The Commodores

The members of the Commodores met in the late 60s at Tuskegee University in Alabama and initially emerged from two different groups. The band started out as a sextet with Lionel Richie, Thomas McClary, and William King transitioning from the Mystics and Andre Callahan, Michael Gilbert, and Milan Williams coming from the Jays. James Ingram was the band’s original singer; however, he was several years older than most of the other members and left the band to serve in the Vietnam war. Lionel Richie and Clyde Orange filled the vacant spot alternating on vocals.

The band started booking dates around town and even travelled to New York to play the club, Smalls Paradise. The band eventually booked a residency for two weeks at the club and steadily started building a name for themselves outside their hometown.

The band boosted their prominence in New York City and auditioned for an un-known opening spot for a high profile act. The Commodores past the audition and got the position opening up for the Jackson 5. The group’s performances were met with overwhelming enthusiasm and eventually caught the attention of the renowned soul label Motown. They secured a deal with Motown and released their first single “Machine Gun”, which reached #7 on the R&B charts and #22 on the pop charts. The song has gone on to be featured in countless sporting events and has been incorporated in the movies “Boogie Nights” and “Looking for Mr. Goodbar”. It was even sampled on the Beastie Boys’ classic album “Paul’s Boutique”. The band followed up this hit with yet another instrumental track called “Cebu”. “Cebu” was a soul-oriented smooth jam that was a key song in the pioneering of the Quiet Storm genre.

After the release of “Machine Gun” the band put out three albums within a two year time span. “Caught in the Act” and “Movin’ On” came out in 1975 while “Hot on the Tracks” was released in 1976. The latter album climbed to No. 12 on the US charts and went all the way to No.1 on the US R&B charts. The group made a slight departure from their hard driving funk sound and delved into slow downed ballads and soft jams (this is particularly evident in the country roots ballad “Easy”); however, the Commodores returned strongly to form with their breakthrough single “Brick House”. The single was based on an off the cuff bass riff from Ronald LaPread and lyrics penned by William King’s wife. It became a disco sensation and went to No. 5 on the US charts and to No. 32 on the UK pop charts. The band managed to top this with the release of “Three Times a Lady” and the 1979 ballad “Still”, both which peaked to No. 1 on the US charts. The band continued to keep their stride in the 80s and in 1981 released the No. 4 hit “Oh No” and the No. 8 dance track “Lady (You Brin Me Up)”.

The same year Lionel Richie released the No.1 single “Endless Love” with R&B/pop legend Diana Ross. The single remained at No.1 on the US R&B charts for 7 weeks and the US pop charts for 9 weeks. The popularity of this song acted as a precursor to the success of Richie’s solo career. Richie left the Commodores just a year after the release of “Endless Love”.

Despite the loss of one of their star members, the Commodores managed to perform at the top of their game. They recruited Heatwave singer J.D. Nicholas to fill the Richie’s position and shortly after put out the single “Nightshift”, which earned the group a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals. The single was not only a massive critical success it also did immensely well commercially spending 4 weeks on top of the charts.

The Commodores changed their sound to a more straightforward pop tone in the late 80s and in the 90s the lineup narrowed down to only three core members: Walter Orange, William King, and J.D. Nicholas. Though the group drastically slowed down production of original studio albums they still kept busy re-recording their greatest hits, putting out Christmas albums and forming their own record label. The band also has been on extensive world tours throughout the 90s and 2000s playing at venues ranging from festival stages to arenas.