Chocolate Milk was an American funk and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

band from

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, active in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Biography

Chocolate Milk was formed in 1974 in New Orleans, Louisiana, after the emergence of the bands

Kool & the Gang Kool & the Gang is an American R&B/soul/funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 by brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell, with Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West. ...

and

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million reco ...

. The eight-piece band included Frank Richard (vocals), Amadee Castenell (saxophone), Joe Foxx (trumpet), Mario Tio (guitars), Earnest Dabon (bass), Robert Dabon (keyboards/piano) and Dwight Richards (drums/percussion). The band also worked as the studio group for

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

and producer Allen Toussaint, following the tenure of the Meters as Toussaint's band. Chocolate Milk backed Toussaint as a live band and on his album ''New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival'' (1976), and also recorded with

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

. The band then signed with

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

. Their first of eight albums released on RCA was ''Action Speaks Louder than Words'', an album that included a political message. The title cut, "Action Speaks Louder Than Words" (1975), has a break beat that has been

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...

numerous times in hip hop music, including "Move the Crowd" from the 1987 album '' Paid in Full'' by Eric B. & Rakim, and "Don't Let Your Mouth Write a Check Your Ass Can't Cash" (1991) by

Stetsasonic Stetsasonic is an American hip hop band. Formed in 1981 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, Stetsasonic was one of the first hip hop acts to perform with a full band and use live instrumentation in their recordings, paving the way for future ...

. The band became known for "Action Speaks Louder than Words", and other hit songs: "Girl Callin'" (1978), "Say Won't Cha" (1979), and "I'm Your Radio" (1980). The band was also known for their versatility in musical styles, later adding elements of disco, prevalent on their 1981 hit, "Blue Jeans" which peaked at number fifteen on the soul chart. Chocolate Milk broke up in 1983 due to the waning popularity of disco, numerous personnel changes, and changes in producers after splitting with Toussaint in 1980.Phillips, Dan (2006). ''Action Speaks Louder than Words'' D liner notes Sony/BMG Music Entertainment.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Action Speaks Louder than Words'' (

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

, 1975) * ''Chocolate Milk'' (RCA, 1976) * ''Comin (RCA, 1976) * ''We're All in This Together'' (RCA, 1977) * ''Milky Way'' (RCA, 1979) * ''Hipnotism'' (RCA, 1980) * ''Blue Jeans'' (RCA, 1981) * ''Friction'' (RCA, 1982)

Compilation albums

* ''Ice Cold Funk: The Greatest Grooves of Chocolate Milk'' (

Razor & Tie Razor & Tie was an American entertainment company that consisted of a record label and a music publishing company. It was established in 1990 by Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld. Based in New York City (with additional offices in Los Angeles an ...

, 1998) * ''Best of Chocolate Milk'' (Camden, 2002)

Singles

References

External links

Chocolate Milk
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

Chocolate Milk at T-Mad's Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chocolate Milk (band) Musical groups established in 1974 American disco groups American funk musical groups Musical groups from New Orleans American soul musical groups RCA Records artists