Musician. Guitarist and original member of the famed Motown Records house band the Funk Brothers. Nicknamed “Chank,” he joined the Motown house band in 1959, joining a group of session musicians that included guitarists Joe Messina, Robert White and Marv Tarplin, bassist James Jamerson, drummer William “Benny” Benjamin, keyboardist Earl Van Dyke and percussionist Jack Ashford. Among the Motown hits that he played on: The Marvelette’s “Mr. Postman,” the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” the Temptations’ “The Way You Do the Things You Do” and Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made to Love Her” and “My Cherie Amour” were among the Motown hits. He remained with the Funk Brothers when Motown Records moved to Los Angeles but left the label in 1972. Also in 1972 he eventually made his way back down to Gore Springs, Mississippi. He did enjoy some of the spotlight generated by the Academy Award-winning 2002 documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown and the tours that followed. In 2013, he and the surviving members of the Funk Brothers reunited in Los Angeles to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He died from complications of polio.
Musician. Guitarist and original member of the famed Motown Records house band the Funk Brothers. Nicknamed “Chank,” he joined the Motown house band in 1959, joining a group of session musicians that included guitarists Joe Messina, Robert White and Marv Tarplin, bassist James Jamerson, drummer William “Benny” Benjamin, keyboardist Earl Van Dyke and percussionist Jack Ashford. Among the Motown hits that he played on: The Marvelette’s “Mr. Postman,” the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” the Temptations’ “The Way You Do the Things You Do” and Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made to Love Her” and “My Cherie Amour” were among the Motown hits. He remained with the Funk Brothers when Motown Records moved to Los Angeles but left the label in 1972. Also in 1972 he eventually made his way back down to Gore Springs, Mississippi. He did enjoy some of the spotlight generated by the Academy Award-winning 2002 documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown and the tours that followed. In 2013, he and the surviving members of the Funk Brothers reunited in Los Angeles to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He died from complications of polio.
Bio by: Babe
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