Clyde Stubblefield, the ‘Funky Drummer’ for James Brown, Dies at 73
By JON CARAMANICAFEB. 18, 2017
By his late teenage years, he was already playing drums professionally, and he moved to Macon, Ga., after playing with Otis Redding, who hailed from there. There, he performed with local soul acts, and was introduced to Brown by a club owner. Soon, he was flying to join Brown on the road, and became a permanent band member.
- James Brown’s “Funky Drummer,” recorded in a Cincinnati studio in late 1969. Brown counts him in — “1, 2, 3, 4. Hit it!” — and Mr. Stubblefield eases into a cool pattern, part bendy funk and part hard march. It’s calm, slick and precise, and atop it, Brown asks over and over, “Ain’t it funky?”
It was. That brief snippet of percussion excellence became the platonic ideal of a breakbeat, the foundation of hip-hop’s sampling era and a direct through line from the ferocious soul music of the civil rights era to the golden age of history-minded hip-hop of the 1980s and 1990s.
Though Mr. Stubblefield wasn’t enamored of the song — “I didn’t like the song. I still don’t really get off on it,” he told Paste magazine in 2014 — its mark became indelible. Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out,” Boogie Down Productions’ “South Bronx,” Sinead O’Connor’s “I Am Stretched on Your Grave,” George Michael’s “Freedom! ’90” and Kenny G’s “G-Bop”: Mr. Stubblefield’s “Funky Drummer” break appeared as a sample in all of those songs, and over a thousand more, from the 1980s to the present day. It made Mr. Stubblefield, who died on Saturday in Madison, Wis., at 73, perhaps themost sampled drummer in history.
The cause was kidney failure, said his manager, Kathie Williams.
Mr. Stubblefield was born on April 18, 1943, and grew up in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he was drawn to the rhythms of local industrial sounds, from factories to trains. “There was a factory there that puffed out air — pop-BOOM, pop-BOOM — hit the mountains and came back as an echo,” he told Isthmus in 2015. “And train tracks — click-clack, click-clack. I listened to all that for six years, playing my drums against it.”
He performed with him on and off for about six years, one of two key drummers — the other was John Starks, who was also known as Jabo — playing on the essential James Brown albums of the civil rights era: “Cold Sweat,” “I Got the Feelin’,” “It’s a Mother,” “Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud” and “Sex Machine.” He performed at some of Brown’s most important concerts, including at the Boston Garden after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and for United States service members in Vietnam.
His sharp funk provided the anchor on anthems like “Cold Sweat,” “Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud,” and “I Got The Feelin’.” Always, his playing was complex but collected — his flourishes between beats were as essential as the beat itself. Brown demanded a lot of his band, and Mr. Stubblefield, with playing that had punch, nimbleness and wet texture, never appeared to be breaking a sweat.
“In short, there have been faster, and there have been stronger, but Clyde Stubblefield has a marksman’s left hand unlike any drummer in the 20th century,” Questlove, the drummer and music historian, said in 2011. “The thing that defines him, that sets him apart from other drummers, are his grace notes, which are sort of like the condiments of what spices up the main focus.” He added, “His grace notes, his softest notes, defined a generation.”
Shortly after Mr. Stubblefield left Brown’s band, he settled in Madison, where his brother, who was in the Air Force, was stationed. He lived there until his death, becoming a local fixture thanks to a regular Monday nightclub gig that he held through the 1990s and 2000s, and his work on the Wisconsin public radio show “Whad’Ya Know?” He was inducted into the Wisconsin Area Music Industry Hall of Fame in 2000. A pair of his drumsticks are in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
Though “Funky Drummer” was released as a single, it was never on an album until the 1986 compilation “In the Jungle Groove.” That was in the thick of hip-hop’s sampling era, and it caught on quickly, becoming perhaps the most important drum pattern in hip-hop history.
Brown was a notorious taskmaster as a bandleader, and he also retained all the songwriting credit for the work his band did, meaning that as the hip-hop generation discovered Mr. Stubblefield’s playing and used it as a backbone, he saw none of the financial rewards.
