Biography
AWB are widely regarded as one of the best soul and funk bands in the history of music. Though perhaps best known for their timeless instrumental mega-hit 'Pick Up the Pieces' the band's strength actually lay in their consistently accomplished song-writing, stretching across several gold selling albums and multi- grammy nominations for the legendary Atlantic Records. Somewhat incongruously, given their Scottish roots, the six piece took the influences of their R&B heroes - people like Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Donny Hathaway and others - and developed their own 'authentic' sound which was eagerly adopted by black audiences in the US and elsewhere. Whilst a good number of cuts - 'Cut The Cake' and 'Let's Go Round Again' to name but two - attracted chart action as hit singles, many other album tracks, like 'Schoolboy Crush' and 'Stop The Rain' became much sampled and turn tabled 'rare' grooves. Many more tunes, such as 'Cloudy', 'A Love Of Your Own' and 'Nothing You Can Do' - amongst many others- stand alongside some of the finest soul 'album tracks' ever recorded.
The current line-up of the band - this time with noted US recruits augmenting founder members Alan Gorrie and Onnie McIntyre - continue to record and tour around the world to ongoing critical and audience acclaim.
All this and more is perfectly illustrated in the band's latest release is "Times Squared," a thirteen track live CD recorded in New York City in March 2009.
AWB TIMELINE AND DISCOGRAPHY
1965-66
Perth Scotland - Alan Gorrie co-founds the ‘Blue Workshop’ as a place for musicians to interchange line-ups and explore the jazzier side of R&B. Regulars included Dundee Art College buddies Molly Duncan and Roger Ball on horns, Jim Mullen on double bass (yes, that Jim Mullen!) and a startling visit from a young Robbie McIntosh on drums.
Glasgow Scotland, Onnie McIntyre and Hamish Stuart gig and frequent The Picasso Club, a live music, after-hours R&B haven where musicians can try out new material, jam, hangout and/or dance to the best soul tracks imported directly from Atlantic, Stax, Motown etc. Regulars include Maggie Bell, Frankie Miller, Jimmy Dewar, and Alex Ligertwood.
1967-London
Gorrie joins McIntyre in the Scots of St James, who work mostly backing visiting American soul artists, they tour Germany playing clubs and US military bases. The reaction to their own set however, gives Gorrie the idea that with the right line-up, U.S. tours may be possible. They are joined briefly by Hamish Stuart, change the name to ‘Hopscotch’ and land a recording deal with United Artists releasing 2 singles. Stuart leaves to form Dream Police in Glasgow
1970 - London being the only UK city in which to secure a recording contract, all future AWB members are now there working and recording; McIntosh, who with the Senate, had backed Ben E. King, Garnet Mimms etc, is now with Brian Auger's Oblivion Express with Jim Mullen and Alex Ligertwood. Gorrie & McIntyre have two albums with RCA as Forever More, Stuart is with The Dream Police, Duncan and Ball with Mike Rosen on trumpet (dubbed ‘The Dundee Horns’ by Maggie Bell), are now in demand as a horn section. Collectively they become the unofficial house band at Island Studios working individually and/or together on various sessions, most notably Johnny Nash's ‘I Can See Clearly Now’.
1971 - Gorrie books studio time in Denmark Street Studios and with the Dundee Horns, McIntyre and McIntosh, record three original songs; the results are such that they immediately decide to form the band and look for management. They find Robin Turner (via Robert Stigwood) who in turn persuades film actor Stanley Baker to finance the project.
1972 - McIntyre and McIntosh record live with Chuck Berry at The Lanchester Arts Festival. Released as The London Sessions his best selling album ironically spawned his first and only No.1 single ‘My Ding-A-Ling’. Stanley Baker's company promotes The Lincoln Music Festival, the band is booked, but don't yet have a name. Running out of time, British diplomat pal Rab Wyper's catch phrase “too much for the average white man” is adapted, and Average White Band is born.
