About Me
The Dazz Band was a funk music band based in Cleveland, Ohio that enjoyed brief popularity in the United States in the early 1980s. The name of the band is a concatenation of "Danceable Jazz". The group's hits included the songs "Let it Whip" and "Joystick". The Dazz Band grew out of fusion group Telefunk, which comprised {MIKE CALHOUN} Bobby Harris, Isaac "Ike" Wiley, Jr., his brother Michael Wiley, and Kenny Pettus. Telefunk eventually became {Kinsman} Dazz}, named after the street in Cleveland where Harris had grown up. The group changed its name before the unrelated song 'Dazz' became an R&B hit for Brick in 1976. {Kinsman Dazz} was signed to {20th Century Records} by Joe Lewis. The group went to Los Angeles to record for producer Marvin Gaye. Owing to illness, Gaye had to back out of the duties. Harris requested and got {Philip Bailey}, the vocalist of {Earth, Wind & Fire}, to produce the group's first album, {Kinsman Dazz}. Bailey would co-produce the second album, Dazz, and had a major input into the group's vocal arrangements. The {Kinsman Dazz} became the Dazz Band in 1980. Separately, the 20th Century Records label was closed, and the Dazz Band was signed to Motown. The group expanded from the original quartet — Harris, Pettus, and the Wiley brothers — with newcomers Kevin Frederick, Steve Cox, Eric Fearman, Pierre DeMudd, and Sennie "Skip" Martin. Martin was vocalist for almost all the Dazz Band hits. Dazz's first album for Motown was Invitation to Love, a self-produced set. The group's next album, Let The Music Play, featured the minor hit single "Knock! Knock!". The group's breakthrough came with Keep It Live (1982) containing the hit "{Let It Whip}" which reached #5 on the R&B charts and won a {Grammy Award} for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocalsand was also redone by Boyz ll Men in 2004 . They would go on to score R&B hits with 'Swoop (I'm Yours)', 'Joystick', 'Let It All Blow', and 'Party Right Here'. After Keep It Live, Dazz Band recorded On the One, Joystick, Jukebox and Hot Spot, all for Motown. The band was known for its live performances, often proving more popular than the headlining act. In, 1985 Fearman and Frederick left the group, and were replaced by Marlon McClain and Keith Harrison. In 1986, Dazz Band recorded Wild & Free under the Geffen label, and moved to RCA shortly later. The group's commercial success was now over, and Skip Martin left to join Kool & The Gang after original lead man James "JT" Taylor left the group for a solo career. The band continues to tour. In October 2004 Let It Whip appeared in popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on Funk radio station Bounce FM.