“All my life I’ve been wondering about my money,” Mr. Stubblefield, with a chuckle, told The New York Times in 2011. He tried to remedy this by releasing albums of his own — “Revenge of the Funky Drummer” and “The Original Funky Drummer Breakbeat Album.” In 2011, the DVD release of the documentary “Copyright Criminals” featured a collection of new Stubblefield performances designed for easy sampling.
At times, Mr. Stubblefield performed with his old bandmates. He and Mr. Starks formed a duo, Funkmasters, that released music and also recorded instructional videos. At times, Mr. Stubblefield performed with the J.B.’s, a collection of former members of James Brown’s band; they released a 1999 reunion album, “Bring the Funk on Down.” And he reunited with the original J.B.’s rhythm section on the soundtrack for the 2007 comedy film “Superbad.”
Survivors include his longtime companion, Jody Hannon.
The later part of Mr. Stubblefield’s life was marked by bouts of poor health. He had a kidney removed in 2002. In recent years, he suffered from renal disease and underwent dialysis multiple times a week. He also had a thumb amputated after a burn accident in 2014.
In 2000, Mr. Stubblefield received a diagnosis of bladder cancer, which he survived, but he faced daunting medical bills of approximately $90,000.
Last year, after Prince died, Mr. Stubblefield revealed that the singer had paid those bills in full, asking that the gesture be kept private. It was a testament to the force of Mr. Stubblefield’s artistic gift and influence — the two men had never met.
Junie Morrison, Parliament-Funkadelic and Ohio Players Member, Dead at 62
Multi-instrumentalist played pivotal roles in both groups, helping them reach notable chart peaks
Junie Morrison, who played in Parliament-Funkadelic and the Ohio Players, died at the age of 62.
Walter "Junie" Morrison, who played keyboards in Funkadelic and the Ohio Players, died on Saturday. His daughter, Akasha, reported the news via the artist's Facebook page. The details surrounding his death have not yet been made public. He was 62.
"It is with great sadness that the Ohio Players have lost on this earth another one of the original members of the band Walter 'Junie' Morrison," the group's James "Diamond" Williams wrote on Facebook. "When I got in the band in 1972 he was my roommate on the road and a brother-in-law, at one time being married to my wife's sister. The voice of granny in the funky worm, an incredibly talented individual ... RIP PLAYER 4 Life. We send our condolences to his family and his friends and fans."
Morrison's career had several peaks that would resonate decades beyond their places on the Billboard charts. With the Ohio Players, he arranged and co-wrote 1972's "Funky Worm," a song that featured Morrison pretending to be an old woman. It made it to Number 15 on the Hot 100. "Early in my career with Ohio Players, we played a lot of nightclubs and had a closer interaction with the audience," he told Red Bull Music Academy in 2015. "As a result, we would do skits to bring ourselves even closer to the people in that setting. One of these so-called 'skits' involved the character I created of a young boy with a very 'dirty mouth.' That 'boy' character was using what later became the 'Granny' voice on 'Funky Worm.' From young to old in an instant!"
bouncy, brassy title track, which peaked in the lower half of the Hot 100 but fared better on the R&B chart.
Its follow-up, the same year's Pleasure, was a bigger hit and featured "Funky Worm," which topped the R&B chart; Morrison's performance on that song would later feature in N.W.A's "Dopeman." He stayed with the group for another LP, 1973's Ecstasy, which did almost as well as its predecessor because of the building, elastic title track making it into the Top 40. He quit just before the group went on to achieve widespread success with hits like "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster."
After his Ohio Players stint, Morrison went solo for a few years and released three LPs between 1975 and 1976 – all credited to Junie – and went on to join Parliament and Funkadelic and became a pivotal member of both groups, assuming the role of musical director for the latter.
