I know it seems like these people are decieving us by not giving us the "original" lineups. However, if you listen to the lineups when the commercial airs in your area, the wording is different. The announcer will sometimes say "featuring original members of..." to cover their asses.

I know for Con Funk Shun, if Michael Cooper is performing, they will always say "featuring Michael Cooper". That way you will know it's him.

I know these people are only doing this to make money. I'm not mad at them at all. They have to live.

wasnt there a law passed against this last year?


this wouldnt be an issue if they didnt have 75 people in one group and nobody knew the names and faces of all dem suckas

Nvncible1 said:

I don't know about that.

I know they can't bill themselves as the group or artist without some type of disclaimer. ie. Harold Melvin's Bluenotes or The Original Bluenotes.

As far as i know ConFunkshun is still being fronted by original
members Michael Cooper, Felton Pilate, and Karl"the deacon"Fuller.
In fact i have a youtube video posted up now on the board from
a July concert of this year with those members. Also you have
to remember there is a supergroup of funkateers the United We Funk
all stars put together by Bobby Harris and Marlon McClain of the Dazz
Band that have been touring together for select shows since 2000 that
have included the likes of the Barkays,Confunkshun,S.O.S band,Charlie
Wilson,Lakeside,and Club Nouveau.They all have one band with the key
members of each group taking turns playing and singing all the songs.
I actually dig this concept because up until that time only the
rock acts been doing it. Also Chicago and EWF have teamed up to
tour together using this same formula as they did a few years ago
so this is nothing new. The only act i would be weary of is Slave
because you never know who you're going to get. At least with the BarKays,
Confunkshun,Dazz Band,S.O.S,Lakeside,you're going to get the original
lead singer and a few other key band members.

I once saw Rose Royce in concert and I couldn't believe what I saw.One lady and two male "backup singers" came onstage,singing to a pre-recorded backing tape I had seen the real Rose Royce in concert before and they always came out with a full band (horns and all) plus the original male leader with the high voice.But for this particular show,we got three imposters,pretending to be the real thing.The lady was decent but the two males were useless.They couldn't even lip-sync convincingly!

this isn't about Prince?

SoulAlive said:

That's terrible.

I was thinking about this when listening to a surprising Spinners special on the radio (had no idea it would be on...just driving around and flipping through the stations). I remember hearing that it was always the original members touring, but that isn't the case. They've gone through line up changes, too. At least I don't believe there are have been "spin offs" that I know of. It's very sad that this happens in R&B and it wouldn't happen in rock.

Marrk said:

VinnyM27 said:

Ya know,I don't mind if a band doesn't have all of the original members.I know it's sometimes hard to get all of the original members together.But you at least gotta have the core of the group,you know? I don't wanna see a group of imposters up onstage,pretending to be the real thing.What I really hate it is when....all of the original members are alive,but are feuding with each other,so there are two different touring units on the road.This is the case with The Stylistics right now.Same with War.It's ridiculous.Fans deserve better than that.

RnBAmbassador said:

Thank you. I agree. The Slave I love would HAVE to have Mark Adams on bass.


...The Time has a stand in valet for Jerome.

RnBAmbassador said:

That's a shame.I would never go see Kool and The Gang without JT Taylor.He was truly their greatest lead singer.I heard that they now employ two lead singers,who still can't do what JT was able to do so effortlessly.





They're supposed to be reuniting with Lionel Richie later this year,but I'll believe it when I see it.




I saw Zapp in concert last year and they were incredible.They have most of their original members,so it's truly a Zapp performance and not a bunch of imposters onstage.Roger would be proud.




They certainly do.Everyone except for the Calloway brothers.They put on an amazing,high-energy show.I'm thrilled to see them still out there,touring and doing their thing.

I saw Queen and Paul Rogers last year. They were excellent despite being two members short of the original Queen line-up. Freddie had a fairly decent excuse mind you.

