*Hip Hop producers have a long, proud history of snatching breaks, choruses, baselines and ad libs from James Brown, so it’s a bit hard to believe that the funk innovator would’ve ever borrowed any funk riff from another artist’s song. Well it happened in 1975, when Brown used the track from David Bowie’s “Fame” for his own single, “Hot (I Need to Be Loved, Loved, Loved, Loved,” but there’s a deeper reason why Brown chose this particular riff.
Bowie, a white artist who defied genres with experimental pop innovations and his androgynous Ziggy Stardust alter-ego, released his straight-up funk driven classic “Fame” in the U.S. on this day in 1975. The lyrics, about the drawbacks of stardom, was a direct answer to his 1972 song “Star” about a teen’s dream of being a singing sensation someday.
As the origin story goes, Bowie was in New York working on the “Young Americans” album when he met John Lennon. Of course, these two hit it off and it leads to a jam session, which took place at the famed Electric Lady Studios, where Bowie was recording at the time. Bowie’s guitarist, Carlos Alomar, started playing the guitar riff that he had developed for Bowie’s cover of “Foot Stompin” by The Flares. Then Lennon started repeating, “Aim,” over the riff, which Bowie changed to “Fame.” Lennon said of the song’s groove in a 1980 interview: “We took some Stevie Wonder middle eight and did it backwards, you know, and we made a record out of it!
Bowie banged out the lyrics, inspired by his own ‘upsetting management problems,” and Lennon’s falsetto interjections of “fame” remain on the track, echoing Bowie’s use of the word throughout the song. “Fame” was released June 28, 1975 as the second release off “Young Americans” and became Bowie’s first single to top the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for two non-consecutive weeks.
Six months later, James Brown straight jacked Alomar’s guitar riff for “Hot (I Need to Be Loved, Loved, Loved, Loved,” the first single from his December 1975 album, “Hot.” Listen below.
The Godfather of Soul likely had no qualms about borrowing another man’s funk riff because Alomar was briefly a member of Brown’s band in the late 1960s. The self-taught guitarist from Ponce, Puerto Rico is now best known for his run with Bowie, which lasted from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s.
Alomar ended up playing on more Bowie albums than any other musician. He also worked with Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Chuck Berry, Bette Midler, Arcadia, Digable Planets, the Bee Gees, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Carly Simon and Duran Duran.
BTW… Alomar is also credited with “discovering” Luther Vandross. The musician recruited the talent to sing behind Bowie for “Young Americans,” which ultimately led to Vandross’ successful solo career.
Below, Vandross co-produced the “Young Americans” track, “Fascination,” which was originally recorded under the title “Funky Music” by Vandross and his band Luther for Atlantic’s Cotillion Records.
Listen to both tracks below.
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