Creative Funk - Funk Power: The Complete Singles - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

One of the most underrated bands in the history of funk and soul music, Creative Funk was the brainchild of brothers Deek and Gary DeBerry. Gary started playing piano at 9 years of age, then stand-up bass at 13. He joined a jazz band in junior high school and played for talent shows and every assembly. They later added an alto sax and played a lot of Parks & Recreation gigs which led them to the Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. They called themselves the InchMighty FantasticsInch and came in second place to an R&B James Brown-type group who were older. Gary was only 14 years old at the time, but grateful to have played at the famed Apollo. In high school, Gary met an outstanding guitarist, and they started a band called Creative Funk that eventually led him to the Apollo again, this time as an artist with a record out that was making waves. That record, 1972's InchReady Made Family,Inch which Gary composed with his older brother Deek, was strongly supported by his New York family and community. The single sold 25,000 units plus in New York City and the surrounding areas. Gary credits his brother Deek for being instrumental in helping him get the band going, and the two started their own record tag called Creative Funk Enterprises. The band Creative Funk was truly an outstanding cast of players that included Gary on bass, Richard Currence (drums), Robert Banks and Walter Etheridge (guitars), Andre Johnson (trumpet, flugelhorn), Michael Johnson (saxophone), Denzil Miller (keyboards, trombone), and a talented trio of vocalists in Diane Jenkins, Veedette Williams, and Clarence Bassett. This great combination stayed together for four years and eventually parted ways in 1975. Primarily a live band, Creative Funk only recorded a handful of singles as a band on their own tag, but the music was exceptional enough to cement their standing in R&B history.