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Ken Fitzgerald
04-16-2010, 1:40 AM
I sang male leads in 5 musicals. I took vocal lessons for 4 years. I played in several chump change rock bands.

When the Beatles came over....what a refreshing change in music. I was so tired of playing and singing "Johnny be good".

Then Motown came to be...............

In '67 I moved to a little farming town outside Chicago and I got to listen to a lot of the 60's Chicago groups in their early days.......

Yesterday TCM played a movie....Standing in the Shadow of Motown....concerning the Funk Brothers band. A group of unrelated musicians that became the sessions musicians on most of the biggest hits that came out of Motown in the 60's and early 70's. Wow! Unbelieveable!

I will be ordering the DVD tomorrow. I found some new vocalists to buy for my CD collection too......Joan Osborne.......Ben Harper....

Paul Atkins
04-16-2010, 2:33 AM
We want photos.

John Keeton
04-16-2010, 7:17 AM
Whodda' thunk it!! Sounds like you have drifted off into nostalgia, Ken!! Happens when we approach the golden years.:D

Somewhere along the way, working on oil rigs sounded more interesting???

Belinda Barfield
04-16-2010, 7:26 AM
I love your posts about your rocker days, Ken. I always try to imagine you in bell bottoms and tie dye, with long hair and a Buffalo Bill mustache . . .

Ken Fitzgerald
04-16-2010, 8:45 AM
John......I am not approaching my golden years.....I is there! It ain't gold like they promised us.....it is rust!

Belinda......the bell bottoms....the longish hair....the mustache but.....in August of '68 my oil field driller Dad made me shave the mustache and get a hair cut to attend my maternal grandmother's funeral. I tried to convince him Grandma wouldn't have cared......he convinced me...he cared and that was all that was important.....:D

I guess I am trapped muscially in that era. I hear some stuff today that I like but I am always drawn back .....that period from about 1964-1978....

The sun won't set without me buying the DVD of that movie. Those musicians were as good today as then!

Dick Rowe
04-16-2010, 9:14 AM
I hear some stuff today that I like but I am always drawn back .....that period from about 1964-1978....


Yup ... most everything else is just noise!

Mitchell Andrus
04-16-2010, 9:17 AM
Yesterday TCM played a movie....Standing in the Shadow of Motown....concerning the Funk Brothers band. A group of unrelated musicians that became the sessions musicians on most of the biggest hits that came out of Motown in the 60's and early 70's. Wow! Unbelieveable!

I will be ordering the DVD tomorrow. I found some new vocalists to buy for my CD collection too......Joan Osborne.......Ben Harper....


Ken.... I'm amazed that ANYONE doesn't have that movie in their collection. Makes me cry every time I watch it.

By the end of their run, the Funk Brothers had played on more hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. Yet, you could walk bu any of them on the street and not know it.


List of #1 Songs on which The Funk Brothers played

"Please Mr Postman" The Marvelettes
"Fingertips Pt. 2" Little Stevie Wonder
"My Guy" Mary Wells
"Where Did Our Love Go" The Supremes
"Baby Love" The Supremes
"Come See About Me" The Supremes
"My Girl" The Temptations
"Stop! In the Name of Love" The Supremes
"Back in My Arms Again" The Supremes
"I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" The Four Tops
"I Hear a Symphony" The Supremes
"You Can't Hurry Love" The Supremes
"Reach Out I'll Be There" The Four Tops
"You Keep Me Hangin' On" The Supremes
"The Happening" The Supremes
"Respect" Aretha Franklin
"Love Child" Diana Ross and the Supremes
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" Marvin Gaye
"I Can't Get Next to You" The Temptations
"Someday We'll Be Together" Diana Ross and the Supremes
"ABC" The Jackson Five
"The Love You Save" The Jackson Five
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" Diana Ross
"I'll Be There" The Jackson Five
"The Tears of a Clown" Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
"Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)" The Temptations
"Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" The Temptations
"Superstition" Stevie Wonder
"You Are the Sunshine of My Life" Stevie Wonder
"Touch Me in the Morning" Diana Ross
"Let's Get It On" Marvin Gaye
"Midnight Train to Georgia" Gladys Night and the Pips
"Keep on Truckin' (Part 1)" Eddie Kendricks
"You Haven't Done Nothin'" Stevie Wonder


.

Eric DeSilva
04-16-2010, 9:20 AM
Ben Harper....

+1

Love that guy. I've seen him live several times and he's a phenomenal lyricist and musician.

Bob Lloyd
04-16-2010, 10:09 AM
Ken

"I'm an old '60s rocker........"

There aren't any young 60's rockers anymore!! Phil Collins is doing a new CD that is mainly covers of Motown and soul classics. On it, he is working with three of the Funk Brothers.

Don Jarvie
04-16-2010, 1:27 PM
Standing in the Shadows is a great movie. It's based on a book by Dr. Licks about the bass player, James Jamerson.

The book is geared toward bass players but the story of his life is very interesting.

They played on all those #1 hits and didn't get credit for them or royalties.

Tim Morton
04-16-2010, 2:04 PM
Joan Osborne "relish"....powerful stuff. ( not bad on the eyes either):cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbAeTywPiP4&feature=related

Bruce Page
04-16-2010, 2:13 PM
Thanks Ken. I had forgotten that I had Joan Osborne’s “Relish” CD in my collection. I just ripped it into my iTunes library.

From one 60’s rocker to another, check out Diane Birch. Don’t let her young face deceive you.

David Weaver
04-16-2010, 2:42 PM
......Joan Osborne......

The way they marketed her in the mid 1990s as sort of a hippie thing made her very forgettable.

And then I saw her singing motown tunes about a month ago. I couldn't believe how incredibly good she is. Rare power, uniquely full tone and pitch perfect. I was completely stunned - never would've guessed.

Ken Fitzgerald
04-16-2010, 2:58 PM
Rare power, uniquely full tone and pitch perfect. I was completely stunned

I concur 100%. Full bodied vocal with perfect pitch and great range. And like few other artists.....she can put her heart....if you will her "soul"....some feeling in it. In the movie..her version of "Heat Wave" and "What becomes of the broken hearted?"........her voice is pure seduction.........