But on topic, just take a look at the 80's revival concerts and shows that have been going on in the UK for the last two to three years (longer if you include Butlins weekenders). Bananarama, XTC and the like only ever consist of a small number of original artists.

daPrettyman said:

True.Every year in my city,we have a "Super Oldies Love Jam" concert featuring Old School artists and bands.Last year,one of the acts was billed as "JoJo of the Mary Jane Girls".It was her with two other females who weren't a part of the original group,so instead of making us think it was the Mary Jane Girls,they came up with a different way to advertise it.I'm okay with them doing this,because at least they're being honest about it.

Oddly enough,the other "original" Mary Jane Girls are touring....but without JoJo They recruited Val Young (another Rick James protege) to be the lead singer,while JoJo tours with two anonymous girls who were never part of the group.So,just like with WAR and the Stylistics,there are two different touring units singing Mary Jane Girl songs.

Before you go to one of these shows,be sure you know who you're actually gonna see.It's absurd!

Pink Floyd. David Gilmour. Roger Waters. All tour differently. Bar Floyd now of course. And Gilmour it would seem. Waters is a still a c**t.

SoulAlive said:

Black Expo in Oakland? Because I saw the same shit also.

SoulAlive said:

I guess JoJo and the other girls had it out. I saw them about 10 years ago when they reunited. They were the original girls then.

SoulAlive said:

As far as the stylistics,i know Russell Thompkins is touring with his
own group and i there is another set with a younger Russell Thompkins
look alike and sound alike. I would love to see Russell and Airion Love
get back together with the original lineup. Those guys were magical.

Temptations lead singer Dennis Edwards runs his own group which he calls The Temptations Revue, while other original member Otis Williams tours with The Temptations.
Fred Wesley tours as Fred Wesley and his J.B.'s, but there are no original J.B.'s in the group but himself.
Funk group Mandrill currently feature only two original members, Ric and Lou Wilson. Only they tour as Mandrill, but without other key members, one could argue that this group is just a shadow of what originally was Mandrill.

Bottom line, you'll hardly find any 60s and 70s Soul and Funk groups with a majority of original members, because they are either dead, retired or at war with each other.

To me, it doesn't matter, because the shows of most of the old groups suck anyway these days.

phunkdaddy said:

Airrion sung on a couple of the Stylistics' tracks in the studio, but other than that, it was only Russell and professional studio backround singers. The other guys never sung in the studio.

SoulAlive said:

http://www.billboard.com/...0621.story

A group should always have their lead singer when they are on tour. Band members can be replaced but the lead singer or singers can never be replaced. Can you imagine The Time without Morris Day, Klymaxx without Bernadette Cooper, The Gap Band without Charlie Wilson, Con Funk Shun without Michael Cooper, The Barkays without Larry Dodson, Cameo without Larry Blackman? And I don't know why the hell Zapp is touring around without Roger. When the lead singer dies, that's the official end of the group.

LoveIsTheMessage said:

LoveIsTheMessage said:

Now this is the Lionel i grew up with.
This also sounds more like the commodores i knew.
Hopefully William King and Sweet Clyde will come on
board and have that long overdue Commodores reunion.

JT Taylor is not an original member of Kool and the Gang and he wasn't essential to the band's sound as far as I'm concerned. I'm more a fan of their funk than their JT era crossover material anyway. I saw them in March and the 2 guys singing lead are every bit as good as JT.

I'm going to the Soulfood Festival on Saturday featuring the BarKays and Lakeside plus Peabo Bryson, Silk and Angela Winbush...I'll let y'all know how it turns out.

thatruth said:

No,it was the "Super Oldies Love Jam" in San Jose A couple years ago.

phunkdaddy said:

That's great! Let's hope it inspires them to actually follow through with a reunion.

This should definately be illegal. I know that when I go see a band , I sure want to see the original lineup or at least the original singer. The same thing is happening in rock also. I went to see Def Leppard, Styx, and Foreigner a couple years ago and Def Leppard was the only band with its original frontman. I really wanted to here the voices of the other original singers because they both had amazing voices. That was the main reason I went, that and the fact that I wanted to see Vivian Campbell on guitar.( It had been awhile)

vainandy said:

Depends on the singer surely? Lots of bands have changed their members.