The Funky Boys make soulful music with great singers and musicians to keep your heart dancing and your feet happy!
Regular members include bass players Winston Blissett and John McKenzie and drummers José Joyette and Issa Mbaye – who also plays African percussion and sings.
Featured guest vocalists include Linda Muriel, Rouhangeze Baichoo, Phil Ramocon and David ‘DaPaul’ Philips – who also plays some very funky keyboards!
New members for recordings and gigs planned for 2016 include guitarist extraordinaire Mo Nazam and keyboard wizard Carl Hudson!
Other guest musicians include Lyn Dobson, who plays flute and saxes, and Davi Lannes from Brazil, who plays bass, Samuel Dubois who plays steel pans, Jim Mullen who plays jazz guitar, Damon Butcher who plays keyboards, Otto Williams who plays bass, Blair Cunningham, Graham Dean, Dylan Howe and Westley Joseph who all play drums.
Phil plays piano, Mike plays pedal harp. Our funky version of the Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose hit from the early 70′s. “Too Late To Turn Back Now”, features Phil Ramocon on vocals. Mike Collins plays guitar, Phil Ramocon plays Keyboards Phil Ramocon also plays some tasty piano on this instrumental version of the Isley Brothers hit, “Living for the love of you”. Phil Ramocon plays Keyboards Linda Muriel sings this pop-reggae ‘song wot I wrote’ – my “Song of Love”. I played the guitars with David on Rhodes piano, Samuel Dubois on steel pans, Winston Blissett on bass and Westley Joseph on drums. Samuel Dubois plays Steel Pans Linda also wrote lyrics for this instrumental tune that I put together way back in 1984. “Why I Like Music” was inspired by Linda’s enthusiasm for hearing my music! Linda Muriel & Mike Collins David ‘DaPaul’ Philips plays keyboards and sings lead and backing vocals on this recording of “Famous Faces” – a song I wrote way back in 1981. David ‘DaPaul’ Philipsplays the Piano! I also wrote a song called “Everyday People” with David – I came up with lyrics to one of Ernest Ranglin’s tunes – “These Times”. David sang this and played piano. Lyn Dobson played the flute, Otto Williams played the bass and Dylan Howe played the drums. I wrote the melody and lyrics for this next tune to a chord sequence played by Jim Mullen. Damon Butcher plays the piano, Winston Blissett plays the bass guitar and Blair Cunningham plays the drums. I play the cowbell – and the lead guitar from which I developed the vocal melody! “This Is Love”. José Joyette plays Drums Here’s a funky little instrumental piece I put together – “Cool Movements”. I play guitar, percussion and pedal harp on the recording, John McKenzie plays bass guitar and José Joyette plays the totally funky drums! Click to listen to a ‘smokin’ rhythm track featuring José Joyette on drums and David on keyboards. And click to listen to a Motown-esque backing track featuring José on drums, me on bass andguitar and Phil Ramocon on Wurlitzer piano. Here’s a version of the Bacharach classic, “Walk on By”, featuring vocalist Rouhangeze Baichoo. I play acoustic guitar, Lyn Dobson plays sax, John McKenzie plays bass guitar and José Joyette plays very funky drums! Davi Lannes plays bass guitar! When I first got together with Davi Lannes, I asked him to play bass on my version of the Brazilian classic tune, “Berimbau”. At my birthday party in 2014, Davi Lannes was inspired by singer Rouhangeze Baichoo to play bass guitar on this song I wrote back in the 80′s which Rou had re-recorded with me in 2012. On Christmas Day, 2014, Davi Lannes came to my place – keen to play some music – so we recorded this version of the Stevie Wonder record, “For Once In My Life”. Lyn Dobson plays saxes and flute! This next track, “Move Me No Mountain”, features Lyn Dobson on flute and sax. Inspired by a Jerry Ragavoy production for Dionne Warwick from the mid-70′s, this features me playing guitars, John McKenzieon bass, José Joyette on drums and David ‘DaPaul’ Philips on Steinway and Rhodes pianos. Winston Blissett & Mike Collins Here’s my version of Jocelyn Brown’s classic tune, “Somebody Else’s Guy”. This features Rouhangeze Baichoo on vocals, and Lyn Dobson on sax. I play the guitars, Damon Butcher plays the piano, Winston Blissett plays the bass guitar and Graham Dean plays the drums. Bassist John Michael McKenzie Here’s a new version of the Stevie Wonder classic, “For Your Love”, featuring John McKenzie on bass and José Joyette on drums. There was no singer around at the time, so I got hold of Stevie’s original vocals and used these for this demo. Issa Mbaye plays Khine
I played acoustic guitar and Issa played his African Khine drum on this funky version of the Marvin Gaye classic – “I heard it through the grapevine”. I just happened to have Marvin Gaye’s lead vocals and the backing vocals for the original recording to hand, so I mixed these in as well… I know, it was a bit cheeky, but it’s only a demo!
Click to listen to the latest song we just finished recording – “Thiebou Diene” which features Issa singing about the Senegalese national dish!
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