The System (band)
Encyclopedia
The System was an American
synth pop
duo
consisting of vocalist/guitarist Mic Murphy
and seasoned session keyboardist David Frank
. The band was founded in 1982 in New York
and backed up by Paul Pesco on electric guitar and Kris Khellow - keyboards, synthesizers.
Sometimes the group is referred to as an "emotio-electro" band because of their hi-tech, synthesizer-driven sound mated to passionate vocals and sensitive lyrics.
Later in New York City, David Frank was working on a session that evolved into a track called called "It's Passion" which was to feature a pre-stardom Madonna
on vocals. However, due to creative differences, Madonna bowed out. Frank then remembered Murphy and invited him work on it. The results were so impressive that Atlantic Records offered Murphy and Frank a recording deal of their own. Murphy came up with the band's name, and within weeks "It's Passion" was receiving massive radio airplay in New York. "It's Passion" became both a radio and club hit in New York. The interest sparked enough interest for Mirage to give David and Mic an advance for an album.
In 1984 they released their second album, X-periment. Frank's expertise in recording studio
technology
gave the material a sound that many felt was ahead of its time. Indeed, the heavy use of synths
and electric percussion was a step beyond the dance-influenced flavour of the previous album, and Murphy's soulful vocals gave the songs a definite R&B
flavour. Besides the upbeat electronics-laden tracks, the album also introduced a more mature and pop-friendly quality, evident in tracks such as "Promises Can Break", "I Wanna Make You Feel Good" and "I Can't Take Losing You." The System also appeared in the 1984 breakdancing film Beat Street
and the soundtrack
performing Baptize The Beat.
The title track from their 1985 album The Pleasure Seekers was featured in the season two premiere episode of the hit NBC
series Miami Vice
. Other tracks on the album include "It Takes 2", as well as "Love Won't Wait For Lovin'" and "This Is For You". In 1985, David Frank and Mic Murphy teamed up with Jeff Lorber
to collaborate on Lorber's album Step by Step.
Their version of the Marc Benno
song "Rock N' Roll Me Again" became famous in the 1984 action comedy Beverly Hills Cop
with Eddie Murphy
. The soundtrack album would go on to win a Grammy. They would also reach #23 on Billboard's R&B chart
with the title track from the 1988 Eddie Murphy
film Coming to America
. All of this success occurred while they were contributing their talents to projects such as the Scritti Politti
album Cupid & Psyche 85
, Phil Collins
' "Sussudio
," Chaka Khan
's "I Feel for You
," and "This Is My Night," and Mtume
's "Juicy Fruit
," among many others.
The System's greatest success came in 1987 with the release of the single "Don't Disturb This Groove
," from the album of the same name. The duo hired Steven Machat and Rick Smith to be their managers. Machat and Smith took control of the promotion and marketing of the duo on behalf of Atlantic and helped the duo achieve their biggest US Pop hit, "Don't Disturb This Groove". The single reached #1 on the Billboard R&B chart
and #4 on the Hot 100
. The follow-up single, "Nighttime Lover," was also a top 10 R&B
hit, peaking at #7.
Murphy and Frank parted ways professionally after releasing their Rhythm & Romance album in 1989.
In 2000, the duo reunited for the album ESP, which also featured a reworked version of "You Are In My System", originally found on 1983's Sweat.
Late 2009 saw the release of Unreleased Unleashed, a collection of prototype and unreleased songs recorded at various points over the span of The System's recording career. Although two tracks, "Hole In My Love" and "You Are In My System (Redux)", the previously-mentioned remake of their earlier single, were taken directly from the ESP album. Also, the track "Sonic Fire" was previously released as the B-Side for some 7" singles of "I Wanna Make You Feel Good" in 1984.
Murphy recorded the solo album Touch and charted in 1991 with a single from that project. Frank has found more recent success as a songwriter
and producer, most notably for hit singles such as Christina Aguilera
's "Genie in a Bottle
" in 1999, and teen girl-group Dream's "He Loves U Not" in 2000.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
synth pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
duo
Duo
-Arts:*Duet , a musical piece performed by two people*Duo, a musical ensemble composed of two musicians*Comedy duo, also known as a double act*Duo , 2008*Duo , 1991...
consisting of vocalist/guitarist Mic Murphy
Mic Murphy
Michael "Mic" Murphy is the lead singer/occasional guitarist of the successful 80's synth R&B duo The System. He is well-known for singing the group's biggest hit, "Don't Disturb This Groove," a 1987 US Top Five Pop and R&B hit....
and seasoned session keyboardist David Frank
David Frank
David Frank is an American music producer, composer, classically trained pianist, and founding member of the 1980s R&B group The System. Yamaha Music calls him "the founding father of electronic R&B." -Early Development:...
