Funk Music

Henry Stone wanted to record musical artists that were not able to sign deals with the large record labels of the late 1940s.  As a result, Henry found a string of artists and provided the setting to be recorded.  This list includes Ray Charles and James Brown.  As his own company grew, both as a...
Ernie Isley was born into a very musical family and grew up with his older brothers forming a group and singing gospel.  When Ernie was 14 years old he played drums as a member of the famed Isley Brothers and by 1968 taught himself to play guitar.  He arranged several of the groups cover songs and...
Leon Huff cut his teeth in the recording studios as a session player in the 1950s before meeting Kenneth Gamble.  The two became one of the most prolific and successful songwriting and record producing teams in the music industry.  They not only created the Philly Sound, they set standards and...
Kenneth Gamble was singing and playing the guitar in a band he formed in Philly when he first met his future songwriting partner, Leon Huff.  The two discovered they had the same goals of making music and that Kenneth's strength as a poet was a perfect fit for Huff's musical background.  Together...
Larry Dunn played a key role in the success of the legendary group Earth, Wind & Fire!  As the keyboardist for the group he added new sounds in the innovative era of electronic musical instruments.  As Musical Director for the group he set high standards of creative and musical performances...
Chris Jasper is the funk and soul keyboardist, singer and composer who played a key role in the Isley Brothers sound.  He later helped form Isley-Jasper-Isley, which, like the Isley Brothers era, resulted in several classic hit recordings. Chris has also enjoyed a long solo career which has...
David Garibaldi is the innovative drummer for Tower of Power and a much respected clinician well known throughout the world.  He joined the group in 1970 just as they signed Bill Graham on as their manager.  Before long the group was recording and landed several hits on the charts.  David’s skills...
Rocco Prestia grew up in Northern California where he began playing guitar as a teenager before joining the group Tower of Power just after the famous band was formed. It was during these early days when Rocco switched from guitar to bass, which provided a special groove as he mastered what many...
Bernie Worrell began playing classical music as a small child and it soon led to his life-long passion for music! He met George Clinton, who at the time was leading a Doo-Wop group called The Parliaments. As Bernie experimented with electronic keyboards and synthesizers he teamed with George to pen...
Bobby Martin was one of the architects who developed the Philly Sound that provided a unique twist of soul and funk records of the 1960s and 70s. As a producer he worked with many top artists of the day and as an arranger he gave us the blend of blues and funk on “For the Love of Money” with the O’...

Pages