"Junie was a fascinating person to work with," Clinton wrote in his 2014 memoir, Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard On You?, likening his musical do-it-yourself quality to Sly Stone and Prince. "He could do it all, and if you weren't careful, he would. When he made a record, his preference was to put down the bass, then the guitar, then the keyboards, then the drums. That was fantastic for demos. He could do brilliant things while you weren't looking. ... With Funkadelic, he put himself back in the group environment, and it started to pay dividends immediately."
In addition to "One Nation Under a Groove," he wrote nearly all of the songs on the album (not counting its bonus EP). Although he didn't contribute songwriting to the album's follow-up, 1979's Uncle Jam Wants You, he played on the album, including its hit "(Not Just) Knee Deep," which would later be sampled on De La Soul's "Me Myself and I" and Dr. Dre's "fukk Wit Dre Day."
"I Care" for the group Soul II Soul. In 1997, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Funkadelic.
Fader. "She wanted me to hear her creation and speak to me about it. My initial reaction to hearing the song itself was the same as I had while listening to the rest of A Seat at the Table – Wow! This young person has a whole funkload of talent."
Morrison's acolyte Questlove expressed a similar sentiment about Morrison in an Instagram post paying tribute to the artist and his influence, calling him "so inspirational." "All the Ohio Players' Westbound-era funk that birthed [D'Angelo's] Voodoo and Black Messiah: Junie," he wrote. "Those adlibs on Hov's "Brooklyn's Finest" and Tribe's "Scenario" remix is Junie. All the Warner-era Funkadelic songwriting wizardry ... even Parliament's Motor Booty Affair andGloryHallaStoopid. ... His ideas birthed and ushered in the G-Funk era (all that synthy 'Funky Worm' synth y'all associate with gangsta rap/Dre's sound? That's Junie Morrison). ... This man was an uncelebrated, unsung, un-championed [man] whose ideas we just took and took and took. I regret so much not having a 'proper' conversation about his journey. His songwriting. His technology innovations. Man. This stings. R.I.P., Junie."
Friend: Former pro wrestler Nicole Bass dead at 52
Josh Barnett , USA TODAY SportsPublished 9:04 a.m. ET Feb. 17, 2017 | Updated 6:12 p.m. ET Feb. 17, 2017
Bass spent a few months in ECW and was signed by the then-WWF in the late 1990's. USA TODAY
Nicole Bass, who parlayed her unique look and fame from the Howard Stern show into a brief pro wrestling career, has died, according to a post by a friend on Bass’ Facebook page. She was 52.
Bass had been dealing with health and financial issues in the last several years along with the death of her husband.
“A few days ago Nicole got very sick,” her friend Kristen Marrone posted on Bass’ Facebook page Thursday night. “She was brought into the hospital and they did everything they could to help her. I have been sitting here with her in the room 24/7 since she got here making sure she was being given the best possible care. Today we learned that there is nothing else that can be done.”
ProWrestlingSheet reported that Bass was brain dead and was planned to be taken off life support Friday.
The report said the message of her death was prematurely posted on Facebook because the friend "felt as though Nicole was already gone."
Marrone responded: "If its not been posted by me on her page or mine its nothing more than rumor. I will not be talking to anyone. Anything shared with her fans will be posted personally by myself to her official pages. Nicole kept her private life to herself. Respect that."
Bass was a bodybuilder in the 1990s and her physical size and deep voice made her part of a long-standing routine on the Stern show in which he questioned whether she was a woman.
She spent a few months in ECW, serving as a bodyguard for Justin Credible, and was signed by the then-WWF during The Attitude Era as a surprise for WrestleMania XX in Philadelphia. Her role was to be Sable’s bodyguard. She was released after several months.
After her release, she sued WWF for $120 million, alleging that she was wrongly terminated, that she had been sexually assaulted by another performer during travel to an event in England and that the company discriminated against women by paying them less than men. The company and the performer denied the allegations. After athree-week trial, a New York City jury ruled for the WWF in 2002.
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Remember When Leon Ware Was the MVP of R&B?