After their first gig however, Gorrie decides that his vocal approach demands a second lead singer with a strong falsetto. Hamish Stuart, (doubling on guitar and bass) is brought in to replace trumpeter Rosen. Bonnie Bramlett of (Delany & Bonnie) hears the new rehearsal tapes and flies AWB to Los Angeles to start work on her first solo album Sweet Bonnie Bramlett. Six weeks later AWB arrive back in London with heads full of ideas and armloads of vinyl, including future AWB classics ‘Work To Do’ and 'Put It Where You Want It’.
1973 - After a long hiatus, Eric Clapton stages his comeback performance, dubbed the Rainbow Concert, it is one of the most highly anticipated music industry events in years. AWB performs and receives rave reviews.
MCA Records sign them immediately. The result, Show Your Hand is released on both sides of the Atlantic to ‘much acclaim and cult status’ but does not cross over into mainstream. The next album would have to be recorded in the States.
1974 - Los Angeles What eventually becomes known as the White Album is recorded for MCA in Los Angeles, but MCA rejects it. Undeterred, the band discovers that Jerry Wexler from Atlantic Records is in town, they crash his party and play him the album. In his book ‘The Rhythm And The Blues’ Wexler says “They hit me where I lived, their tape was great and I wanted to sign them on the spot!” Arif Mardin is assigned producer and asks for two more songs. (‘Nothing You Can Do’ and ‘You Got It’) are written before flying down to start recording at Miami's Criteria Studios.
New York - The difference in sound between the LA tapes and the new Miami sessions result in the original MCA tracks being re-recorded. The band is flown to Atlantic Studios in N.Y. Gene Paul (son of Les) is assigned as the engineer best equipped to capture their sound.
Los Angeles - Commonly known as ‘The White Album’, the eponymous AWB album is released in August. In September on the last night of a triumphant week at The Troubadour, drummer Robbie McIntosh dies of a drug related incident at a celebratory Hollywood party.
1975- The album ‘AWB’ gains ‘Gold’ status (No.1 on Billboard Pop and R&B Album Charts) ‘Pick Up The Pieces’ (No.1 Billboard pop single) becomes a worldwide hit and receives a Grammy Nomination - ‘Best R&B Instrumental Performance’)
Now with black Brighton-born drummer Steve Ferrone on drums, the follow up ‘Cut The Cake’ album is released. (No 1 R&B album) and earns the band another Grammy Nomination - Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance – for the single ‘Cut The Cake’
1976 – AWB’s biggest US-selling (platinum) album ‘Soul Searching’ is released (No 2 R&B album), spawning hit single ‘Queen of My Soul’
‘Person To Person (Live)’ released, showcasing the band in live performance, playing arena sized venues, to enthusiastic, predominately black audiences.
1977 – ‘ Benny & Us’ with Ben E. King is released as a partnership album featuring the ex-Drifters front-man on lead vocals (No. 9 R&B Album) and the band is chosen to form the nucleus of Atlantic’s All-Stars at The Montreux Jazz Festival. The live album from the festival is released later that year; the highlight being a big band version of ‘Pieces’ arranged and conducted by Arif Mardin, The all-star line-up includes Randy and Michael Brecker, Don Ellis, Herbie Mann, Sonny Fortune, Jim Mullen, Dick Morrisey. (Phil Collins commissioned the same arrangement from Arif Mardin in the late nineties for his big band Montreux appearance).
AWB’s Warmer Communications having been delayed, is released that same November.
1978 -‘Warmer Communications’ achieves gold status (No.12 R&B Album). Sweet & Sour, wins another Grammy nomination - Best R&B Instrumental Performance.
1979 - ‘Feel No Fret’ (self-produced by AWB) is released, featuring hit singles ‘Walk On By’ and ‘Atlantic Avenue’. It re-establishes the band in Britain and Europe where they tour extensively throughout the summer.
AWB leave Atlantic Records and sign with Arista (US) and RCA Victor (Europe).
1980 - ‘Shine’ (Produced by David Foster) is AWB’s debut for Arista /RCA and includes UK hits ‘For You, For Love’, and ‘Let's Go Round Again’ (No.12 in the UK) and has the longest stay in the charts of any single that year.
