SXSW 2013: Dave Grohl Leads Sound City Players in Last Show

Dave Grohl and Alain Johannes perform at Citi Presents Sound City Players Live at SXSW on March 14th, 2013 in Austin, Texas.

Dave Grohl made a promise when he took the stage with his Sound City Players last night in Austin for a performance that doubled as their SXSW debut and, he said, their last-ever show. "This is gonna be a long fuckin' night," the singer, guitarist, drummer and now documentarian announced at Stubb's.

True to his word, Grohl led the Sound City Players through a three hour and 20 minute concert comprising nearly 40 songs, featuring Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, Rick Springfield and more, backed by a house band made up mostly of Foo Fighters. All the acts have recorded at the beloved Sound City studios in Los Angeles, which was the subject of Grohl's recent documentary by the same name and the inspiration for the accompanying soundtrack album, Sound City – Real to Reel.

SXSW 2013: Dave Grohl's Keynote Speech

Afternoon rumors that Paul McCartney would make an appearance proved unfounded, but it's hard to imagine where they would have slotted him in. The show, presented by Citi, required seven different set lists as guests rotated through and the songs veered from heavy to poppy and back again.

Queens of the Stone Age collaborator Alain Johannes was the first to join the Sound City Players onstage, singing and playing thunderous guitar on a handful of songs, including "Hanging Tree," which he co-wrote for QOTSA, and "Reach Out" by his former band Eleven.

Nicks was next, and she surrounded a somber new song, "You Can't Fix This," with more familiar fare from her own catalog and Fleetwood Mac's, including a version of "Landslide" with Grohl accompanying her on a 12-string acoustic guitar. 

After Nicks finished with "Gold Dust Woman," given added heft by the Foo Fighters, she yielded to Chris Goss from Masters of Reality. Rage Against the Machine (and now Black Sabbath) drummer Brad Wilk laid down a speedy train rhythm that pushed through squalls of guitar on "She Got Me (When She Got Her Dress On)," while "Time Slowing Down" was a mid-tempo brooder.

Fear leader Lee Ving joined Grohl and company for a quick tour of old-school hardcore, barking out lyrics in a voice with the gnarled bite of an old-growth thorn tree. "It may be short, but you still get the same number of notes because we play 'em fast," Ving said after the 60-second blast "Gimme Some Action."

Following Ving with Springfield was an incongruous choice, as Grohl acknowledged, but the singer launched into a string of catchy hits, including "I've Done Everything for You" and, of course, "Jessie's Girl," that served as a strong reminder of his pop bona fides.

That's about when things started getting loose. Grohl switched to drums as former Nirvana bandmates Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear joined him, Slipknot singer Corey Taylor and Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen for a mini-set that slid quickly into sing-along, pump-your-fist versions of Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" (with Taylor Hawkins trading off with Taylor on vocals) and "Surrender." 

Finally, Fogerty came out and shut things down with a quick spin through some Creedence Clearwater Revival songs and his own "Centerfield." Grohl looked positively delighted when Fogerty played the vibrato guitar lick that opens "Born on a Bayou," and the band rolled easily through "Bad Moon Rising" and "Proud Mary" before ending the show with a high-octane version of "Fortunate Son."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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SXSW 2013: Dave Grohl Leads Sound City Players in Last Show

Dave Grohl and Alain Johannes perform at Citi Presents Sound City Players Live at SXSW on March 14th, 2013 in Austin, Texas.

Dave Grohl made a promise when he took the stage with his Sound City Players last night in Austin for a performance that doubled as their SXSW debut and, he said, their last-ever show. "This is gonna be a long fuckin' night," the singer, guitarist, drummer and now documentarian announced at Stubb's.

True to his word, Grohl led the Sound City Players through a three hour and 20 minute concert comprising nearly 40 songs, featuring Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, Rick Springfield and more, backed by a house band made up mostly of Foo Fighters. All the acts have recorded at the beloved Sound City studios in Los Angeles, which was the subject of Grohl's recent documentary by the same name and the inspiration for the accompanying soundtrack album, Sound City – Real to Reel.

