Only just heard that a third black music icon died this week – Chuck Brown, the Godfather of Go-Go, the Washington DC Funk style that came to prominence during the ’80s, and which, for a short time, stood alongside the newly emerging Hip Hop genre at the cutting edge of black music.
His band, the Soul Searchers, started recording in 1972, and his most successful releases were 1979’s ‘Bustin Loose’ and ‘Ashley’s Roachclip’ (1974), which featured a much sampled drum break that has turned up on numerous Hip Hop releases, most famously ‘Paid In Full’ by Eric B & Rakim. ‘Blow Your Whistle’, which appeared on the same album as ‘Ashley’s Roadclip’, ‘Salt Of The Earth’, is a track I’ve played many times during recent years (as well as back in the ’70s). Check it out here on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/BWfMP2GSFnw
It’s the 2nd track on my ‘Essential Mix’
http://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/essential-mix-greg-wilson-mix-for-bbc-radio-1
and also features on ‘Music Played In Discotheques’:
http://soundcloud.com/gregwilson/music-played-in-discotheques-full-length-by-greg-wilson-for-the-tate-gallery
Brown, who had recently cancelled shows following a bout of pneumonia, died in Baltimore last Wednesday from multiple organ failure, aged 75.
Chuck Brown Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Brown
Greg,
This is awful news and in the same week as Ms Summer. Hopefully they are having a funky disco party together somewhere.
I got into Chuck via his live in DC album in ’87. Became and still is a music hero of mine. Only wish I’d seen him live – 3 hours plus of none stop go-go groovin’!
A genuinely deep loss to the world and especially Washington DC.
Relax In Paradise
Here’s a segment from the Live in DC ’87 album mentioned in my previous post
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sICtAySqjW8