The Trammps are an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric p ...

and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

, who were based in

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and were one of the first disco bands. The band's first major success was their 1972

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

of " Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", while the first disco track they released was "Love Epidemic" in 1973. However, they are best known for their song "

Disco Inferno "Disco Inferno" is a song by American disco band the Trammps from their 1976 fourth studio album of the same name. With two other cuts by the group, it reached No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart in early 1977, but had limit ...

" which was included on the

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

-winning ''

Saturday Night Fever ''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American dance drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian-American man from the Brooklyn borough of New York. Manero spends h ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

. When originally released in 1976, "

" became a UK pop hit and US R&B and Dance hit topping the Dance chart for 5 weeks in early 1977. After inclusion on the ''

, the song was re-released in 1978 and became a modest US pop hit peaking at number 11.

History

1970s

The history of the Trammps grew from the 1960s group the Volcanos, who later became the Moods. With a number of line-up changes by the early 1970s, the band membership included gospel-influenced lead singer Jimmy Ellis, drummer and singer (bass voice) Earl Young, with brothers Stanley and Harold 'Doc' Wade. Members of the Philadelphia recording band

MFSB MFSB, officially standing for "Mother Father Sister Brother", was a pool of more than 30 studio musicians based at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios. They worked closely with the production team of Gamble and Huff and producer/arranger Thom ...

played with the group on records and on tour in the 1970s with singer Robert Upchurch joining later. The group was produced by the Philadelphia team of Ronnie Baker, Norman Harris and Young, all MFSB mainstays who played on the recording sessions and contributed songs. Their debut

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent ...

entry came via an upbeat

of the standard " Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", featuring Young's bass voice, which became a top 20 US R&B chart

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

in 1972. Their first few recordings were released on

Buddah Records Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's foun ...

, including "Hold Back the Night", which was a hit on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart in 1973, before a re-release saw it climb in the UK two years later. Several R&B hits followed during a stay with Philadelphia International subsidiary Golden Fleece (run by Baker-Harris-Young) before they signed to

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most im ...

. Their single "

" (1976), which was included on the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

-winning '' Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track'' in 1977, reached No. 11 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in May 1978. Other major hits included "Hold Back the Night" (1975) ( UK No. 5) and "That's Where the Happy People Go" (1976). In late 1977, the Trammps released the song "The Night the Lights Went Out" to commemorate the electrical blackout that affected

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on July 13–14, 1977. Their signature song "Disco Inferno" has been

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of copy ...

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the " Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue before ...

and

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton (born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. Her career has spanned over 40 years. Her album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut album by a female artist to achi ...

. In addition,

Graham Parker Graham Thomas Parker (born 18 November 1950) is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the British band Graham Parker & the Rumour. Life and career Early career (1960s–1976) Parker was born in Hackney, East L ...

"Hold Back the Night" on "The Pink Parker EP" in 1977, and reached No. 24 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, and top 60 in the US. In 2021, "Disco Inferno" was certified Silver by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...

, together with "Can We Come Together" (from the album ''

Where the Happy People Go ''Where the Happy People Go'' is the third studio album by American soul-disco group, The Trammps, released in 1976 through Atlantic Records. Commercial performance The album peaked at No. 13 on the R&B albums chart. It also reached No. 50 on the ...

'').

Dissolution and aftermath

On September 19, 2005, the group's "Disco Inferno" was inducted into the

Dance Music Hall of Fame The Dance Music Hall of Fame was an organization established in 2003 to honor and remember significant contributors to the genre of dance music. It had its first inductions in 2004 but went inactive after the 2005 induction ceremony. History The Da ...

at a ceremony held in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The song was part-written by Ron Kersey, a producer-arranger and a member of MFSB, who also played with Trammps in the 1970s for a time. During the ceremony, the original band members performed together for the first time in 25 years. Disco Inferno has also had a resurgence and has garnered new fans with the 2016 presidential political campaign of

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 20 ...

in the USA due to the song's refrain of ''burn, baby, burn'' (slightly altered to "Bern, baby, Bern"). Two versions of the group, with differing line-ups, currently tour the nostalgia circuit. On March 8, 2012, lead singer Jimmy Ellis died at a nursing home in

Rock Hill, South Carolina Rock Hill is the largest city in York County, South Carolina and the fifth-largest city in the state. It is also the fourth-largest city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, behind Charlotte, Concord, and Gastonia (all located in North Carolina, ...

