Biography
In 1999 the four musicians who formed the Mighty Imperials, each still under the age of 18, gathered at Desco Records studios to lay down tracks for Thunder Chicken and proved skilled enough to draw gospel singer Joe Henry into the sessions for four songs. Leon Michels handled organ, Homer Steinweiss played drums, Nick Movshon covered bass, and Sean Solomon supplied guitar, producing deep funk that echoed early James Brown and the Meters. Their single "Kick the Blanket/Toothpick" appeared the same year, yet Desco’s collapse kept the album unreleased until a bootleg surfaced illegally in Britain in 2001. Daptone finally secured and issued the recording in 2004. By then the group’s members had scattered into other ensembles—Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Antibalas, Soul Fire, El Michels Affair—or separate endeavors, though the album earned favorable critical notice.
Albums
