Bloodstone is an American
R&B,
soul
The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
, and
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
group
A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together.
Groups of people
* Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity
* Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...
, most popular in the 1970s and early 1980s. The band
charted thirteen
song
A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...
s between 1973 and 1984.
Biography
Formed in 1962, in Kansas City, Missouri, the group was a high school doo-wop group called the Sinceres.
In 1967 the band was backed by and toured with a large Kansas City horn band known as the Smokin' Emeralds and performed its version of a Motown-style revue, which drew large crowds at a venue called the Place in the Westport district of Kansas City. By 1971, the band consisted of Melvin Webb on drums, Roger Durham (February 14, 1946 – July 27, 1973) on percussion, Charles Love on guitar and vocals (born Charles D. Love Jr., April 18, 1945,
Salina,
Kansas
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
– March 6, 2014,
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...
,
Missouri
Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
), Charles McCormick (May 8, 1946 – April 12, 2022) on bass, Harry Williams (June 19, 1944 – November 22, 2024) on percussion, and Willis Draffen (March 18, 1945 – February 8, 2002) on guitar.
After learning to play their respective musical instruments, they moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, where they met their prospective managers George Braunstein and Ron Hamady. The band also replaced its drummer Melvin Webb with Eddie Summers, a resident of Los Angeles. The managers decided to change their name from the Sinceres to Bloodstone. Later the group traveled to London, England
where they signed a recording contract with Decca Records. The original members were
Charles McCormick, Willis Draffen Jr., Charles Love, Harry Williams, Roger Durham and Eddie Summers. The first album was titled ''Bloodstone'', whereas there were two singles released simultaneously called "That's the Way We Make Our Music", and "Girl (You Look So Fine)", written and arranged by Eddie Summers, the newest member. Its second album, ''Natural High'', reached the
US R&B Top 10. The album was written by various members of the group Bloodstone, with the single "
Natural High" reaching number 10 on the
Pop chart.
It received blanket airplay in Europe, particularly on Radio Luxembourg. It reached number 40 on the UK chart in August 1973 and was featured in the Decca "World of Hits" series of compilation albums.
Bloodstone's other
hits include "Never Let You Go", "Outside Woman" and "My Little Lady". Bloodstone was instrumental in the "black rock" and funk movement of the 1970s, and even had a hand in the
brown-eyed soul
Brown-eyed soul, also referred to as Chicano soul, Hispanic soul, or Latino soul, is soul music & rhythm and blues, rhythm & blues (R&B) performed in the United States mainly by Hispanic and Latino Americans, Hispanic Latinos and Chicanos in Sout ...
movement with some
Latin music
Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...
-tinged hits. Bloodstone performed with
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...
,
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Dubbed the " Gentle Genius", he is considered one of the most influential musicians of soul and socially conscious Afric ...
,
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...
, and
The Impressions. Their 1973 album ''Natural High'',
produced by
Mike Vernon, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a
gold disc
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by the
R.I.A.A. in July that year.
Bloodstone also starred in and wrote and performed six original songs and performed five pop, rock and roll and R&B covers for ''
Train Ride to Hollywood'', a 1975
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
. The movie had a plot recalling the Beatles' ''
Help!
''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to their Help! (film), film of the same name. It was released on 6 August 1965 by Parlophone. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the sin ...
'', in which Bloodstone played themselves in a madcap adventure on a train bound for Los Angeles with movie stars and characters from the 1930s and 1940s as their traveling companions.
They achieved a moderate comeback in the early 1980s with McCormick replacement Ron Wilson. Their album ''We Go a Long Way Back'' (1982), whose title track reached the R&B chart Top 5, also produced a follow-up single "Go On and Cry" that reached number 18. The group continued to record into the mid-1980s. They later continued to tour and perform with original members Charles McCormick, Harry Williams and newer member Donald Brown.
Roger Durham died on July 27, 1973, at the
age of 27 of kidney failure and liver complications. Founding member Melvin Webb died in 1982.
[ Willis Draffen died on February 8, 2002, at the age of 56. Charles Love died on March 6, 2014, at the age of 68. Love died from complications of pneumonia and had been battling emphysema for several years.] Charles McCormick died on April 12, 2022, at the age of 75. When McCormick died, Harry Williams became the only surviving member of the original lineup still in the group, but he continued to perform with Donald Brown, who had replaced Draffen in 2002. Charles McCaleb, replaced McCormick after his death in 2022, and is no longer with the group as of December 2024.
Summers died from colon cancer on April 5, 2022, at the age of 74. Williams died on November 22, 2024, at the age of 80.
In 2019, Bloodstone was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the National R&B Music Society in Philadelphia.
Members
;Current members
*Donald Brown – vocals, guitar (2002–present)
;Former members
*Harry Williams – vocals
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
(1962–2024; died 2024)
*Charles McCormick – bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Wood
* Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
, vocals
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
(1962–1982, 1984–2022; died 2022)
*Charles Love – vocals, guitar (1962–2014; died 2014)
*Willis Draffen – vocals
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
, guitar
The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
(1962–2002; died 2002)
*Roger Durham – percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
(1962–1973; died 1973)
*Melvin Webb – drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...
s (1962–1971; died 1982)
*Eddie Summers – vocals
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
, drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
, keyboards, music director
A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...
(1971–1975; died 2022)
*Steve Ferrone
Stephen A. Ferrone (born 25 April 1950) is an English drummer. He is known as a member of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from 1994 to 2017, replacing original drummer Stan Lynch, and as part of the "classic lineup" of the Aver ...
– drums (1975)
*Ron Wilson – bass, vocals (1982–1984)
*Ronald D. Bell – drums (1982; died 2020)
*Charles McCaleb – vocals (2022–2024)
Discography
Albums
Singles
References
External links
* AllMusic Profile
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloodstone
African-American musical groups
American soul musical groups
American funk musical groups
American pop music groups
Musical groups established in 1962
Decca Records artists
London Records artists
Motown artists
1962 establishments in Missouri