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Biography
Refimprove|date=December 2010Infobox musical artist|name = Con Funk Shun|background = group_or_band|image =|caption =|origin = Vallejo, California , United States |genre = Rhythm and blues|R& B , funk , soul music|soul |years_active = 1969& ndash;present|label = Mercury Records|Mercury , Fretone|website =
Con Funk Shun is an United States|American Rhythm and blues|R& B and funk band (music)|band popular in the 1970s and 1980s. Influences include James Brown and Sly & the Family Stone .
History
The band was formed by a pair of high school students in Vallejo, California|Vallejo , California , drummer Louis A. McCall Sr. and singer/guitarist Michael Cooper. The two got their start as a backup group for the Soul Children under the name Project Soul. They began working with Stax Records staff songwriter s, and while sound recording and reproduction|recording at Audio Dimensions, a Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis , Tennessee sound recording studio|studio , record producer|producer Ted Sturges both named the group (after an instrumental recording by The Nite-Liters ) and produced their first album , Organized Con Funk Shun .
In 1976, Con Funk Shun signed to Mercury Records , releasing eleven albums over a span of ten years. The group's 1977 LP, Secrets , was certified gold album|gold in the US, as were 1978's Loveshine , 1979's Candy , and 1980's Spirit of Love .Search for "Con Funk Shun" performed at RIAA|RIAA.com on December 10, 2007. They scored a string of Top 40|top ten hit single|hits on the United States|US Billboard (magazine)|Billboard Hot R& B/Hip-Hop Songs|black singles record chart|chart , including 1977's " Ffun " (#1), 1978's "Shake and Dance with Me" (#5), 1979's "Chase Me" (#4), 1980s "Got to Be Enough" (#8), and "Too Tight" (#8). Tensions from within the group built over the 1980s, and the group's last album, Burning Love , was recorded without songwriter and vocalist Felton Pilate . After leaving Mercury, the band broke up in 1986, but some members of the group reunited alongside touring musicians for concerts in the 1990s.
Death of Louis A. McCall Sr.
Original drummer Louis A. McCall Sr. was murdered in a robbery at his Stone Mountain, Georgia Village Square Apartments home on June 25, 1997. It would be a full ten years before a suspect Marques Clair, would finally be indicted in 2007 in connection with the murder. http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/stories/2008/07/24/slain_musician_mistrial.html Ajc.com
Though Marques Clair was finally indicted in 2007, on July 23, 2008, just two days after the start of the murder trial of the killing of McCall, Superior Court Judge Gregory Adams stopped the trial, "based on an omission" in information, said Jada Hudspeth, a spokeswoman for the DeKalb County Georgia district attorney's office. Hudspeth said District Attorney Gwen Keyes Fleming and her staff will evaluate the evidence in the case before deciding whether to retry Clair. Marques Clair, now 29, was arrested as a suspect in McCall's slaying in 1999, but prosecutors dropped the charge due to the District Attorneys refusal to bring the case before a jury without sufficient evidence.
On August 7, 2008, after the trial ended in a mistrial, the charges against Clair were formally dismissed with prejudice.
Legacy
Con Funk Shun continues to receive airplay on US soul music|soul radio stations that play music of the 1970s and 1980s. Additionally, their back-beats have been repeatedly sampling (music)|sampled by later artists in Hip hop music|Hip Hop , Rhythm and blues|R& B , and Rap music|rap . Most recently, "Honey Wild", (written by Louis McCall; his wife, Linda Lou McCall; and Danny Thomas), from their 1980 Spirit of Love album was sampled by Lil Wayne for his CD Tha Carter III - Deluxe Edition . In 1996, Dru Hill covered the song on their Dru Hill (album)|self-titled début album which was produced by Keith Sweat .
"Burnin' Love" (1986) - #8 R& B; UK Singles Chart|UK #68cite book
| first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 117
"She's a Star" (1986) - #80 R& B
"Throw It Up, Throw It Up" (1996) - #84 R& B
References
Reflist
External links
Commons category|Con Funk Shun
Allmusic|class=artist|id=p16604/discography|pure_url=yes Con Funk Shun at Allmusic.com
http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Confunkshun.html Con Funk Shun @ Soulwalking
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Con+Funk+Shun Con Funk Shun @ Discogs
http://www.theloosebook.com/con_funk_shun_2/ TheLooseBook.com, site run by Louis McCall's widow
http://www.feltonpilate.com/ Felton Pilate's Official Site
http://www.myspace.com/confunkshun707/ Con Funk Shun's MySpace page
http://www.soulandfunkmusic.com/artist/con_funk_shun Con Funk Shun @ soulandfunkmusic.com
Category:American dance music groups Category:American funk musical groups Category:Musical groups from California Category:American rhythm and blues musical groups Category:Music of the San Francisco Bay Area Category:American soul musical groups
