The Funk Brothers
Categories: Funk Brothers | Motown performers | Soul musical groups | R&B musical groups
The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit musicians who played club gigs and were the house band at Detroit's Motown Records from 1959 to 1972, when the company moved to Los Angeles. Their story was told in Paul Justman's 2002 documentary film Standing in the Shadows of Motown.
Early members included bandleader Joe Hunter and Earl Van Dyke (piano); James Jamerson (bass guitar); William "Benny" Benjamin and Richard "Pistol" Allen (drums); Robert White, Eddie Willis, and Joe Messina (guitar); Jack Ashford (tambourine); and Eddie 'Bongo' Brown (percussion). Hunter left in 1964, replaced on keyboards by Johnny Griffith and as bandleader by Van Dyke. Around the same time Uriel Jones joined the band as a third drummer.
In 1967, guitarists Dennis Coffey and Wah Wah Watson joined the band. Benny Benjamin died the next year, and Bob Babbitt began to replace James Jamerson on many recording dates.
The Funk Brothers were an integrated band. Most members were black; Joe Messina and Bob Babbitt were white.
The Funk Brothers are (as established in the film they were recently portrayed in) generally unknown for their crucial contributions to the Motown genre, despite having played the background music in nearly every Motown hit. Their involvement in these famous songs makes them the biggest hitmakers in music history, having played in more #1 songs than The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Elvis Presley and The Rolling Stones combined.
During the mid to late-1960s, roughly one-fifth of Motown records began utilizing session musicians based in Los Angeles, usually covers and tributes of mainstream pop songs and showtunes.
The Funk Brothers was dismissed from Motown's service in 1972, when Berry Gordy moved Motown to Los Angeles. A few of the members, including Jamerson, migrated to Los Angeles, but found the environment foreign and uncomfortable. Jamerson died in 1983, Brown in 1984, Van Dyke in 1992, White in 1994, and Allen and Griffith in 2002.
The Funk Brothers have received three Grammy awards:
- Lifetime Achievement award in 2004
- Best Tradition R&B Performance for "What's Goin' On" with Chaka Khan, 2002
- Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media for Standing in the Shadows of Motown, 2002.