SXSW 2013: Dave Grohl's Keynote Speech

Afternoon rumors that Paul McCartney would make an appearance proved unfounded, but it's hard to imagine where they would have slotted him in. The show, presented by Citi, required seven different set lists as guests rotated through and the songs veered from heavy to poppy and back again.

Queens of the Stone Age collaborator Alain Johannes was the first to join the Sound City Players onstage, singing and playing thunderous guitar on a handful of songs, including "Hanging Tree," which he co-wrote for QOTSA, and "Reach Out" by his former band Eleven.

Nicks was next, and she surrounded a somber new song, "You Can't Fix This," with more familiar fare from her own catalog and Fleetwood Mac's, including a version of "Landslide" with Grohl accompanying her on a 12-string acoustic guitar. 

After Nicks finished with "Gold Dust Woman," given added heft by the Foo Fighters, she yielded to Chris Goss from Masters of Reality. Rage Against the Machine (and now Black Sabbath) drummer Brad Wilk laid down a speedy train rhythm that pushed through squalls of guitar on "She Got Me (When She Got Her Dress On)," while "Time Slowing Down" was a mid-tempo brooder.

Fear leader Lee Ving joined Grohl and company for a quick tour of old-school hardcore, barking out lyrics in a voice with the gnarled bite of an old-growth thorn tree. "It may be short, but you still get the same number of notes because we play 'em fast," Ving said after the 60-second blast "Gimme Some Action."

Following Ving with Springfield was an incongruous choice, as Grohl acknowledged, but the singer launched into a string of catchy hits, including "I've Done Everything for You" and, of course, "Jessie's Girl," that served as a strong reminder of his pop bona fides.

That's about when things started getting loose. Grohl switched to drums as former Nirvana bandmates Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear joined him, Slipknot singer Corey Taylor and Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen for a mini-set that slid quickly into sing-along, pump-your-fist versions of Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" (with Taylor Hawkins trading off with Taylor on vocals) and "Surrender." 

Finally, Fogerty came out and shut things down with a quick spin through some Creedence Clearwater Revival songs and his own "Centerfield." Grohl looked positively delighted when Fogerty played the vibrato guitar lick that opens "Born on a Bayou," and the band rolled easily through "Bad Moon Rising" and "Proud Mary" before ending the show with a high-octane version of "Fortunate Son."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Dave Grohl, John Fogerty Lead Sound City Players on 'Kimmel'

Dave Grohl, John Fogerty Lead Sound City Players on 'Kimmel'Group burns through Creedence Clearwater song 'Fortunate Son' $(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').hide(); } ); }); By

Dave Grohl's Sound City Players keep rolling, with the all-star jam session packing Hollywood Boulevard last night as part of a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Grohl and John Fogerty anchored a scorching version of the Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Fortunate Son," trading verses and singing harmony on the chorus while Taylor Hawkins propelled the tune with a loose, rollicking backbeat. It was the latest in a growing string of gigs by the Sound City Players, who will also be performing at SXSW in Austin on March 14th. The group grew out Grohl's recent Sound City documentary, about the famed L.A. recording studio.

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Dave Grohl, John Fogerty Lead Sound City Players on 'Kimmel'

Dave Grohl, John Fogerty Lead Sound City Players on 'Kimmel'Group burns through Creedence Clearwater song 'Fortunate Son' $(document).ready(function() { $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .email-content').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.email').hide(); } ); $('.socialActionsTop .pageActions .print-page').hover( function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').show(); }, function() { $('.socialActionsTop .bubble.print').hide(); } ); }); By

Dave Grohl's Sound City Players keep rolling, with the all-star jam session packing Hollywood Boulevard last night as part of a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Grohl and John Fogerty anchored a scorching version of the Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Fortunate Son," trading verses and singing harmony on the chorus while Taylor Hawkins propelled the tune with a loose, rollicking backbeat. It was the latest in a growing string of gigs by the Sound City Players, who will also be performing at SXSW in Austin on March 14th. The group grew out Grohl's recent Sound City documentary, about the famed L.A. recording studio.

