Wild cherry
| Wild cherry | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Rock , funk |
| founding | 1970 |
| resolution | 1979 |
| former members | |
| Rob Parissi (1970–1979) | |
| Allen Wentz (1975-1978) | |
guitar |
Bryan Bassett (1975-1978) |
| Ronald Beitle (1975–1979) | |
| Mark Avsec (1975-1979) | |
Vocals, guitar |
Coogie Stoddart (1973-1975, 1977-1978) |
Vocals, guitar |
Donnie Iris (1978-1979) |
Wild Cherry was an American funk / rock band best known for their number one hit Play That Funky Music .
history
Lead singer and guitarist Rob Parissi grew up in Mingo Junction , Ohio, USA . In 1970 he founded the band Wild Cherry . The band name came from a box of cough drops that Parissi consumed during a short hospital stay. The original line-up included Ben Difabbio (drums and vocals), Louie Osso (guitar and vocals), Larry Brown (bass and vocals), Larry Mader (keyboards and vocals) and Rob Parissi. There have been some changes over the years, with Osso, Brown and Mader leaving the band and Parissi's cousin Coogie Stoddart (guitar and vocals), Joe Buchmelter (bass) and Buckie Lusk (bass) joining the band.
In the early 1970s, a number of self-published songs, including You Can Be High (But Lay Low) and Something Special on Your Mind . Her musical style at that time was exclusively rock music. Eventually they got a record deal from Brown Bag Records and released the songs Get Down and Show Me Your Badge on this label . Then the band broke up and Parissi tried to run a local steak house. However, this did not go particularly well and when his enthusiasm for the music returned he decided to try again.
Parissi founded the band again with new musicians. The new members included Bryan Bassett (guitar and vocals), Ron Beitle (drums) and Allen Wentz (bass and vocals). At that time the new music style disco was just emerging and the band was increasingly asked to play more dance music. At the 2001 club in Pittsburgh , a group of black-skinned fans came to the stage one day and teased them:
"Are you white boys gonna play some funky music?"
"Are you guys going to play some funky music white boys ?"
One evening during a concert break, drummer Ron Beitle uttered the phrase "Play That Funky Music, White Boy". Rob Parissi was instantly inspired and wrote a song around the phrase in five minutes. Back in the studio, when they wanted to record the song, the studio engineer Ken Hamann was enthusiastic about the hit potential and made the record company Sweet City Records aware of the band, which they immediately signed. Parissi first wanted to put the song on the B-side of the cover version of Commodores' I Feel Sanctified . However, the label convinced her to put the song on the A-side.
Play That Funky Music became a huge hit when it was released in 1976 and reached number one on both the Billboard R&B charts and the Hot 100 . The single as well as the self-titled debut album achieved platinum status. The band was nominated by Billboard for best pop group of the year and received an American Music Award for the best R&B single of the year as well as two Grammy nominations for "Best New Vocal Group" and "Best R&B Performance by a Group or Duo".
With the following two albums they had chart successes several times with the singles Baby Don't You Know (1977; # 43), Hot to Trot (1977; # 95), Hold On (1977; # 61) and I Love My Music ( 1978; # 69). With the last album Only the Wild Survive (1979) they did not reach the Hot 100 any more.
In 1979 the band separated and some members later pursued new band projects. The single Play That Funky Music was covered in 1988 by the rock band Roxanne and reinterpreted in 1990 by Vanilla Ice .
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1976 | Wild cherry | - | - | - | - |
US5  (29 weeks)US |
First published: 1976
|
| 1977 | Electrified funk | - | - | - | - |
US51 (9 weeks) US |
First published: 1977
|
| 1978 | I love my music | - | - | - | - |
US84 (9 weeks) US |
First published: 1978
|
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
more publishments
- 1979: Only the Wild Survive
- 2000: Play the Funk
- 2002: great hits
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1976 | Play That Funky Music Wild Cherry |
DE42 (4 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK7th  (11 weeks)UK |
US1 (25 weeks)US |
First published: April 1976
|
| Baby Don't You Know Electrified Funk |
- | - | - | - |
US43 (7 weeks) US |
First published: December 1976
|
|
| 1977 | Hot to Trot Electrified Funk |
- | - | - | - |
US95 (2 weeks) US |
First published: April 1977
|
| Hold On Electrified Funk |
- | - | - | - |
US61 (6 weeks) US |
First published: August 1977
|
|
| 1978 | I Love My Music I Love My Music |
- | - | - | - |
US69 (8 weeks) US |
First published: February 1978
|
More singles
- 1972: Show Me Your Badge / Bring Back the Fire
- 1973: Get Down / Livin '& Lovin
- 1976: I Feel Sanctified
- 1978: 123 Kind of Love
- 1978: This Old Heart of Mine
- 1979: Try a Piece of My Love
Web links
- Wild Cherry at Allmusic (English)
- Wild Cherry at Discogs (English)