Song:Slide
Album:Stellar Fungk: The Best Of Slade
Like the Ohio Players, Slave was a funk band from Dayton, OH. Slide was their first single and their only number one R & B hit in 1977. Slave co-founder Steve Washington is the nephew of Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrook of the Ohio Players. Washington moved from his home in Newark, NJ to live with Middlebrook in Dayton. He formed Black Satin Soul with Tim Dozier and Mark Hicks. They added lead singer Floyd Miller along with Mark Adams, Thomas Lockett, Orion Wilhoite, Danny Webster and Carter Bradley. When Miller showed up at a rehearsal wearing a t-shirt reading "Slave", they changed the group name meaning We're All Slaves To The Universe. I suspect some interpreted the name differently. Newark radio station program director Jeff Dixon liked them and got Slave a record deal with the Atlantic label Cotillion Records. Slide was their first single and it topped the R & B charts in 1977 and reached #32 on the Billboard Hot 100. Steve Arrington became the new lead singer in 1978. Washington and Lockett left Slave to form Aurra in 1979. And Arrington left to go solo in 1982. Slave continued to have success on the R & B charts until they left Cotillion in 1984. You can get all their hits on this budget comp from Rhino. Slave were less successful recording for Ichiban Records. Steve Arrington had some success in the 80s until he quit the music business in 1990 to become a minister. He returned to music in 2009. Mark Adams and Mark Hicks both died in 2011. Here's Slave performing Slide on Don Kirshner's Rock concert 1977.
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