Luther James Rabb (September 7, 1942 – January 22, 2006) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter, from

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, who gained notoriety as the lead vocalist of the

jazz rock Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

group

Ballin' Jack Ballin' Jack (stylised as Ballin'jack) was an American horn rock group formed in Seattle, Washington in 1969 by Luther Rabb (bass and vocals) and Ronnie Hammon (drums). They had a minor hit in 1970 with "Super Highway", which hit #93 on the Billb ...

and in later years as a member of the group

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Early history

The son of a minister, Luther grew up in Seattle. He learned to play practicing on his grandmother's piano. He began learning sax at the age of ten. As a teenager he was doing gigs at his local rotary club. He was also a sax player in The Velvetones which was

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

's first band. Between that time and his membership with

, he had been with the groups The Stags, The Nite Sounds, and The Emergency Exit.

Seventies onwards

Luther was a member of

, a group he had founded in 1969 and stayed with them until the group's break up in or around 1974. In 1976 he had become part of

Santana Santana may refer to: Transportation * Volkswagen Santana, an automobile * Santana Cycles, manufacturer of tandem bicycles * Santana Motors, a former Spanish automobile manufacturer Boats * Santana 20, an American sailboat design by W. D. Sch ...

as the group's lead singer and was on tour with them in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

. In 1977 he was working with

Lola Falana Loletha Elayne Falana or Loletha Elaine Falana (born September 11, 1942), better known by her stage name Lola Falana, is an American singer, dancer, and actress. Early life Lola Falana was born in Camden, New Jersey. She was the third of si ...

, had released his solo LP in 1979 and by the 1980s he was a member of the group

. Rabb died in January 2006 at the age of 63.Luther Rabb Death Records
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Discography

Singles

* "Make a Little Move (On the One)" / "Street Angels" (1979) MCA Mca 40997 * "Seattle Sonics Do It" / "Seattle Sonics Do It" (1979) MCA Mca 41066 * "Every Day Love" / "Whatever" (1979) MCA Mca 41104

Albums

* ''Street Angel'' (1979) MCA Records Mca-3079

Sound tracks

* "Bucktown Song" in the closing credits of the 1975 film '' Bucktown''.

References

External links

Luther James Rabb
* 1942 births 2006 deaths Musicians from Seattle American male singer-songwriters American rock singers American rock songwriters 20th-century American singers Singer-songwriters from Washington (state) 20th-century American male singers {{US-musician-stub