The Commodores were formed at Tuskagee Institute, Alabama, USA, in 1967, when two groups of students merged to form a six-piece band. Lionel Richie (b. 20 June 1949, Tuskegee, Alabama, USA; keyboards, saxophone, vocals), Thomas McClary (b. 6 October 1950; guitar) and William King (b. 30 January 1949, Alabama, USA; trumpet) had been members of the Mystics; Andre Callahan (drums), Michael Gilbert (bass) and Milan Williams (b. 28 March 1949, Mississippi, USA; keyboards) previously played with the Jays. Callahan and Gilbert were replaced, respectively, by Walter 'Clyde' Orange (b. 10 December 1947, Florida, USA) and Ronald LaPread (b. 1950, Florida, USA), before the Commodores moved to New York in 1969, where they became established as a club band specializing in funk instrumentals. A year later, they recorded an album for Atlantic Records, left unissued at the time but subsequently released as Rise Up, which included instrumental cover versions of recent R&B hits, plus some original material.

In 1972, the group's manager, Bernie Ashburn, secured them a support slot on an American tour with the Jackson Five, and the Commodores were duly signed to Motown Records. They continued to tour with the Jackson Five for three years, after which they supported the Rolling Stones on their 1975 US tour. By this time, their mix of hard-edged funk songs and romantic ballads, the latter mostly penned and sung by Richie, had won them a national following. The instrumental 'Machine Gun' gave them their first US hit, followed by 'Slippery When Wet'. The Commodores soon found consistent success with Richie's smooth ballads; 'Sweet Love', 'Just To Be Close To You' and 'Easy' all enjoyed huge sales between 1975 and 1977. Although Clyde Orange's aggressive 'Too Hot To Trot' broke the sequence of ballads in 1977, the Commodores were increasingly regarded as a soft-soul outfit. This perception was underlined when Richie's sensitive love song to his wife, 'Three Times A Lady', became a number 1 record in the USA and UK, where it was Motown's biggest-selling record to date. The follow-up, 'Sail On', introduced a country flavour to Richie's work, and he began to receive commissions to write material for artists such as Kenny Rogers.

After 'Still' gave them another US pop and soul number 1 in 1979, confirming the Commodores as Motown's best-selling act of the 70s, the group attempted to move into a more experimental blend of funk and rock on Heroes in 1980. The commercial failure of this venture, and the success of Lionel Richie's duet with Diana Ross on 'Endless Love', persuaded him to leave the group for a solo career. The remaining Commodores were initially overshadowed by the move, with the replacement Kevin Smith unable to emulate Richie's role in live performances.

In 1984, Thomas McClary also launched a solo career with an album for Motown. He was replaced by Englishman J.D. Nicholas (b. 12 April 1952, Watford, Hertfordshire, England), formerly vocalist with Heatwave, and this combination was featured on the group's enormous 1985 hit 'Nightshift', an affecting tribute to Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson that successfully captured Gaye's shifting, rhythmic brand of soul. Later that year, the Commodores left Motown for Polydor, prompting Ronald LaPread to leave the band. Their new contract began promisingly with a major US soul chart hit, 'Goin' To The Bank' (1986), but subsequent releases proved less successful. The group made an unexpected return to the UK chart in 1988 when 'Easy' was used for a television commercial for the Halifax Building Society, and reached number 15. With an ever-declining audience, the Commodores have lost much of their status as one of America's most popular soul bands.

Encyclopedia of Popular Music Copyright Muze UK Ltd. 1989 - 1998

LOOK	ALBUM	YEAR
	Ultimate Collection	1997
	Anthology Series	1995
	XX- No Tricks	1993
	Christmas	1992
	Hits - Volume Two	1992
	Solitaire	1988
	Rock Solid	1988
	Rise Up	1987
	United	1986
	Nightshift	1985
	There's a Song in My Heart	1985
	All the Great Love Songs	1984
	Commodores 13	1983
	All the Great Hits	1982
	Love Songs	1981
	In the Pocket	1981
	Heroes	1980
	Midnight Magic	1979
	Natural High	1978
	Live! 1977	1977
	Zoom	1977
	Commodores	1977
	Hot on the Tracks	1976
	Movin' On	1975
	Caught in the Act	1975
	Machine Gun	1974

Ultimate Collection 1997

01. Machine Gun 02. Slippery When Wet 03. Sweet Love 04. Just To Be Close To You 05. Fancy Dancer 06. Girl, I Think The World About You 07. Easy 08. Zoom

09. Brick House 10. Too Hot Ta Trot 11. Three Times A Lady 12. Still 13. Old-Fashion Love 14. Lady (You Bring Me Up) 15. Nightshift

Anthology Series 1995

Disc 1 01. Let's Get Started 02. Machine Gun 03. The Zoo (The Human Zoo) 04. Are You Happy 05. Don't You Be Worried 06. Slippery When Wet 07. I Feel Sanctified 08. Young Girls Are My Weakness 09. The Bump 10. This Is Your Life 11. Sweet Love 12. Just To Be Close To You 13. Easy 14. High On Sunshine 15. Fancy Dancer 16. Cebu 17. Zoom 18. Brick House 19. Too Hot Ta Trot 20. Three Times A Lady 21. I Like What I Do