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Dave Grohl's Sound City Players Book Sole New York Show

Alain Johannes, Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of Sound City Players in Park City, Utah.

Dave Grohl's Sound City Players took over Sundance last month with a three-plus hour performance celebrating his directorial debut on the Sound City documentary in style. The show boasted an all-star lineup of musicians featured in the film, with Grohl bringing out friends including Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty and Rick Springfield for the extended set. Now, after performing last night in Los Angeles, Grohl and the Sound City Players have booked a sole New York show set for February 13th at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

Q&A: Dave Grohl on His 'Sound City' Doc and Taking Risks in Music

The lineup includes Nicks, Fogerty, Springfield, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine, Grohl's Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic, Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Pat Smear. Tickets will go on sale February 5th at 4 p.m. EST on Ticketmaster.

Sound City, a cinematic love note to the Van Nuys, California, recording studio, is available on the film's website, and its soundtrack, Sound City – Real to Reel, will be released March 12th.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Read more »

Dave Grohl's Sound City Players Throw Three-Hour Bash in L.A.

Dave Grohl is an evangelist for the soul of rock & roll, and he's gotten into the habit of making his adolescent rock dreams come true. It happened again last night at the Hollywood Palladium, where he was joined by Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, members of Cheap Trick, Rage Against the Machine, Fear and a small army of heroes and contemporaries in celebration of the late, legendary L.A. recording studio Sound City.

For more than three hours, Grohl and his Foo Fighters ripped through a chunk of rock & roll history, from pop to punk to classic rock, immediately following the premiere of his inspired new documentary, Sound City: Real to Reel, at the old Cinerama Dome blocks away.

"They made a movie about it, but they missed one little part," Fogerty shouted early in his set with the Foos, dressed in jeans and flannel shirt, looking over at Grohl. "What we got in common is we all love that guy right there."

Fogerty rocked through five Creedence Clearwater Revival standards and his 1985 solo hit "Centerfield," the last one played on a baseball bat-shaped guitar. Grohl shouted along to "Born on the Bayou" and traded verses on "Fortunate Son." At the close of "Bad Moon Rising," Grohl looked up with hands in praying position, one more dream fulfilled.

The night's closing set had the Foos led by Nicks, beginning with "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," her 1981 hit with Tom Petty. Grohl was her singing partner this time, and Foo Fighter Chris Shiflett plucked dreamy bits of electric guitar.

Video: Dave Grohl's 'Sound City' Doc Gets Trailer          
Nicks arrived in black dress and tinted glasses, blonde hair past her shoulders, banging a tambourine. Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" unfolded amid undulating, spacey waves of sound and feeling. For "Landslide," Grohl backed up Nicks alone on 12-string acoustic, as the crowd sang and lifted up their glowing cell phones. One guy deep in the crowd kept it analog, holding up a single cigarette lighter.

Before beginning the soundtrack's dramatic "You Can't Fix This," Nicks explained that the song was based on a poem inspired by the recent death of her teenage godson at a fraternity party, a somber but moving note in an otherwise celebratory evening. And her set-closing "Gold Dust Woman" was dark and smoldering, rising from a noisy swirl, closing amid fading waves of feedback and a single, crashing beat from Taylor Hawkins. This summer's Fleetwood Mac tour will have something to live up to.

Between sets, a movie screen descended for excerpts and outtakes from the documentary, including a comment from Fogerty at the core of the film: "It's not the gear, it's not the technology. It's the people."

Sound City, proudly analog and tape-based, was where Nirvana recorded its career-making Nevermind. Grohl's comments at last year's Grammys were widely (mis)interpreted as being anti-EDM, when his sermon was really a warning against perfectionism and polish over the human element. It's the same reason punk rock was invented in the indulgent, glossed-up Seventies.

