Scottish funk stars Average White Band came close to collaborating with soul legend Marvin Gaye, reveals singer and bassist Alan Gorrie.
Motown great Gaye was keen to work with the chart-topping Scots having forged a friendship with the band.
That connection began when Gaye made a surprise appearance at an Average White Band show in Hollywood to join them in a rendition of his classic I Heard It Through The Grapevine.
It was a huge honour for Average White Band – who headline the Music Hall in Aberdeen on Sunday November 7 – as Gaye rarely performed live with other artists.
The friendship grew to the point where one of the most influential singers in history brought up the possibility of working together.
Sadly that collaboration never happened as Gaye tragically died at the age of just 44 in 1984.
Alan said: “We played the Hollywood Palladium on Halloween and didn’t know Marvin was going to come up on stage with us.
“I honestly haven’t heard of him doing that with anyone else.
“It was one of the highlights of all of our lives. I don’t think our feet were on the ground.
“It was a truly magical experience to have one of your lifelong heroes join you on stage and do one of his songs.
“If we needed a rubber stamp of endorsement on what we were doing that is as good as it gets.
“A few days after that Marvin had us out to his ranch outside LA and made dinner for us and we had a great family night with him, his wife, kids and his brother.
“About two years later Molly (Malcolm Duncan, saxophonist) and I ran into him in a hotel in London.
“We had an evening with him there and he became a good friend.
“Marvin was very much a fan of the band and had ideas for us.
“The night Molly and I were with him in London he was saying ‘you guys ought to do an album full of ballads, I have some ideas’.
“It’s obvious he would have liked to have either been an executive producer of that project or certainly have some input for us along some lines he was thinking about.
“It never materialised because sadly a year or so later he was gone.
“He really a warm, wonderful guy and one of the greatest singers of all time.”
From Mintlaw to the top of the US charts
Although formed in London in 1972 the members of Average White Band had cut their teeth in various groups in Scotland.
Perth born and raised Alan, 65, had previously played across Aberdeenshire including Mintlaw and Ellon.
Within a few years, he would be top of both the United States album and singles charts with their eponymous album AWB and worldwide smash hit Pick Up The Pieces.
Average White Band’s big break came when following an extended hiatus guitar legend Eric Clapton staged a comeback performance that was one of the most highly anticipated in years.
The former Yardbirds and Cream guitarist invited Average White Band to perform on the bill. They received rave reviews and MCA Records immediately signed them up.
Alan explained: “I spent a lot of my formative years playing in Aberdeenshire – places like Mintlaw, Ellon and the Mill Inn at Peterculter.
“It’s the same in any trade or sport, you start off in the lower divisions and if you are any good you end up where you are supposed to be.
“We formed in 1972 and the album went to the top of the US charts in 75.
“Although it took three years of the Average White Band’s lifespan to get there we had all been in really good bands before that.
“We were halfway there when we formed AWB and knew what we wanted to do.
“There was a clear vision of the kind of music we wanted to make and we were all of the same mindset.
“Having been seasoned professionally in different bands before everybody came to the piece with that experience and instinct as to how to go about it with this band and get it right.
“We had a really clear vision to start with so although it only took three years there was five or six years on top of that will all our other bands.”
Sampled by hip-hop and rap legends
Average White Band were no flash in the pan in the United States as they followed up their smash number one hits with the next two albums reaching the top 10 across the Atlantic – Cut The Cake (1975) and Soul Searching (1976).
The band’s infectious grooves were hugely influential on the emerging hip-hop and rap movement with ground-breaking acts like Wu-Tang Clan, Public Enemy and A Tribe Called Quest all acknowledging their debt to the Scots.
TLC sampled Average White Band’s Schoolboy Crush on Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg whilst A Tribe Called Quest sampled Love Your Life on Check The Rhime.
Alan said: “There have been quite a lot of lip service and acknowledgements paid to AWB from these guys.
“That particular type of groove we are known for was good fuel for hip hop and rap that came along in the nineties.
“We have had a lot of tributes from artists such as Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest and Puff Daddy.
“Sampling really did help us get a new audience.
“The younger generation that heard about us through sampling came to watch us to see what the original was all about.
“They obviously liked it as they have returned to our concerts and have brought their friends along as well, saying ‘you have to hear these guys, they’re the real thing’
“That’s what we hear from that generation we got through sampling.”
AWB will play whole US topping album
Aberdeen fans are in for a treat as Average White Band will play their 1974 eponymous second album in its entirety for the first time.
AWB's "Person To Person" UK Tour is on (at last!). We will be performing the AWB (white album) in its entirety, as well as all of your AWB favorites. Get your tickets now! https://t.co/07KHfxV7Yb pic.twitter.com/yJjLUKRshz
— Average White Band (@AverageWhiteBnd) October 5, 2021
Alan said: “We’re really looking forward to playing Aberdeen again and have heard great things about the way the Music Hall has been renovated.
“We are going to do a two-part show with the first part concentrating on performing the entire eponymous AWB album, which we call the White Album.
“That was the album that made us a hit in the first place.
“We will play that in its entirety which has never been done by the band in any incarnation before.
“The second half will be a best of all the rest from the albums after that.”