1979: Last Dance-Lost In Music: Black Music's Unsung Banner Year Pt. 2

                      

                                                      

                                    "Like the sweet song of hit music/
                                    they’ll always be something new"

                                                 

                                        --- And The Beat Goes On (1979)

                                                             
                                              FAMILY AFFAIR
                                                                         

1979 is major family affair in R&B. Philly sister act Sister Sledge releases the fittingly titled We Are Family album. The record finds Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards at the peak of their popularity and creative powers. The craft a palette of sonic textures that frame Joni, Debbie, Kim and Kathy's solos and harmonies perfectly. The album cover is sultry and the hits are endless. Thinking of You, He's The Greatest Dancer, We Are Family and Lost in Music become global smashes that touch the clubs and sports arenas.

The end of the decade finds husband-wife- singer-songwriting team Ashford and Simpson hitting their stride as recording artists. They deliver their third straight gold album Stay Free. The #1 single Found A Cure and the title track continue their string of hits that become deejay staples and club anthems. 

In late '78, The Jacksons celebrate their tenth anniversary in show business with the release of their self-produced album, Destiny. First single Blame It On The Boogie is a hit but their follow-up, released two months into the new year---Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) sells two million copies and becomes their biggest single to date.

                                      

Modeling hook laden jams like Rick James' You and I, Teddy Pendergrass' Get Up Get Funky Get Loose (1978) and Marvin Gaye's Got To Give It Up (1977), Shake pushes Destiny to four times platinum and sets up a world tour that takes the group to Africa, Asia and North America--- 127 dates in all and grosses over $7 million dollars. Taking a break in the middle of the tour to finish up his new record brother Michael promptly relaunches his solo career.

Six years into their prolific "3+3" lineup, The Isley Brothers deliver their seventeenth album Winner Takes All. One of the most successful acts on the CBS roster, the group reels off gold and platinum albums for a straight decade. 

The band chalks up another #1 single with I Wanna Be With You and Top 20 It's A Disco Night. Winner is the Isley's first double album--- features their blistering funk workouts and cinematic ballads, living up to its title.

                            

                             JAZZ-FUSION BRINGS THE NOISE

Jazz music finds its way to the clubs via The Crusaders' Street Life (featuring smoky vocals from songstress Randy Crawford) and Alpert's breezy Rise and funky Rotation singles. The songs find a home across multiple radio formats and their impact is lasting. Over the next three decades they turn up in television shows and film soundtracks.

                          

                        

                                         FUNK: EVER EVOLVING

Releasing a staggering eight albums in six years, George Clinton's P-Funk unit surpass the Ohio Players as funk royalty. As young upstarts Slave (Slide, Just A Touch of Love) and Cameo (Rigor Mortis, I Just Want To Be) emerge on the scene, Funkadelic extend their firm hold on the funk with '78's One Nation Under A Groove in '78. On a hot streak, Clinton secures record deals for his motley crew of associates and spin-off groups. 

As complex business entanglements, record company politics and internal group conflicts begin to chip away at the prolific funk empire. Clinton still has enough gas in the tank to drop (Not Just) Knee Deep.  Killer synth stabs by keyboard prodigy Bernie Worrell (RIP) and slick vocals from rejuvenated (and ex-Spinners vocalist) Phillipe Wynne help push Deep to the half-million mark in sales. It would be the last great P-Funk single until the arrival of Atomic Dog in '82. '79's Gloryhallistoopid album closes out Parliament-Funkadelic's gold and platinum run.

                                                        

By the late seventies Mandrill and Fatback's raw and funky style are out. So are the horn-and-chant driven anthems from BT Express and Brass Construction.  Core audience support for these kinds of acts is not enough to keep record sales from slipping. A smoother kind of funk is becoming more popular. 

A new key element was critical to survival---a charismatic lead vocalist capable of linking melody and musicianship in a nice visual package.

                                                                

As groups like Heatwave and Rose Royce find success with this format. Kool and the Gang pay attention and take notes. After a two year career slump, the group emerges with a new lead singer and a new sound (to the dismay of fans of their old style). They rebound with Ladies Night, achieving next-level success that lasts nearly a decade, long after their peers fade from popularity.