The night's juxtapositions might have seemed perverse to a musical ideologue, but it hung together as a simple celebration of all that once inspired the concert's generations of rockers. No one was more euphoric than Rick Springfield, who repeatedly tossed his guitar high into the air between songs, including his collaboration with the Foos on the movie soundtrack "The Man That Never Was." His "Jessie's Girl" was one of the night's biggest crowd-pleasers, and like other tunes from his pop-rock catalog, it was toughened up in the hands of the Foos.

Another implausible lineup featured Slipknot/Stone Sour singer Corey Taylor, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, with Grohl on drums, ecstatically running through a set heavy with Cheap Trick hits. "I was in Kansas City 12 hours ago," Taylor told the crowd. "There was no fucking way I was missing this."

Cheap Trick's "Hello There" had Taylor wailing, "Are you ready to rock?" beside Nielsen in traditional bowtie and cap. The Slipknot growler sang "Surrender" as if he was always meant to. "From Can to Can't" (from the soundtrack) was built from a Beatles "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"-like guitar pattern. During Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame," Novoselic kicked high into the air, swinging his bass across the stage, an expression of real joy on his bearded face.

Earlier, Grohl first slipped behind the drums with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, pounding through the brain-scorched psychedelia of "Heaven & All," which opens the documentary's soundtrack, and a stormy "Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll" (from BRMC's 2001 debut).

"Dave Grohl rhymes with rock & roll," declared singer-guitarist-producer Chris Goss during his set with the night's ringmaster. Grohl and drummer Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine (and now Black Sabbath) followed him into the overlapping guitar grind of "She Got Me" by Goss's Masters of Reality.

The night began with the Foos backing up Alain Johannes on the soundtrack's "A Trick With No Sleeve," a growling folk tune with an electric guitar shimmer, and Grohl banged his head to the misty-mountain-hop riffs. Johannes is a highly respected L.A. bandleader (Eleven, What Is This? etc.), producer, songwriter and sideman. He's been a member of Queens of the Stone Age and touring guitarist with the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures; last night he led the Foos through QOTSA's "Hangin' Tree," a brooding, driving, shape-shifting song he co-authored with Josh Homme.

Grohl sang harmony and was effussive with praise for the multi-instrumentalist. "I love you, Al," Grohl said to Johannes. "Thank you for playing music with me. You're a fucking genius."

The night turned to first-wave L.A. punk rock with Fear's Lee Ving, opening his set with a blazing harmonica wheeze before growling his signature "One-two-three-four! One-two-three-four!" at hyper-speed. With the Foos (and Johannes on bass), Ving ripped into the soundtrack's taunting "Your Wife is Calling." Soon the band was pounding through Fear's "I Love Livin' in the City," with Hawkins on jackhammer beat.

Foo Fighter guitarist Pat Smear, whose snarling early punk band the Germs came from the same underground L.A. scene, raised a fist as Ving snarled, as only he can, "This is an old-fashioned sing-along."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Dave Grohl's Sound City Players Book Sole New York Show

Alain Johannes, Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins of Sound City Players in Park City, Utah.

Dave Grohl's Sound City Players took over Sundance last month with a three-plus hour performance celebrating his directorial debut on the Sound City documentary in style. The show boasted an all-star lineup of musicians featured in the film, with Grohl bringing out friends including Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty and Rick Springfield for the extended set. Now, after performing last night in Los Angeles, Grohl and the Sound City Players have booked a sole New York show set for February 13th at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

Q&A: Dave Grohl on His 'Sound City' Doc and Taking Risks in Music

The lineup includes Nicks, Fogerty, Springfield, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine, Grohl's Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic, Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Pat Smear. Tickets will go on sale February 5th at 4 p.m. EST on Ticketmaster.

Sound City, a cinematic love note to the Van Nuys, California, recording studio, is available on the film's website, and its soundtrack, Sound City – Real to Reel, will be released March 12th.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »

Dave Grohl's Sound City Players Throw Three-Hour Bash in L.A.

Dave Grohl is an evangelist for the soul of rock & roll, and he's gotten into the habit of making his adolescent rock dreams come true. It happened again last night at the Hollywood Palladium, where he was joined by Stevie Nicks, John Fogerty, members of Cheap Trick, Rage Against the Machine, Fear and a small army of heroes and contemporaries in celebration of the late, legendary L.A. recording studio Sound City.

