Born Patricia Kotero on August 2, 1959, in Santa Monica, CA, the woman rechristened Apollonia by Prince became one of a number of female artists in the '80s to benefit from her association with the Purple One. Her career began as a model and actress in the late '70s, including an appearance on the television show CHiPS. In 1984, she landed the... [+] Read More

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A blues-based band with art-rock inclinations, Family was one of the more interesting groups of hippie-era Britain. Fronted by the deft and frequently excellent guitar playing of John "Charlie" Whitney and the raspy, whisky-and-cigarette voice of Roger Chapman, Family was much loved in England and Europe but barely achieved cult status in... [+] Read More

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An Ohio singer/dancer, Jermaine Stewart was on Soul Train as a teen during the years it was in Chicago. He later did background vocals for Shalamar, Millie Jackson, Tavares, the Temptations, and Boy George before getting his own deal with Arista in the mid-'80s. He had three Top Ten R&B hits with Arista from 1984-1988, but his biggest hit, "We... [+] Read More

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Illinois-born funk/soul guitarist Jesse Johnson began playing guitar when he was 15, honing his chops in local rock bands throughout his teens and early twenties. On a friend's recommendation, he moved to Minneapolis, MN, where he became the lead guitarist and a primary songwriter for the city's extraordinairy funk-rock group, the Time. After... [+] Read More

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Time and legions of other soul superstars have obscured the fact that for a brief moment, Mary Wells was Motown's biggest star. She came to the attention of Berry Gordy as a 17-year-old, hawking a song she'd written for Jackie Wilson; that song, "Bye Bye Baby," became her first Motown hit in 1961. The full-throated approach of that single was... [+] Read More

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In the late '70s, when the fortunes of Motown Records seemed to be flagging, Rick James came along and rescued the company, providing funky hits that updated the label's style and saw it through into the mid-'80s. Actually, James had been with Motown earlier, though nothing had come of it. After growing up in Buffalo and running away to join the... [+] Read More

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Shalamar was the creation of Dick Griffey, the booking agent for the television R&B program Soul Train, and British R&B producer Simon Soussan. The group's first single, the 1977 Motown medley "Uptown Festival," featured a bevy of faceless studio musicians; once it became a hit, Griffey decided to form a performing group under the name Shalamar.... [+] Read More

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Best known for their 1985 hit "Everybody Dance," Ta Mara & the Seen were among the many acts that came out of Prince's Minneapolis funk/rock scene in the 1980s -- a scene that the Time, Morris Day, Sheila E., Jesse Johnson's Revue, Vanity 6, Apollonia 6 and Mazarati and the Family were also associated with. Lead singer Ta Mara was born in... [+] Read More

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Just as Vanity 6 and Apollonia 6 wouldn't have existed without Prince, the Mary Jane Girls were created by Rick James and were very much a product of the funkster's imagination. The group's name was coined in the late '70s, when James hired them as background singers for his Stone City Band. The Mary Jane Girls (whose name underscored James'... [+] Read More

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From their origins as Prince's first pet project to their self-produced funk-rock oeuvre, the Time has been a fascinating and outrageous congregation. Vocalist Morris Day infused his cocky, swaggering personality into dance hits that would make Rufus Thomas envious, and, unlike most of the competition, the band managed to do something unique... [+] Read More

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