Disc 2 01. Flying High 02. Still 03. Sail On 04. Wonderland 05. Old Fashioned Love 06. Heroes 07. Jesus is love 08. Lady ( you bring me up) 09. Oh no 10. Why you wanna try me 11. Painted picture 12. Only you 13. Reach high 14. Turn off the lights 15. Nightshift 16. Animal instinct 17. Janet 18. Goin' to the bank

XX- No Tricks 1993

01. No Tricks 02. Shut Up And Dance 03. Brick House '93 04. Living On The Edge 05. Let's Get Busy

06. Everything Reminds Me Of You 07. Missing You 08. Don't Rock lt 09. Your Smile 10. Take My Hand

Christmas 1992

01. When The Stars Come Out For Christmas 02. Hark The Herald Angels Sing 03. Christmas Time Is Here 04. The First Noel 05. Merry Christmas, Oh Happy Day 06. O Come All Ye Faithful

07. The Christmas Song 08. Deck The Halls 09. Do You Hear What I Hear 10. Sleigh Ride Together With You 11. Angels We Have Heard On High 12. Jerry The Elf

Hits - Volume Two 1992

01. Flying High 02. Sail On 03. Still 04. Jesus Is Love 05. Old Fashion Love

06. Zoom 07. Lady (You Bring Me Up) 08. Oh No 09. Nightshift 10. Goin' To The Bank

Solitaire 1988

Rock Solid 1988

Rise Up 1987

1. Cowboys to Girls 2. Rise Up 3. Losing You 4. Who's Making Love 5. Sing a Simple Song

6. Baby This Is Forever 7. Love Canoe 8. Come by Here 9. Keep on Dancing

United 1986

Nightshift 1985

1. Animal Instinct 2. Nightshift 3. I Keep Running 4. Lay Back 5. Slip of the Tongue

6. Play This Record Twice 7. Janet 8. Woman in My Life 9. Lightin' up the Night

There's a Song in My Heart 1985

All the Great Love Songs 1984

01. Sweet Love 02. Just To Be Close To You 03. Easy 04. Three Times A Lady 05. Say Yeah 06. Still 07. Lovin' You

08. Sail On 09. Old-Fashion Love 10. Jesus Is Love 11. Lady ( You Bring Me Up) 12. Oh No 13. This Love 14. Lucy

Commodores 13 1983

1. I'm in Love 2. Turn off the Lights 3. Nothing Like a Woman 4. Captured

5. Touchdown 6. Welcome Home 7. Ooo, Woman You 8. Only You

All the Great Hits 1982

01. Painted Picture 02. Lady (You Bring Me Up) 03. Sail On 04. Still 05. Machine Gun

06. Brick House 07. Easy 08. Oh No 09. Three Times A Lady 10. Reach High

Love Songs 1981

In the Pocket 1981

1. Lady (you bring me up) 2. Saturday night 3. Keep on taking me higher 4. Oh no

5. Why you wanna try me 6. This love 7. Been loving you 8. Lucy

Heroes 1980

1. Got to be together 2. Celebrate 3. Old-fashioned love 4. Heroes

5. All the way down 6. Sorry to say 7. Wake up children 8. Mighty spirit 9. Jesus is love

Midnight Magic 1979

1. Gettin' it 2. Midnight magic 3. You're special 4. Still

5. Wonderland 6. Sexy lady 7. Lovin' you 8. Sail On 9. 12:01 A. M.

Natural High 1978

1. Fire girl 2. X-Rated movie 3. Flying high 4. Three times a lady

5. Such a woman 6. Say yeah 7. I like what you do 8. Visions

Live! 1977

01. Won't you come dance with me 02. Slippery when wet 03. Come inside 04. Just to be close to you 05. Funny feelings 06. Fancy dancer

07. Sweet love 08. Zoom 09. Easy 10. I feel sanctified 11. Brick house 12. Too hot ta trot

Zoom 1977

1. Squeeze the Fruit 2. Funny Feelings 3. Heaven Knows 4. Zoom 5. Won't You Come Dance with Me

6. Brick House 7. Funky Situation 8. Patch It Up 9. Easy

Commodores 1977

01. Squeeze The Fruit 02. Funny Feelings 03. Heaven Knows 04. Zoom 05. Won't You Come Dance With Me

06. Brick House 07. Funky Situation 08. Patch It Up 09. Easy

Hot on the Tracks 1976

1. Let's get started 2. Girl, I think the world about you 3. High on sunshine 4. Just to be close to you

5. Fancy dancer 6. Come inside 7. Thumping music 8. Quick draw 9. Can't let you tease me

Movin' On 1975

Caught in the Act 1975

01. Wide open 02. Slippery when wet 03. The bump 04. I'm ready 05. This is your life

06. Let's do it right 07. Better never than forever 08. Look what you've done to me 09. You don't know that I know 10. Wide open (reprise)

Machine Gun 1974

1. Machine Gun 2. Young Girls Are My Weakness 3. I Feel Sanctified 4. Bump 5. Rapid Fire

6. Assembly Line 7. Zoogonna Blow Your Mind 8. There's a Song in My Heart 9. Superman