EFTA02719170

Ohio Players The Ohio Players were an American funk and R&B band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their songs "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster". Gold certifications, records selling at least one million copies, were awarded to the singles "Funky Worm", "Skin Tight", "Fire", and "Love Rollercoaster"; plus to their albums Skin Tight, Fire, and Honey. On August 17, 2013, The Ohio Players were inducted into the inaugural class of the Official R&B Music Hall of Fame that took place at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio. History The band formed in Dayton, Ohio in 1959 as the Ohio Untouchables and initially included members Robert Ward (vocals/guitar), Marshall "Rock" Jones (bass), Clarence "Satch" Satchel' (saxophone/guitar), Cornelius Johnson (drums), and Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrooks (trumpet/trombone). They were best known at the time as a backing group for The Falcons. Ward had proved to be an unreliable leader, who would sometimes, during gigs, walk off the stage, forcing the group to stop playing. Eventually, the group vowed to keep playing even after he left. Ward and Jones got into a fistfight in 1964, after which the group broke up. Ward found new backups, and the group's core members returned to Dayton. They replaced Ward with 21-year-old Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner (guitar), who would become the group's front man, and added Gregory Webster (drums). To accommodate Bonner's musical style preferences for the group ("R&B with a little flair to it") and to avoid competing with Ward, the group changed their format. By 1965, the group had renamed themselves the Ohio Players, reflecting its members' self-perceptions as musicians and as ladies' men. liPage of 5 EFTA_R1_02175191 EFTA02719170 The group added two more singers, Bobby Lee Fears and Dutch Robinson, and became the house band for the New York-based Compass Records. In 1967, they added vocalist Helena Ferguson Kilpatrick, who had just returned from George Gershwin's European Tour of Porgy and Bess. The group disbanded again in 1970. After again re-forming with a line-up including Bonner, Satchell, Middlebrooks, Jones, Webster, trumpeter Bruce Napier, vocalist Charles Dale Allen, trombonist Marvin Pierce, and keyboardist Walter "Junie" Morrison, the Players had a minor hit on the Detroit-based Westbound label in with "Pain" (1971), which reached the Top 40 of the Billboard R&B chart. James Johnson joined the group at this time as vocalist and saxophonist. Dale Allen shared co-lead vocals on some of the early Westbound material, although he was not credited on their albums Pain and Pleasure. It was at Westbound Records where the group met George Clinton, admired their music. The two albums' avante-garde covers featured a spiked-black leather-bikini clad, bald model Pat "Running Bear" Evans, who would later grace additional Ohio Players albums, including Climax, Ecstasy, and Gold. The band's first big hit single was "Funky Worm", which reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and made the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1973. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in May of that year. The band signed with Mercury Records in 1974. By then, their line-up had changed again, with keyboardist Billy Beck instead of Morrison and Jimmy "Diamond" Williams on drums instead of Webster. On later album releases, they added second guitarist/vocalist Clarence "Chet" Willis and conga player Robert "Rumba" Jones. Meanwhile, keyboardist Walter "Junie" Morrison recorded three albums on his own before joining Funkadelic as the force behind their hit One Nation Under a Groove. The band had seven Top 40 hits between 1973 and 1976. These included "Fire" (No. 1 on both the R&B and pop chart for two weeks and one week respectively in February 1975 and another million seller) and "Love Rollercoaster" (No. 1 on both the R&B and pop charts for one week in January 1976; another gold disc recipient). The group also took on saxophonist James Johnson. The group's last big hit was "Who'd She Coo?" a No. 1 R&B hit in August 1976. It was their only success in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at No. 43 on the UK Singles Chart in July 1976. Deaths Clarence Satchell (born 15 April 1940) died 30 December 1995 after suffering a brain aneurysm;[citation needed) Ralph Middlebrooks (born 20 August 1939) died in November 1997; and Robert Ward (born 15 October 1938) died at home 25 December 2008. Cornelius Johnson (born 12 July 1937) died 1 February 2009. Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner (born 14 March 1943, Hamilton, OH) died 26 January 2013 at age 69. Marshall Jones (born 1 January 1941, Dayton, OH) resides in Jamestown, Ohio, and is the only surviving member from the Mercury line-up. Discography Studio albums 2 P.. , r of t EFTA_R1_02175192 EFTA02719171 I I You i1 1 1969 I i Album i Observations in Time j 1972 Pain Pleasure 1973 Ecstasy Skin Tight 1974 Fire 1975 Honey 1976 Contradiction Angel 1977 L Mr. Mean 1978 Jass-Ay-Lay-Dee 1979 Everybody Up , Tenderness -1 984 Graduation x— `1988 Back Live albums Peak chart positions US 1 US CAN I Rtta ii 3i (14 Cortffications (sales threshold) Record labil - 177 63 70 - 21 — • US: Gold (141 4 19 -4 — 11 1 15 • US Platinum 04. 1 1 17 • US: Platinum 114: 2 1 36 • US: Platinum V3: 12 1 26 • US: Gold [14. 41 9 58 68 11 65 69 15 80 19 165 49 55 denotes a recording that did not than or was not released in that territory • Or School (1996, Essential Music) • Jam (1996, Mercury) • Live 1977 (2013 Goldenlane records) Compilation albums 3iPai:r of t Capitol Westbound Mercury j Arista Boardwalk Century Vista Track Record 1 EFTA_R1_02175193 EFTA02719172 Year 1972 1974 1975 1976 1977 Peak chart poutIons Fest ImpreSS.OnS Album ; US _ U$ R&D ' The Ono Payers — 32 ,.r-ar 102 24 Greatest His 1 92 22 Rattlesnake ! 61 8 Gold 1 31 10 Tne Best of me Eaoy Years. Vol I — 56 Certifications CAN (sales Umestrog) Record Sabel Trip — — Capitol — %%testi:toil(%) 28 . VS CVO 114. mercury — i Westbound 1995 Puna on Fire Tne Mercury Antnotogy I — — — ! mercury 1996 Orgasm Tne Very Best or tne Westbound Years — I I i j Westbound 2000 20th Century Masters. MtiOnnium Coaecton - Tne Best of the Ono Payers — 1. — i — 1 ! Mercury --I- . 1- - " 1 . zooe conizoosjocm — t — 1 — i i Island/Macias, * '—' denotes a reeving that did not that or was not released In that territory. Singles Year , 1967 "Neighbors' "Trespassin'" "Its a Crying Shame" "Bad Bargain" 1968 1969 1971 1972 Single "Find Someone to Love" "Pain (Part 1)" "Pleasure" "Varee is Love" Peak chart 1 positions US US CAN R&D • . 64 35 91 — 45 "Funky Worm' 15 i 1 1973 "Ecstasy "Sleep -fair OIPage of 5 31 12 EFTA_R1_02175194 EFTA02719173 47 6 71 "Jive Turkey (Part 1)" 1974 "Skin Tight" 13 2 19 "Fire" [4: 1 1 5 "I Want to Be Free" 44 6 51 1975 "Sweet Sticky Thing" 33 1 , 60 r'Love RoBercoaster" 1 1 2 "Fopp" 30 9 43 "Rattlesnake" 90 1 69 1976 nvino'd She coo, " [8: 18 • 1 63 "Far East Mississippi" — 26 "Feel the Beat (Everybody Disco)" 61 31 "Body Vibes" 19 1977 "O-H-1-O" 45 9 88 "Merry Go Round' — 77 "Good Luck Charm (Part 1)" I 101 51 "Magic Trick" 93 1978 "Funk-O-Nots" . 105 27 ••••••• --+ "Time Slips Away" 7.. 53 1979 "Everybody Up" — 33 "Try a Little Tenderness" — 40 1981 "Skinny" — . 46 "The Star of the Party' 1984 "Sight for Sore Eyes" — 83 "Sweat" 50 - 1988 "Let's Play (From Now On)" — 33 denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory Otie Players NJ.) 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