Fdeluxe

The Family has long been acclaimed as one of the finest acts to emerge from the post ‘Purple Rain’ era of R&B. Instigated by Prince, the group featured the vocals of St. Paul Peterson alongside bandmates Jellybean Johnson and Jerome Benton of The Time, saxophonist Eric Leeds and Susannah Melvoin, twin sister of Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin. The Minneapolis group’s debut album wast he first non-Prince album to be released on their mentor’s Warner Bros distributed Paisley Park Records. Cited by the likes of Questlove, D’Angelo and Dam Funk as one of their favorite all-time releases ‘The Family’ included a top 10 R&B hit ‘Screams Of Passion’, the now classic funk of ‘High Fashion’ and ‘Mutiny’ and introduced ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ which was famously covered by Sinead O’Connor. The band disbanded after one concert - a sold out show at Minneapolis’ famous First Avenue - and, while they remained in friendly touch with each other, the members forged careers down separate paths. Jerome, Susannah and Eric joined the expanded line-up of The Revolution (Leeds would go on to front jazz-funk outfit Madhouse and release 3 solo albums), Jellybean would join Jam & Lewis at Flyte Tyme (producing hits for the likes of Janet Jackson, Mint Condition and New Edition) and multi-instrumentalist St. Paul released albums for MCA and Atlantic before become an in-demand session musician. After nearly two decades the band reunited briefly in 2003 at the request of Sheila E. for a huge charity concert at LA’s Forum. A year later The Roots’ Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson persuaded them to appear at his hot ticket post Grammy party. Call it fate but the gigs all but dictated that the group (minus Jerome) pool their resources and focus on what become their long awaited second album. The band’s highly anticipated comeback album ‘Gaslight’ (released under the name fDeluxe) was released in October 2011 and quickly became a critics favorite featuring in numerous end of year lists. The album was afforded a double page spread in England’s Sunday Times who proclaimed “From the skintight beats of Gaslight’s opening track, Drummers and Healers, fDeluxe’s supremely taut and sensual soul is not only intact, it’s rejuvenated. The former disciples of the elfin one have returned, 25 years wiser, to make a statement — self-produced, self-released and one of the most exciting records I’ve heard this year” while Guitarist Magazine called it “a perfectly distilled dose of funk and modern soul that lights up your brain like a pinball machine from the first beat.” ‘Gaslight’ combined the essence of the original Family album with the band’s subsequent influences and intoxicating musical journeys.fDeluxe is that rare band that combines clever, modern material, studio savvy and the stage experience to tear the roof off. fDeluxe returned to the stage in July 2011 with a blistering showcase performance at the Minnesota Black Music Awards. Their first full show followed in September 2011 with a sold out concert at Minneapolis’ Loring Theater followed by performances to packed houses in LA, Oakland, NYC, DC, London, Amsterdam and Brussels. In 2013 they were standout performers at a star studded event at NYC’s Carnegie Hall alongside the likes of Chris Rock, Elvis Costello, D’Angelo, Booker T Jones, Betty LaVette and many more. Billboard proclaimed, “the show reached its funkiest echelon when fDeluxe came out to perform with the Roots,” while Village Voice described it as "a dominant appearance by fDeluxe whose high-energy funk set was otherwise a master class in bass-driven grooves." Fiercely independent — the band and its management have always booked their own shows and keep everything in-house (except artwork, which has remained the domain of the brilliant Steve Parke) — their next move was the release of 2 new albums funded by their loyal fanbase via a successful Pledge Music campaign. ‘AM Static’, produced by long-time associate and live guitarist Oliver Leiber, saw the band add a Minneapolis flavour to classics such as ‘Baby Love’ (Mothers Finest), ‘Hush’ (Deep Purple), ‘If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up’ (Betty Davis). Along with the concert album ‘Live & Tight Like A Funk Fiend’s Fix’ featuring material from both ‘The Family’ and ‘Gaslight’ albums, ‘AM Static’ was released in late 2014. In April 2016 the band were in the process of booking dates for shows later that year when they were rocked by the news of the death of their mentor Prince. Formerly known as The Family