Betty Davis is the missing link between Tina Turner and Millie Jackson, her raw sex appeal proving too much for America in the early 1970s. (more…)

Parliament-Funkadelic whip up a fiery furnace of funk on this live version of Flash Light lasting almost half an hour. (more…)

Soul singer and trumpeter Joe Quarterman is another unfairly overlooked funkster I’ve just stumbled upon while delving deep into a YouTube wormhole.
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I don’t know where I was in 1974… I mean, I do, but I was listening to Bowie and T.Rex, Slade and The Sweet. So I had never encountered William DeVaughn. (more…)

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I would be being unfair to myself – and Dolly – if I failed to include her greatest song, yet I had somehow neglected it until now. So here it is.
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I’ll make no apology for staying in New Orleans – or for posting another song by Aaron Neville, this time from 1973. (more…)

When it comes to Marvin Gaye, I have to confess that if I had to choose, I’m more of a What’s Going On guy than a Let’s Get It on guy. I’ll take social realism over romance and seduction every time. (more…)

The cowbell is not an instrument you naturally associate with funk. And cowbell solos are as rare as hens’ teeth… unless you’re listening to this smooth groove by British funksters Cymande. (more…)

James Brown invented funk in 1965 with Papa Got A Brand New Bag, a song he memorably described thus: “The title told it all – I have a new bag.” (more…)