James Anthony Carmichael
| James Anthony Carmichael | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | James Carmichael |
| Born |
September 14, 1941 Gadsden, Alabama, United States |
| Genres | R&B, soul |
| Occupation(s) | Arranger, record producer |
| Years active | Early 1960s–present |
| Labels | Mirwood, Motown |
| Associated acts |
The Olympics Bill Cosby The Commodores Lionel Richie Atlantic Starr |
James Anthony Carmichael (born September 14, 1941) is an American Grammy-winning musician, arranger, and record producer. He worked in Los Angeles as an arranger for The Olympics, Bill Cosby and others in the 1960s, before finding greater success at Motown as arranger and producer with the Commodores and Lionel Richie from the early 1970s to the late 1990s.
Carmichael grew up in Gadsden, Alabama, and learned piano as a child. He played tuba in the Carver High School band, and graduated from there in 1959. He enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, with the intention of becoming a doctor, but his plans changed and he studied music at Los Angeles City College while developing a reputation as a session musician.
By 1966, he had starting working with producer Fred Sledge Smith at Mirwood Records, with musicians including The Olympics (who had previously had hits with "Western Movies", "Hully Gully" and others), Bob & Earl, and the Soul Runners, who later became the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. Carmichael also worked with other Mirwood musicians whose recordings later became popular as part of the Northern soul scene in Britain. Reviewer Jason Ankeny at AllMusic stated that Smith and Carmichael together honed "a distinctive style all their own, creating soul music that was both relentlessly energetic and sweetly sophisticated, topped off by trademark vibes that evoked the otherworldly beauty of a Pacific Ocean sunset." One of Smith and Carmichael's most successful records as an arrangement and production team was the 1967 album Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings, which included Cosby's #4 US pop hit "Little Ole Man (Uptight, Everything's Alright)".
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