Earl Van Dyke (July 8, 1930 – September 18, 1992) was an American

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 ...

musician, most notable as the main keyboardist for

Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

' in-house

Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

band during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Career

Van Dyke, who was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, United States, was preceded as keyboardist and bandleader of

the Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

by Joe Hunter. In the early 1960s, he also recorded as a jazz organist with saxophonists Fred Jackson and

Ike Quebec Ike Abrams Quebec (August 17, 1918January 16, 1963) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He began his career in the big band era of the 1940s, then fell from prominence for a time until launching a comeback in the years before his death. Crit ...

for the Blue Note label. Besides his work as the session keyboardist on Motown hits such as "

Bernadette Bernadette is a French language, French name, a female form of the name Bernard, which means "brave bear". Notable persons with the name include: People * Bernadette (singer) (born 1959), Dutch singer * Bernadette Allen (born 1956), American for ...

" by

the Four Tops ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

, "

I Heard It Through the Grapevine "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966. The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a ...

" by

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 ...

, "

Where Did Our Love Go "Where Did Our Love Go" is a 1964 song recorded by American music group the Supremes for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, "Where Did Our Love Go" was the first single by the Sup ...

" by

the Supremes The Supremes were an American girl group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959 as the Primettes. A premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful Amer ...

, "

Ain't Too Proud to Beg "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" is a 1966 song and hit single by the Temptations for Motown Records' Gordy label, produced by Norman Whitfield and written by Whitfield and Edward Holland Jr. The song peaked at number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Pop Char ...

" and " Runaway Child, Running Wild" by

the Temptations The Temptations is an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1961 as The Elgins, known for their string of successful singles and albums with Motown from the 1960s to the mid-1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield ...

, "

My Guy "My Guy" is a 1964 hit single by American singer Mary Wells for the Motown label. Written and produced by Smokey Robinson of The Miracles, the song is a woman's rejection of a sexual advance and affirmation of her fidelity to her boyfriend, who i ...

" by

Mary Wells Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s. Along with the Supremes, the Miracles, the Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the F ...

and "

For Once in My Life "For Once in My Life" is a song written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden for Motown Records' Stein & Van Stock publishing company, and first recorded in 1965. It was written and first recorded as a slow ballad, in 1965 by Connie Haines, but the ...

" by

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

, Van Dyke performed with a small band as an opening act for several Motown artists, and released instrumental singles and albums himself. Several of Van Dyke's recordings feature him playing keys over the original instrumental tracks for Motown hits; others are complete covers of Motown songs. His 1967 hit "6 by 6" is a much-loved stomper on the

Northern soul Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...

music scene. He was nicknamed "Big Funk", and "Chunk o Funk". Van Dyke played the

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in New York City by German piano builder Henry E. Steinway, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth le ...

grand piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, the

Hammond B-3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created from rotat ...

, the

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from 1954 to 1983. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to ...

, the

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

, and the

celeste Celeste may refer to: Geography * Mount Celeste, unofficial name of a mountain on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada * Celeste, Texas, a rural city in North Texas ** Celeste High School, public high school located in the city of Celes ...

and

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

. He played a

toy piano The toy piano, also known as the ( in German), is a small piano-like musical instrument. Most modern toy pianos use round metal rods, as opposed to strings in a regular piano, to produce sound. The U.S. Library of Congress recognizes the toy pia ...

for the introduction of the Temptations' hit, "

It's Growing "It's Growing" is a 1965 hit single by The Temptations for the Gordy (Motown) label. Written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore and produced by Robinson, the song was a top 20 pop single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the Unite ...

". His musical influences included

Tommy Flanagan Thomas or Tom Flanagan may refer to: * Thomas Flanagan (bishop) (1930–2019), American Roman Catholic bishop * Thomas Flanagan (Irish politician) (died 1980), Irish civil engineer and politician * Thomas Flanagan (priest) (1814–1865), English Ro ...

Hank Jones Henry Jones Jr. (July 31, 1918 – May 16, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians have described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts h ...

, and

Barry Harris Barry Doyle Harris (December 15, 1929 – December 8, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. He was an exponent of the bebop style. Influenced by Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, Harris in turn influenc ...

. Van Dyke died of

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

in Detroit, Michigan, at the age of 62.

Discography

Singles

;Soul (Motown) releases: *1964: "Soul Stomp" *1965: "All For You"* *1965: "

I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) "I Can't Help Myself" is a 1965 song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, "I Can't Help Myself" is one of the most well-known Motown recordings of the 1 ...

"* *1965: "The Flick (Part II)"* *1967: "6 By 6"** *1969: " Run Away Child, Running Wild" (*) billed as "Earl Van Dyke & the Soul Brothers" (the billed name of the Funk Brothers band was changed by Motown head

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), also known as Berry Gordy Jr., is an American retired record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and i ...

, as he disliked the connotation of the word "funk") (**) billed as "Earl Van Dyke & the Motown Brass"

Albums

;Soul (Motown) releases: *1965: ''That Motown Sound'' (Earl Van Dyke & the Soul Brothers) *1970: ''The Earl of Funk'' (Earl Van Dyke Live)

As sideman

With Fred Jackson *''

Hootin' 'n Tootin' ''Hootin' 'n Tootin is the debut album by American saxophonist Fred Jackson, and the sole recording under his leadership, recorded in 1962 and released on the Blue Note label.

'' (Blue Note, 1962) With

*'' The Complete Blue Note 45 Sessions'' (Blue Note, 1962)

Filmography

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Dyke, Earl 1930 births 1992 deaths African-American pianists American pop pianists American male pianists 20th-century male pianists The Funk Brothers members American soul keyboardists American soul musicians Motown artists American session musicians P-Funk members Musicians from Detroit Northern soul musicians Deaths from prostate cancer in the United States Deaths from cancer in Michigan 20th-century American pianists American male organists American bandleaders Rhythm and blues pianists 20th-century American keyboardists 20th-century American male musicians