Biography

In 1957, Starr formed a doo-wop group, The Future Tones, and began his singing career. Starr lived in Detroit, Michigan, in the 1960s and recorded at first for the small record label Ric-Tic, and later for Motown Records after the latter absorbed Ric-Tic in 1968.

The song which began his career was "Agent Double'O'Soul" (1965), a reference to the James Bond films popular at the time. Other early hits included "Headline News", "Back Street", a cover of The Miracles "Way Over There", and "S.O.S. (Stop Her On Sight)". He recorded more soul music for the next three years before having an international hit in "25 Miles" (1968), which peaked at #6 in the United States the following year.

The biggest hit of his career, which cemented his reputation, was the Vietnam War protest song "War" (1970). Starr's intense vocals transformed a Temptations album track into a #1 chart success, which spent three weeks in the top position on the US ''Billboard'' charts, an anthem for the antiwar movement and a cultural milestone that continues to resound in movie soundtracks and hip hop music samples. It sold over three million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. "War" appeared on both Starr's ''War and Peace'' album and its follow-up, ''Involved''. ''Involved'' also featured another song of similar construction titled "Stop the War Now", which was a minor hit in its own right.

Moving to England in 1973, Starr continued to record, most notably the song "Hell Up in Harlem" for the 1974 film ''Hell Up in Harlem'', which was the sequel to ''Black Caesar'', an earlier hit with a soundtrack by James Brown. In 1979, Starr reappeared on the charts with a pair of disco hits, "(Eye-To-Eye) Contact" and "H.A.P.P.Y. Radio". "Contact" was the more successful of the two, peaking at #65 on the US pop charts, #13 on the R&B; chart, #1 on the dance chart, and #6 on the UK Singles Chart. By now he had joined the well-established disco boom, and had further singles on 20th Century Records. Over the years he released tracks on many labels, including Avatar, Calibre, 10 Records, Motown (a return to his former label for a 1989 remix of "25 Miles"), Streetwave and Hippodrome.

In 1985, Starr released "It Ain't Fair". Despite garnering the attention of many in the soul and dance clubs, it fell short of becoming a hit. Starr appeared on the charity number one single "Let It Be" by Ferry Aid in 1987. Later that year, Starr teamed up with the Stock, Aitken and Waterman production company for the club hit "Whatever Makes Our Love Grow". In 1989, a number 17 UK hit by the Cookie Crew called "Got to Keep On" sampled a portion of "25 Miles". This track was then featured on a 1990 dance medley made for the BRIT Awards, which made number 2 in the UK Singles Chart. A club mix of various artists, it included the previous years remix of "25 Miles".

In 1989, Starr also joined Ian Levine's Motorcity Records, releasing six singles and the album ''Where Is the Sound'', as well as co-writing several songs for other artists on the label. Starr resurfaced briefly in 2000 to team up with the UK band Utah Saints to record a new version of "Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On". He appeared again in 2002 to record a song with the British musician Jools Holland, singing "Snowflake Boogie" on Holland's compact disc ''More Friends''; and to record another track with Utah Saints, a so-far-unreleased version of his number one hit "War" — his last-ever recording.

Starr remained a hero on England's Northern Soul circuit and continued living in England for the remainder of his life.

On April 2, 2003, at the age of 61, Starr suffered a heart attack and died while taking a bath at his home in Bramcote near Nottingham. He left a wife, Annette Mary Hatcher, a son André Hatcher, and two grandchildren Alonté Renfroe and Maryah Hatcher.

His brother Angelo Starr is now fronting the Team, the band Edwin Starr had been touring with for over 20 years. His previous band, Total Concept Unlimited, became the band Rose Royce after adding a female singer.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Category:1942 births Category:2003 deaths Category:African American singers Category:American dance musicians Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Cardiovascular disease deaths in England Category:Motown artists Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee Category:Musicians from Tennessee Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:American rhythm and blues musicians Category:American soul musicians Category:Northern soul musicians

Marcus Miller (born William Henry Marcus Miller Jr., June 14, 1959, Brooklyn, New York) is an American jazz composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Miller is best known as a bassist, working with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonist David Sanborn, as well as maintaining a prolific solo career. Miller is classically trained as a clarinetist and also plays keyboards, saxophone and guitar.

Life and career

Early life

Professional career

Miller's proficiency on his main instrument, the bass guitar, is generally well-regarded. Not only has Miller been involved in the continuing development of the technique known as "slapping", particularly his "thumb" technique, but his fretless bass technique has also served as an inspiration to many, and he has taken the fretless bass into musical contexts and genres previously unexplored. The influences of some of the previous generation of electric bass players, such as Larry Graham, Stanley Clarke, and Jaco Pastorius, are audible in Miller's playing. Early in his career, Miller was accused of being simply imitative of Pastorius, but has since more fully integrated the latter's methodology into his own sound.