Winston Cook-Wilson // February 24, 2017
CREDIT: The Leon Ware Channel Facebook
Singer, songwriter, and producer Leon Ware, who passed away last night at the age of 77, sustained a decades-long career full of great and influential music–for a few years in the mid-’70s, he was the hand du jour in the mainstream smooth-soul business. He helped define the “quiet storm” R&B sound that would pave the way for the careers of artists from Sade to Maxwell (with whom Ware worked in the late-’90s on Urban Hang Suite) and is responsible for some of the silkiest-sounding records ever produced.
This is, after all, a man who released albums called Musical Massage, Candlelight,Love’s Drippin, and A Kiss in the Sand; his vision was clear and pristine. But perhaps his two greatest achievements–outside of his own inventive solo career and, you know, writing for Michael Jackson and stuff–were the co-writing work he contributes to two of the greatest R&B albums of the 1970s: Minnie Riperton’s Adventures in Paradise and Marvin Gaye’s I Want You.
1975’s Adventures in Paradise was a showcase for Riperton’s gossamer, five-octave-wide voice, and Adventures had the right songs to make all elements of the music as compelling as her freakish chops. Ware assisted on three songs on the album, but the gauzy, radical sexuality of “Inside Your Love,” which got banned by some radio stations, is his most essential and influential entry. With a chorus volunteering “You can see inside me, will you come inside me/ Do you wanna ride, inside my love,” it made “Love to Love You Baby” look like “I’ve got a brand-new pair of roller skates” lyrically. And it still stands, arguably, as Riperton’s crowning achievement.
The following year, Ware masterminded another controversial, ahead-of-its-time, and all-time classic release: Marvin Gaye’s I Want You. The album found the iconoclastic singer descending into an prevailing obsession with texture, groove, and mood which would baffle some of his older fans. Ware, getting a lot of attention after working with Riperton and Quincy Jones, defined the sound of the album by penning “I Want You,” which Motown’s Berry Gordy suggested to Gaye. The song defined the whole album’s mise en scène; Ware co-wrote and co-produced every song, nudging Gaye into making an insane, sensual, psychedelic, and often beautiful album that doesn’t sound like much of anything else that been made since. It is a fukking masterpiece.
Leon Ware would have been one of soul’s master craftsmen had he only done these two things and then packed it in. Rest in peace to a legend.
I didn't know he died. Damn. First Bernie Worrell, now him 
. Also, I'm gonna go with the easy money and say that Shannon Doherty won't make it through the year.
I'm really wondering if TBoz is gonna die...I cannot see her living 4 more years with all her health issues and the brain tumor she had years ago.
I just found out the median age of death for sickel cell anemia for women is 48 years old and she is 46 now. She has beat the odds for decades and the doctors told her she would not live to see her 30s but i can see eventually death winning.
TLC is also releasing their last album this summer and finished it already so i can see the connection in that and if she were to die shortly before or after.....
How long can a person with sickle cell anemia live?
Life expectancy for sickle cell patients in the U.S. is less than 50 years. SCD takes a progressive toll on the body, raising the risk of infection, organ damage and stroke, and of acute chest syndrome, a life-threatening event in which the lungs fill rapidly with fluid.Mar 15, 2014
The oldest person living with it is i think a 90 year old woman...but her case is rare as hell...
@The Amerikkkan Idol what do you think about this pick?
Chilli really about to be the last surviving member
@ Chili losing both her sisters before turning 50.
I know its only April but man it feels dry so far. So boring. I still say one of these years either 2017, 2018 or 2019 is gonna have a big purge in music deaths. Possibly even tops 2016. 
Just saw a video of DMX
If he has one of those change my mind"fukk rehab im gonna drink this bottle/smoke this crack" moments do you think he will die?
can you imagine by 2020 a rap world without X, Weezy and Yeezy?
and a couple other religious songs and i think he was a preacher at one point. But then he got out of that. I don't know what his outcome will be anymore
i need therapy
