Musical Youth

. Ralph Middlebrooks died in November 1997. Musical Youth's members included:. Clarence Satchell died in January 1996 after he had a brain aneurysm. The Grant brothers remain involved in music, while Seaton released a solo set in 1989 before going on to form his own band, XMY. [1] (http://snopes.com/music/hidden/roller.htm) The band did not discredit this rumor at the time, because, as one band member put it later, "that makes you sell more records.". Plans to re-form were scotched when Patrick Waite, who had gone on to a career of juvenile crime, died of natural causes while awaiting a court appearance on drug charges. There is also an urban legend that has it that a scream on "Love Rollercoaster" that came before the second verse was the sound of someone being killed in the studio while the track was being recorded.

A revival of Desmond Dekker's "007" saw them back in the Top 30, but after one final hit with "Sixteen", they fell from commercial grace and subsequently split up in 1985 when Seaton left the band. The band became widely known not only for their sound, which has been sampled and copied by countless R&B and hip-hop artists since, but for their sexually provocative album covers, including the cover of 1974's Ecstasy, which featured a man and a woman in a pose of arousal wearing chains and leather, and 1975's Honey, which featured a nude woman holding an overflowing jar of honey and dropping some into her mouth with a ladle. Minor successes with "Heartbreaker" and "Tell Me Why" were succeeded by a surprise collaboration with Donna Summer on the UK Top 20 hit "Unconditional Love". The group's last big hit was "Who'd See Coo," a #1 R&B hit in August 1976. The catchy follow-up, "Youth Of Today", also reached the UK Top 20 and early in 1983 "Never Gonna Give You Up" climbed to number 6. The band had seven more Top 40 hits between 1973 and 1976, including the smashes "Fire" (#1 on both the R&B and pop charts for two weeks and one week respectively in February 1975) and "Love Rollercoaster" (#1 on both the R&B and pop charts for 1 week in January 1976). A US Top 10 hit also followed. The band’s first big hit was “Funky Worm,” which hit #1 on the Billboard R&B Charts and made the pop Top 15 in May 1973.

The infectious enthusiasm of the group's performance captured the public's imagination and propelled the record to number 1 in the UK charts. Bonner sang lead vocals on most of the band's hits. Based on the Mighty Diamonds" "Pass The Kouchie" (a song about marijuana), the title had been subtly altered to feature the patois "dutchie" (literally a "cooking pot"). The band signed with Mercury Records in 1974; by this time their lineup had changed again, with keyboardist Billy Beck instead of Morrison and Jimmy "Diamond" Williams on drums instead of Webster. During the winter of 1982, the group issued one of the fastest-selling singles of the year in "Pass The Dutchie". After again reforming with a line-up including Bonner, Satchell, Middlebrooks, Jones, Webster, trumpeter Bruce Napier, trombonist Marvin Pierce, and keyboardist Walter "Junie" Morrison, the Players had a minor hit on the Detroit-based Westbound label in 1971 with "Pain," which reached the Billboard R&B Top 40. By that time, founding father Frederick Waite had backed down to be replaced by Dennis Seaton as lead singer. The group disbanded again in 1970.

An appearance on BBC disc jockey John Peel's evening show brought further attention to the group and they were signed to MCA Records. They then became famous and got better than any group alive. Although schoolboys, the group managed to secure gigs at certain Birmingham pubs and released a single, "Political"/"Generals", on local label 021 Records. The group added two more singers, Bobby Lee Fears and Dutch Robinson, and became the house band for New York City-based Compass Records in 1967. The latter pair's father, Frederick Waite, was a former member of Jamaican group the Techniques, and sang lead with Junior at the start of the group's career in the late 1970s. The Ohio Untouchables broke up in 1963, with Ward leaving for a solo career, but the core members of the group returned to Dayton and added Gary Webster (drums) and Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner (guitar) in 1964. This pop/reggae-influenced group featured two sets of brothers, Kelvin and Michael Grant and Junior and Patrick Waite. They formed in Dayton, Ohio in 1959 as the Ohio Untouchables, and initially included members Robert Ward (vocals/guitar), Marshall "Rock" Jones (bass), Clarence "Satch" Satchell (saxophone/guitar), Cornelius Johnson (drums), and Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrooks (trumpet/trombone).

Musical Youth formed in 1979 at Duddeston Manor School, Birmingham, England. The Ohio Players are a funk band whose heyday was in the mid- to late 1970s. Different Style (MCA). The Youth Of Today (MCA). Anthology (Musical Youth) (MCA).

Junior Waite. 1969, d. February 18, 1993. Patrick Waite - b. Kelvin Grant.

Michael Grant. Dennis Seaton.