Background
The group's origins go back to Stockton, California when they started out as the Soul Struts. They were formed by bass guitarist A.D. Burrise in 1970. In 1971, his brother J.D Burris came on board. At 6'4" tall, he was an imposing frontman.FUNKMYSOUL.GRCareer
1970s
With J. D. Burrise now on board and fronting the group, he convinced his brother A. D. to change the name of the group to 3rd Creation. They ended up on Bill Withers' Sussex Records roster. Due to there being another band with the name 3rd Creation, they changed their name to 9th Creation. In 1974, they had a 45 issued on the Clarama label, "Skin It Back" bw "I'm Still Your Friend". Their first album ''Bubble Gum'' was released in 1975. They appeared on the January 25, 1975 episode of '' Soul Train'' performing "Sexy Girl" and "Falling in Love". In 1976, "Falling In Love" was released in the US on Pye PYE 71069. It was charting in the ''Cash Box'' Top 100 R&B Chart and the band was listed as Ninth Creation. By October 23, with nine weeks behind it, the single had moved up five notches to #54. In February, 1977, it was reported by '' Billboard'' that 9th Creation and other artists who had their music issued on PYE/ ATV shortly before the company closed down would have their releases on Prelude Records. The new label had recently been formed by Marvin Schlacter who was the former head of PYE/ATV. In March that year, their single " Why Not Today" was released. It was produced by Buddy Scott and released on Prelude 71085. Running at 4:45, it had been getting play on J. D. Black's show at KOKY in Little Rock and Calvin John's show at WDDO in Macon. Eventually the record made it to the ''Billboard'' Soul chart. It held the #98 position in the Hot Soul Singles Chart for two weeks. It did better in the '' Record World'' R&B Singles chart, debuting at #67 on June 4. It got to #63 on the 18th at its third week. In December 1979, the group's single, " Lets Dance", had moved up two notches from #72 to 70 on the '' Record World'' Black Oriented Singles Chart. Also that month it peaked at number 53 on the '' Cash Box'' R&B chart. It also peaked at #54 on December 1 on its third week in the Billboard Hot Soul Singles Chart.1980s
In January 1980, "Lets Dance" was still in the ''Record World'' Black Oriented Singles Chart, peaking at #47 on the 19th, having spent a total of seven weeks in the chart. This was their last single for the Hilltak label. Also in 1980, the group ended up in a difficult situation. They had recorded tracks at a studio east of Stockton. Unknown to the group, the owners were drug dealers. The studio was raided and the DEA confiscated the master tapes. In an attempt to get them back, J.D. Burrise sued the DEA but had no success.BoomkatLater years
J. D. Burrise died on May 27, 2016, at age 67. A service was held for him on June 19. Due to Mike Micenheimer saving some of the mixdowns to cassette, an album which was deemed to be lost as a result of the DEA raid on a studio in 1980, ''A Step Ahead'' was released by Past Due Records on 30 April 2019. Due to the format the album was mastered from, there were some audio imperfections present. Some of their albums including ''Superheroes'' have been re-released on the Past Due record label.phonicaFurther reading
* Recordnet.com, June 19, 2016References
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