News & Updates — '70s Funk Rock

Shout-out to the Bollywood film composer extraordinaire Rahul Dev Burman, born today in 1939. As someone who didn't grow up with Bollywood movies, my big ears found some of the wacky, funky, psychedelic soundtracks that seemed to annoy my Hindi friends. Often times the craziest tunes to my ears would be from R.D. Burman. His wife was the great singer Asha Bhosle, who often worked with him. He has been a popular presence in Hindi film music since the mid-'60s and continues to be popular long after his passing. Often a trendsetter in the industry, his soundtracks included Indian folk...

Happy birthday to one of NYC's best, Jimmy Castor! He sang doo-wop with Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers and the Teen Chords, as well as playing reeds and percussion. He started playing timbales after hearing Tito Puente and in the early '60s became the bandleader for Dave "Baby" Cortez, as well as recording with Bill Doggett. The Jimmy Castor Bunch became a hot item on the NYC club scene with their blend of Latin jazz, boogaloo, calypso and funk. They were sharing a lot of bills with Joe Bataan, Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers and Kool & the Gang...

Big time funky birthday shout-out to the Female Preacher, goddess of funk, Lyn Collins. One of the James Brown divas and the voice responsible for "Think (About It)", one of the greatest tunes in the JB canon and a HEAVILY sampled tune, most famously in "It Takes Two" by Rob Base. Texas-born, she made her local recording debut at 14 and came into Brown's gang in the early '70s, replacing Marva Whitney. She recorded several great singles and a couple of albums with Brown as producer before working as a session vocalist (including for the TV show Fame). She cut...

Happy birthday to one of the greats, Curtis Mayfield! Singer, composer, guitarist, record label owner, businessman, civil rights hero, movie musician, talent scout, psych-soul songwriter, Black Power icon, Chicago legend and so much more.

The Cuban-born, West Coast-based hard-hitting percussionist Armando Peraza is best known for his work with the Santana band, George Shearing and Cal Tjader. He played congas, bongos and timbales, was a songwriter and dancer and made a killer album under his own name for Skye Records. Born in Havana, he was orphaned and took to boxing and baseball. After some time as a boxing coach he became a musician at 17, joining the band of Albert Ruiz and other Cuban groups. It may have been just another hustle at first, but it set him off onto a globe-trotting career! He...