Crown Heights Affair are an American R&B /

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 ...

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

group from

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York City, founded in 1967.

Career

Originally known as Ben Iverson and the Nue Dey Express on Britne Records, founded by then-bassist Donnie Linton, the group was renamed for a neighborhood in Brooklyn. The line-up consisted of Phillip Thomas (vocals), William Anderson (guitar/vocals), Howard Young (keyboards), Bert Reid and James "Ajax" Baynard (trumpets), Raymond Reid (trombone), Arnold 'Muki' Wilson (bass), Julius Dilligard Jr. (trombone), and Raymond Rock (drums, percussion). Under contract to

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

they recorded their self-titled first album in 1974, featuring their first single "(You Can't Bend My) Super Rod". Personnel changes followed, along with a shift in 1975 to

De-Lite Records De-Lite Records, whose formal name was De-Lite Recorded Sound Corporation, was a record label specializing in R&B music from 1969 to 1985; Island Records now manages the De-Lite catalog. History De-Lite Records was founded in 1967 by Fred Vigori ...

. The record label's subsequent liaison with Polygram Records saw the group gain worldwide audiences for

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

such as " Dreaming a Dream", "Every Beat of My Heart", "Foxy Lady" and "Dancin'". "Dreaming a Dream" reached Number one on the US

Hot Dance Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, 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 repres ...

in 1975, (plus US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 #43); and they topped out at #2 on the US Dance Chart later that year with "Every Beat of My Heart" (''Billboard'' Hot 100 #83). In the UK Singles Chart they made the top 40 in 1978 with "Galaxy of Love", and #10 in 1980 with "You Gave Me Love". Both tracks were huge disco hits in the UK, with a powerful brass section on "Galaxy of Love" and strong chorus vocals on "You Gave Me Love". Their follow-up album, ''Do It Your Way'', contained the tunes "Dancin'", "Far Out" and their answer to

New Birth To be born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelical Christianity, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is d ...

's song "Gotta Get a Knutt', "(Do It) The French Way". In the 1980s they were successful record producers for some

Prelude Records Prelude Records was a New York–based independent record label that was active from 1976 to 1986. At one time, François Kevorkian held an A&R position at Prelude. The label's owner was Marvin Schlachter, and his business partner was Stan Hof ...

acts like

France Joli France Joli (; née Joly; born February 2, 1963) is a Canadian singer, best known for the disco classics " Come to Me" and "Gonna Get Over You". Teen stardom Born France Joly in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Joli grew up in Dorion. Her father wa ...

("Gonna Get Over You"), and they produced two songs for

Amii Stewart Amy Paulette "Amii" Stewart (born January 29, 1956) is an American disco and soul singer who found prominence with her 1979 U.S. Billboard number 1 hit cover of Eddie Floyd's song "Knock on Wood", often considered a classic of the disco genre. ...

in 1981. Crown Heights Affair disbanded in 1984. On 22 June 2013, they reunited to play at the Coronet in London, as part of the

Streetsounds StreetSounds is a British compilation record label, that specialised in urban and electronic club/dance music during the mid-1980s. StreetSounds was an offshoot of producer and promoter Morgan Khan's StreetWave label. The first StreetSounds re ...

Summer Ball. Bert Reid died of lung cancer on December 12, 2004, at the age of 48. Thomas joined

the Flamingos The Flamingos are an American doo-wop group formed in Chicago in 1953. The band became popular in mid-to-late 1950s and are best known for their 1959 cover version of "I Only Have Eyes for You". They have since been hailed as being one of the f ...

in 2007. Raymond Reid (born on November 30, 1952, in New York) died of cancer on May 21, 2013. He was 60. Trumpeter James "Ajax" Baynard died on February 20, 2015, after a car crash in South Jamaica, New York. He was 63. The news of his death was posted on the Crown Heights Affair Facebook page.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

External links