Ohio Players

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" Satchell (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 liPage of S EFTA01205775 had renamed themselves the Ohio Players, reflecting its members' self-perceptions as musicians and as ladies' men. 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 aneurysmAcitation 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. 2 age of 5 EFTA01205776 Discography Studio albums Year Album Peak chart positions Certifications (sales threshold) Record label US (12) US Ras 1121 cAN [131 1969 Observations in Time — — — Capitol 1972 Pain 177 21 — • US: Gold (141 Westbound Pleasure 63 4 — 1973 Ecstasy 70 19 — 1974 Skin Tight 11 1 15 • US: Platinum (14) Mercury Fire 1 1 17 • US: Platinum (14) 1975 Honey 2 1 36 • US: Platinum (14) 1976 Contradiction 12 1 26 • US: Gold (14) 1977 Angel 41 9 58 Mr. Mean 68 11 65 1978 Jass-Ay-Lay-Dee 69 15 — 1979 Everybody up 80 19 — Arista 1981 Tenderness 165 49 — Boardwalk Ouch! 201 — — 1984 Graduation — — — Century Vista 1988 Back — 55 — Track Record Soda a won :frog that clod not chart or was not released in that territory Live albums • Or School (1996, Essential Music) • Jam (1996, Mercury) • Live 1977 (2013 Goldenlane records) 3IPage of S EFTA01205777 Compilation albums Album Peak positions chart CertMcatIons odes mresnoko US — US R88 — CAN First Impressions The Ohm Players — 32 Climax 102 24 Greatest Has 92 22 Rattlesnake 61 8 Gold 31 10 28 • US Gold 114: The Best or the Early Years, Vol. 1 — 59 — Funk on Fn: The Mercury Antnology — — — Orgasm: The Very Best of the tatsMound Years — — — zoth Century Masters: Millennlum Collection - The Best of Me Onto Rayers — — — Gold (20081111009) — — — Year 1972 1974 1975 1976 1977 1995 1998 2000 2008 Record label Trip Capitol Westbound mercury Westbound mercury Westbound mercury Island:MerCury denotes a recording that cad not dun or was not released in that tallow. Singles Year Single Peak chart positions US [201 US R&B [201 CAN [13] 1967 "Neighbors" — — - 1968 "Trespassir — 50 — "It's a Crying Shame" — — — 1969 "Bad Bargain" — — — "Find Someone to Love" — — — 1971 "Pain (Part 1)" 64 35 91 1972 "Pleasure" — 45 — "Varee Is Love" — — — 1973 "Funky Worm" 15 1 50 "Ecstasy" 31 12 — "Sleep Talk" — — — /Wage of EFTA01205778 1974 "Jive Turkey (Part 1)" 47 6 71 "Skin Tight" 13 2 19 "Fire" lAi 1 1 5 1975 "I Want to Be Free" 44 6 51 "Sweet Sticky Thing" 33 1 60 "Love Rollercoaster" 1 1 2 1976 "Fopp" 30 9 43 "Rattlesnake" 90 69 — "Who'd She Coo?" IBI 18 1 63 "Far East Mississippi" — 26 — 1977 "Feel the Beat (Everybody Disco)" 61 31 — "Body Vibes" — 19 — "O-H-I-O" 45 9 88 "Merry Go Round" — 77 — "Good Luck Charm (Part 1)" 101 51 — 1978 "Magic Trick" — 93 — "Funk-O-Nots" 105 27 — 'Time Slips Away" — 53 — 1979 "Everybody Up" — 33 — 1981 'Try a Little Tenderness" — 40 - "Skinny" — 46 — 'The Star of the Party" — — — 1984 "Sight for Sore Eyes" — 83 — 1988 "Swear' — 50 — "Lets Play (From Now On)" — 33 - -" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. Marshal 'Rode ben dame "Salar Meal -UP te•W•CMISS•Inalcs • Um ilitiarbor flomw Andrew NAM • Gary We"NM. Gate/ Lee Fein • DOS Roams • WIINCJorie LWOW. 811.0 MOW •MMOn liNv-Plitt• •S1q Bak • NNW INartont rimers • ROWIWIWO Sine Obovreirons N Taw • Pan • Roam • Ecnuy • Siin bort • Foe . Honey • Catactclon . Am.' W Mho • Ai as • FM.•MOly lin as Or &WI Camplatbe ass Comas . 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