hill (1935-1984)
Tyrone Hite (Black Merda) (d. 2004)
William "Wee Gee" Howard (The Dramatics) (1950-2000)
Joe Hunter (The Funk Brothers) (1927-2007)
Marvin Isley (1953-2010)
O'Kelly Isley (1937-1986)
Al Jackson (Booker T & The MGs) (1935-1975)
Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

James Jamerson

James Jamerson (The Funk Brothers) (1936-1983)
Rick James (1948-2004)
Johnny Jenkins (1939-2006)
Cornelius Johnson (Ohio Players) (1937-2009)
Joel "Razor Sharp" Johnson (Bootsy's Rubber Band, P-Funk, The Houseguests) (d. 2018)
Marshall "Rock" Jones (Ohio Players) (1941-2016)
Phalon Jones (The Bar-Kays) (1948-1967)*
Porgy Jones (d. 2014)
Sharon Jones (1956-2016)
Uriel Jones (The Funk Brothers) (1934-2009)
Louis Jordan (1908-1975)
Eddie Kendricks (The Temptations) (1939-1992)

Spike Mickens

Jimmy King (The Bar-Kays) (1949-1967)*
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1935-1977)
Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1938-1997)
Galt MacDermot (1929-2018)
Herbie Mann (1930-2003)
Curtis Mayfield (1942-1999)
Jimmy McGriff (1936-2008)
Robbie McIntosh (Average White Band) (1950-1974)
Harold Melvin (1939-1997)
Robert "Spike" Mickens (Kool & The Gang) (d. 2010)

Junie Morrison

Ralph "Pee-Wee" Middlebrooks (Ohio Players) (1939-1997)
Buddy Miles (1947-2008)
Rudy Ray Moore (aka The Dolemite) (1927-2008)
Walter "Junie" Morrison (Ohio Players, P-Funk) (1954-2017)
Cordell "Boogie" Mosson (P-Funk) (1952-2013)
Alphonse Mouzon (1948-2016)
Idris Muhammad (1939-2014)
Prince Rogers Nelson (1958-2016)
Jalal Mansur Nuriddin (The Last Poets, Lightnin' Rod) (1944-2018)
Jaco Pastorius (1951-1987)
Esther Phillips (1935-1984)
Wilson Pickett (1941-2006)
St. Clair Pickney (1930-1999)

Sam & Dave (Dave is on the left)

William Powell (The O'Jays) (1942-1977)
Dave Prater (Sam & Dave) (1937-1988)
Billy Preston (1946-2006)
William Daron Pulliam (aka Darondo) (d. 2013)
Eugene Record (The Chi-Lites) (1940-2005)
Otis Redding (1941-1967)*
Robert "Syke Dyke" Reed (Trouble Funk) (d. 2008)
Clarence Reid (aka Blowfly) (1939-2016)
Minnie Riperton (1947-1979)
Cynthia Robinson (Sly & The Family Stone) (1944-2015)
David Ruffin (The Temptations) (1941-1991)
Otis Rush (1935-2018)
Clarence "Satch" Satchell (The Ohio Players) (1940-1995)
Freddie Scott (1933-2007)
Shirley Scott (1934-2002)

Gil Scott-Heron

Gil Scott-Heron (1949-2011)
Frankie Seay (d. 2012)
James Timothy Shaw (aka The Mighty Hannibal) (1939-2014)
Garry Shider (P-Funk) (1953-2010)
Hillel Slovak (Red Hot Chili Peppers) (1962-1988)
Claydes Smith (Kool & The Gang) (1948-2006)
Jimmy Smith (1925-2005)
Fudgie Kay Solomon (Mandrill) (d. 1974)
Melvin Sparks (1946-2011)
Roebuck "Pops" Staples (1914-2000)
Edwin Starr (1942-2003)

The Funky Drummer

Clyde Stubblefield (The Funky Drummer) (1943-2017)
Donna Summer (1948-2012)
Sun Ra (1914-1993)
Rod Temperton (Heatwave, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones) (1949-2016)
Rufus Thomas (1917-2001)
Israel "Poppa Stoppa" Tolbert (1939-2007)
Mac Tontoh (Osibisa) (1940-2010)
Allen Toussaint (1938-2015)
Roger Troutman (1951-1999)
Wilson Turbinton (aka Willie Tee) (The Gaturs) (1944-2007)
Earl Van Dyke (The Funk Brothers) (1930-1992)
Michael Viner (Incredible Bongo Band) (1944-2009)
Junior Walker (1931-1995)

Marva Whitney

Robert Ward (Ohio Players) (1938-2008)
Johnny "Guitar" Watson (1935-1996)
Ricky West (Kool & The Gang) (d. 1985)
Barry White (1944-2003)
Maurice White (Earth Wind & Fire) (1941-2016)**
Robert White (The Funk Brothers) (1936-1994)
Marva Whitney (1944-2012)
Milan Williams (The Commodores) (1948-2006)
Paul Williams (The Temptations) (1939-1973)
Eddie "Chank" Willis (The Funk Brothers) (1936-2018)
"Sweet" Lou Wilson (Mandrill) (1941-2013)
Robert Wilson (The GAP Band) (1957-2010)
Bobby Womack (1944-2014)
Bernie Worrell (1944-2016)
Joe Zwainul (Miles Davis, Weather Report) (1932-2007)


* Killed in the same plane crash near Madison, Wisconsin.

** Just need a Robin White and we'd have the Black Bee Gees...