‘Volume VIII’ is released on Atlantic, and contains four previously unreleased songs on side one, and a ‘Best Of’ selection on side two.
1982 - ‘Cupid's In Fashion’ Released on MCA, featuring contributions from writer/producer Dan Hartman.
1983 – 1988
AWB disband. Members undertake various solo projects and session work. Hamish Stuart, in particular, goes on to work with David Sanborn, Chaka Khan, and (most notably) Paul McCartney. Steve Ferrone fills drum chair for George Benson, Duran Duran, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and many others. Alan Gorrie records solo album Sleepless Nights for A&M.
1989- AWB reforms with original members Gorrie, McIntyre and Ball, and are joined by multi-instrumentalist Eliot Lewis to record ‘Aftershock’ , a new studio album with guest appearances by Chaka Kahn, Ronnie Laws and Alex Ligertwood.
1997 - Second studio album ‘Soul Tattoo’, released with Pete Abbott on drums. Roger Ball leaves the band and recommends sax man Fred ‘Freddy V’ Vigdor.
1998- Live album, ‘Face To Face’ recorded at the Fillmore Auditorium, San Francisco, showcasing new AWB members. The band is now touring extensively.
2002- AWB releases ‘Tonight’ Live concert DVD. Filmed at The House Of Blues LA in 2001 it features that line-up including future John Scofield sideman Adam Deitch in the drum chair.
2003- Long awaited new studio album, ‘Living In Colour’ released featuring new member Klyde Jones replacing Eliot Lewis (joins Hall & Oates), Brian Dunne is now on drums.
2005- ‘Greatest & Latest’ released, a retrospective of post 1989 material, featuring both live and studio cuts including an instrumental remake of ‘Work To Do’ which becomes a nationwide hit on Smooth Jazz Radio.
2006 -‘Rocky Bryant (Dave Sanborn, Cindy Lauper) takes over the drum chair. AWB releases ‘Soul & The City’ CD, recorded live at B.B. Kings in New York City.
2007 - The band continues to tour extensively across North America with appearances in the UK, Japan, South Africa and elsewhere.
Instrumentation
Alan Gorrie - Lead vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards
Onnie McIntyre - Guitar, vocals
Klyde Jones - Lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards
Fred 'Freddy V' Vigdor - Saxophones, keyboard, vocals
Rocky Bryant - Drums, percussion
Discography
1973-Show Your Hand
1974-AWB
1975-Cut The Cake
1976-Soul Searching
1976-Person To Person
1977-Benny & Us (with Ben E. King)
1978-Warmer Communications
1979-Feel No Fret
1980-Shine
.
1980-Volume VIII
1982-Cupid's In Fashion
1989-Aftershock
1997-Soul Tattoo
1999-Face to Face (Live)
2002-Tonight (Live DVD)
2003-The Ultimate Collection
2003-Living in Colour
2005-Greatest & Latest
2006-Soul & The City
CHARTS AND AWARDS
Albums:
AWB (Gold Album)
# 1 Pop Album (Billboard)
# 1 R&B Album (Billboard)
Cut The Cake (Gold Album)
# 1 R&B Album (Billboard)
# 4 Pop Album (Billboard)
Soul Searching (Platinum Album)
# 2 R&B Album (Billboard)
# 9 Pop Album (Billboard)
Benny and US (with Ben E. King)
# 9 R&B Album (Billboard)
# 28 Pop Album (Billboard)
Warmer Communications (Gold album)
# 12 R&B Album (Billboard)
Feel No Fret (Silver Album - UK)
Singles
Pick Up The Pieces
# 1 Pop Single (Billboard)
# 5 R&B Single (Billboard)
# 6 U.K. chart
Grammy Nomination - ‘Best R&B Instrumental Performance’
Work to Do
#10 R&B Single (Billboard)
Cut The Cake
# 7 R&B single (Billboard)
Grammy Nomination – ‘Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance’
Schoolboy Crush
# 22 R&B single (Billboard)
Soul Searching
# 4 Dance Single (Billboard)
Get it Up For Love
# 21 R&B Single (Billboard)
A Star in The Ghetto
# 25 R&B Single (Billboard)
Sweet & Sour
Grammy Nomination - ‘Best R&B Instrumental Performance’.
