The Fabulous Counts were an American

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 attes ...

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 ...

group from

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. They won local acclaim as an instrumental group and as a backing ensemble for visiting solo acts after their formation in 1968. Working with producer

Richard "Popcorn" Wylie Richard Wayne Wylie (June 6, 1939 – September 7, 2008), often known as Popcorn Wylie, was an American pianist, bandleader, songwriter, occasional singer, and record producer who was influential in the early years of Motown Records and was ...

, they released the instrumental single "Jan, Jan" on Detroit's Moira Records that year, which narrowly missed hitting the US R&B charts that winter. Their second single, "Dirty Red", passed without trace, but the third single, "Get Down People", hit #32 R&B and #88 on the US pop charts. A full-length, ''Jan, Jan'' (produced by

Ollie McLaughlin Ollie Anderson McLaughlin (March 24, 1925 – February 19, 1984) was an American record producer and record label owner. He discovered Del Shannon, and also organized or produced recordings by Dave Brubeck, Chet Baker, Dorothy Ashby, Barbara Lewi ...

), was released in 1969 on

Cotillion Records Cotillion Records was a subsidiary of Atlantic Records (from 1971 part of WEA) and was active from 1968 through 1985. The label was formed as an outlet for pop, R&B, and jazz. Its first single, Otis Clay's version of "She's About a Mover", rea ...

, but the group left the label in 1970. Signing with

Westbound Records Westbound Records was a Detroit-based record label founded by Armen Boladian in 1968. It had a distribution deal with Janus Records from 1970 to 1975, but then it switched distribution to 20th Century Records during 1975 and 1976, but again switc ...

that year, the group changed their name simply to The Counts. Shortchanged by Westbound Records in favor of

The Ohio Players ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

and

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. Funkadeli ...

, many of the band's original members left, and the band moved to

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, signing with

Michael Thevis Michael George Thevis (February 25, 1932 – November 20, 2013) was a Greek Americans, Greek American millionaire Pornography, pornographer and convicted murderer based in Atlanta, Georgia, but with close links to the Five Families of New York C ...

' Aware Records, where they released their final LPs ''Love Sign'' and ''Funk Pump'' before the group called it quits in 1976. All three of the funk albums they released under their new name charted. The band's biggest hit came in 1972 under a pseudonym: "Mr. Penguin - Pt. 1" by Lunar Funk, recorded and released on

Bell Records Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 in New York City by Arthur Shimkin, the owner of the children's record label Golden Records, and initially a unit of Pocket Books, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benny ...

while they were still signed to Westbound. It reached #29 R&B and #63 on the

Hot 100 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 ...

. Mose Davis pursued a solo career, releasing an album called The Coming of Moses on Pure Silk Records in 1978. Just before reuniting in 2009, Mose Davis played jazz piano around Atlanta with the Mose Davis Trio, Leroy Emmanuel played in a Canadian funk band called the LMT Connection and

Demo Cates Demetrius (Demo) Cates is an American-Canadian musician. He is most noted as a two-time Juno Award nominee for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year, receiving nominations at the Juno Awards of 1985 for "Memories of Moments" and at the Juno Awards of 198 ...

operated out of Canada, where he received two

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

nominations for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year and appeared as an actor in TV and movies. In 2009, they reunited with the line-up from 1976: Mose Davis (Hammond organ, vocals), Leroy Emmanuel (guitar, vocals), Demo Cates (saxes, vocals), Jimmy "Junebug" Jackson (drums, vocals) and Jimmy Brown (saxes, vocals). The band's Cotillion LP has been reissued, and the first Westbound LP is also in print as a CD.

Members

;The Fabulous Counts *Mose Davis - keyboards *Leroy Emmanuel - guitar *

- alto saxophone *Jim White - tenor saxophone *Raoul Keith Mangrum - drums ;The Counts *Mose Davis - keyboards, vocals *Leroy Emmanuel - guitar, vocals *Demo Cates - alto saxophone, vocals *Jimmy Jackson - drums, vocals *Jimmy Brown - saxophone, vocals

Discography

;The Fabulous Counts *''Jan, Jan'' (

, 1969) *''Rhythm Changes'' (

, 1971) ;The Counts *''What's Up Front That Counts'' (

, 1971) US #193, US Black Albums #35

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 ...

Allmusic.com *''Love Signs'' (Aware Records, 1973) US Black Albums #45 *''Funk Pump'' (Aware Records, 1975) US Black Albums #58 *''Golden Classics'' (

Collectables A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types of collectables and terms t ...

, 1993) *''It's What's In The Groove'' ( Southbound Records, 1996)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fabulous Counts, The American funk musical groups Musical groups from Detroit 1968 establishments in Michigan