They also landed opening spots for the tours of several top stars including Stevie Wonder, Cheech and Chong and the Hues Corporation. Rags to Rufus was released in 1974 and two of its singles - the Stevie Wonder-penned " Tell Me Something Good" and the Parker-Khan composition, " You Got the Love" - became smash hits leading to Rags to Rufus going Platinum. Maiden's, Watson's and Morgan's addition to Rufus added a unique sound to the group, bringing a stronger funk and jazz influence to complement Khan's now emerging powerful lead vocals. Additionally, Tony Maiden and bassist Bobby Watson, also from Los Angeles, were recruited by drummer Andre Fischer. Ciner and Belfield left the group shortly thereafter along with Stockert, who was replaced by Los Angeles-based keyboardist Nate Morgan. The group quickly re-entered the same studio to record their follow-up album Rags to Rufus. While the songs "Whoever's Thrilling You (Is Killing Me)" and "Feel Good" (both featuring Khan) brought the group some attention from R&B radio stations, the album itself had minimal sales, and the Stockert-led "Slip & Slide" failed to catch major attention from pop radio. The group returned to Los Angeles shortly after to record Rufus at Quantum Recording Studios in Torrance, California, released in 1973. But Ike's attention was certainly a boost." Turner wanted Khan to become an Ikette she declined stating she was "really happy with Rufus. Ī few weeks before Monaco saw Rufus perform, the group had already caught the attention of musician Ike Turner who flew them out to Los Angeles to record at his studio Bolic Sound in Inglewood, California. After taking the demo tapes back to ABC Dunhill in 1973, the group was immediately asked to sign a long-term recording contract. Monaco returned to Los Angeles, convinced the label to give him a demo budget and then quickly returned to Chicago where the group recorded eleven songs in two days at Marty Feldman's Paragon Studios. Monaco was also responsible for helping get Ask Rufus their deal on ABC Dunhill. They booked Ask Rufus, with Paulette McWilliams and also the Rotary Connection with Minnie Riperton. Khan had been performing at the Pumpkin Room on the south side of Chicago, with a local group, Lock and Chain, led by drummer Scotty Harris.īob Monaco was part of a booking company known as Ashley Famous with Jim Golden. Paulette also got Khan a gig with the group Lyfe, formed by Chicago's Cash McCall.
After the band hesitantly submitted, Paulette remained for a few weeks to teach Khan the material. When Paulette decided she was leaving Ask Rufus, she told them she had the perfect singer to replace her she had also asked Khan if she was interested. Khan attended most Ask Rufus gigs when they performed in Chicago. Paulette McWilliams and Chaka Khan had met and became the best of friends through their spouses Howard Towles and Hassan Khan. Willie Weeks was in turn replaced by Dennis Belfield, James Stella by keyboardist/vocalist Ron Stockert and Lee Graziano by Andre Fischer. In 1971, the band signed a contract with Epic Records recording an album that was not released, after which Epic dropped their contract in early 1972. At this point, Ciner came back to replace Pilder and Willie Weeks was added on bass after Colbert left.
In 1970, after switching their management to Bob Monaco and Bill Traut, the group's name changed again to "Ask Rufus", the name is taken from the title of the advice column in Mechanics Illustrated. They re-emerged in 1969 under the name "Smoke".
Rufus king plus#
After much success, Colbert and Graziano (without Loizzo who pursued a successful production career) created a new group, adding later day "Breed" members Kevin Murphy on (keyboards) and Paulette McWilliams (vocals), plus James Stella (vocals) and Vern Pilder (guitar) from the bar band "Circus". In 1968, the American Breed ( Gary Loizzo, guitar/vocals, Al Ciner, guitar, Charles "Chuck" Colbert, bass and Lee Graziano, drums) had a top ten hit with the classic rock single, " Bend Me, Shape Me".
0 kommentar(er)
