Quinton Joseph (Part 3)

  "The R&B and Soul Music Drummer with a Signature Touch"

The Chicago Years

One of the best selling
 soundtrack of the early 1970s

During his time as a studio musician at Brunswick Records, Joseph found time to participate in recording sessions at Curtom Records, also located in the “Windy City”. He is featured on all the gold-certified soundtracks produced by the late Curtis Mayfield which include the Billboard Pop Hot 200 Albums and Billboard Top Soul Albums Chart number-one album “Super Fly”, which generated over $20 million for the music industry in North America. In 1975 he did session work for Mayfield playing drums with his friend Phil Upchurch on the soundtrack album and title track  “Let’s Do It Again”, Billboard Hot Soul Singles Chart number-one on the 22^nd November 1975 (2 weeks) and Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart  number-one on the 27^th December 1975 (1 week). The single was also certified gold for one million plus units sold in America, according to the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).

Natalie Cole's first studio album 
to be certified gold.

While he was working with both Brunswick and Curtom Records, he also played on Natalie Cole’s three gold and platinum-certified albums produced in Chicago at Universal Recording Studios and Curtom Recording Studios. These albums were “Inseparable” “Natalie”, and “Unpredictable”.  These three albums grossed approximately  $15 million during the mid-1970s for the now-defunct Capitol Records, with both “Inseparable (1975) and “Unpredictable” (1977) topping the Billboard Top Soul Albums Chart.

Natalie Cole's second gold 
certified studio album.

In 1976 Joseph played drums along with Phil Upchurch on two chart-topping singles on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles Chart in succession; “Turning Point”, performed by Tyrone Davis and “Inseparable” performed by Natalie Cole. Following the success of the first of these two singles, he also played on one final chart-topping single from Cole’s “Natalie” album entitled “Sophisticated Lady (She’s A Different Lady)”, 19^th June 1976 (1 week).


                                  Researched and compiled by               
                                   Mr K Tomlin Music Historian                   
                                  ©RCM Music/Signaturesoundsonline2013-2014

Quinton Joseph (Part 1)

   "The R&B and Soul Music Drummer with a Signature Touch"

    The Chicago Years:

The legendary Quinton Joseph was born on 28^th August 1946 in the city of Chicago that is also affectionately known as the “Windy City”. He is one of the few studio musicians during the golden era of R&B and Soul music to have played on hit records from two cities that produced distinct signature sounds between the 1960s and the 1980s. 

The first million selling record that Joseph played on .
Performed Barbara Acklin.
She was also staff song writer at Brunswick Records

According to Ed Hogan of ALL Music, “Joseph absorbed a myriad of musical influences while growing up in his multi-cultural neighbourhood. As a child, he would beat out rhythms on cereal boxes and garbage cans. At about the age of ten his mother brought him a drum set to further develop his craft and techniques as a drummer while feasting on the “Windy City’s” rich musical diversity.” 

In his local neighbourhood he got involved with future in-demand session musicians who also made a name for themselves in the music industry in Chicago. These men became very close friends of Joseph; guitarist Danny Reed and bassist Bernard Reed. As a close unit they began playing for singer/songwriter Billy Butler, who was the brother of the legendary Jerry Butler (known as the “Ice Man”).

This was second million selling single that Joseph actually 
played drums, released by Brunswick Records in 1969.
The song was performed by the late Tyrone Davis
                                   

This led to the opportunity to work on the road with the The Artistics, from the Chicago branch of the once-mighty New York city Brunswick Records, best known for their Chicago soul classic hit of 1966 “I’m Gonna Miss You”  that sold almost a million copies in North America. With this success under their belt, they began to develop a reputation for being extremely tight which helped them become a much in-demand rhythm section, and their session work schedule increased tremendously as they started to support various local recording acts such as Jackie Wilson, The Chi-Lites, Major Lance, Gene Chandler and Tyrone Davis.

 

This was the second gold certified single of the
Davis' career. The entire album featured Joseph on
drums and the late Michael Jackson's sound engineer 

Bruce Swedien

The first million selling record that Joseph played on was Barbara Acklin’s gold single “Love Makes a Woman” released in 1968 on Brunswick Records. The following year , he played on Tyrone Davis’  first gold single of his career entitled “Can I Change My Mind” which charted and peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles Chart on the 1^st February 1969

( 2 weeks ), preceded by “I Heard It the Grapevine” performed by the late Marvin Gaye. He repeated the same success with Davis on his second chart-topping single “Turn Back The Hands of Time”, Billboard Hot Soul Singles Chart number-one on the 2^nd May 1970

( 2 weeks ) which peaked at  number-three on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and became a million selling single in the process. He also played on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles Chart number-one single “Turning Point”, 7^th February 1976 (1week).

                                   Researched and compiled by               
                                   Mr K Tomlin Music Historian                   
                                  ©RCM Music/Signaturesoundsonline2013-2014