Ohio Players

Biography

Ohio Players are an American funk band formed in Dayton, Ohio. They were most popular in the 1970s and are best known for their songs "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster", and for their erotic album covers that featured nude or nearly nude women. Many of the women were models featured in Playboy.
The singles "Funky Worm", "Skin Tight×Skin TightApril 1974 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 6 tracksA1Skin Tight7:52A2Streakin’ Cheek to Cheek5:43A3It’s Your Night / Words of Love7:58B1Jive Turkey7:09B2Heaven Must Be Like This7:18B3Is Anybody Gonna Be Saved?4:56", "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster" and their albums Skin Tight, Fire and Honey×HoneyAugust 1975 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 7 tracksA1Honey5:20A2Fopp3:55A3Let's Love5:14A4Ain't Givin' Up No Ground1:43B1Sweet Sticky Thing6:13B2Love Rollercoaster4:50B3Alone4:38, were awarded Gold certification.
On August 17, 2013, Ohio Players were inducted into the inaugural class of the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame that took place at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio.

History

The members first came together in Dayton, Ohio, United States, in 1959, as the Ohio Untouchables and initially included members Robert Ward (vocals/guitar), Marshall "Rock" Jones (bass), Clarence "Satch" Satchell (saxophone/guitar), Cornelius Johnson (drums), and Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrooks (trumpet/trombone). They were best known at the time as a backing group for The Falcons.
Ward proved to be an unreliable leader, who would sometimes walk off the stage during gigs, forcing the group to stop playing. Eventually, the group vowed to keep playing even after he left. Ward and Jones got into a fistfight in 1964, after which the group broke up.
Ward found new backups, and the group's core members returned to Dayton. They replaced Ward with 21-year-old Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner (guitar), who would become the group's frontman, and added Greg Webster (drums). To accommodate Bonner's musical style preferences for the group ("R&B with a little flair to it") and to avoid competing with Ward, the group changed their format.
By 1967, the group had renamed themselves the Ohio Players, reflecting its members' self-perceptions as musicians and as ladies' men.
The group added two more singers, Bobby Lee Fears and Dutch Robinson and became the house band for the New York-based Compass Records. In 1967 they also added vocalist Helena Ferguson Kilpatrick.
The group disbanded again in 1970. After again re-forming with a line-up including Bonner, Satchell, Middlebrooks, Jones, Webster, trumpeter Bruce Napier, vocalist Charles Dale Allen, trombonist Marvin Pierce and vocalist/keyboardist Walter "Junie" Morrison, the Players had a minor hit on the Detroit-based Westbound label with "Pain" (1971), which reached the top 40 of the Billboard R&B chart. James Johnson joined the group at this time as vocalist and saxophonist. Dale Allen shared co-lead vocals on some of the early Westbound material, although he was not credited on their albums Pain and Pleasure×Pleasure1972 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Pleasure5:33A2Laid It3:04A3Pride and Vanity4:25A4Walt’s First Trip3:11B1Varee Is Love2:43B2Walked Away From You2:32B3Paint Me2:06B4Funky Worm2:43B5Our Love Has Died4:55. It was at Westbound Records where the group met George Clinton, who admired their music. The two albums' avant-garde covers featured a spiked-black leather-bikini clad, bald model Pat "Running Bear" Evans, who would later grace additional Ohio Players albums, including Climax×ClimaxNovember 1974 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracksA1Sleep Talk3:15A2Ruffel Foot4:00A3Proud Mary5:26A4Climax6:46B1What's Going On6:04B2Food Stamps Y'all2:28B3Players Ballin4:19B4Pack It Up4:01, Ecstasy×EcstasySeptember 1973 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 10 tracksA1Ecstasy2:28A2You and Me3:14A3(Not So) Sad and Lonely3:42A4(I Wanna Know) Do You Feel It4:28A5Black Cat4:30B1Food Stamps Y’all2:32B2Spinning3:07B3Sleep Talk3:16B4Silly Billy4:28B5Short Change3:53, and Rattlesnake×Rattlesnake1975 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracksA1Rattlesnake2:58A2Introducing the Players3:57A3What It Is4:45A4Rooster Poot2:14A5Gone Forever3:42B1Hustle Bird2:54B2Spinning3:05B3Hollywood Hump2:28B4Laid It3:01B5Varee2:44B6She Locked It3:12.
The band's first big hit single was "Funky Worm", which reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart and peaked at No. 15 on the Hot 100 in May 1973. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. The band signed with Mercury Records in 1974. By then, their line-up had changed again, with keyboardist Billy Beck instead of Morrison and Jimmy "Diamond" Williams on drums instead of Webster. On later album releases, they added second guitarist/vocalist Clarence "Chet" Willis and conguero Robert "Kuumba" Jones. Meanwhile, keyboardist Walter "Junie" Morrison recorded three albums on his own before joining Funkadelic as the force behind their hit One Nation Under a Groove. An internet story in advance of a June 2017 concert indicated that Billy Beck, Jimmy "Diamond" Williams, Clarence "Chet" Willis, and Robert "Rumba" Jones were still performing.
The band had seven top 40 hits between 1973 and 1976. These included "Fire" (No. 1 on both the R&B and pop chart for two weeks and one week respectively in February 1975 and another million seller) and "Love Rollercoaster" (No. 1 on both the R&B and pop charts for one week in January 1976; another gold disc recipient). The group also took on saxophonist James Johnson. The group's last big hit was "Who'd She Coo?" a No. 1 R&B hit in August 1976. It was their only success in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at No. 43 on the UK Singles Chart in July 1976. Their title track "Ecstasy" from the 1973 album Ecstasy was sampled by Jay-Z on "Brooklyn's Finest", featuring The Notorious B.I.G. from the 1996 album Reasonable Doubt.
In 1979, three members of the group went on to form Shadow, which released three albums. A reconfigured Ohio Players recorded through the 1980s, enjoying a minor hit single with "Sweat" (1988). They also released three albums in that decade, Tenderness×Tenderness6 March 1981 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Try a Little Tenderness4:02A2Sometimes I Cry4:06A3Skinny3:26A4Try to Be a Man3:24A5Boardwalkin'3:54B1Call Me5:12B2Sitting on the Dock of the Bay3:30B3It Takes a While4:34B4Hard to Love Your Brother3:23, Ouch!×Ouch!17 November 1981 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Do Your Thing5:13A2The Star of the Party4:09A3Sweet Lil' Lady3:43A4Everybody Dance5:48B1My Baby Gets the Best of My Love3:25B2Just Me4:44B3Thinkin' Bout You4:28B4Devoted3:45B5I'd Better Take a Coffee Break5:30 and Graduation. Another collection, Orgasm, followed in 1993.
In August 2013, the Ohio Players were inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame at the Waetjen Auditorium of Cleveland State University as part of the inaugural class.

