The “Golden Hits Of The 70s” 

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 INSTANT FUNK

“I GOT MY MIND MADE UP (YOU CAN GET

IT GIRL)”

(Kim Miller, Scotty Miller, Raymond Earl)

Salsoul 2078

No. 20   May 12, 1979

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Raymond Earl (bass) and the Miller brothers, Kim (guitar) and Scotty (drums), met in the mid-’60s in

their hometown of Trenton, New Jersey.   They formed the Music Machine (not to be confused with the

identically titled One-Hit Wonder act) and shopped their sounds around for three years before an up-and-

coming vocal group named the TNJs hired them as a back­ up band.   The Newark label issued a few

promising sides by the TNJs in the late ’60s, but nothing monu­mental happened, so Ray and the brothers

moved their base of operations to Philadelphia in 1971.

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A chance meeting with BUNNY SIGLER led to a job as Sigler’s back-up band and a recording contract with

Gamble & Huff’s TSOP.   Sigler had the guys assume the “Instant Funk” moniker and encouraged them to

flesh out their sound with the addition of Dennis Richard­son (piano) and Charles Williams (percussion).

Some funkified 45s and an album, Get Down With the Philly Jump, were issued in the mid-’70s, all to

little avail; Bunny and the band departed from the label.

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While with TSOP, Instant Funk was also a studio band for Archie Bell & The Drells, Evelyn “Cham­pagne”

King, the O’Jays, and Sigler.   After Bunny con­nected the group with Salsoul Records, they continued

working sessions for the likes of Double Exposure, Loleatta Holloway, the Love Committee, and the Sal­

soul Orchestra.   For their first album on the Salsoul label, George Bell (second guitar), James Carmichael

(lead vocals, percussion), Larry Davis (trumpet), John­ny Onderline (sax), and ex-Ritchie Family member

Eric Huff (trombone) were added to the group.   The Instant Funk (1979) album was released, and the

opening cut, “I Got My Mind Made Up,” was issued as a single.   “I Got My Mind” got the nation funkin’

again.   The 45 held down the R & B chart’s number-one slot for three weeks.   The LP even made the top

pop albums chart. Eight other follow-up singles charted on the R & B list­ings through 1983–notably,

“Witch Doctor” (#35, 1979) and “No Stoppin’ That Rockin”‘ (#32, 1983)–but nothing further found favor

with the nation’s pop fans.   Two years later a last known single was issued by Pop Art Records,

“Tailspin’.”