funk

Heatwave was a popular international R&B/Funk band with Americans Johnnie Wilder, Jr. & Keith Wilder (vocals) of Dayton, Ohio, Englishman Rod Temperton (keyboards), Spaniard Mario Mantese (bass), Czechoslovakian drummer Ernest "Bilbo" Berger, Jamaican Eric Johns (guitars) and British guitarist Roy Carter. They were known for their hits "Boogie Nights" and "Always and Forever" (from their 1977 debut album, Too Hot To Handle), and "The Groove Line" (from their 1978 follow-up album Central Heating).

Joseph "Amp" Fiddler, originally a keyboardist from Detroit, is a funk and soul musician who has worked with Enchantment, the Dramatics, George Clinton, Moodyman, Jamiroquai, The Brand New Heavies, Fishbone and Maxwell. Along with his brother, Budz, he realsed the album Mr Fiddler in 1990 on Elektra. His debut solo album Waltz of a Ghetto Fly was released in 2004. The new album'Afro Strut' is the follow up to that record and a sign that his assured and open-minded approach to his own sound has engendered a stylistic leap forward, creating in the process a diverse and ambitious second album.

William Onyeabor studied cinematography in Russia for many years, returning to Nigeria in the mid-70s to start his own Wilfilms music label and to set up a music and film production studio. He recorded a number of hit songs in Nigeria during the 70s, the biggest of which was "Atomic Bomb" in 1978. William has now been crowned a High Chief in Enugu, where he lives today as a successful businessman working on government contracts and running his own flour mill.

William Onyeabor on Last.fm.

There are two bands with the name The Apples. The first is an Acid Jazz group from Israel. The other is a girl group from Czech Republic who perform 60's music. The first group began in Israel in 2002 with the core of electronic artists Schoolmaster & Mixmonster and the steadfast rhythm unit of Shai Ran and Yoni Halevy. Here is their myspace profile http://www.myspace.com/theapplesmusic The idea was to lay down a funk foundation laced with live samples and organic effects, with a jazz-based front line of improvising horns.