The Very Unofficial History Of The Ohio Players

by DJ Raz
March 1996, modified May 1999

[please note: DO NOT use this document in any way other than for personal knowledge. It has not been officially researched, and pulls form a variety of sources - some confirmed, some not.]

Very few funk acts of the seventies have a history as interesting and far reaching as the Ohio Players. The group can be traced all the way back to 1959 Dayton playing as The Ohio Untouchables. Influential guitarist Robert Ward started the band, and this early lineup contained three members that would be in the band for over 25 years: Clarence "Satch" Satchell (sax, guitar, later flute); Ralph "Pee-Wee" Middlebrook (trombone, trumpet); and Marshall "Rock" Jones (bass). When a relative of Ward's formed a small Detroit record label the Untouchables relocated to Detroit. There they acted as the backing band for Wilson Pickett on the hit "I Found A Love", as well as other less successful tracks.

Ward opted to go solo in 1964, leaving Satch, Pee-Wee, and Rock - as well as newly acquired young guitarist Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner. They moved back to Dayton and recruited several singers and musicians. They began recording as the "Ohio Players" in 1967 under producer and manager Johnnie Brantley. The name was in reference to their musical abilities, but as the word 'player' took on alternate meanings throughout the seventies so did the image of the band members. Throughout 1967 and 1968 OP acted as the backing band for Compass Records in NYC, as well as cutting a few singles themselves. There is much confusion as to the lineup around this time. Compass ended up gathering up these singles and releasing them as First Impressions.

Compass soon folded, and Brantley took the band and some unfinished demos to Capitol. Now in LA, OP released Observations In Time in 1968. Capitol was unhappy with the sales of the LP and the band disbanded. OP at this time often was accused of immitating James Brown, but JB himself told them that there was only ONE James Brown and only ONE Ohio Players. The remaining members of the band - Satch, Pee-Wee, Rock, and Sugar (dropping the 'foot' because of his loss of innocence!) - took JB's advice and headed back to Dayton to try something completely new and different.

OP wanted to head in a more jazzier, expiremental direction and decided a new frontman/keyboard player with strong jazz influences was needed. They found him in 18 year old Walter "Junie" Morrison. They also made the important decision to become self-produced and self-managed under the guidance of Junie. They signed to Detroit's Westbound label - well known for allowing its artists plenty of creative freedom. In 1971 they released the groundbreaking Pain, followed by Pleasure in 1972 and Ecstacy in 1973. Sales continued to grow and OP gained notoriety for its S&M album covers.

Contractual spats prompted OP to move to Mercury Records in March 1974, causing a breach of contract lawsuit from Westbound and the loss of Junie. Junie had supposedly been led to believe that he was the Ohio Players, and the Ohio Players were staying on Westbound no matter what. When the band won the right to use the name with Mercury, Junie was left to record three solo albums on Westbound before hooking up with George Clinton's P-Funk crew in 1978.

On Mercury, OP got new keyboard player William "Billy" Beck, and drummer James "Diamond" Williams had joined during the Ecstacy album. Sugar took over lead vocals. Mercury's recording quality and promotion also surpassed small Westbound, and Skin Tight, released in early 1974, shot up the charts. The follow up Fire (originally titled Tree) continued the success and landed OP their first number one hit with the title track. Westbound quickly put out a collection of older material entitled Climax which also climbed the charts.

1975 brought Honey on Mercury and then Contradiction in 1976. Mercury's greatest hits entitled Gold shipped in late 76. Many saw this as premature, but as the funk field grew it was evident OP was going to have trouble competing in the the genre it helped define.

Westbound tried one last time to cash in on OP's success with Rattlesnake - consisting of unfinished tracks and rereleases. The album flew up the charts until a court order forbid sale of the album, with the band claiming the work was incomplete and released without their consent. Rattlesnake is now very difficult to find.

OP picked this conspicuous time to launch their own record label - She. She Records (Serving Humanity Equally) was distributed through Atlantic and the first release was from Faze-O (produced by Satch). Faze-O's LP received critical acclaim, and many felt that OP could learn a thing or two from their new signees. Faze-O's second and third releases, though (in 1976 and 1979), failed to impress.

In 1976 Mercury signed the Bar-Kays and began promoting them heavily, leaving many to wonder if Mercury had lost interest in OP. The band responded with Angel in 1977, which was critically admired and sold well but failed to distinguish itself from other funk LP's. OP was moving more in the direction of contemporaries Earth, Wind, and Fire on most tracks, and space-themed P-Funk on others. OP also signed up to score the film "The Big Score", later renamed Mr. Mean, and the soundtrack album featured complex arrangements and stellar playing but did little to reverse OP's slide from the charts.

Around this time OP recorded a live-in-the-studio album to be called Jam. No live albums had ever been recorded (or bootlegged, as far as I know), but for some reason Jam wasn't released until 1996. Jass-Ay-Lay-Dee was planned as a double album to reintroduce the world to OP, but Mercury balked and it was released with relatively little fanfare in 1978. The Players split up for awhile, with three members creating a new group, Shadow, before Arista Records announced their signing in 1979. Mercury filed suit claiming OP was still recording for them, but Arista went ahead and released Everybody Up . Late in 1979 Westbound won it's suit against Mercury concerning OP's signing, so Mercury, in turn, filed a similiar suit against Arista!

The group again split, remaing quiet about the legal troubles. In 1981 they announced they had reformed and signed to tiny Boardwalk Records. They released the soulful Tenderness, at times abandoning the funk of years past for standards like "Dock Of The Bay" and "Try A Little Tenderness". The record showed that OP still had the ability to play with the best of them. Junie had also resurfaced after the demise of the P-Funk empire with a solo album Bread Alone on CBS, followed by Jarr The Ground (also 1981) which several Ohio Players showed up with their old frontman. The group finished off 1981 with Ouch! - the first OP album with an outside producer and generally disliked by most of the band.

1984 brought Graduation on the band's own Air City Records and it failed to make an impact. Billy Beck took over lead vocals for the MIA Sugar and although there were strong tracks many sounded oddly familiar. Sugar recorded a solo album with Roger Troutman and Billy Beck went on to work with Roger Troutman's Zapp. In 1988 they reunited once again to released Back on Track Records, again struggling with a new sound and a different marketplace. Since then they have been occasionally touring and enjoying the resurgence of funk. Several compilations have been released, including Climax: The Very Best of The Westbound Years, the excellent Mercury anthology Funk On Fire, and Charly Records' re-do of First Impressions and Observations In Time entitled Summertime.

Persistence and changing trends paid off for OP as they were signed to a new live-recording contract - a format which will allow them to mix classic hits and new songs well. They were signed to Intersound Records in early 1996, and their new live CD entitled Ol' School was released in Spring. Mercury also decided to release the in-the-can live album entitled Jam, and you can find it in your record stores now and it is a classis portrait of late 70's OP.

And just to come full circle, the original cover for Ol'School has been deemed too racy and replaced by a new cover featuring a lady with more clothes on. If you have the original cover, hold on to it!