For more than three hours, Grohl and his Foo Fighters ripped through a chunk of rock & roll history, from pop to punk to classic rock, immediately following the premiere of his inspired new documentary, Sound City: Real to Reel, at the old Cinerama Dome blocks away.

"They made a movie about it, but they missed one little part," Fogerty shouted early in his set with the Foos, dressed in jeans and flannel shirt, looking over at Grohl. "What we got in common is we all love that guy right there."

Fogerty rocked through five Creedence Clearwater Revival standards and his 1985 solo hit "Centerfield," the last one played on a baseball bat-shaped guitar. Grohl shouted along to "Born on the Bayou" and traded verses on "Fortunate Son." At the close of "Bad Moon Rising," Grohl looked up with hands in praying position, one more dream fulfilled.

The night's closing set had the Foos led by Nicks, beginning with "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," her 1981 hit with Tom Petty. Grohl was her singing partner this time, and Foo Fighter Chris Shiflett plucked dreamy bits of electric guitar.

Video: Dave Grohl's 'Sound City' Doc Gets Trailer          
Nicks arrived in black dress and tinted glasses, blonde hair past her shoulders, banging a tambourine. Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" unfolded amid undulating, spacey waves of sound and feeling. For "Landslide," Grohl backed up Nicks alone on 12-string acoustic, as the crowd sang and lifted up their glowing cell phones. One guy deep in the crowd kept it analog, holding up a single cigarette lighter.

Before beginning the soundtrack's dramatic "You Can't Fix This," Nicks explained that the song was based on a poem inspired by the recent death of her teenage godson at a fraternity party, a somber but moving note in an otherwise celebratory evening. And her set-closing "Gold Dust Woman" was dark and smoldering, rising from a noisy swirl, closing amid fading waves of feedback and a single, crashing beat from Taylor Hawkins. This summer's Fleetwood Mac tour will have something to live up to.

Between sets, a movie screen descended for excerpts and outtakes from the documentary, including a comment from Fogerty at the core of the film: "It's not the gear, it's not the technology. It's the people."

Sound City, proudly analog and tape-based, was where Nirvana recorded its career-making Nevermind. Grohl's comments at last year's Grammys were widely (mis)interpreted as being anti-EDM, when his sermon was really a warning against perfectionism and polish over the human element. It's the same reason punk rock was invented in the indulgent, glossed-up Seventies.

The night's juxtapositions might have seemed perverse to a musical ideologue, but it hung together as a simple celebration of all that once inspired the concert's generations of rockers. No one was more euphoric than Rick Springfield, who repeatedly tossed his guitar high into the air between songs, including his collaboration with the Foos on the movie soundtrack "The Man That Never Was." His "Jessie's Girl" was one of the night's biggest crowd-pleasers, and like other tunes from his pop-rock catalog, it was toughened up in the hands of the Foos.

Another implausible lineup featured Slipknot/Stone Sour singer Corey Taylor, Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen and Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, with Grohl on drums, ecstatically running through a set heavy with Cheap Trick hits. "I was in Kansas City 12 hours ago," Taylor told the crowd. "There was no fucking way I was missing this."

Cheap Trick's "Hello There" had Taylor wailing, "Are you ready to rock?" beside Nielsen in traditional bowtie and cap. The Slipknot growler sang "Surrender" as if he was always meant to. "From Can to Can't" (from the soundtrack) was built from a Beatles "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"-like guitar pattern. During Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame," Novoselic kicked high into the air, swinging his bass across the stage, an expression of real joy on his bearded face.

Earlier, Grohl first slipped behind the drums with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, pounding through the brain-scorched psychedelia of "Heaven & All," which opens the documentary's soundtrack, and a stormy "Whatever Happened to My Rock 'n' Roll" (from BRMC's 2001 debut).

