The Average White Band (AWB) was formed as a Scottish funk band in 1972 by original members Alan Gorrie, Malcolm “Molly” Duncan, Hamish Stuart, Roger Ball, Robbie McIntosh and Onnie McIntyre. They had their big breakthrough in 1973 when Eric Claptons tour manager Bruce McCaskill liked them so much that he decided to manage them. Soon after, they relocated to Los Angeles and were signed to Atlantic records in 1974.
They reached the height of their success in 1975 with the single “Pick Up The Pieces” which sold over one million copies. The song knocked Linda Ronstadt's "You're No Good" out of #1 on its way to the top of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
You can hear samples from many AWB tracks by artists including the Beastie Boys, Arrested Development, TLC, The Beatnuts, Too Short, Ice Cube and Nas.
My good friend Doug Motta first introduced me to AWB in 1999. Since then, I have been a huge fan. I always keep “Pick Up The Pieces”, “Cut The Cake” and one of my all time favorites “School Boy Crush” in heavy funk rotation.
"I was a fiend.. before I became a teen / melted microphones instead of cones of ice cream" !!! keeping it funky over here
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