The roots of the Ohio Players go back to Dayton - you guessed it in Ohio - where they backed local singer Robert Ward as the Ohio Untouchables. They cut sides on Lupine, including backing Wilson Pickett in the Falcons on 'I Found A Love'. The main players in the Untouchables left Ward, recruited some new members and became the Ohio Players. They arrived at Westbound via New York and Nashville hitting immediately with their debut Westbound 45, 'Pain'. But it was their fourth single, the almost ludicrous and now much sampled 'Funky Worm', that took them all the way to the top. They cut three albums at Westbound, each with the distinctive and distinctly erotic Joel Brodsky sleeve shots. They jumped ship to Mercury and a string of hits and a lot of litigation over the next four years. Junie Morrison stayed on at Westbound and cut three solo albums, which are anthologies on "The Westbound Years". But man, what a funky little outfit Ohio Players were.
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