"Dave Grohl rhymes with rock & roll," declared singer-guitarist-producer Chris Goss during his set with the night's ringmaster. Grohl and drummer Brad Wilk of Rage Against the Machine (and now Black Sabbath) followed him into the overlapping guitar grind of "She Got Me" by Goss's Masters of Reality.

The night began with the Foos backing up Alain Johannes on the soundtrack's "A Trick With No Sleeve," a growling folk tune with an electric guitar shimmer, and Grohl banged his head to the misty-mountain-hop riffs. Johannes is a highly respected L.A. bandleader (Eleven, What Is This? etc.), producer, songwriter and sideman. He's been a member of Queens of the Stone Age and touring guitarist with the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures; last night he led the Foos through QOTSA's "Hangin' Tree," a brooding, driving, shape-shifting song he co-authored with Josh Homme.

Grohl sang harmony and was effussive with praise for the multi-instrumentalist. "I love you, Al," Grohl said to Johannes. "Thank you for playing music with me. You're a fucking genius."

The night turned to first-wave L.A. punk rock with Fear's Lee Ving, opening his set with a blazing harmonica wheeze before growling his signature "One-two-three-four! One-two-three-four!" at hyper-speed. With the Foos (and Johannes on bass), Ving ripped into the soundtrack's taunting "Your Wife is Calling." Soon the band was pounding through Fear's "I Love Livin' in the City," with Hawkins on jackhammer beat.

Foo Fighter guitarist Pat Smear, whose snarling early punk band the Germs came from the same underground L.A. scene, raised a fist as Ving snarled, as only he can, "This is an old-fashioned sing-along."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Ohio Players Frontman Leroy 'Sugarfoot' Bonner Dead at 69

Leroy 'Sugarfoot' Bonner of Sugarfoot's Ohio Players in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Ohio Players frontman Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner died Saturday in his hometown near Dayton, Ohio, according to his Facebook page. He was 69. No cause of death was announced.

Bonner co-founded the Ohio Players in 1964 with former members of The Ohio Untouchables, and the group scored big hits in the Seventies with "Funky Worm," "Who'd She Coo?" and most notably "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster."

Photos: The Ohio Players

"Humble yet charismatic, soft spoken and of few words, the weight of his thoughts, lyrics, and music has influenced countless other artists, songs, and trends," reads the post on Bonner's Facebook page. "He will be missed but not forgotten as his legacy and music lives on."

Bonner toured with a version of the Ohio Players until his death. "Love Rollercoaster" found new life in the Nineties as a hit for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the band's songs have been widely used as samples in rap music. "Funky Worm" and its swirling, signature Moog sound became a staple of rap, from N.W.A's sample in 1988's "Gangsta Gangsta" to a similarly inspired outro on Kendrick Lamar's "m.A.A.d City." last year.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Ohio Players Frontman Leroy 'Sugarfoot' Bonner Dead at 69

Leroy 'Sugarfoot' Bonner of Sugarfoot's Ohio Players in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Ohio Players frontman Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner died Saturday in his hometown near Dayton, Ohio, according to his Facebook page. He was 69. No cause of death was announced.

Bonner co-founded the Ohio Players in 1964 with former members of The Ohio Untouchables, and the group scored big hits in the Seventies with "Funky Worm," "Who'd She Coo?" and most notably "Fire" and "Love Rollercoaster."

Photos: The Ohio Players

"Humble yet charismatic, soft spoken and of few words, the weight of his thoughts, lyrics, and music has influenced countless other artists, songs, and trends," reads the post on Bonner's Facebook page. "He will be missed but not forgotten as his legacy and music lives on."

Bonner toured with a version of the Ohio Players until his death. "Love Rollercoaster" found new life in the Nineties as a hit for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and the band's songs have been widely used as samples in rap music. "Funky Worm" and its swirling, signature Moog sound became a staple of rap, from N.W.A's sample in 1988's "Gangsta Gangsta" to a similarly inspired outro on Kendrick Lamar's "m.A.A.d City." last year.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

Amazon Music and MP3 Center

Read more »