The Flaming Ember was an American soul band from

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, United States, who found commercial success starting in the late 1960s. The group originally formed in Detroit in 1964. At that time they were known as The Flaming Embers, named for a local Detroit restaurant. In 1969, they signed with Hot Wax Records, (the label founded by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and

Edward Holland, Jr. Edward Holland Jr. (born October 30, 1939) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Holland was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Although he was an early Motown artist who recorded minor hit singles such as "Jamie", ...

), after the band had recorded for a number of smaller Detroit-area labels since 1965. They recorded for Ed Wingate's Ric Tic label in 1967, but when

Berry Gordy, Jr. Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is a retired American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record l ...

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...

purchased

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/ Ric-Tic from Wingate, the Flaming Ember chose not to sign with Motown. They dropped the "s" from its name and scored a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

and

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

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with " Mind, Body and Soul" in 1969 (number 26 on the US

Billboard pop singles The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming i ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

); they hit charts again with their

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

(and heartland rock antecedent) "Westbound #9" (number 24 US pop, number 15 US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' R&B

), and "I'm Not My Brother's Keeper" (number 34 pop, number 12 R&B). The three songs were all released between late 1969 and late 1970. Follow-up efforts such as 1971's "Stop the World and Let Me Off" were not as successful. After changing their name to Mind, Body and Soul they spent the rest of the 1970s playing the Detroit

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

circuit. The band was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 1999. The Flaming Embers reunited in 2004, played at the Rockabilly Festival in Tennessee and completed a CD.

Members

* Joe Sladich,

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 ...

(replaced by Mark McCoy in 1972, and in recent reunion), died from throat cancer * Bill Ellis,

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 ...

* John Goins, keyboard, backup vocals from late 1960s to mid 1970s, died December 26, 2018 from kidney failure * Jim Bugnel,

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 ...

(replaced Mike Jackson in 1966) * Jerry Plunk,

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s and

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

* Dennis Mills, bass guitar (early to mid 1970s), played in the group Mind, Body and Soul (not Flaming Ember) * Larry Gregg, drums, died on 20 April 2010

References

External links

Flaming Ember , Biography, Albums, Streaming LinksInterview with Plunk and Bugnel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flaming Ember, The American pop music groups American soul musical groups Musical groups from Detroit Ric-Tic Records artists 1964 establishments in Michigan