| Weasil - Donald Byrd |
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From 1969's "Fancy Free", here is "Weasil" by
Donald Byrd. Ah..DB..what can u say. lol
Sampled for Lords of the Underground's
"Frustrated" and Byrd with Guru's "Time is
Moving On". Enjoy!
Tags : weasil donald byrd |
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Affichage : 2824
Durée : 543 s |
| Bobby Byrd & James Brown - I'll Lose My Mind Live On Stage |
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Bobby Byrd
Pianist, singer and hit composer who
supported the career of James Brown, the
Godfather of Soul
If Bobby Byrd hadn't been playing basketball
against a prison team in Georgia one day in
1952, the history of soul music might have
been very different. The pitcher on the
prison side was a 19-year-old delinquent
serving a stretch of hard labour for
burglary. His name was James Brown.
Byrd, who came from a law-abiding and
churchgoing family, befriended him and helped
to broker Brown's parole -- his family acted
as guarantors for his future good behaviour
and offered him a home. A talented pianist
and singer who had learnt his music in a
gospel choir, Byrd then helped Brown to form
his first group and went on to serve as
right-hand man to the "Godfather of Soul" for
more than 20 years, co-writing and singing
backing vocals on such Brown hits as Get Up
(I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine.
He also enjoyed a successful career as a solo
singer in his own right and scored several
chart hits in the 1960s. After leaving
Brown's employment in 1973, he continued to
tour with his wife, the singer Vicki
Anderson, and returned to prominence in the
1990s when his solo work was sampled by a
number of rap and hip-hop artists.
Robert Howard Byrd was born in 1934 in
Toccoa, Georgia. In his youth he sang in
church before forming various
gospel-influenced vocal groups, including the
Avons and the Swanees. After Brown's release,
he joined Byrds in the latter along with the
singers Johnny Terry, Sylvester Keels and
Nash Knox and the guitarist Nafloyd Scott. By
1955 they had become the Famous Flames and
adopted a more R&B-oriented sound. With Brown
emerging as the front man, they made their
first recording in 1956, for King Records
with Please, Please, Please. With Byrd
playing piano and adding backing vocals, the
record made the R&B charts, and Brown had
taken his first steps to superstardom.
The original Famous Flames lineup soon
disbanded, but Byrd stayed with Brown
throughout the 1960s, serving variously as
warm-up man, backing vocalist, keyboardist,
co-writer and arranger. He was the only
musician to stay with Brown when the final
lineup of the Flames disbanded in 1968 and to
make the transition to his new band, the JBs.
In addition to Get Up (I Feel Like Being a)
Sex Machine, other Brown tracks which credit
Byrd as a co-writer include Licking Stick --
Licking Stick and Get Up, Get Into It, Get
Involved. But although Brown regularly paid
tribute to Byrd's contribution to his success
in interviews, when it came to royalties more
often than not it was a different matter.
After ending his association with the singer
in 1973, Byrd later took legal action,
claiming an uncredited role in the writing of
some 40 other tracks. The case was thrown out
on the ground that too much time had elapsed
between the recordings and the claim.
Byrd's own career as a hit-maker began with
the soulful Baby, Baby, Baby, recorded as a
duet with Anna King in 1964. Further hits
followed: We are in Love (1965); You've Got
to Change Your Mind (1968); Hot Pants -- I'm
Coming, Coming, I'm Coming; I Need Help (I
Can't Do it Alone) and the Brown-produced I
Know You Got Soul (all 1971) and Keep on
Doin' What You're Doin' (1972).
The split with Brown in the early 1970s also
coincided with the end of his own hit-making
career, and he did not return to prominence
until the 1987 sampling of his I Know You Got
Soul by the hip-hoppers Eric B and Rakim. It
occasioned a revival of interest and led to
the reissue in 1990 of his old hits on the
ironically titled compilation Bobby Byrd got
soul: the best of Bobby Byrd.
Others to have sampled his solo work have
included Public Enemy, Ice Cube, LL Cool J
and A Tribe Called Quest.
Finally in 1994 came On The Move, effectively
his first proper solo album.
It also featured his wife and the former
James Brown backing vocalist Vicki Anderson,
her daughter Carleen and other members of his
family.
In later years Byrd toured Britain regularly
with Anderson and with the Soulpower
Allstars. He and his wife also sang at
Brown's funeral in 2006.
Bobby Byrd, musician, was born on August 15,
1934. He died of cancer on September 12, 2007
aged 73
Tags : Soul |
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Affichage : 14249
Durée : 174 s |
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