                                                               

Despite the ever-growing list of self-contained funk ensembles making an impact on the music industry, Earth Wind and Fire own the decade. 1979's double platinum I Am finds the band exploring dance music (Boogie Wonderland) and injecting pop songwriting and arrangements in through outside collaborations with others (After The Love Is Gone).

                                                       

                                   
                                          

                                                                

                      LOVE MEN, MOTOWN-PHILLY, AND CALI SOUL

       
                                                                

Peabo Bryson's soaring passionate vocals (I'm So Into You) and Teddy Pendergrass' rugged sensuality (Come Go With Me and Turn Off The Lights) crown them quiet storm kings of '79. Bryson's self-penned love ballads become radio staples driving his first two albums to gold. Only two years into his solo career, Pendergrass sells nearly four million albums outpacing peers Al Green, Isaac Hayes and Barry White. He becomes the biggest solo R&B star on the planet and his Ladies Only tours are the hottest ticket in town. Onstage, women fight for his attention---offstage promoters fight over rights to promote his lucrative bookings.

 

Motown returns in a big way in 1979 thanks to hits from its eclectic roster of older legends and new stars. The Commodores continue their winning ways and experience pop success with ballads written by lead singer Lionel Richie that reroute the band's creative direction. While the rest of the industry is dance crazy, forty-year-old Smokey Robinson's Cruisin' goes against the grain and is a major hit. Motown debuts R&B band Switch featuring wunderkind Bobby DeBarge. Bobby's songwriting prowess, angelic voice and talented family tree are destined to change the trajectory of R&B.

                                                          

 

Ex-Pointer Sister Bonnie takes Motown to the discos while the freewheeling Rick James becomes the label's new king moving it into the future while Stevie Wonder closes out his amazing run of albums with Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants.

                                                                

Three years after Love Hangover (1976), Diana Ross returns with a new album produced by Ashford and Simpson. Custom made for the clubs, singles No One Gets The Prize, It's My House and the new record's title track find Lady Supreme shedding her pop diva veneer in favor of a new persona inspired by the album title: The Boss.

                                                       

Four years removed from its early/mid-Seventies heyday, Philly International's success now rests on the shoulders of Teddy Pendergrass, Lou Rawls and The O'Jays. Original members of the MFSB house band have long departed for greener pastures (autonomy and compensation). Billy Paul, Dexter Wansel and Jean Carne round out the roster while Gamble and Huff stay true to their formula of quality over quantity. It pays off. As super-sibling acts, Sister Sledge and The Emotions burn up the charts, Gamble and Huff through their hat in the ring and sign the Jones Girls. They score a Top 5 million selling hit right out the gate with You're Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else.

                                                           

For years Gene McFadden and John Whitehead toil behind the scenes writing some of the greatest songs in the PIR catalog. Despite finding success as songwriters and producers creating Back Stabbers, Bad Luck and Wake Up Everybody, they long to revive their dormant singing careers. Given the green light to return to the studio, they  waste no time coming up with a hit.

Part celebratory-part autobiographical Ain’t No Stoppin Us Now sells two million copies and continues McFadden and Whitehead's trend for creating socially relevant anthems with lyrical content. Like Sister Sledge’s We Are Family the song becomes a rallying cry for sports teams and emerges as an unofficial Black National Anthem sealing the duo's legacy as one of the greatest song-writing teams in music history.

Over in California, concert promoter Dick Griffey starts a record label with partner (and Soul Train creator) Don Cornelius. After they amicably split to pursue individual endeavors, Griffey launches Solar Records. 

With producer Leon Sylvers at the helm, Solar acts play and sing on each other's albums generating hits like And The Beat Goes On and Second Time Around. The songwriting is tight and the hooks and grooves are in-the-pocket. 

                                                      

Griffey emulates Gamble and Huff's way of mining for talent. Soul Train dancers Jody Watley and Jeffrey Daniels are recruited to become two-thirds of trendsetting trio Shalamar. During an era where standup vocal groups are falling out of favor, The Whispers end up becoming Solar's flagship act. 

Before Madonna and Lady Gaga's extravagant get-ups, In between upstaging Rick James at the Budweiser Super Fest----Solar funk band Lakeside adapts a new look for each album, providing a fresh take on the funk band visual concept.

                                    NEXT UP: PT. 3---IT TAKES TWO AND THE BIG THREE