Quietstorm of "HEATWAVE"

R.I.P Johnnie

Johnnie Wilder, Junior died Saturday, May 13th at his Clayton home. He was 56 years old. Wilder was a Dayton native and lead singer of the group Heatwave, which he founded with his brother Keith. The group Heatwave hit the Top Ten R&B and pop charts in the 1970's with songs like, "Boogie Nights" and "Always and Forever".

Wilder's career had a setback after a traffic accident in 1979 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Wilder's family still resides in the Dayton area.

• http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZWA0LPQM

• 1976 - All You Do Is Dial
• 1976 - Always and Forever
• 1976 - Sho'nuff Must Be Luv
• 1978 - First day of snow
• 1978 - That's the way we'll always say goodnight
• 1978 - This Night we fell
• 1981 - All I Am
• 1981 - Where Did I Go Wrong
• 1982 - Look after Love

Completely cosmopolitan with international grooves to spare, Heatwave emerged as one of the disco era's funkiest dance groups. American serviceman brothers Johnnie Wilder and his brother Keith Wilder were based in Germany when they first began performing, and upon their discharge from the Army, the duo stayed in that country. Both singers, the pair gigged in clubs and bars with an assortment of bands while still enlisted. However, they were constantly looking to expand their horizons, and in mid year they relocated to the UK to link up with songwriter/keyboardist Rod Temperton.

The nascent Heatwave quickly came together with the addition of Spanish bassist Mario Mantese, Czechoslovakian drummer Emest Berger and American guitarists Jesse Whittens and Eric Johns. With so many musical roots between them, it was only natural that they rapidly developed a sophisticated sound, an edge which Temperton would use to push Heatwave ahead of their peers.

Jamming, and ceaselessly touring the London club circuit allowed Heatwave to define and refine their music, eschewing straight disco beats for a sound that certainly contained that element, but fused it with a rich funk groove. That hard work paid off as the band signed to U.K. label GTO (Epic in the U.S) and began formulating their first album in fall 1976. They were paired in the studio with GTO house producer/session guitarist Barry Blue, who'd had his own string of hit singles, "Dancing On A Saturday Night" and "Do you Wanna Dance" among them in the early 1970s.

• http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Respect.html