Kleeer
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Kleeer was an American New York City–based funk, disco and post-disco band, which was formed in 1972 under the name The Jam Band, as a backup group to different disco bands and vocalists.
They are best known for the composition "Keeep Your Body Workin'" (1978).
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Members
- Woodrow "Woody" Cunningham (lead vocalist and drummer, died 2010)
- Paul Crutchfield (percussionist and keyboardist)
- Richard Lee (guitarist)
- Norman Durham (bassist, died 2011)
Career
After a switch to the name Pipeline in 1975, the group also decided to switch to making hard rock instead of disco. Record labels competed to sign them but, when they finally ended up at Columbia Records, their single "Gypsie Rider" did not fare well commercially.
In 1976, they got the opportunity to become The Universal Robot Band along with underground disco producers Patrick Adams and Greg Carmichael. This project was more successful than their former projects. They made the single "Barely Breaking Even" alongside singer Leroy Burgess, and they also recorded an album. The group toured as The Universal Robot Band until 1978. After 1978, the band decided to make all their music themselves under the new name of Kleeer.
Between 1979 and 1985 the group released seven albums and had several hits in the US Billboard Hot 100 and in R&B charts. The most mentionable are "Keep Your Body Workin'", "Tonight's the Night", "Winners", "Intimate Connection", and "Get Tough". The sound was now more focused on 1980s style funk, and electronic instruments, like vocoders and synthesizers.
The System lead singer Mic Murphy was a road manager for the band before the start of his record career.
After the 1985's album Seeekret, the band disappeared for unknown reasons. Most of the musicians continued working with other projects. In the 1990s, however, the group re-formed as Kleeer at some occasions.
Pages linking in
AnotherLateNight: Groove Armada, Back Up Off Me!, Blow Your Pants Off, Bojangles Coliseum, California Love, Crunk Juice, David Frank (musician), DJ Quik production discography, Eumir Deodato, Gene Orloff, Get Ready (Kleeer album), Greensboro Coliseum Complex, Homecoming: The Live Album, I Love to Dance, Intimate Connection, Jan Leighton, Jocelyn Brown, Keep Your Body Working, Late Night Tales: Jamiroquai, License to Dream, List of disco artists (F–K), List of funk musicians, List of post-disco artists and songs, List of songs recorded by Justin Timberlake, Mario (album), Marvin Stamm, Me Against the World, Mic Murphy, Middle Men (film), Seeekret, Stunts, Blunts and Hip Hop, Taste the Music, The Dynasty: Roc La Familia, The N.W.A Legacy, Vol. 1: 1988–1998, The Shadiest One, The System (band), The Tymes, The Universal Robot Band, The Very Best of Death Row, Tonite (DJ Quik song), War & Peace Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc), Winners (Kleeer album), Woody (name), Young, Rich & Dangerous, Yvonne Gage
Influence
The group's influence today is best found in many hip hop songs, where DJs have frequently sampled Kleeer, for example by Dr. Dre, 2Pac, Snoop Dogg, DJ Quik, Lil Jon and others."Keeep Your Body Workin'", which reached number 54 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart in 1979, was "reworked" into an updated recording by Tony Moran featuring Martha Wash, under the title "Keep Your Body Working". The Moran/Wash version reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart in December 2007. Just Blaze sampled "She Said She Loves Me" from Kleeer's 1982 album "Get Ready" for the Intro to Jay Z's fifth studio album "The Dynasty: Roc La Familia".
Discography
- I Love to Dance (1979)
- Winners (1980)
- License to Dream (1981)
- Get Ready (1982)
- Intimate Connection (1984)
- Seekret (1985)
