Rose Royce

Rose Royce
Rose Royce in concert at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California in 2005
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres	Soul, R&B, disco, funk
Years active	1973–present
Labels	Whitfield, Epic, Streetwave, Omni
Associated acts	Yvonne Fair The Undisputed Truth
Website	rose-royce.com
Members	Gwen Dickey (aka Rose Norwalt) Kenny Copeland Kenji Brown Lequeint "Duke" Jobe Victor Nix Henry Garner Freddie Dunn Michael Moore Terry Santiel Michael Nash

Rose Royce is an American soul and R&B group. They are best known for several hit singles during the 1970s including "Car Wash," "I Wanna Get Next to You," "I'm Going Down", "Wishing on a Star", and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore".

The Los Angeles-based group originally comprised Henry Garner (drums), Terral "Terry" Santiel (congas), Lequeint "Duke" Jobe (bass), Michael Moore (saxophone), Kenny Copeland (trumpet, lead vocals), Kenji Brown (guitar, lead vocals), Freddie Dunn (trumpet), and Victor Nix (keyboards). The group began in the early 1970s, when members of several backup bands from the Watts and Inglewood areas of Los Angeles united under the name Total Concept Unlimited. In 1973, this collective toured England and Japan behind Motown soul star Edwin Starr. Starr introduced them to Norman Whitfield, Motown's 'psychedelic shaman' who was responsible for bringing a progressive funk-rock slant to the company, via such productions as Starr's "War", The Undisputed Truth's "Smiling Faces Sometimes" and The Temptations' "Papa Was A Rolling Stone".

Whitfield, after a decade at Motown, wanted to start a company of his own. He took the T.C.U. octet under his wing and signed them to his label. The group, now called Magic Wand, began working with Yvonne Fair and became the studio and concert band for The Undisputed Truth. During a tour stop in Miami, Undisputed Truth leader Joe Harris stumbled upon a singer named Gwen Dickey, then a member of a local group called The Jewels. Harris informed Whitfield of his discovery and Dickey was flown to Los Angeles to audition. In Dickey, Whitfield found the ingredient he felt was missing in Magic Wand: a charismatic female singer. He gave her the stage name Rose Norwalt. The original band lineup, now complete, prepared their debut album.