The Commodores
| The Commodores | |
|---|---|
 The Commodores performing in Hallandale , Florida |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Soul , rhythm and blues , rock , disco , rock , funk |
| founding | 1969 |
| Founding members | |
| William King | |
| Thomas McClary | |
| Ronald LaPread | |
| Walter Orange | |
| Lionel Richie (until 1982) | |
| Milan Williams (until 1989; † 2006) | |
| Current occupation | |
Trumpet |
William King |
Drums |
Walter Orange |
saxophone |
JD Nicholas (since 1982) |
The Commodores are an American band from Detroit , which celebrated their greatest successes in the 1970s on the Motown label. They grew from a dynamic funk and party band to a popular ballad group and had 29 hits on the US R&B charts between 1974 and 1988. With Three Times a Lady (1978) and Still (1979) the band reached number 1 on the pop and R&B charts. In Germany she had her greatest success with the top 10 hit Nightshift (1985).
Career
The band emerged from the merger of the bands The Mystics and The Jays. Founding members were William King ( trumpet ), Thomas McClary ( guitar ), Ronald LaPread ( bass ), Walter Orange ( drums ), Lionel Richie ( saxophone ) and Milan Williams ( keyboard ). All band members took care of the vocals. Their successful career began in 1971 when they were selected to support the Jackson Five and toured with them for a year and a half. First singles between 1969 and 1973 were unsuccessful.
The best known hits were Slippery When Wet (1975), Sweet Love , Just to Be Close to You (1976), Easy , Brick House (1977), Three Times a Lady (1978), Sail On , Still (1979), Lady ( You Bring Me Up) , Oh No (1981) and Nightshift (1985). The instrumental title track from their debut album Machine Gun became a kind of anthem at numerous sporting events in the USA.
In 1982 Lionel Richie left the band to devote himself to the solo career he had started the previous year. This made for the slow decline of the band. Richie was replaced by saxophonist JD Nicholas.
With the title Nightshift , a tribute to the musicians singers Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson , who died in 1984 , the Commodores achieved another big hit in early 1985, for which the group was awarded a Grammy for the first time after eight nominations. The band left Motown that same year. The following albums United (1986) and Rock Solid (1988) were released by Polydor , but could not build on the previous successes.
In 2003, The Commodores were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame .
Founding member Milan Williams died on July 9, 2006, at the age of 58, of complications from serious cancer at MD Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas. Today the band still exists, but with only three members: William King, Walter Orange and JD Nicholas.
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
R&B
|
|||
| 1974 | Machine gun | - | - | - | - |
US138 (9 weeks) US |
R&B22 (6 weeks) R&B |
First published: July 22nd, 1974
Producers: Commodores, James Carmichael |
| 1975 | Caught in the Act | - | - | - | - |
US26 (33 weeks) US |
R&B7 (25 weeks) R&B |
First published: March 1975
Producers: Commodores, James Carmichael |
| Movin 'on | - | - | - | - |
US29 (32 weeks) US |
R&B7 (30 weeks) R&B |
First published: October 1975
Producers: Commodores, James Carmichael |
|
| 1976 | Hot on the tracks | - | - | - | - |
US12 (39 weeks) US |
R&B1 (31 weeks) R&B |
First published: September 1976
Producers: Commodores, James Carmichael |
| 1977 | Commodores (US) / Zoom (DE, UK) |
- | - | - | - |
US3 (53 weeks) US |
R&B1 (44 weeks) R&B |
First published: March 1977
Producers: Commodores, James Carmichael |
| 1978 | Natural high | - | - | - |
UK8th  (23 weeks)UK |
US3  (33 weeks)US |
R&B1 (32 weeks) R&B |
First published: May 1978
Producers: Commodores, James Carmichael |
| 1979 | Midnight Magic | - | - | - |
UK15th (25 weeks)UK |
US3 (41 weeks) US |
R&B1 (38 weeks) R&B |
First published: August 1979
Producers: Commodores, James Carmichael |
| 1980 | Heroes | - | - | - |
UK50 (5 weeks) UK |
US7th (33 weeks)US |
R&B3 (39 weeks) R&B |
First published: June 1980
Producers: Commodores, James Carmichael |
| 1981 | In the pocket | - | - | - |
UK69 (5 weeks) UK |
US13 (40 weeks)US |
R&B4 (40 weeks) R&B |
First published: June 1981
Producers: Commodores, James Carmichael |
| 1983 | Commodores 13 | - | - | - | - |
US103 (20 weeks) US |
R&B28 (17 weeks) R&B |
First published: September 1983
Producer: Commodores |
| 1985 | Nightshift |
DE4 (30 weeks) DE |
AT9 (14 weeks) AT |
CH8 (15 weeks) CH |
UK13 (10 weeks) UK |
US12 (37 weeks)US |
R&B1 (36 weeks) R&B |
First published: February 1985
Producer: Dennis Lambert |
| 1986 | United |
DE62 (1 week) DE |
- |
CH28 (2 weeks) CH |
- |
US101 (15 weeks) US |
R&B17 (21 weeks) R&B |
First published: February 1985
Producers: Dennis Lambert, Jeremy Smith, Greg Mathieson, James Anthony Carmichael, Milan Williams |
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
swell
- ^ The Awards Insider. In: Los Angeles Times. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: theenvelope.latimes.com ).
- ↑ Milan Williams in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved September 6, 2017.
- ↑ Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US
- ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .
Web links
- The Commodores at Allmusic (English)
- The Commodores at Discogs (English)
- Biography at Taurus Press (use search mask)