Fat Larry's Band
Encyclopedia
Fat Larry's Band was an American
R&B
/funk
band
from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, who enjoyed some commercial success in the early 1980s.
and vocalist
"Fat" Larry James (August 2, 1949 - December 5, 1987) in 1977, band members included trumpeter/flutist
Art Capehart, saxophonist
Doug Jones, trombonist
/alto saxophonist Jimmy Lee, guitarist
s Ted Cohen and Tony Middleton, percussionist and lead singer
Darryl Grant, bassist
Larry La Bes, and keyboardist
Erskine Williams. The band's biggest hits
were "Act Like You Know" (1982) (which later appeared on the soundtrack
for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
) and "Zoom
", which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart
in October 1982. They had three other hits
in the UK
: "Center City", "Boogie Town" and "Looking for Love Tonight".
James also played with The Delfonics
and Blue Magic
, and managed
the group Slick.
James died from a heart attack
, at the age of 38, on December 5, 1987, and the band folded.
The opening drum break from "Down on the Avenue", from the band's first album
, Feel It (Stax
1977), has been sampled
by many hip hop
artists
, including N.W.A (Straight Outta Compton
), Ice-T
, Jungle Brothers
and Run-D.M.C.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
/funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, who enjoyed some commercial success in the early 1980s.
Career
Formed by drummerDrummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
and vocalist
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
"Fat" Larry James (August 2, 1949 - December 5, 1987) in 1977, band members included trumpeter/flutist
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
Art Capehart, saxophonist
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
Doug Jones, trombonist
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
/alto saxophonist Jimmy Lee, guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
s Ted Cohen and Tony Middleton, percussionist and lead singer
Human voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...
Darryl Grant, bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Larry La Bes, and keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
Erskine Williams. The band's biggest hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
were "Act Like You Know" (1982) (which later appeared on the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Official Soundtrack Box Set
The official and complete collection of the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City soundtrack was released internationally on October 29, 2002.In addition to the box set each soundtrack available in the collection can be purchased individually...
) and "Zoom
Zoom (Fat Larry's Band song)
"Zoom" is an R&B song by American band Fat Larry's Band released as the fourth single from their fifth studio album, Breakin' Out .The song was a commercial hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at #2 on the UK Singles Chart....
", which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in October 1982. They had three other hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
: "Center City", "Boogie Town" and "Looking for Love Tonight".
James also played with The Delfonics
The Delfonics
The Delfonics are a pioneering Philadelphia soul singing group, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their most notable hits include "La-La ", "Didn't I ", "Break Your Promise," "I'm Sorry," and "Ready or Not Here I Come "...
and Blue Magic
Blue Magic (band)
Blue Magic is an American soul music group, one of the most popular Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1972, they were originally composed of lead Ted Mills, Vernon Sawyer, Wendell Sawyer, Keith Beaton, and Richard Pratt...
, and managed
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
the group Slick.
James died from a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
, at the age of 38, on December 5, 1987, and the band folded.
The opening drum break from "Down on the Avenue", from the band's first album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Feel It (Stax
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee.Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the name Stax Records was adopted in 1961. The label was a major factor in the creation of the Southern soul and Memphis soul music styles, also releasing gospel, funk, jazz, and...
1977), has been sampled
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
by many hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
artists
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, including N.W.A (Straight Outta Compton
Straight Outta Compton
The lyrics on the album were mainly written by Ice Cube and MC Ren. Critics of the album expressed their view that the record glamorized Black-on-Black crime, but the emcees stated that the group was simply showing the reality of living in the areas of Compton, California, and South Central Los...
), Ice-T
ICE-T
* Ice-T, an American rapper and actor* ICE T , a tilting model of the German InterCityExpress series of high-speed trains...
, Jungle Brothers
Jungle Brothers
The Jungle Brothers are an American hip hop group that pioneered the fusion of jazz and hip-hop and also became the first hip-hop group to use a house-music producer. The group began performing in the mid-1980s and released its first album, Straight Out the Jungle, in July 1988...
and Run-D.M.C.
Run-D.M.C.
Run–D.M.C. was an American hip hop group from Hollis, in the Queens borough of New York City. Founded by Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, and Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell, the group is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential acts in the history of hip hop culture.Run–D.M.C...
Albums
- Feel ItFeel It (Fat Larry's Band album)Feel It is the debut album by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based Fat Larry's Band.-Track listing:#Feel It - 5:14#Nighttime Boogie - 5:17...
(1977) - Off the Wall (1978)
- Spacin' Out (1978)
- Lookin' for Love (1979)
- Stand Up (1980)
- Breakin' Out (1982) - UKUK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
#58 - Tune Me Up (1983)
- Straight from the Heart (1983)
- Nice (1986)
- The Best of Fat Larry's Band (1994)
- Fat Larry's Band - Greatest Hits (1995)
- I Like Eating Chocolate - Greatest Hits (1999)
Singles
- 1976: "Center City" #31 UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
- 1976: "Fascination" #39 U.S. DanceHot Dance Club PlayThe Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...
- 1977: "Peaceful Journey" #94 U.S. R&BHot R&B/Hip-Hop SongsHot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
- 1979: "Boogie Town" #43 R&B
- 1979: "Here Comes the Sun" #44 U.S. R&B, #39 U.S. Dance
- 1979: "Lookin' for Love" #47 U.S. R&B
- 1979: "Lookin' for Love Tonight" #46 UK
- 1980: "Can't Keep My Hands to Myself"
- 1980: "How Good Is Love" #78 U.S. R&B
- 1982: "Act Like You Know" #67 U.S. R&B, #24 U.S. Dance
- 1982: "Be My Lady"
- 1982: "Traffic Stopper"
- 1982: "ZoomZoom (Fat Larry's Band song)"Zoom" is an R&B song by American band Fat Larry's Band released as the fourth single from their fifth studio album, Breakin' Out .The song was a commercial hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at #2 on the UK Singles Chart....
" #2 UK, #89 U.S. R&B - 1983: "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" #83 UK
- 1983: "Straight from the Heart" #88 UK
- 1983: "Don't Let It Go to Your Head" #93 UK
- 1986: "Nice"
- 1986: "Sunrise Sunset"
- 1986: "Teach Me (There Is Something About Love)"