Personnel

Not including current sidemen.

James "Diamond" Williams – drums, percussion, lead and backing vocals (1972–1980; unknown–present)
Billy Beck – keyboards, percussion, lead and background vocals (1974–1988; unknown–present)
Other members of classic lineup

Marshall "Rock" Jones – bass (1959–1970, 1971–1984; died 2016)
Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner – guitar, percussion, lead and background vocals (1964–1970, 1971–1997; died 2013)
Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrooks – trumpet, trombone and background vocals (1959–1970, 1971–1984; died 1997)
Clarence "Satch" Satchell – baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, flute, percussion, lead and background vocals (1959–1970, 1971–1980; died 1995)
Marvin "Merv" Pierce – trumpet, flugelhorn, valve trombone and background vocals (1972–1982)
Other members

Greg Webster – drums (1967–1970, 1971–1972)
Bobby Lee Fears – vocals (1967–1970)
Dutch Robinson – vocals, keyboards (1967–1970)
Helena Ferguson Kilpatrick – vocals (1967–unknown)
Charles Dale Allen – vocals (1971–unknown)
Bruce Napier – trumpet (1972–1974)
Walter "Junie" Morrison – keyboards, vocals (1970–1974)
James Johnson – vocals, saxophone (1971?–unknown)
Clarence "Chet" Willis – guitars (1977–1980)
Robert "Kuumba" Jones – congas (1977–2022)
Wes Boatman – keyboards (1980–1981)
Jimmy Sampson – drums (1981–1982)
Dean Simms – trumpet (1980s)
Ronnie "Diamond" Hoard - lead vocals (on all of Graduation album), guitar
Ohio Untouchables members

Robert Ward – guitar (1959–1964)
Cornelius Johnson – drums (1959–1964)
Greg Webster – drums (1964–1967)
Bobby Lee Fears – vocals (1964–1967)
Dutch Robinson – vocals, keyboards (1964–1967)

Deaths

Clarence Satchell (April 15, 1940 – December 30, 1995) died after suffering a brain aneurysm at age 55.
Ralph Middlebrooks (August 20, 1939 – November 15, 1997) died of cancer.
Vincent Thomas ("Venny Wu") (January 26, 1958 – February 16, 2008) died of cancer in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas.
Robert Ward (October 15, 1938 – December 25, 2008) died at home.
Cornelius Johnson (July 12, 1937 – February 1, 2009).
Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner (March 14, 1943 – January 26, 2013) died of cancer at age 69.
Marshall "Rock" Jones (January 1, 1941 – May 27, 2016) died of cancer in Houston, Texas, at age 75. He was the last surviving member from the Ohio Untouchables line-up.
Walter "Junie" Morrison (1954 – January 21, 2017) died at age 62.
Shaun Dedrick died on May 2, 2018, at age 55, following an illness, in Dayton, Ohio.
Gregory "Greg" Webster (January 4, 1938 – January 14, 2022) died at age 84. He was the last surviving member of the original Ohio Players line-up.
Clarence "Chet" Willis died in March 2025, at the age of 74.

Live albums

Jam (1996, Mercury)
Ol' School (1996, Essential Music)
On Fire! (2023, Delta Music)

Singles

Notes

A "Fire" also peaked at No. 10 on Billboard's Disco Action chart.