Bloodstone (band)
Encyclopedia
Bloodstone is a former American
R&B, soul
, and funk
group
, most popular in the 1970s and early 1980s. The band charted
thirteen song
s between 1973 and 1984.
, California
. Their eponymous first album, Bloodstone, introduced the song, "That's The Way We Make Our Music," and their second album, "Natural High" reached the US
R&B
Top 10, with their single, "Natural High" reaching number 10 on the Pop
chart.
Bloodstone became known for their funk/soul tracks
that blended Jimi Hendrix
-styled rock music
with doo-wop
and gospel music
undertones. The groups 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
movement with some Latin music-tinged hits. Bloodstone performed with Marvin Gaye
, Curtis Mayfield
, Elton John
, and The Impressions
. Their 1973 album Natural High, produced
by Mike Vernon
, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
by the R.I.A.A. in July that year [REF = ]. 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 continue to tour and perform to this day with original members Charles McCormick, Charles Love, Harry Williams and newer member Donald Brown. Bloodstone also starred in and wrote all the music for a film
entitled Train Ride To Hollywood (1975). Founding member Willis Draffen died on February 8, 2002 at the age of 56 [REF=Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. Billboard Books. p. 68. ISBN 0-8230-7499-4].
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
R&B, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, and funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
group
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
, most popular in the 1970s and early 1980s. The band charted
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
thirteen song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
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. By 1971, the band consisted of Melvin Webb on drums, Roger Durham on percussion, Charles Love on guitar and vocals, Charles McCormick on bass, Harry Williams on percussion, and Willis Draffen on guitar. The members had renamed themselves Bloodstone, and after learning to play their respective musical instruments, moved to Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Their eponymous first album, Bloodstone, introduced the song, "That's The Way We Make Our Music," and their second album, "Natural High" reached the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
Top 10, with their single, "Natural High" reaching number 10 on the Pop
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart.
Bloodstone became known for their funk/soul tracks
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
that blended Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
-styled rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
with doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
and gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
undertones. The groups other hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
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
Brown-eyed soul is a subgenre of soul music or rhythm and blues created in the United States mainly by Latino in Southern California during the 1960s, continuing through to the early 1980s. The genre of soul music occasionally draws from Latin, and often contains rock music influences...
movement with some Latin music-tinged hits. Bloodstone performed with Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
, Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
, Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, and The Impressions
The Impressions (American band)
The Impressions are an American music group from Chicago, originally formed in 1958. Their repertoire includes doo-wop, gospel, soul, and R&B....
. Their 1973 album Natural High, produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Mike Vernon
Mike Vernon (producer)
Mike Vernon is an English record producer. He produced albums for British blues artists and groups during the late 1960s, working with the Bluesbreakers, David Bowie, Duster Bennett, Savoy Brown, Chicken Shack, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, John Mayall, Christine McVie and...
, sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
by the R.I.A.A. in July that year [REF = ]. 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 continue to tour and perform to this day with original members Charles McCormick, Charles Love, Harry Williams and newer member Donald Brown. Bloodstone also starred in and wrote all the music for a film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
entitled Train Ride To Hollywood (1975). Founding member Willis Draffen died on February 8, 2002 at the age of 56 [REF=Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. Billboard Books. p. 68. ISBN 0-8230-7499-4].
Original members
- Willis Draffen (1945–2002) – vocalsHuman voiceThe human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Charles Love – vocals, guitar
- Harry Williams – keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, vocals - Charles McCormick – bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocals - Roger Durham (1946–1973) - percussion
- Melvin Webb (died 1982) - drumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s
Chart singles
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Pop Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US R&B Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... |
UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
||
| 1973 | "Natural High" | 10 | 4 | 40 |
| "Never Let You Go" | 43 | 7 | - | |
| 1974 | "Outside Woman" | 34 | 2 | - |
| "That's Not How It Goes" | 82 | 22 | - | |
| 1975 | "My Little Lady" | 57 | 4 | - |
| "Give Me Your Heart" | - | 18 | - | |
| 1976 | "Do You Wanna Do A Thing" | 101 | 19 | - |
| "Just Like In The Movies" | - | 58 | - | |
| 1982 | "We Go A Long Way Back" | - | 5 | - |
| "Go On And Cry" | - | 18 | - | |
| "My Love Grows Stronger (Part 1)" | - | 44 | - | |
| 1984 | "Instant Love" | - | 42 | - |
| "Bloodstone's Party" | - | 69 | - | |
Albums
- 1972: BloodstoneBloodstone (album)Bloodstone is the debut album by Soul group Bloodstone.-Track listing:#Sadie Mae - 3:03#Take These Chains - 2:56#You Don't Mean Nothing - 3:37#Little Green Apples - 9:02...
- 1973: Natural HighNatural High (Bloodstone album)-Reception:Recording in the summer of 1972 and released in 1973 this album would chart number two on the Soul Album Charts lead by single Natural High which charted number four on the Soul Singles Charts and number ten on the Pop Charts.-Track listing:...
- 1974: Unreal
- 1974: ''I Need Time
- 1975: Riddle of the Sphinx
- 1976: Do You Wanna Do A Thing
- 1976: Lullaby of Broadway
- 1976: Train Ride to Hollywood
- 1979: Don't Stop
- 1982: We Go A Long Way Back
- 1984: Party
- 1999: Go On and Cry
- 2004: Now! That's What I'm Talkin' About