Ohio Players is an American
funk band, most popular in the 1970s. They are best known for their songs "
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...
" and "
Love Rollercoaster", and for their erotic album covers that featured nude or nearly nude women. Many of the women were models featured in ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...
''.
The singles "
Funky Worm
"Funky Worm" is a song by American funk group the Ohio Players, from their album ''Pleasure''. It peaked at number one on the U.S. ''Billboard'' R&B chart in 1973 and also peaked at number fifteen on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ''Billboard'' ran ...
", "Skin Tight", "
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...
", and "
Love Rollercoaster", and their albums ''
Skin Tight'', ''
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...
'', and ''
Honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
'', were awarded
Gold certification.
On August 17, 2013, Ohio Players were inducted into the inaugural class of the
Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame that took place at
Cleveland State University in
Cleveland, Ohio.
History
The band formed in
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...
, United States, in 1959 as the Ohio Untouchables and initially included members
Robert Ward (vocals/guitar),
Marshall "Rock" Jones
Marshall Eugene "Rock" Jones (January 1, 1941 – May 27, 2016), professionally known as Rock Jones, was an American bass player. He is best known as a founding member and bassist of the funk, soul music and R&B band Ohio Players.
Marshall "R ...
(bass), Clarence "Satch" Satchell (saxophone/guitar), Cornelius Johnson (drums), and Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrooks (trumpet/trombone).
They were best known at the time as a backing group for
The Falcons
''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
.
[
Ward had proved to be an unreliable leader, who would sometimes walk off the stage during gigs, forcing the group to stop playing. Eventually, the group vowed to keep playing even after he left. Ward and Jones got into a fistfight in 1964, after which the group broke up.]
Ward found new backups, and the group's core members returned to Dayton. They replaced Ward with 21-year-old Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner
Leroy Roosevelt "Sugarfoot" Bonner (March 14, 1943 – January 26, 2013) was a musician, vocalist, and producer.
Born in Hamilton, Ohio, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Cincinnati in 1943, Bonner grew up poor, the oldest of 14 children. He ...
(guitar), who would become the group's frontman, and added Greg Webster (drums). To accommodate Bonner's musical style preferences for the group ("R&B with a little flair to it") and to avoid competing with Ward, the group changed their format. By 1965, the group had renamed themselves the Ohio Players, reflecting its members' self-perceptions as musicians and as ladies' men.
The group added two more singers, Bobby Lee Fears and Dutch Robinson
Dutch "Teddy" Robinson is a singer songwriter, and music producer. From South Bronx, New York, he was one of the original lead singers with the Ohio Players. After leaving the Players, Dutch went on to produce such hits as "I Ain't Got Nothin" ( ...
, and became the house band for the New York-based Compass Records
Compass Records is an independent record label founded in 1995 by musicians Garry West and Alison Brown that specializes in folk, bluegrass, Celtic, jazz, and acoustic music.
In 2006, Compass purchased the Green Linnet and Xenophile catalogs ...
. In 1967, they added vocalist Helena Ferguson Kilpatrick.
The group disbanded again in 1970. After again re-forming with a line-up including Bonner, Satchell, Middlebrooks, Jones, Webster, trumpeter Bruce Napier, vocalist Charles Dale Allen, trombonist Marvin Pierce, and keyboardist
A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical inst ...
Walter "Junie" Morrison
Walter "Junie" Morrison (June 28, 1954 – January 21, 2017) was an American songwriter, record producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist. He was a member of the Ohio Players in the early 1970s, and later became a member and musical direc ...
, the Players had a minor hit on the Detroit-based Westbound label
A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed ...
with "Pain" ( 1971), which reached the top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...
of the '' Billboard'' R&B chart. James Johnson joined the group at this time as vocalist and saxophonist. Dale Allen shared co-lead vocals on some of the early Westbound material, although he was not credited on their albums ''Pain'' and ''Pleasure''. It was at Westbound Records where the group met George Clinton, who admired their music. The two albums' avant-garde covers featured a spiked-black leather-bikini clad, bald model Pat "Running Bear" Evans, who would later grace additional Ohio Players albums, including ''Climax'', ''Ecstasy'', and ''Rattlesnake''.
The band's first big hit single was "Funky Worm
"Funky Worm" is a song by American funk group the Ohio Players, from their album ''Pleasure''. It peaked at number one on the U.S. ''Billboard'' R&B chart in 1973 and also peaked at number fifteen on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ''Billboard'' ran ...
