The Commodores Biography

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Original Recordings by the Original Artists!

The Commodores
featuring Lionel Richie
Pop Music (Motown) | 3 CD Set
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Two musical groups at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, the Mystics and the Jays, merged in 1967, beginning a career in the soul-funk arena as the Commodores, a name they chose after poring over a dictionary in hopes of coming up with something catchy. The original Commodores were Lionel Richie, Thomas McClary, William King, Andre Callahan, Michael Gilbert and Milan Williams. By the time the group moved to New York in 1969 to test the waters there, Callahan and Gilbert were gone and Walter Orange and Ronald LaPread took their places. The band had been heard by eventual manager, Bernie Ashburn, in Tuskegee, but they did not come together until 1969. New York became a successful venue for the group as it played funk instrumentals and soon signed with Atlantic Records. The debut LP, RISE UP, was not issued immediately, so the band continued its growing success. Eventually released, the album was a compilation of funk covers and some original material. But the Commodores found better promotion when they moved to Motown Records in 1972 in the wake of a successful tour opening for the Jackson Five, which they did for three years. In 1975, they opened for the Rolling Stones in America and by now were a nationally successful act. With the combination of razor-sharp funk instrumentals and soulful ballads, penned by Richie, chart success soon rolled in. Singles "Machine Gun," "Slippery When Wet," "Sweet Love," "Just To Be Close To You," and "Easy," were strong sellers between 1974-77 and now the band was regarded as a purveyor of soft-soul, not as sharply defined as it had when it was regarded as a competitive spirit of other funksters Earth, Wind and Fire. Richie’s "Three Times a Lady," a lyrically precious tribute to balladry, became an award-winner and in the UK, the biggest Motown seller ever at the time. Richie was also now the headlining star of the band as it continued to do mega-business in album and single sales. While the Commodores continued, Richie soon was also accepting commissions for other singles, notably in 1980 the Kenny Rogers No. 1 hit "Lady" and then Rogers’ album SHARE YOUR LOVE. In 1981, Richie sang a duet with Diana Ross on the film’s title song, "Endless Love," and it topped the charts in the US and UK while becoming one of the biggest singles ever released by Motown. Richie left the band for a solo career and lingered on the edge of superstardom but over the years, he has relaxed his career. The Commodores went through personnel changes in the ‘80s, had minimal success and continued to perform in the ‘90s.

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