Gap Band 2
Three brothers from Tulsa, Robert, Charles, and Ronnie Wilson, got their start backing another Tulsa native, Leon Russell. Though this unlikely pairing helped get the Wilson Brothers their first record deal on Russell's Shelter label, it also hurt them as they were initially perceived as a rock group. In 1979 they hooked up with black impresario Lonnie Simmons and signed to his Total Experience label which cast them in a straightforward funk light.IIbroke them nationwide out of their Southeast stronghold, becoming their first gold album, and contains a number of funky jams modeled on the popular P-Funk style of the day, but it was "I Don't Believe You Want to Dance (oops!)" and "Steppin' (out)" that gave the group back-to-back Top 10 R&B; singles.--Tom Vickers