In this Series of Posts, I will Writing about the Artist's who are in My "Who's the Greatest Funk Bass Player" Poll.
The Poll is over to the Right of the Blog, it has been Running for a Few Week's, so if You haven't already Voted, Please do so!
In these Post's, I will write a few Facts, Figures, Stats and Interesting Stuff on the Artist in Question, I will also include a Playlist of their Greatest Songs.
I will Write a Post on Each Artist, One Every Other Week!
ARTIST NUMBER 4..............MARCUS MILLER
Born William Henry Marcus Miller Jr on June 14th 1959 in Brooklyn, NYC. His Father "William" was a Church Organist and Choir Director, by the Age of 13 Miller was already Proficient at Writing Songs and Playing the Clarinet, Piano and Bass! By the Age of 15, he was already Working Regularly in NYC, this would Eventually Lead him to Writing and playing Bass for Jazz Flautist "Bobbi Humphrey" and Keyboardist "Lonnie Liston Smith" Marcus Miller is Multi-Talented in the Music World, he is a Songwriter, Producer, Singer and a Multi-Instrumentalist, which includes the Following: Bass, Double Bass, Guitar, Sax, Clarinet, Recorder and Keyboards! He Spent 15 Years as a Sideman and Session Musician before Finally going Solo in 1982 and Releasing his Debut Album in 1983.
The Album was Called "Suddenly" and was on the Warner Brothers Record Label, he Produced and Wrote all the Album Tracks apart from 2, these he Co-Wrote, the Album was to Feature a Who's Who in Music at that Time!
Marcus Miller: All instruments, lead and background vocals
Marcus Miller has Appeared on 100's of Tracks and Albums over the Years, including some of the Greats: Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Luther Vandross, David Sanborn, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, McCoy Turner, Wayne Shorter, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Grover Washington Jr, Donald Fagen, Bill Withers, Chaka Khan and LL Cool J, just to name a Few! Marcus Millers Album Discography, as follows: 15 Solo Albums Nearly 30 Albums for Luther Vandross 1 Album for Grover Washington Jr 15 for David Sanborn between 1977 and 1999 7 Albums for Miles Davis between 1981 and 2002 2 Albums with "The Jamaica Boys" between 1987 and 1989, The Jamaica Boys Featured amongst others, Miller, Bernard Wright and Lenny Williams. 1 Album for Dizzy Gillispie in 1984 He as also had Songs Featured in over 20 Movies over the Period Between 1990 to 2009.
It was the Biggest Selling Album that Barry White had ever had, it Attained Double Platinum Sales in US and his First Chart entry in UK for 16 Years, and it was Generally Cited as BW's Best Ever Album!
The Chart Postitons were as follows: US Pop number 20, US R&B number 1 and UK number 44.
The Album contained 5 Single Releases with "Practice What You Preach" Reaching Number 1 in US, but the other 4 Releases did not do to well!
In July of 1999, 5 Years after his Last Album, B.W released his First Album for "Private Music" it was His 20th and Final Studio Album of All Time!
It was called "Staying Power" and it again attained Gold Status and with Chart Positions as Follows: 43 on US Pop Charts and Number 13 on US R&B Charts!
It was Produced by B.W and Jack Perry. Only 1 Single was ever Released "Staying Power" which Reached Number 45 on US R&B Chart.
The Following Year of 2000, B.W won a Couple of Grammy's for " Best R&B Vocal Performance" and "Best Traditional R&B Performance"
After His Last Album Barry White had been Unwell for a long while,(in fact while on tour in 1999, he had to cancel several Dates through Illness) He had Chronically High Blood Pressure, brought on through his Size and Weight, this Resulted in Kidney Failure in the Autumn of 2002, about 8 Months later he suffered a Stroke!