The Floaters

The Floaters

The Floaters were an African American, R&B vocal group, from the Sojourner Truth housing projects in Detroit, Michigan, that formed in 1976.

Career

The band was formed by the former The Detroit Emeralds' singer James Mitchell, with his brother Paul Mitchell, Larry Cunningham, Charles Clark, and the unrelated Ralph Mitchell. Most of The Floaters were from the Sojourner Truth housing project, on Detroit's Eastside.

James Mitchell apparently came up with the idea and tune for their one major hit, "Float On," in a dream. The lyrics spotlighted each member of the band, who introduced themselves with their name and astrological sign. "Float On" was tracked in a garage recording studio called Pac 3. [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=33:acfoxz95ldhe Allmusic.com biography] ] The song was written by Arnold Ingram, Marvin Willis and James Mitchell Jr., and produced by Woody Wilson. It became a world wide hit in 1977 on ABC Records, reaching #1 on the U.S. R&B chart, #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and #1 in the UK Singles Chart (for a single week in August that year).

Follow-ups such as "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" could not duplicate the bizarre charm of "Float On," but, with some changes in the line-up, the group remained active for several years, unable to shake off their one-hit wonder tag.

The Floaters returned to Pac 3 to record a new version of "Float On" with Full Force for the Brooklyn, New York based group's summer 2001 TVT debut album, "Still Standing".

In 1976 Larry Cunningham auditioned to be the lead singer of English progressive rock band Genesis, but it was felt that songs like "Supper's Ready" were outside of his vocal range.

Parody

Cheech & Chong did a parody of the song, retitled "Bloat On featuring The Bloaters." It appears on their compilation album, "Where There's Smoke There's Cheech & Chong".

Album discography

tudio albums

*"Float On" - 1977 - MCA Records - #10 Billboard 200
*"Floaters" - 1977 - ABC Records - #1 Billboard Black Album chart
*"Magic" - 1978 - ABC Records - #131 Billboard Hot 200
*"Float Into the Future" - 1979 - MCA Records [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0pfpxqr5ldje~T2 Allmusic.com discography] ]

Compilation album

*"Float On: The Best of The Floaters" - 2004 - MCA International

ee also

*One-hit wonders in the UK
*List of number-one singles from the 1970s (UK)
*Classic Soul Ballads

References

External links

* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0pfpxqr5ldje~T0 The Floaters mini- biography] at Allmusic website


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