Walk On By
# 32 R&B single (Billboard), # 18 UK chart
Atlantic Avenue
# 24 UK chart
Let's Go Round Again
#12 UK chart, #1 Japanese chart.
SAMPLES, FILM & TELEVISION
SAMPLES
SHOW YOUR HAND:
‘The Jugglers’
Ice Cube’s ‘What They Hittin' Foe?’
‘Reach Out’
Boogie Down Productions’s ‘House Niggas’
Ice Cube’s ‘Steady Mobbin'‘
Lifer's Group’s ‘Jack U. Back (So You Wanna Be a Gangsta)’
Lifer's Group’s ‘Rise or Fall’
Prince Paul’s ‘Steady Slobbin'‘
Yo-Yo’s ‘Put a Lid on It’
‘T.L.C.’
Boogie Down Productions’s ‘Ya Know the Rules’
Cash Crew’s ‘U Can't Stop This’
Jurassic 5’s ‘Unified Rebellion’
The LOX’s ‘The Heist (pt 1)’
AVERAGE WHITE BAND:
‘Pick up the Pieces’
Awesome Dre’s ‘You Can't Hold Me Back’
Cash Money & Marvelous’s ‘Who's in the Place?’
Changing Faces’s ‘I Got Somebody Else’
Chris Rock ft ODB’s ‘Me & ODB’
Doug E Fresh’s ‘On the Strength’
Public Enemy’s ‘Night of the Living Baseheads’
Real Roxanne’s ‘Her Bad Self’
Steady B’s ‘Certified Dope’
Stezo’s ‘Jimmy's Gettin' Funky’
Stezo’s ‘Talking Sense’
Style’s ‘Set the Mood’
Tim Dog’s ‘You Ain't Shit’
YZ ft G Rock’s ‘In the Party’
‘Person to Person’
Big Daddy Kane’s ‘Mr. Pitiful’
Bobby Jimmy’s ‘Erotic Psychotic’
Boss’s ‘Recipe of a Hoe’
Brand Nubian’s ‘Word is Bond’
Brothers Like Outlaw’s ‘Trapped into Darkness’
Changing Faces’s ‘I Got Somebody Else’
Downtown Science’s ‘Something Spankin' New’
EPMD’s ‘Richter Scale’
Funkmaster Flex’s ‘Sad and Blue’
Insane Poetry’s ‘Angel of Death’
Low Profile’s ‘That's Why They. . .’
Luke’s ‘Cowardz in Compton’
Mellow Man Ace’s ‘Gettin' Stupid’
Public Enemy’s ‘Air Hoodlum’
Puff Daddy ft Foxxy Brown’s ‘Friend’
South Central Cartel’s ‘Ya Getz Clowned’
Steady B’s ‘Stone Cold Hustler’
Tim Dog’s ‘Goin Wild in the Penile’
Yo-Yo’s ‘Put a Lid on It’
YZ’s ‘Thinkin' of a Master Plan’
CUT THE CAKE:
‘Schoolboy Crush’
AMG’s ‘Once a Dawg (Janine 2)’
Artifacts’s ‘What Goes On?’
Beatnuts’s ‘Ya Don't Stop’
Color Me Badd’s ‘Thinkin' Back’
De la Soul’s ‘Do as De La Does’
De la Soul’s ‘Strictly Dan Stuckie’
Diana King’s ‘Shy Guy’
DJ Eclipse’s ‘Dedication’
Double XX Posse’s ‘School of Hard Knocks’
EPMD’s ‘Can't Hear Nothing but the Music’
EPMD’s ‘Give the People’
Eric B and Rakim’s ‘Microphone Fiend’
Father MC’s ‘One Night Stand’
Fresh Kid Ice’s ‘From da Bottom to Da Top’
Immature’s ‘Do My Thing’
Janet Jackson’s ‘New Agenda’
Kwame’s ‘Thatthewaydatitgoez’
Lench Mob’s ‘You and Your Heroes’
Nas’s ‘Halftime’
Public Enemy’s ‘Pollywanacraka’
Ras Kass’s ‘Soul on Ice’
Rodney O & Joe Cooley’s ‘Nutty Block’
South Central Cartel’s ‘Bring it On’
Special Ed’s ‘Think about It’
TLC’s ‘Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg’
Too $hort’s ‘Life is Too $hort’
X-Clan’s ‘Grand Verbalizer, What Time is It?’
