The Funk Brothers

Fact Sheet

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The Funk Brothers were the house band at Detroit's Motown Records from 1959 to 1972, when the company moved to Los Angeles. Their story was told in Paul Justman's 2002 documentary film Standing in the Shadows of Motown.

Early members included bandleader Joe Hunter and Earl Van Dyke (piano); James Jamerson (bass guitar); William 'Benny' Benjamin and Richard 'Pistol' Allen (drums); Robert White, Eddie Willis, and Joe Messina (guitar); Jack Ashford (tambourine); and Eddie 'Bongo' Brown (percussion). Hunter left in 1964, replaced on keyboards by Johnny Griffith and as bandleader by Van Dyke. Around the same time Uriel Jones joined the band as a third drummer.

In 1967, guitarists Dennis Coffey and Wah Wah Watson joined the band. Benny Benjamin died the next year, and Bob Babbitt began to replace James Jamerson on many recording dates.

The group was dismissed from Motown's service in 1972, when Berry Gordy moved Motown to Los Angeles.

Jamerson and Brown died in 1983, Van Dyke in 1992, White in 1994, and Allen and Griffith in 2002.

It should be noted that the Funk Brothers were an integrated band; though most members were black, Joe Messina and Bob Babbitt were white.

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