Dennis Coffey
| Dennis Coffey | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Dennis James Coffey |
| Born |
November 11, 1940 Detroit, Michigan, United States |
| Genres | Soul, funk, R&B, disco |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1955–present |
| Labels | Motown, Sussex, Westbound |
| Associated acts | Funk Brothers, Detroit Guitar Band, Gallery |
| Website | denniscoffeysite |
Dennis Coffey (born November 11, 1940) is an American guitarist. He was a studio musician for many soul and R&B recordings.
Coffey learned to play guitar at the age of thirteen, in the Michigan Upper Peninsula town of Copper City. In 1955, as a fifteen-year-old sophomore at Detroit's Mackenzie High School, Dennis played his first record session - backing Vic Gallon in "I'm Gone", on the Gondola record label. In the early 1960s he joined The Royaltones who had had hits with "Poor Boy" in 1958 and "Flamingo Express" in 1961. The Royaltones played sessions with other artists including Del Shannon.
By the late 1960s as a member of the Funk Brothers studio band, Coffey played on dozens of recordings for Motown Records, and introduced a hard rock guitar sound to Motown record producer Norman Whitfield's recordings, including distortion, Echoplex tape-loop delay, and wah-wah; most notably heard on "Cloud Nine", "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)" and "Psychedelic Shack" by The Temptations. He played on numerous other hit records of the era including number one singles like Edwin Starr's "War" and Diana Ross & The Supremes "Someday We'll Be Together" and Freda Payne's number three hit (number one in the UK) "Band of Gold".
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