‘If I Ever Lose this Heaven’
De la Soul’s ‘Foolin'‘
Gumbo’s ‘The Jungle’
‘Cut the Cake’
Beastie Boys’s ‘Dis Yourself in '89 (Just Do It)’
‘Groovin' the Night Away’
Non Phixion’s ‘Suicide Bomb’
SOUL SEARCHING
‘Soul Searching’
Private Investigators’s ‘A If U Listen’
‘Love Your Life’ (Horns)
A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘Check the Rhyme’
Fatboy Slim’s ‘Love Life’
Geto Boys’s ‘We Cant Be Stopped’
Kool Keith’s ‘Get off My Elevator’
Larry Larr’s ‘Jazz it Up’
Penthouse Players Clique’s ‘Blak is a Poet’
Stereo MCs’s ‘Use It’
‘I'm the One’
Brand Nubian’s ‘Word is Bond’
‘A Love of Your Own’
Brownstone’s ‘Love Me Like You Do’
Lil' Kim ft Mona Lisa’s ‘Time to Shine’
Yella’s ‘Dat's How I'm Livin’
PERSON TO PERSON:
‘Cut the Cake’ (Live)
High Performance’s ‘Here's a Party Jam’
BENNY AND US:
‘A Star in the Ghetto’
NWA’s ‘If it Ain't Ruff’
‘Get It Up For Love’
Def Jef’s ‘God Made Me Funky’
WARMER COMMUNICATIONS
‘Your Love is a Miracle’
Del’s ‘Hoodz Come in Dozens’
Ultramagnetic MCs’s ‘Bust the Facts’
WC & the Maad Circle’s ‘Get on up on That Funk’
‘Sweet & Sour’
Justin Warfield’s ‘Cool Like the Blues’
‘Daddy's All Gone’
Twista & Freeway’s ‘Show Must Go On’
FEEL NO FRET:
‘Stop the Rain’
Detroit’s Most Wanted ‘Backstabber’
GangStarr’s ‘Gotta Get Over’
Lena Conquest’s ‘Boundaries’
Pete Rock’s ‘Play Dis Only at Night’
Willie D’s ‘My Alibi’
FILM
Bowfinger
Artie's Lange's Beer League
Blue Streak
Falcon And The Snowman
Friday After Next
Home Of The Brave
Private Parts
Luminarias
My Own Private Oshawa
Next Friday
Th People Vs. Larry Flynt
Roll Bounce
Running with Scissors
Starsky and Hutch
Suicide Kings
Superman 2
Swingers
Taxi
Undercover Brother
The Valise
Wild About Harry
TV
That 70's Show
The Ainsley Harriott show
Arliss
The Bernie Mac Show
Bet On Jazz
The Carol Burnett Show
The Chris Rock Show
Classic Sports Show
Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
Ellen Degeneres Show
Good Times
Huff
In Living Colour
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Late Night With Conan O'Brien
The Late Show With David Letterman
The Midnight Special
MTV's Fast Inc
One Day At A Time
The PJs
Saturday Night Live
Showtime In Harlem
Soul Train
Thieves
VH1's Where Are They Now?
COMMERCIALS
Budweiser
Crest Monarch
Mitsubishi Eclipse
Revlon (Lipglide)
Schlitz Malt Liquor
VIDEO GAMES
Driver: Parallel Lines
Midnight Hold 'Em Poker
Links
| http://www.averagewhiteband.com |