24 Carat Black

In 1973 the Stax label put out the initial funk opera from this group, a vanity project from classically trained former Motown staff arranger Dale Warren during the hey day of the Memphis label's pre-bankruptcy success streak. The stark urban funk debut record remains relatively obscure despite an initial tour by the group, and being sampled years later by a slew of hip hop giants including Rakim,Dr. Dre & KRS-One. A more lushly layered and perhaps commercial follow up was in the works circa 1975 when the financial collapse of Stax postponed any future prospects for the project until Chicago's Numero Group reissue imprint salvaged the remaining tapes for release approx 35 years later. The followup 24 Carat Black: Gone Are The Promises of Yesterday was released in 2009, featuring 6 resurrected tracks cut in the mid 70's but never before released. Dale Warren who died in 1994, is perhaps best known for arranging Isaac Hayes’s Hot Buttered Soul album, but he eventually abandoned soul for classical music, working as a composer and instrumentalist as well as conducting orchestras in LA and Atlanta. Other members of the group included Tyrone Steels, Bruce Thompson, and vocalists Robert Dunson and Princess Hearn ( who was also Warren's new bride at the time). Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.