. The band was founded in 1982 in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and backed up by Paul Pesco on electric guitar and Kris Khellow - keyboards, synthesizers.
Sometimes the group is referred to as an "emotio-electro" band because of their hi-tech, synthesizer-driven sound mated to passionate vocals and sensitive lyrics.
Origins
David Frank and Mic Murphy met in the early 1980s while working for the soul/funk band Kleer. Frank had gotten a break when Atlantic Records enlisted him as Kleer's tour keyboardist. The band's road manager was Mic Murphy, and although Murphy was obviously aware of Frank's skills, Frank was unaware Murphy could sing.Later in New York City, David Frank was working on a session that evolved into a track called called "It's Passion" which was to feature a pre-stardom Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
on vocals. However, due to creative differences, Madonna bowed out. Frank then remembered Murphy and invited him work on it. The results were so impressive that Atlantic Records offered Murphy and Frank a recording deal of their own. Murphy came up with the band's name, and within weeks "It's Passion" was receiving massive radio airplay in New York. "It's Passion" became both a radio and club hit in New York. The interest sparked enough interest for Mirage to give David and Mic an advance for an album.
Career
The resulting 1983 album Sweat launched the club hits "Sweat," "I Can't Let Go" and the iconic "You Are In My System", which became a number ten R&B smash. Robert Palmer's cover of the song became a mainstream rock hit.In 1984 they released their second album, X-periment. Frank's expertise in recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
gave the material a sound that many felt was ahead of its time. Indeed, the heavy use of synths
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
and electric percussion was a step beyond the dance-influenced flavour of the previous album, and Murphy's soulful vocals gave the songs a definite 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...
flavour. Besides the upbeat electronics-laden tracks, the album also introduced a more mature and pop-friendly quality, evident in tracks such as "Promises Can Break", "I Wanna Make You Feel Good" and "I Can't Take Losing You." The System also appeared in the 1984 breakdancing film Beat Street
Beat Street
Beat Street is a 1984 drama film, following Wild Style in featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s; breakdancing, DJing, and graffiti.-Plot:...
and the soundtrack
Beat Street (soundtrack)
Beat Street: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Beat Street, Vol. 2: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack are soundtrack albums for the 1984 drama film of the same name. It was released in 1984 by Atlantic Records...
performing Baptize The Beat.
The title track from their 1985 album The Pleasure Seekers was featured in the season two premiere episode of the hit NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
series Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
. Other tracks on the album include "It Takes 2", as well as "Love Won't Wait For Lovin'" and "This Is For You". In 1985, David Frank and Mic Murphy teamed up with Jeff Lorber
Jeff Lorber
Jeff Lorber is an American Grammy Award-nominated keyboardist, composer, and record producer.After leading his own group, The Jeff Lorber Fusion, he went on to pioneer the smooth jazz genre....
to collaborate on Lorber's album Step by Step.
Their version of the Marc Benno
Marc Benno
Marc Benno is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Benno was a member of The Asylum Choir with Leon Russell in the late 1960s, and launched a solo career in the early 1970s, with his 1972 effort Ambush being the most commercially successful...
song "Rock N' Roll Me Again" became famous in the 1984 action comedy Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American comedy-action film directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox...
with Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
. The soundtrack album would go on to win a Grammy. They would also reach #23 on Billboard's R&B chart
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot 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,...
with the title track from the 1988 Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
film Coming to America
Coming to America
Coming to America is a 1988 comedy film directed by John Landis. The screenplay was written by David Sheffield and Barry W. Blaustein, from a story by Eddie Murphy, who also stars in the film. Murphy plays an African prince, who heads to the United States in hopes of finding a woman he can marry...
. All of this success occurred while they were contributing their talents to projects such as the Scritti Politti
Scritti Politti
Scritti Politti are a British band, originally formed in 1977 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Although there have been various changes to the line-up, Cardiff-born singer-songwriter Green Gartside was the founding member of the band and the only member to have remained throughout the group's...
album Cupid & Psyche 85
Cupid & Psyche 85
Cupid & Psyche 85 is the second album by the British new wave pop group Scritti Politti.It remains the band's most successful album, reaching No. 5 in the UK, and was certified Gold by the BPI for 100,000 copies sold. The album contained five singles, three of which were top 20 hits in the UK...
, Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
' "Sussudio
Sussudio
"Sussudio" is a song by Phil Collins, released as a single in February 1985. The song is also the first track on Collins' third album, No Jacket Required, released in January of the same year. The song entered frequent rotation on MTV in May, and by 6 July, both the single and the album reached...
," Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
's "I Feel for You
I Feel for You
"I Feel for You" is a song written by Prince that originally appeared on his 1979 self-titled album. It became a hit single in 1984 for female R&B singer Chaka Khan, appearing on her album, which was also called I Feel for You...
," and "This Is My Night," and Mtume
Mtume
Mtume was a funk and soul group that had several R&B hits in the 1980s. Its founder, percussionist James Mtume, previously played with Miles Davis in the 1970s. Other members of the group included Reggie Lucas and Tawatha Agee.-History:...
's "Juicy Fruit
Juicy Fruit (song)
"Juicy Fruit" is a funk song written by James Mtume and released as the lead-off single from Mtume's sixth album, also titled Juicy Fruit. The mid-tempo song is arguably Mtume's most well-known, proving enormously successful on R&B radio stations and nightclubs when first released...
," among many others.
The System's greatest success came in 1987 with the release of the single "Don't Disturb This Groove
Don't Disturb This Groove
"Don't Disturb This Groove" is a song by American synthpop/R&B duo The System, from the 1987 album of the same name. The song was written by The System's David Frank and Mic Murphy. It was released as the album's first single....
," from the album of the same name. The duo hired Steven Machat and Rick Smith to be their managers. Machat and Smith took control of the promotion and marketing of the duo on behalf of Atlantic and helped the duo achieve their biggest US Pop hit, "Don't Disturb This Groove". The single reached #1 on the Billboard R&B chart
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot 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,...
and #4 on the Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. The follow-up single, "Nighttime Lover," was also a top 10 R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot 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,...
hit, peaking at #7.
Murphy and Frank parted ways professionally after releasing their Rhythm & Romance album in 1989.
In 2000, the duo reunited for the album ESP, which also featured a reworked version of "You Are In My System", originally found on 1983's Sweat.
Late 2009 saw the release of Unreleased Unleashed, a collection of prototype and unreleased songs recorded at various points over the span of The System's recording career. Although two tracks, "Hole In My Love" and "You Are In My System (Redux)", the previously-mentioned remake of their earlier single, were taken directly from the ESP album. Also, the track "Sonic Fire" was previously released as the B-Side for some 7" singles of "I Wanna Make You Feel Good" in 1984.
Murphy recorded the solo album Touch and charted in 1991 with a single from that project. Frank has found more recent success as a songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and producer, most notably for hit singles such as Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
's "Genie in a Bottle
Genie in a Bottle
"Genie in a Bottle" is the second single by American pop recording artist, Christina Aguilera, taken from her self-titled debut album. It was co-written by David Frank, Steve Kipner, and Pamela Sheyne, and produced by Frank and Kipner respectively...
" in 1999, and teen girl-group Dream's "He Loves U Not" in 2000.
Discography
- Sweat, Mirage/Atco/Atlantic, 1983
- X-Periment, Polydor/PolyGram, 1984
- Pleasure Seekers, Mirage/Atco/Atlantic, 1985
- Don't Disturb this Groove, Atlantic, 1987
- Rhythm & Romance, Atlantic, 1989
- ESP, Town Sound, 2000
- Unreleased Unleashed, Science Lab, 2009
Band members
- Mic MurphyMic MurphyMichael "Mic" Murphy is the lead singer/occasional guitarist of the successful 80's synth R&B duo The System. He is well-known for singing the group's biggest hit, "Don't Disturb This Groove," a 1987 US Top Five Pop and R&B hit....
- vocals, guitar - David FrankDavid FrankDavid Frank is an American music producer, composer, classically trained pianist, and founding member of the 1980s R&B group The System. Yamaha Music calls him "the founding father of electronic R&B." -Early Development:...
- keyboards, synthesizers - Paul Pesco - guitar
- Live Band - keyboards, synthesizers
- Kris Khellow - keyboards, synthesizers
External links
- David Frank's website http://www.davidfrankmusic.com
- Information http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/The%20System.html
- Livestreams http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002IJR
- Musicmatch http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/artist/artist.cgi?ARTISTID=367077
- Discogs http://www.discogs.com/artist/System%2C+The
- System.rzeszow http://www.system.rzeszow.pl