from 1979.
In 1976, Dodson (vocals), Alexander (bass), Lloyd Smith (guitar), Allen (trumpet), Henderson (saxophone), Frank Thompson (trombone), Stewart (keyboards), and Mike Beard (drums) brought their "Shake Your Rump to the Funk" track into the R&B Top Five.[3] In autumn 1977, the group came out with Flying High on Your Love, an album that featured "Shut the Funk Up", a "near-perfect disco song punctuated by the funky horn triumvirate of Charles 'Scoop' Allen, Harvey 'Joe' Henderson, and Frank 'Captain Disaster' Thompson and dominated by vocalist Larry 'D' Dodson's call to 'get on up or just shut the funk up'".[4]. Group peaked as funk band from late 70s to late 80s. They released funk single such as "Move Your Boogie Body[5]" (1979), "Hit and Run" (1981), "Freak Show on the Dance Floor" (1984), "Satisfied True" (1987), "Struck by You" (1989).
In 1983, Sherman Guy left the group, and Larry 'LJ' Johnson took his place on vocals and percussion. Charles Allen left the group just before it took a more commercial direction.[6] The Bar-Kays continued to have hits on R&B charts well into the 1980s.
Guitarist Marcus Price, a member of the band, was murdered after leaving a rehearsal in 1984; the crime has never been solved by the Memphis police.
The band took an extended break in the late 1980s but regrouped in 1991, with Alexander once again being the only original member. Since 1991, Larry Dodson, Archie Love, Bryan Smith, and Tony Gentry have been added to the group.
Alexander's son is the award-winning rapper and record producer Phalon "Jazze Pha" Alexander, named after Phalon Jones, who died in the 1967 plane crash. In 2013, the group was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.[7] On June 6, 2015, the Bar-Kays were inducted into the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
Trumpeter Ben Cauley died in Memphis on September 21, 2015, at the age of 67.[8]
1:04
1:42:36
9:33
1:23:24
