Sweet Thunder

In 1976 a four-piece ensemble from Youngstown, Ohio, secured a recording contract with WMOT Productions in Philadelphia simply by posting an unsolicited cassette. The quartet—vocalist and lead guitarist Charles Buie, bassist Rudell Alexander, vocalist and keyboardist Booker Newberry, and drummer John Aaron—had all been born in either 1955 or 1956 and lacked an official name at the time of submission; an executive at WMOT supplied the handle Sweet Thunder. Two years after the signing, the label issued the group’s debut long-player, also titled Sweet Thunder, which Atlantic Records handled for distribution and which Fantasy Records later re-licensed. Although WMOT invested in print advertising, it allocated little support elsewhere, so the album faded from view despite early indications of potential. A follow-up collection, Horizons, appeared with minimal fanfare in 1979 and attracted almost no notice. Afterward Buie and Alexander worked as session players and backing vocalists, Aaron moved into production, and Newberry stepped away from the industry in pursuit of steadier prospects.