Ohio Players

Ralph Middlebrooks died in November 1997. Inamorata was released in 1984 and Legacy in 1990. Clarence Satchell died in January 1996 after he had a brain aneurysm. Subsequently, Furay, Schmit and Grantham appeared at times with the band - which has, as a unit, broken up and re-formed a number of times. [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.". Kim Bullard then joined the band, and four more albums: Under the Gun, Blue and Gray, Cowboys and Englishmen and Ghost Town were released. 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. The new quartet recorded Legend which featured 'Crazy Love' and 'Heart of the Night'.

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. In 1977, both Schmit and Grantham left; being replaced by Steve Chapman and Charlie Harrison. The group's last big hit was "Who'd See Coo," a #1 R&B hit in August 1976. For Poco, the albums Seven, Cantamos, Head over Heels, Rose of Cimarron and Indian Summer followed. 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). After two Poco more albums: A Good Feelin' to Know and Crazy Eyes, Furay also left the band - forming the Souther Hillman Furay Band. 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. Messina experienced considerable subsequent success with Kenny Loggins as Loggins & Messina.

Bonner sang lead vocals on most of the band's hits. Messina then left the band - being replaced by Paul Cotton. 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. Poco (1971) and Deliverin' (1972) followed. 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. Timothy B. Schmit - bass and vocals - subsequently joined the band. The group disbanded again in 1970. The first album Pickin' Up the Pieces was significantly delayed - so that Meisner had already joined The Eagles by the time it was issued.

They then became famous and got better than any group alive. Other initial members were Rusty Young (pedal steel and dobro), George Grantham (drums and vocals) and Randy Meisner (bass and vocals). 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. Poco was a country rock band started by Richie Furay (vocals and rhythm guitar) and Jim Messina (lead guitar and vocals) following the demise of Buffalo Springfield in 1968. 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. 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).

The Ohio Players are a funk band whose heyday was in the mid- to late 1970s.