", which reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart and peaked at No. 15 on the Hot 100 in May 1973. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by the R.I.A.A. The band signed with Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...
in 1974. By then, their line-up had changed again, with keyboardist Billy Beck instead of Morrison and Jimmy "Diamond" Williams on drums instead of Webster. On later album releases, they added second guitarist/vocalist Clarence "Chet" Willis and conguero
The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...
Robert "Kuumba" Jones. Meanwhile, keyboardist Walter "Junie" Morrison recorded three albums on his own before joining Funkadelic
Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. The band and its sister act Parliament, both led by George Clinton, pioneered the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, Bush. Funkade ...
as the force behind their hit ''One Nation Under a Groove
''One Nation Under a Groove'' is the tenth studio album by American funk rock band Funkadelic, released on September 22, 1978 on Warner Bros. Records. Recording sessions took place at United Sound Studio in Detroit, Michigan, with one song reco ...
''. An internet story in advance of a June, 2017 concert indicated that Billy Beck, Jimmy "Diamond" Williams, Clarence "Chet" Willis, and Robert "Rumba" Jones are still performing.
The band had seven top 40 hits between 1973 and 1976. These included "Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames a ...
" (No. 1 on both the R&B and pop chart for two weeks and one week respectively in February 1975 and another million seller) and " Love Rollercoaster" (No. 1 on both the R&B and pop charts for one week in January 1976; another gold disc recipient). The group also took on saxophonist James Johnson. The group's last big hit was " Who'd She Coo?" a No. 1 R&B hit in August 1976. It was their only success in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at No. 43 on the UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
in July 1976. Their title track "Ecstasy" from the 1973 album '' Ecstasy'' was sampled by Jay-Z on "Brooklyn's Finest
''Brooklyn's Finest'' is a 2009 American crime film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Michael C. Martin. The film stars Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, and Wesley Snipes. ''Brooklyn's Finest'' had its world premiere at the 2009 Su ...
", featuring The Notorious B.I.G.
Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...
from the 1996 album ''Reasonable Doubt
Beyond a reasonable doubt is a legal standard of proof required to validate a criminal conviction in most adversarial legal systems. It is a higher standard of proof than the balance of probabilities standard commonly used in civil cases, bec ...
''.
In 1979, three members of the group went on to form Shadow
A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, ...
, which released three albums. A reconfigured Ohio Players recorded across the 1980s, enjoying a minor hit single with "Sweat" (1988). They also released three albums in that decade, ''Tenderness'', ''Ouch!'' and ''Graduation''. Another collection, ''Orgasm'', followed in 1993.
In August 2013, the Ohio Players were inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame at the Waetjen Auditorium of Cleveland State University as part of the inaugural class.
Personnel
Classic lineup
* Marshall "Rock" Jones
Marshall Eugene "Rock" Jones (January 1, 1941 – May 27, 2016), professionally known as Rock Jones, was an American bass player. He is best known as a founding member and bassist of the funk, soul music and R&B band Ohio Players.
Marshall "R ...
– bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
(1959–1984)
* James "Diamond" Williams – drums, chimes
Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillon, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the sound of church bells within a ...
, percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
, lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
& backing vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...
, timbales
Timbales () or pailas are shallow single-headed drums with metal casing. They are shallower than single-headed tom-toms and usually tuned much higher, especially for their size.Orovio, Helio 1981. ''Diccionario de la música cubana: biográfico ...
, congas
The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest) ...
(1974–1980; unknown–present)
* William "Billy" Beck – piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
, grand piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
, organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
Musical instruments
* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument
** Hammond ...
, Hammond B-3 organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...
, Rhodes piano, Wurlitzer electric piano
The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptua ...
, RMI Electra piano
Rocky Mount Instruments (RMI) was a subsidiary of the Allen Organ Company, based in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, active from 1966 to 1982. The company was formed to produce portable musical instruments, and manufactured several electronic piano ...
, clavinet
The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...
, ARP Odyssey
The ARP Odyssey is an analog synthesizer introduced by ARP Instruments in 1972.
History
ARP developed the Odyssey as a direct competitor to the Moog Minimoog and an answer to the demand for more affordable, portable, and less complicated "perf ...
, ARP string ensemble, percussion, lead & background vocals (1974–1980; unknown–present)
* Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner
Leroy Roosevelt "Sugarfoot" Bonner (March 14, 1943 – January 26, 2013) was a musician, vocalist, and producer.
