Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign
Originally called the Ebony Rhythm Band, the Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign formed in 1969 in Indianapolis and recorded locally on LAMP records. In the tradition of Motown’s Funk Brothers, the Ebony Rhythm Band served as the house band for other LAMP artists. In 1971, the group moved to California and became the Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign, which at that time opened for Curtis Mayfield, New Birth, The Grass Roots, Dobie Gray, The Whispers, the Commodores and Three Dog Night. In 1973, Wayne Henderson of the Jazz Crusaders produced ERFC’s first album called Reach For It with Henderson playing trombone. In the same year, the band returned to Indianapolis and two years later recorded the single “How’s Your Wife (And My Child),” which reached #69 on the Billboard Hot Soul 100 chart. Its flip-side was “Oh Child,” which received airplay on the east coast but did not chart. In 1976, the band released the album Watch You Watchin’ Me on Chi-Sound Records. ERFC continued on until 1980, playing with numerous big names including Al Green, Donny Hathaway, Jackie Wilson, the Stylistics, Patty Labelle, the Ohio Players, the Guess Who, the Mystics, Sha Na Na, Earth Wind & Fire, B.B. King, and Bobby “Blue” Bland. In 2007, the group reunited as the New Ebony Rhythm Funk Campaign, a nine-piece group consisting mainly of original members. (The original group only had five members.) A reunion show was given in June 2007 at Radio Radio in Indy’s Fountain Square.
Members: Pamela Tanner, Michael Woods (2), Lester Johnson, Robert Townsend, Matthew Watson (2), John Jackson (6), and Tony Roberts (12)
