Pleasure (U.S. Band)
Encyclopedia
Pleasure was an Portland, Oregon
, Oregon
band that blended soul, funk and jazz with a tough street edge and became a cult group on the underground black music scene of the late 70's. They are perhaps best-known for their 1979 hit, "Glide".
's Wayne Henderson
saw them performing in a Portland club. Impressed with what he heard, his enthusiasm led them to a deal with Fantasy Records
. This was the beginning of a six year relationship with the label and a four year relationship with Wayne Henderson who through his own production company "At Home Productions", was the band's producer and mentor. Along the way, members of the band did session work with artists like Side Effect
, Gabor Szabo
, Ronnie Laws
and Willie Bobo
to name a few. In 1979, Pleasure would have their best success with the Top Ten R&B hit "Glide" By 1982 after a one off album for RCA
the band called it quits.
Drummer Bruce Carter (December 28, 1956) passed away on August 12, 2006.
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
band that blended soul, funk and jazz with a tough street edge and became a cult group on the underground black music scene of the late 70's. They are perhaps best-known for their 1979 hit, "Glide".
Career
Pleasure was formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1972 as a merger of two Portland outfits: Franchise and The Soul Masters which included guitarist Marlon "The Magician" McClain, bassist Nathaniel Phillips, and drummer Bruce Carter, keyboardist Donald Hepburn, saxophonist Dennis Springer, trombonist Dan Brewster and lead singer Sherman Davis. In 1974 The CrusadersThe Crusaders
The Crusaders are an American music group popular in the early 1970s known for their amalgamated jazz, pop and soul sound. Since 1961, more than forty albums have been credited to the group , 19 of which were recorded under the name "The Jazz Crusaders" .-History:In 1960, following the demise of a...
's Wayne Henderson
Wayne Henderson (musician)
Wayne Henderson is a soul-jazz and hard bop trombonist and record producer. In 1961, he co-founded the soul jazz/hard bop group The Jazz Crusaders...
saw them performing in a Portland club. Impressed with what he heard, his enthusiasm led them to a deal with Fantasy Records
Fantasy Records
Fantasy Records is a United States-based record label that was founded by Max and Sol Weiss in 1949 in San Francisco, California. They had previously operated a record-pressing plant called Circle Record Company before forming the Fantasy label...
. This was the beginning of a six year relationship with the label and a four year relationship with Wayne Henderson who through his own production company "At Home Productions", was the band's producer and mentor. Along the way, members of the band did session work with artists like Side Effect
Side Effect
Side Effect were an American disco band, that recorded between 1972 and 1982. The group was formed by founder and leader Augie Johnson in Los Angeles, California in 1972.-Career:...
, Gabor Szabo
Gábor Szabó
Gábor Szabó was a Hungarian jazz guitarist, famous for mixing jazz, pop-rock and his native Hungarian music.-Biography:...
, Ronnie Laws
Ronnie Laws
Ronald Wayne "Ronnie" Laws is an American jazz, blues and funk saxophonist. He is the younger brother of jazz flautist Hubert Laws.-Biography:...
and Willie Bobo
Willie Bobo
Willie Bobo was the stage name of William Correa , an American jazz percussionist.-Biography:William Correa grew up in Spanish Harlem, New York City. He made his name in Latin Jazz, specifically Afro-Cuban jazz, in the 1960s and '70s, with the timbales becoming his favoured instrument...
to name a few. In 1979, Pleasure would have their best success with the Top Ten R&B hit "Glide" By 1982 after a one off album for RCA
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
the band called it quits.
Drummer Bruce Carter (December 28, 1956) passed away on August 12, 2006.
Studio albums
| Year | Album | Chart positions | Record label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
US R&B Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
|||
| 1975 | Dust Yourself Off | — | 54 | Fantasy Records Fantasy Records Fantasy Records is a United States-based record label that was founded by Max and Sol Weiss in 1949 in San Francisco, California. They had previously operated a record-pressing plant called Circle Record Company before forming the Fantasy label... |
| 1976 | Accept No Substitutes Accept No Substitutes Accept No Substitutes is the second album by Portland, Oregon-based R&B group Pleasure. It was released in 1976 and produced by jazz legend Wayne Henderson of the The Crusaders.-Track listing:#"Let's Dance" – 5:01#"I'm Mad" – 3:10... |
162 | 32 | |
| 1977 | Joyous | 113 | 34 | |
| 1978 | Get to the Feeling Get to the Feeling Get to the Feeling is the fourth album by Portland, Oregon-based R&B group Pleasure, released in 1978. It was produced by jazz legend Wayne Henderson of the Crusaders.-Track listing:#Celebrate the Good Things 3:26 #Foxy Lady 3:30... |
119 | 42 | |
| 1979 | Future Now | 67 | 27 | |
| 1980 | Special Things | 97 | 27 | |
| 1982 | Give It Up | 164 | 30 | RCA RCA Records RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label... |
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US 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,... |
US Dance |
||
| 1976 | "Ghettos of the Mind" | — | 71 | — |
| 1977 | "Joyous" | — | 35 | — |
| 1979 | "Future Now" | — | 75 | — |
| 1980 | "Glide" | 55 | 10 | — |
| "Real Thing" | — | 65 | — | |
| "Yearnin' Burnin'" | — | 30 | — | |
External links
- Pleasure Discography at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Pleasure at Soulwalking
- Pleasure 1976 Biography at Concord Music