ARTIST BIOS
Top Hits: 
One of the most underrated funk groups of the 1980s, Zapp revolutionized the computer pop of electro with their trademark vocoder talk boxes and bumping grooves, emulating the earthier side of Prince and Cameo, with a leader in Roger Troutman who was more than efficient at polished production. The family group, with brothers Roger, Lester, Larry, and Tony Troutman, grew up in Hamilton, OH, influenced by hometown heroes the Ohio Players as well as Parliament and other funk groups. Tony was the first to begin recording, with an obscure single for Gram-O-Phon Records, "I Truly Love You," which scraped the R&B charts in 1976. Joined by his brothers (with Roger on vocals and guitar, Lester on drums, Larry on percussion, and himself contributing bass) and christened Zapp, the group played around the Midwest and gradually picked up backing vocalists (Bobby Glover, Jannetta Boyce), keyboard players (Greg Jackson, Sherman Fleetwood) and a horn section (Eddie Barber, Jerome Derrickson, Mike Warren).
Zapp's following quickly gained notices, and Bootsy Collins himself was hired on to work with the group on their debut album. Released in 1980, Zapp hit the Top 20 on the pop charts, thanks to the single "More Bounce to the Ounce." The following year, Roger worked on Funkadelic's The Electric Spanking of War Babies and released his solo debut album, The Many Facets of Roger. His special cover of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," complete with vocoderized talk box, pushed the album into gold territory (as Zapp had done). Zapp II appeared in 1982 and proved just as popular as the group's first, including Zapp's only number one R&B single, "Dance Floor."
Zapp III barely made the Top 40 pop charts upon release in 1983, and Roger's second solo album, The Saga Continues, was also a disappointment, though his cover of "Midnight Hour" featured the Mighty Clouds of Joy. The New Zapp IV U fared slightly better after release in late 1985 (thanks to the single "Computer Love"), but in 1987, Roger's third solo album, Unlimited!, featured the group's biggest hit yet, "I Want to Be Your Man," a chart-topper on the R&B lists and a respectable number three pop. Though Roger and/or Zapp hit the R&B charts frequently during the rest of the late '80s, the unit had effectively halted recording with the 1991 Roger LP Bridging the Gap. Roger continued to produce and play with other artists, and it was his talk box that graced Dr. Dre & 2Pac's Top Ten 1996 single "California Love." The 1993 Roger & Zapp collection All the Greatest Hits sold well, earning the collective their first platinum record. The Zapp story ended in tragedy on April 25, 1999, when Roger was shot to death by Larry, who then turned the gun on himself. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
- 'Cause I Love You
- Ooh Child
Although Lenny Williams has had a long solo career, he is still best-known for his three years as the lead singer of Tower of Power, one of the top funk/soul bands of the '70s. But Williams was pursuing a solo career before joining Tower of Power, and he resumed his solo career after leaving that famous Oakland outfit in 1975. Born in Little Rock, AR, on February 6, 1945, Williams was only a child when he started singing in church (the place where so many great R&B singers got their start). Williams, who moved to Oakland, CA, when he was 14, planned to become a Christian minister but ended up changing his mind and decided to pursue a career as a secular R&B singer. In 1969, Williams signed with Fantasy and recorded his first single, "Lisa's Gone," a soul ballad that was far from a big hit, but did receive some airplay in the Bay Area. After providing a second single for Fantasy, Williams was signed to Atlantic by Jerry Wexler and recorded a version of the Thom Bell/Linda Creed gem "People Make the World Go Round." Williams' version might have been a hit -- had it not been for the Stylistics, that is. Unfortunately for Williams, the Stylistics' famous version of "People Make the World Go Round" came out as a single and soared to the top of the charts before Atlantic had a chance to release Williams' version. (Michael Jackson also recorded the tune in the early '70s, although not with the same set of lyrics that the Stylistics embraced). But that setback was hardly the end of Williams' career; in 1972, he was hired as the new lead singer of Tower of Power. Because the band's previous lead singer, Rick Stevens (best-known for his soaring performance on the hit ballad "You're Still a Young Man") had recently been convicted of murder, a replacement was needed, and Williams was definitely the man for the job.
