Slave (band)
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- "Watching you" (1980) (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- "Watching You" from the album Stone Jam, which hit the Pop charts at the 78th place and 6th on Black singles chart, and is a good example for Ohio funk.
- Problems playing the files? See media help.
Slave was an Ohio funk band popular in the 1970s and early 1980s. Trumpeter Steve Washington formed the group in Dayton in 1975.
Vocalist Floyd Miller teamed with Tom Lockett Jr, Charlie Bradley, Mark Adams, Mark Hicks, Danny Webster, Orion Wilhoite, and Tim Dozier. Vocalists Steve Arrington and Starleana Young came aboard in 1978, with Arrington ultimately becoming lead vocalist. Their first big hit was the thumping single "Slide" in 1977 for Cotillion, where they remained until 1984. Their best tracks were lyrically simple and at times silly, but the arrangements and rhythms were intense and hypnotic. Their song "Drac is Back" exemplifies all three of these qualities.
Other Top Ten R&B hits were "Just a Touch of Love" in 1979, "Watching You" in 1980, and "Snap Shot" in 1981. Young, Washington, and Lockett departed to form Aurra in 1979. They added Charles Carter, Delburt Taylor, Sam Carter, Kevin Johnson, and Roger Parker as replacements and continued on, though much less successfully, into the late '80s. Arrington himself left in the early '80s.
They moved to Atlantic Records for one LP in 1984, then switched to the Atlanta-based Ichiban in 1986 for singles and LPs that were just a shade of the former vibrant Slave sound. Their most recent release was The Funk Strikes Back in 1992. Rhino issued Stellar Fungk: The Best of Slave, a first-rate anthology of their finest cuts, in 1994.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album |
| US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks | |||
| 1977 | "Slide" | #1 | Slave |
| 1977 | "The Party Song" | #22 | The Hardness of the World |
| 1977 | "Baby Sinister" | #74 | The Hardness of the World |
| 1983 | "Shake It Up" | #22 | Bad Enuff |
| 1984 | "Ooohh" | #41 | New Plateau |
| 1984 | "Steppin Out" | #73 | Bad Enuff |
| 1986 | "All We Need Is Time" | #85 | Unchained At Last |
| 1986 | "Thrill Me" | #84 | Rebirth |
| 1987 | "Juicy-O" | #83 | Make Believe |
[edit] Albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions | Label | |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums | US Billboard 200 | |||
| 1977 | Slave | #6 | #22 | Cotillion |
| 1977 | The Hardness of the World | #31 | #67 | Cotillion |
| 1978 | The Concept | #11 | #78 | Cotillion |
| 1979 | Just a Touch of Love | #11 | #92 | Cotillion |
| 1980 | Stone Jam | #5 | #53 | Cotillion |
| 1981 | Show Time | #7 | #46 | Cotillion |
| 1983 | Visions of the Lite | #46 | #177 | Cotillion |
| 1983 | Bad Enuff | #30 | #168 | Cotillion |
| 1984 | New Plateau | Did not chart | Did not chart | Cotillion |
| 1986 | Unchained At Last | #56 | Did not chart | Ichiban |
| 1990 | Make Believe | #44 | Did not chart | Ichiban |
| 1990 | Slave 88 | Did not chart | Did not chart | Ichiban |
| 1990 | Rebirth | Did not chart | Did not chart | Ichiban |
| 1992 | Funk Strikes Back | Did not chart | Did not chart | Ichiban |
| 1994 | Stellar Fungk: The Best Of Slave | #44 | Did not chart | Ichiban |
| 1996 | Masters of Funk | Did not chart | Did not chart | Ichiban |
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