The Commodores

The Commodores Bio

The Commodores is an American funk and soul band popular from the 1970’s to the 1980’s. The band started out in Tukegee, Alabama where two student groups from Tukegee Institute joined forces; the Mystics, which consisted of Thomas McClary, Lionel Richie and William Kings and the Jays, consisting of Andre Callahan, Milan Williams and Michael Gilbert. The two groups then become The Commodores in 1968. The band began their music ventures in New York, performing for a small club called Small’s Paradise where they gained residency for 3 weeks. After this venture, the Commodores performed at Lloyd Price’s Turntable Club was said to be a sensational show and around a week later, Suzanne de Passe from Motown records called the band to open for Jackson Five’s upcoming 42 show-US Tour. The band spent 2 ½ years touring with The Jackson 5 and also toured with big names such as Stevie Wonder and The Rolling Stones. It was not until 1975, where the group released their first single, ‘Machine Gun’, which hit the 24th spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Within a 10 year period, The Commodores released 9 albums, were joined by Walter Orange, William King and J.D. Nicholas and were then left by members Richie and Mclary. In 1985, the Commodores released ‘Nightshift’, which won the group their first Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group. Soon after ‘Nightshift’, the band continuously toured around the US and Europe with only 3 members; King, Orange and Nicholas. By 1990, the Commodores released a re-recorded album of their all-time best 20 tracks, which was their last released album including hits such as ‘Easy’, ‘Three Times A Lady’ and ‘Brick House’ amongst many others. Throughout their career, the Commodores were nominated for 9 Grammys. Their biggest single, ‘Easy’, presently has 223.6 million plays on Spotify.