Williams' three years with Tower of Power established him as a big name in soul and funk and he became famous for his lead vocals on major hits like "What Is Hip?," "Don't Change Horses (In the Middle of a Stream)," "This Time It's Real," and the ballad "So Very Hard to Go." But while Tower of Power was a big break for Williams, he only stuck around for three years; in 1975, the Bay Area resident left the band and became a full-time solo artist. His first few solo albums (recorded for Motown) didn't do much, but his solo career took off in a big way when he recorded Choosing You for ABC. That 1977 release (which contains the major hit "Shoo Doo Fu Fu Ooh!") almost went gold in the U.S. (meaning that it sold close to 500,000 units). Williams next solo effort, Spark of Love (also on ABC), became his first gold solo album and boasted the hit ballad "Cause I Love You." After providing a few albums for MCA, Williams recorded for the independent Rocshire label in 1983 and 1984; when that company folded, he was deprived of a 50,000 dollar advance he said he was owed. Disgusted with music industry, Williams considered giving up singing and devoted a lot of his time to real estate investments. But in 1986, Williams ended up signing with Knobhill, a short-lived indie that was distributed by Fantasy. Williams' 1986 LP, New Episode, wasn't a blockbuster, although the single "Ten Ways of Loving You" became a minor hit and reached number 67 on Billboard's R&B singles chart. But while Williams wasn't as big in the '80s and '90s as he was in the '70s, he still had a loyal following. In 1994, he recorded Chill for Bellmark; Williams' next album, Love Therapy, came out on Volt/Fantasy in 2000. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
Top Hits:
- Let it Whip
- Joystick
- Swoop (I'm Yours)
The Cleveland-based Dazz Band was one of the more popular funk groups of the early '80s. Bobby Harris formed the group in the late '70s, merging two Cleveland funk bands, Bell Telefunk and Mother Braintree. After myriad lineup changes, the end result was an eight-piece band featuring Harris, Skip Martin III, Pierre DeMudd on horns and vocals, guitarist Eric Fearman, bassist Michael Wiley, drummer Isaac Wiley, keyboardist Kevin Frederick, and percussionist Kenny Pettus. Harris and lead songwriter/guitarist Mike Calhoun's concept for the group was "danceable jazz"; he shortened the description to "dazz" and called the group Kinsman Dazz. Under that name, the group had two small hits in the U.S.A. during 1978 and 1979. After Calhoun left they changed their name to the Dazz Band in 1980 and signed to Motown.
Invitation to Love, the band's first release for the record label, was released in 1980. Once the group veered away from the more melodic, pop-oriented dance music that dominated their debut and started playing a tougher, more groove-oriented funk, the Dazz Band began racking up the hits. "Let It Whip," taken from their second album Keep It Live (1982), reached number five and won a Grammy Award for Best Performance by an R&B Vocal Duo or Group. While they never reached those heights again, the Dazz Band had a string of six consecutive Top 100 albums that ran until 1986; during that time, they scored two other Top 100 singles, "Joystick" and "Let It All Blow." In 1985, Fearman and Frederick left the band; they were replaced by Marlon McClain and Keith Harrison, respectively. The Dazz Band switched labels to Geffen in 1986. That year they had their final charting album, Wild and Free. Soon after its release, the band switched to RCA. The group failed to have another hit and quietly faded away. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Top Hits:
- I Trust You
- I Owe All (feat. Anaysha Figueroa)
- The Blood (feat. Zacardi Cortez)
In just a few years, James Fortune & FIYA has gone from empowering youth in the Greater Houston area to uplifting millions with their nationally acclaimed debut album You Survived!, released in September 2004. Their first smash hit single, also titled “You Survived,” peaked at #2 on the R&R Gospel Singles chart and became one of the Top 7 Most Played Gospel Songs of the Year, earning James Fortune honors at the 19th Annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards and the 2006 ASCAP Writer’s Award for Gospel Song of the Year. James Fortune & FIYA has been blessed to open up for distinguished artists such as Stevie Wonder, John P. Kee, Kim Burrell, Fred Hammond and many others in addition to being nominated four years in a row for the Texas Gospel Youth & Young Adult Choir of the Year. Accompanied by iconic GRAMMY-Award winning Gospel artists such as Kirk Franklin, Shirley Caesar, and Yolanda Adams, James Fortune & FIYA have graced numerous major media outlets with their fiery presence and continue to enjoy trail-blazing crossover success with their wide-reaching message of hope and salvation set to uplifting urban contemporary music.
- Next to You
- Back Then
- Mr. Jones
Prior to gaining mainstream exposure during late 2004 and early 2005 with his single "Still Tippin'," Houston-based MC and self-promoter extraordinaire Mike Jones had long been a stalwart of the Swishahouse label, with a handful of releases under his belt. His breakout album, Who Is Mike Jones?, was released in April of 2005, distributed via Warner Brothers. It topped out at number three on the Billboard 200 chart. His second full-length on a major label, The American Dream, followed in July 2007, but not before another series of mixtape releases. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
Montel Jordan
Top Hits- This is How We Do It
- Get It On Tonite
- Let's Ride
Montell Jordan began singing in his hometown of Los Angeles in talent shows, church choirs, and later nightclubs. After graduating from Pepperdine University, he spent seven years looking for a record deal, finally getting an opportunity through Paul Stewart, the president of PMP Records. Jordan and Stewart flew to New York, where Jordan sang for Russell Simmons and was promptly signed to a contract. For his first album, Jordan heavily sampled B.B. King tracks (the first to do so), and took his lyrical inspiration from the more positive side of life in his native South Central L.A. in an attempt to balance the negative pictures coming out of most SoCal gangsta rap. Jordan was rewarded with a massive number one smash in the party anthem "This Is How We Do It," which sold over one million copies. More... followed in 1996; although it didn't match the success of his debut, it was nevertheless a minor hit, peaking within the Top 20 of the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Let's Ride (1998) and Get It On...Tonite (1999) were more successful by a marginal measure. Under constant pressure to deliver another hit on the level of "This Is How We Do It," Jordan heralded his 2002 self-titled album as "the 1st MONTELL JORDAN album," but it failed to make any commercial impact. A year later, he issued the tellingly-titled Life After Def, one of his most artistically accomplished albums, through the relatively hands-off Koch label. Nearly five years passed prior to his second independent release, Let It Rain. ~ Steve Huey & Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
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Top Hits
- Cupid Shuffle
- 369 (feat. B.o.B)
- Do Yo Dance (feat. Aubrey)
Top Hits
- My Dougie
- Bust It Open