Miller has an extensive discography, and tours frequently and widely in Europe and Japan.

Between 1988 and 1990 he appeared in the first season and again toward the end as both the musical director and also as the house band bass player in the Sunday Night Band during the two seasons of the acclaimed music performance program ''Sunday Night'' on NBC late-night television.

As a composer, Miller wrote "Tutu" for Miles Davis, a piece that defined Davis's career in the late 1980s, and was the title track of Davis's album ''Tutu'', upon which Miller wrote all the songs with only two exceptions, and one of those was co-written with Davis. He also composed "Chicago Song" for David Sanborn and co-wrote "'Til My Baby Comes Home", "It's Over Now", "For You to Love", and "Power of Love" for Luther Vandross. Miller also wrote "Da Butt", which was featured in Spike Lee's ''School Daze''.

Personal life

Grammy Awards

Miller currently has his own band. In 1997 he played bass and bass clarinet in a band called Legends, featuring Eric Clapton (guitars and vocals), Joe Sample (piano), David Sanborn (alto sax) and Steve Gadd (drums). It was an 11-date tour of major jazz festivals in Europe.

In addition to his recording and performance career, Miller has established a parallel career as a film score composer. He has written numerous scores for films featuring Eddie Murphy, L.L. Cool J, Chris Rock, Matthew Perry, Samuel L. Jackson and others. He composed the musical score for the Chris Rock-created sit-com, ''Everybody Hates Chris'', now in syndication on Nick-At Nite.

Instruments and gear

Discography

Luther Vandross period

Grover Washington jr period

David Sanborn period (1975–2000)

Miles Davis period (1980–1990)

The Jamaica Boys period (1986–1990)

Film scores

References

External links

Category:1959 births Category:People from Brooklyn Category:American jazz composers Category:American jazz bass guitarists Category:Jazz fusion bass guitarists Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:American session musicians Category:Bass clarinetists Category:Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni Category:Grammy Award winners Category:E1 Music artists Category:Living people Category:Miles Davis Category:Smooth jazz bass guitarists

Biography

This "slap" bass style was later used by such artists as Les Claypool (of Primus), Bootsy Collins, Louis Johnson, Mark King, Flea, Tim Commerford (of Rage Against The Machine), Peter Hook, Victor Wooten, Jonas Hellborg, Kim Clarke of Defunkt, Marcus Miller, Stanley Clarke, John Norwood Fisher, P-Nut, Danny McCormack, Matt Noveskey, Dirk Lance, and Pino Palladino.

After Sly and the Family Stone, Graham formed his own band, Graham Central Station. The name is a pun on Grand Central Station, the train station located in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Graham Central Station had several hits in the 1970s, including "Hair".

In the mid-1970s, Larry Graham worked with Betty Davis, the second ex-wife of jazz legend Miles Davis. Betty Davis' band included members of the Tower of Power horns and the Pointer Sisters, and she recorded three albums to critical acclaim but limited commercial success.

In 1975, Graham became Jehovah's Witness. Eventually he was credited with converting Prince to the faith. In the early 1980s, Graham recorded five solo albums and had several solo hits on the R&B; charts. His biggest hit was "One in a Million You", a crossover hit, which reached number nine on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1980.

He reformed Graham Central Station in the early 1990s and performed with the band for several years during which they released 2 live albums. One was recorded in Japan in 1992, and the other, recorded in London in 1996, had only 1000 copies printed and was exclusively sold at concerts.

In 1999, he recorded a solo album under the name Graham Central Station, ''GCS 2000''. It was a collaboration between Larry Graham and Prince. While Graham wrote all the songs, except one co-written by Prince, the album was co-arranged and co-produced by Prince, and most of the instruments and vocals were recorded by both Graham and Prince. Graham also played bass on tours with Prince in 1997-2000. He appeared in Prince's 1998 VHS ''Beautiful Strange'' and 1999 DVD ''Rave Un2 the Year 2000''.

He has appeared with Prince since then at various international venues.

Larry Graham and Graham Central Station performed internationally with a world tour in 2010 and the "Funk Around The World" international tour in 2011.

Graham is the uncle of Canadian rapper and actor Aubrey Graham (Drake). Graham is the father of Singer/producer/songwriter Darric Graham

Discography

With Graham Central Station

Solo albums

;NPG Records release:

Singles

References

External links

Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:African American singers Category:African American rock musicians Category:American baritones Category:American bass guitarists Category:American funk bass guitarists Category:American funk singers Category:American male singers Category:American singers Category:Songwriters from Texas Category:American funk musicians Category:American Jehovah's Witnesses Category:People from Beaumont, Texas Category:Sly and the Family Stone members Category:Musicians from Texas