Born in Hamilton, Ohio, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Cincinnati in 1943, Bonner grew up poor, the oldest of 14 children. He ...
– guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
, percussion, lead & background vocals (1964–1997)
* Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrooks – trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
, trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
& background vocals (1959–1984)
* Clarence "Satch" Satchell – baritone saxophone
The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...
, tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...
, soprano saxophone
The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...
, alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...
, flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
, percussion, lead & background vocals (1959–1980)
* Marvin "Merv" Pierce – trumpet, flugelhorn
The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...
, valve trombone
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...
& background vocals (1972–1982)
Other members
* Robert Ward – guitar (1959–1964)
* Cornelius Johnson – drums (1959–1964)
* Gregory "Greg" Webster – drums (1964–1974)
* Bobby Lee Fears – vocals (1964–1970)
* Dutch Robinson – vocals (1964–1970)
* Helena Ferguson Kilpatrick – vocals (1967–unknown)
* Charles Dale Allen – vocals (1970?–unknown)
* Bruce Napier – trumpet (1972–1974)
* Walter "Junie" Morrison
Walter "Junie" Morrison (June 28, 1954 – January 21, 2017) was an American songwriter, record producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist. He was a member of the Ohio Players in the early 1970s, and later became a member and musical direc ...
– keyboards
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
(1970–1974)
* James Johnson – vocals, saxophone (1971?–unknown)
* Clarence "Chet" Willis – guitars (1977–1980; unknown–present)
* Robert "Kuumba" Jones – congas (1977–present)
* Wes Boatman – keyboards (1980–1981)
* Jimmy Sampson – drums (1981–1982)
Timeline
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PlotArea = left:120 bottom:100 top:0 right:10
Alignbars = justify
DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy
Period = from:01/01/1959 till:01/01/2020
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:4
ScaleMajor = increment:4 start:1959
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1960
Colors =
id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals
id:wind value:gray(0.5) legend:Wind_instruments
id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar
id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards
id:bass value:blue legend:Bass
id:drums value:orange legend:Drums
id:perc value:claret legend:Percussion
id:album value:black legend:Studio_album
BarData=
bar:Bobby text: Bobby Lee Fears
bar:Charles text: Charles Dale Allen
bar:James text: James Johnson
bar:Odeen text: Odeen Mays
bar:Peewee text: Pee Wee Middlebrooks
bar:Satch text: Satch Satchell
bar:Merv text: Merv Pierce
bar:Bruce text: Bruce Napier
bar:Robert text: Robert Ward
bar:Sugarfoot text: Sugarfoot Bonner
bar:Chet text: Chet Willis
bar:Rock text: Rock Jones
bar:Darwin text: Darwin Dortch
bar:Dutch text: Dutch Robinson
bar:Junie text: Junie Morrison
bar:Billy text: Billy Beck
bar:Ronald text: Ronald Nooks
bar:Cornelius text: Cornelius Johnson
bar:Greg text: Greg Webster
bar:Diamond text: Diamond Williams
bar:Kuumba text: Kuumba Jones
PlotData =
width:11
bar:Rock from:01/01/1959 till:07/01/1984 color:bass
bar:Peewee from:01/01/1959 till:07/01/1984 color:wind
bar:Satch from:01/01/1959 till:09/01/1979 color:wind
bar:Cornelius from:01/01/1959 till:06/01/1963 color:drums
bar:Robert from:01/01/1959 till:06/01/1963 color:guitar
bar:Sugarfoot from:06/01/1963 till:01/01/2013 color:guitar
bar:Greg from:06/01/1963 till:01/01/1974 color:drums
bar:Dutch from:06/01/1963 till:06/01/1970 color:keys
bar:Bobby from:06/01/1963 till:06/01/1970 color:vocals
bar:Merv from:06/01/1970 till:06/01/1982 color:wind
bar:Bruce from:06/01/1970 till:01/01/1974 color:wind
bar:Junie from:06/01/1970 till:01/01/1974 color:keys
bar:Charles from:06/01/1970 till:06/01/1972 color:vocals
bar:James from:06/01/1972 till:01/01/1974 color:vocals
bar:Diamond from:01/01/1974 till:end color:drums
bar:Chet from:01/03/1977 till:end color:guitar
