Breakwater is an American

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

band from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The band released two albums: ''Breakwater'' in 1978, and '' Splashdown'' in 1980. The latter features the song "Release the Beast", which was sampled in the intro for rapper

Murs Murs may refer to: People * Marc Athanase Parfait Œillet des Murs (1804-1878), French ornithologist * Olly Murs (born 1984), English singer-songwriter * Murs (rapper) (born 1978), American rapper Places * Murs, Indre, France * Murs, Vaucluse, Fr ...

' album '' Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition'', as well as in " Robot Rock" by electronic duo

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. Widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in dance music history, they achieved popularity in the late 1990s as p ...

which appeared on the album ''

Human After All ''Human After All'' is the third studio album by French electronic music duo Daft Punk, first released on 14 March 2005 through Virgin Records. Unlike their previous studio album ''Discovery'' (2001), whose sound was inspired by disco and ga ...

''.

Background

The band, originally from Philadelphia was formed in 1971. The original members of Breakwater consisted of Gene Robinson, James Gee Jones, Lincoln 'Zay' Gilmore, Steve Green, Vince 'Garnel' Dutton, Greg Scott, John 'Dutch' Braddock, and Kae Williams, Jr. They were signed to the Arista label in 1978. Their second album ''Splashdown'', which was released in 1980 has been referred to by Tom Bowker of the '' Broward Palm Beach New Times'' as a funk masterpiece.

Releases

In September, 1979, their single "You Know I Love You", written by Greg Scott, and produced by Rick Chertoff was a ''Billboard'' top single pick. For the week ending July 5, 1980, their album '' Splashdown'' at its 8th week in the ''Billboard'' charts had moved up from 35 to 34. At its 13th week, it was sitting at 57, the position it was the previous week.

Sound

The sound of Breakwater's music is normally that of slow jams, but they have been known to incorporate

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

and

styles into their songs, much like their song titled "You". "Release the Beast" is best known by non-funk music fans, and the band's sound can be closer compared to that of

Con Funk Shun Con Funk Shun (formerly known as Project Soul) is an American R&B and funk band whose popularity began in the mid-1970s and ran through the 1980s. They were influenced by funk legend James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone. Signed to Mercury R ...

or Earth, Wind & Fire.

Later years

On October 16, 2014, the eleven-piece band with four man horn section played Warmdaddy's on S Columbus Blvd in Philadelphia. It was announced that the band and fellow seventies act

Pockets A pocket is a bag- or envelope-like receptacle either fastened to or inserted in an article of clothing to hold small items. Pockets are also attached to luggage, backpacks, and similar items. In older usage, a pocket was a separate small bag o ...

, an R&B funk band from Baltimore, would appear at London's Brooklyn Bowl on January 7, 2017.Brooklyn Bowl
Friday, 6 January 2017, Breakwater and The Pockets

Discography

References

External links

*
Breakwater on Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breakwater American funk musical groups American soul musical groups