Jimmy Castor Bunch
| Jimmy Castor | |
|---|---|
Castor in 1972.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | James Walter Castor |
| Born |
January 23, 1940 Manhattan, New York |
| Died | January 16, 2012 (aged 71) Henderson, Nevada |
| Genres | Soul, R&B, funk |
| Instruments | Saxophone, Percussion |
| Associated acts | The Teenagers The Jimmy Castor Bunch |
| Notable instruments | |
| Saxophone, Percussion | |
James Walter Castor (January 23, 1940 – January 16, 2012) was an American pop and funk musician. He is best known as a fun disco/funk saxophonist, with his biggest hit single being 1972's million seller, "Troglodyte (Cave Man)".
As leader of The Jimmy Castor Bunch in the 1970s, and also as a solo artist, he released several successful albums and singles. The group reached the peak of their commercial success in 1972 with the release of their album, It's Just Begun, which featured two hit singles: the title track and "Troglodyte (Cave Man)", which was a large hit in the US, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. The track stayed in the chart for 14 weeks and was a million seller by June 30, 1972, and received a gold disc award from the RIAA.
The Castor band included keyboardist/trumpeter Gerry Thomas, bassist Doug Gibson, guitarist Harry Jensen, conga player Lenny Fridle, Jr., and drummer Bobby Manigault. Thomas, who simultaneously recorded with the Fatback Band, left in the 1980s to exclusively record with them.
Many of the group's tunes have been heavily sampled in films and in hip-hop. In particular, the saxophone hook and groove from "It's Just Begun" and the spoken word intro and groove from "Troglodyte (Cave Man)" (namely, "What we're gonna do right here is go back...") have been sampled extensively. Industrial hip hop group Tackhead covered the song "Just Begun" for the digital release of their album For the Love of Money.
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