Slave

Slave demonstrated that a funk outfit could merge gritty directness with polished execution no matter which method they chose. Dayton, Ohio, earned its standing as a hotbed for the style through the efforts of Slave alongside earlier acts like Ohio Players and peers including Lakeside and Zapp. What set the band apart from its fellow Dayton acts was chiefly the sinuous, tuneful bass work of Mark Adams, which anchored the opening of the debut single “Slide,” a number-one R&B smash that also reached the pop Top 40 and drove the self-titled album Slave (1977) to gold status. Another essential element was the vibrant, propulsive presence of Steve Arrington, the drummer who stepped forward as lead singer and frontman for the enduring Top Ten R&B singles “Just a Touch of Love,” “Watching You,” and “Snap Shot.” Around the release of their second gold album, Stone Jam (1980), the group began to fracture, first when founding trumpeter Steve Washington formed Aurra and later when Arrington departed to establish Steve Arrington’s Hall of Fame; core members Adams, Mark Hicks, and Danny Webster nevertheless kept Slave intact through its final studio recordings in the mid-1990s, by which time the band had placed ten studio albums and twenty singles on the charts.

Slave originated in 1975 as an extension of the Dayton groups Black Satin Soul and the Mystics. Brass players supplied the initial momentum, with trumpeter and leader Steve Washington and trombonist Floyd Miller recruiting saxophonists Tom Lockett, Jr. and Orion “Bimmy” Wilhoite, bassist Mark “Mr. Mark” Adams, drummer Tim “Tiny” Dozier, keyboardist Carter “C.B.” Bradley, and guitarists Mark “Drac” Hicks and Danny Webster; Miller, Webster, and Dozier initially shared lead vocals. Washington was the only non-Ohio native, having relocated from East Orange, New Jersey, to finish high school while staying with his uncle, Ralph “Pee Wee” Middlebrooks of Ohio Players. The name Slave came from a word on a shirt Miller wore to rehearsal. After writing and rehearsing original material, the musicians taped a demo at a New Jersey studio; radio programmer Jeff Dixon responded by securing additional sessions, serving as both producer and manager, and helping assemble a full album’s worth of tracks for label submission.

Cotillion, an Atlantic subsidiary, signed the band in January 1977 and assigned staff engineer Jimmy Douglass to remix the material, some of which was re-recorded. Slave entered the Billboard R&B albums chart that April, eventually reaching number six (number 22 pop) on the strength of “Slide,” the R&B chart-topper that crossed over and peaked at number 32 on the pop side; the album received gold certification in mid-June. With additional keyboardist Ray Turner now aboard, the musicians immediately began work on a follow-up aimed at a wider audience. Hardness of the World, issued before year’s end, yielded the charting singles “The Party Song” (number 22 R&B) and “Baby Sister” and reached number 31 on the R&B album chart.

The most pivotal of the group’s many personnel shifts unfolded across its third and fourth albums. Dayton-raised percussionist Steve Arrington, fresh from work with the Escovedo family, replaced Dozier on drums and soon contributed songs and shared vocal duties. The Concept, the first album featuring Arrington, returned Slave to the R&B Top Ten in 1978 thanks in part to the layered, driving “Stellar Fungk,” a number-14 R&B hit. Subsequent departures included Orion Wilhoite and Carter Bradley; saxophonist Charles Carter, guitarist-vocalist Curt Jones, and vocalist Starleana Young joined. The 1979 album Just a Touch of Love was propelled by its number-nine R&B title track, which introduced Young as co-writer and second vocalist. Stone Jam and Show Time, released in 1980 and 1981 respectively, added the Top Ten R&B singles “Watching You” and “Snap Shot,” both albums also reached the R&B Top Ten, and Stone Jam earned the band’s second gold certification.

During this stretch Washington produced Arrington’s one-off Salsoul single “Summertime Lovin’” and launched Aurra to spotlight the departing Jones and Young, who were joined from the outset by Carter and Lockett. Before Show Time, Washington and Lockett exited Slave to focus on Aurra; Arrington, who turned down an invitation to join the new group, assumed leadership. New arrivals for Show Time included Sam Carter on keyboards, percussion, and vocals, guitarist Kevin Johnson, flügelhornist Delbert Taylor, and drummer Roger Parker, who freed Arrington to concentrate on fronting the band.

Arrington left Slave in 1982 after playing drums on Odyssey’s Jimmy Douglass-produced single “Inside Out,” a track that echoed Slave’s “Watching You,” and after forming Steve Arrington’s Hall of Fame with Charles and Sam Carter and Roger Parker. Slave carried on that year with original member Danny Webster handling main vocals; the addition of drummer Ronny Cochran and keyboardist Marvin Wheatley yielded the self-produced Visions of the Lite. Recorded without Arrington or Douglass, who had co-written several signature songs, the album included two charting singles and the deep-cut favorite “I’ll Be Gone.” Douglass returned to help shape the final Cotillion releases, 1983’s Bad Enuff and 1984’s New Plateau, which generated several more R&B-charting singles, most notably the number-22 hit “Shake It Up.”

Slave subsequently signed with Ichiban and, from the mid-1980s until its mid-1990s dissolution, issued six lower-profile albums on the new label, its roster continuing to shift. Unchained at Last (1985) and Make Believe (1987) were the last to chart; they were followed by Slave 88 (1988), Rebirth (1990), The Funk Strikes Back (1992), and Masters of the Fungk (1995), several of which recycled earlier material and featured updated versions of the hits. Mark Adams and Mark Hicks each died in 2011; Orion Wilhoite and Danny Webster followed in 2020.