Ronnie Wilson was American musician, co-founder with his two brothers, of The Gap Band, known for such compositions as “Oops Up Side Your Head (1979), “Outstanding” (1982) and “You Dropped a Bomb on Me” (1982).
Charlie Wilson the only living member of the band.
I give you “Outstanding”
Ernest Wilson was a Jamaican singer; known for interpreting such songs as “I Know Myself” (1974), a Channel One production and “Undying Love” (Studio One, 1968), released on in an extended mix on Studio One Showcase Vol. 1 (1999).
William Shelby was an American musician known for his work with Dynasty and Lakeside.
Dynasty is best known for their musical composition “I Don’t Want To Be A Freak (But I Can’t Help Myself) ” (1979).
Lakeside is best known for their musical composition “Fantastic Voyage” (1980).
I did not have time to research if Shelby was involved with these two recordings.
However, while researching “I Don’t Want To Be A Freak (But I Can’t Help Myself) ” (1979) I stumbled upon these other specimina of African-American musical compositions from the 1970s and 1980s that feature the word “freak” in their title: “I Want’a Do Something Freaky To You” (1975) is by Leon Haywood; “Le Freak” (1978) by Chic; “Super Freak” (1981) by Rick James and “I Need a Freak” (1983) by Sexual Harassment.
Paddy Moloney was an Irish musician, best-known for his work with the The Chieftains.
He also arranged “Women of Ireland” for the film Barry Lyndon (1975).
Dennis Thomas was one of the co-founders of Kool & the Gang.
It’s not clear to me how many writing credits Thomas has in the band’s oeuvre; but he did co-write “Jungle Boogie” (1973).
Louis Andriessen was a Dutch composer, together with Dick Raaymakers, one of the most important ones of The Netherlands.
I give you De Staat, named after De Staat (Dutch title of The Republic by Plato).
James Purify was an American singer.
He is best known for singing “I’m Your Puppet” (1966) with his brother. This song mixes well with “After Laughter (Comes Tears)” (1964).
Stanley Cowell (1941 – 2020) was an American jazz pianist and co-founder of Strata-East Records.
Strata-East Records first gained notoriety outside the world of jazz after the British label Soul Jazz Records put out three anthologies of their recordings in the 1994-1997 period.
I give you “Travelin’ Man” (1974) in its first version.
Has anyone besides me noticed the likeness to “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes?
Howard Wales was a keyboardist best known for his collaborations with Jerry Garcia in the early 1970s.
However, solo, he produced little gems such as this “Rendez-Vous With The Sun, Part. 2” on his album of almost the same name in 1976.
The tracks is also included in DJ Harvey’s cult mix “Sarcastic Disco Volume 2” which you will find on Soundcloud.
RIP and thank you for the music.
Mark Barkan (1934 – 2020) was an American songwriter and record producer.
In 1966, Barkan produced the album Psychedelic Moods by The Deep, credited as the first psychedelic album.
While researching his death, I came across the song “A Great Day For The Clown” (1967) which is a song not hard to fall in love with. It is also supposedly an Northern soul classic. Love the horns. Who does the horns?