bar:Kuumba from:01/03/1977 till:end color:perc
bar:Billy from:01/01/1974 till:02/01/1988 color:keys
bar:Billy from:06/01/2009 till:end color:keys
bar:Darwin from:07/01/1984 till:end color:bass
bar:Ronald from:02/01/1988 till:06/01/2009 color:keys
bar:Odeen from:01/01/1995 till:end color:vocals
width:7
bar:Satch from:01/01/1959 till:09/01/1979 color:guitar
bar:Diamond from:01/01/1974 till:end color:perc
width:3
bar:Satch from:01/01/1959 till:09/01/1979 color:vocals
bar:Robert from:01/01/1959 till:06/01/1963 color:vocals
bar:Sugarfoot from:06/01/1963 till:01/01/2013 color:vocals
bar:Dutch from:06/01/1963 till:06/01/1970 color:vocals
bar:James from:06/01/1972 till:01/01/1974 color:wind
bar:Diamond from:01/01/1974 till:end color:vocals
bar:Chet from:01/03/1977 till:end color:vocals
bar:Billy from:01/01/1974 till:02/01/1988 color:vocals
bar:Billy from:06/01/2009 till:end color:vocals
bar:Darwin from:07/01/1984 till:end color:vocals
bar:Odeen from:01/01/1995 till:end color:keys
LineData =
at:05/01/1969 layer:back
at:02/01/1972
at:12/01/1972
at:09/01/1973
at:04/01/1974
at:11/01/1974
at:08/16/1975
at:03/01/1976
at:03/01/1977
at:12/01/1977
at:08/01/1978
at:01/01/1979
at:01/01/1981
at:12/01/1981
at:06/01/1984
at:08/01/1988
Deaths
* Clarence Satchell (April 15, 1940 – December 30, 1995) died after suffering a brain aneurysm
An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also be a nidus (s ...
at age 55.
* Ralph Middlebrooks (August 20, 1939 – November 15, 1997) died of cancer.
* Vincent Thomas ("Venny Wu") (January 26, 1958 – February 16, 2008) died of cancer in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas.
* Robert Ward (October 15, 1938 – December 25, 2008) died at home.
* Cornelius Johnson (July 12, 1937 – February 1, 2009).
* Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner
Leroy Roosevelt "Sugarfoot" Bonner (March 14, 1943 – January 26, 2013) was a musician, vocalist, and producer.
Born in Hamilton, Ohio, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Cincinnati in 1943, Bonner grew up poor, the oldest of 14 children. He ...
(March 14, 1943 – January 26, 2013) died of cancer at age 69.
* Marshall "Rock" Jones
Marshall Eugene "Rock" Jones (January 1, 1941 – May 27, 2016), professionally known as Rock Jones, was an American bass player. He is best known as a founding member and bassist of the funk, soul music and R&B band Ohio Players.
Marshall "R ...
(January 1, 1941 – May 27, 2016) died of cancer in Houston, Texas, at age 75. He was the last surviving member from the Ohio Untouchables line-up.
* Walter "Junie" Morrison
Walter "Junie" Morrison (June 28, 1954 – January 21, 2017) was an American songwriter, record producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist. He was a member of the Ohio Players in the early 1970s, and later became a member and musical direc ...
(1954 – January 21, 2017) died at age 62.
* Shaun Dedrick died on May 2, 2018, at age 55, following an illness, in Dayton, Ohio.
* Gregory "Greg" Webster (January 4, 1938 – January 14, 2022) died at age 84. He was the last surviving member of the original Ohio Players line-up.
Discography
Studio albums
Live albums
*''Ol' School
''Ol' School'' is a live album by Ohio Players. It was recorded on 2 December 1995 at the Fox Theater, Atlanta, Georgia.
Track listing
# "Skin Tight" – 6:16
# "Ol' School" – 3:53
# "Pain" – 1:39
# "Heaven Must Be Like This" – 4:2 ...
'' (1996, Essential Music)
Compilation albums
Singles
Notes
* "Fire" also peaked at No. 10 on ''Billboard's
''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...
'' Disco Action chart.
See also
* List of artists who reached number one in the United States
This is a list of recording artists who have reached number one on '' Billboard'' magazine's weekly singles chart(s). This list spans from the issue dated January 1, 1955 to the present. Prior to the creation of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, ''Bil ...
* '' Unsung''
References
External links
Ohio Players
at Wenig-LaMonica Associates
*
*
{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 1959
Musical groups disestablished in 2002
African-American musical groups
American dance music groups
Mercury Records artists
Funk musical groups from Dayton, Ohio
American rhythm and blues musical groups
Tangerine Records artists
1959 establishments in Ohio