(where he was born on November 15, 1937), at the age of 74. The cause of death was not immediately known but he suffered from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As ...

. Earl Young's Trammps still continue to record and as of August 2014 have recently released "Get Your Lovin While You Can" written by the Steals brothers renowned for their Philly hits such as " Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" for The Detroit Spinners. The

music journalist Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

Ron Wynn noted: "the Trammps' prowess can't be measured by chart popularity; Ellis' booming, joyous vocals brilliantly championed the celebratory fervor and atmosphere that made disco both loved and hated among music fans." On June 30, 2019, the Trammps appeared on HBO's '' Big Little Lies'', Season 2, episode 4 entitled "She Knows". Stan Wade died in January 2021.

Band members

* Ronnie Baker (1947–1990) - bass, vocals * Ed Cermanski - keyboards * John Davis - saxophone * Jimmy Ellis (1937–2012) - lead vocals * Dennis Harris - guitar * Norman Harris (1947–1987) - guitar, vocals * John Hart (1941–2008) - organ * Reuben Henderson - saxophone * Rusty Jackmon - bass * Fred Joiner - trombone * Gene Jones (a.k.a. Gene Faith) - original lead vocalist * Steve Kelly - vocals *

Ron Kersey Tyrone Garfield Kersey (April 7, 1949 – January 25, 2005), known as Ron "Have Mercy" Kersey, was an American keyboardist, songwriter, producer and arranger most known for writing the music to " Disco Inferno" by The Trammps. Kersey was born ...

b. Tyrone G. Kersey (1945–2005) - keyboards * Barrington McDonald (1942–2007) - guitar * Cubby St Charles - vocals * Roger Stevens - trumpet * Michael Thompson - drums (stopped 1995) * Robert Upchurch - vocals * Harold "Doc" Wade - guitar, vocals * Stanley Wade - bass, vocals (d. 2021) * Harold Watkins - trombone * Priestly Williams - trumpet * Earl Young (b. 1940) - drums, vocals

Later members

* Jerry Collins - vocals * Jimmy Williams - lead vocals * Van Fields - vocals * Lafayette Gamble - vocals * Michael Natalini - drums Stan & Doc Wade & Robert Upchurch Trammps (original) current touring group * Ed Cermanski - keyboards * Harold "Doc" Wade - vocals * Robert Upchurch - vocals * Fred Vesci - keyboards * Lafayette Gamble - vocals * David Nobles - vocals * Van Fields - vocals * Sheppie Fitts - drums * Rusty Stone - bass * David Rue - guitar * Dennis Harris - guitar * Bill Hosbach, Jr. - trumpet * George Bussey - saxophone * Carmen Tornambe - trumpet

Discography

* ''

Trammps The Trammps are an United States, American disco and soul music, soul musical ensemble, band, who were based in Philadelphia and were one of the first disco bands. The band's first major success was their 1972 cover version of "Zing! Went the S ...

'' (1975) *'' The Legendary Zing Album'' (1975) * ''

'' (1976) * ''

'' (1976) * '' The Trammps III'' (1977) * ''

The Whole World's Dancing ''The Whole World's Dancing'' is the sixth studio album by American soul-disco group, The Trammps, released in 1979 through Atlantic Records. Commercial performance The album peaked at No. 184 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The album features the sing ...

'' (1979) * ''

Mixin' It Up ''Mixin' It Up'' is the seventh studio album by American soul-disco group, The Trammps, released in 1980 through Atlantic Records. Commercial performance The album features the single "Hard Rock and Disco", which peaked at No. 76 on the Hot Dance ...

'' (1980) * ''

Slipping Out ''Slipping Out'' is the eighth studio album by American soul-disco group, The Trammps, released in 1980 through Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in Octobe ...

'' (1980) * ''This One Is for the Party'' (1984)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trammps, The American disco groups American dance music groups American soul musical groups Musical groups from Philadelphia Atlantic Records artists Grammy Award winners Musical groups established in 1972 Musical groups disestablished in 1992