Bob Babbitt, Funk Brothers bassist, dies
5:06 PM, July 16, 2012
Motown bass player Bob Babbitt, whose work lit up a host of hits in the ’60s and ’70s, died this morning in Nashville, friends said. He was 74.
Babbitt had been diagnosed in early 2011 with an inoperable brain tumor. He was recently readmitted to the hospital after a year of home hospice care.
“Bob was a teddy bear of a guy,” said former Motown engineer Ed Wolfrum. “And he was an extraordinary musician — a player’s player.”
At Motown Records in the late ’60s, Babbitt’s thick, fluid bass lines drove the groove on songs by the Temptations (Ball of Confusion), Stevie Wonder (Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours), Rare Earth (Losing You), Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (The Tears of a Clown) and many others.
Like his fellow members of Motown’s renowned Funk Brothers studio band, he often moonlighted for other Detroit labels and studios, including United Sound and Golden World, performing on tunes such as the Capitols’ Cool Jerk, the Parliaments’ (I Wanna) Testify, and Freda Payne’s Band of Gold.
Babbitt, a Pittsburgh native who moved to Detroit as a teenager in the late ’50s, got his start on the Motor City music scene playing clubs with the popular local band the Royaltones.
His signature bass line came in 1971 — a stellar solo on the pioneering funk-rock song Scorpio with Dennis Coffey, himself a former Royaltone and Funk Brother.
“Bob had that big, fat sound,” Coffey said today. “The highlight of his career, in my mind, was that solo. It set a bass standard. You didn’t hear bass solos on records, let alone a hit record. Guys were freaking out trying to duplicate it. That was the benchmark for a bass player: You had to be able to play that Scorpio solo.'”
REST IN PEACE BOB, and thank you for the music we’ll enjoy forever.
Guitarist Dennis Coffey and most of the musicians on this track were members of The Funk Brothers, Motown's legendary house band. They include, bassist Bob Babbit, pianist Earl VanDyke, drummers Uriel Jones and Richard "Pistol" Allen and percussionist Eddie "Bongo" Brown.
Bob Babbitt also played bass for Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours" …https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inXC_lab-34
A lost 45. This rocks! Good drumming!
soul mo fo down with it funk to the max
This played when a bunch of teenagers stole my Oldsmobile Delta 88 with a demonic talking book in thr back seat
September 1971 When This Song Came Out, My Momma Said SHE Just Turned 18 Years Old..
I remember this as a kid. Me and my cousins would get together and dance to this song! Woooo! The good ole days!❤❤❤❤
come on I cant be the only one who thinks this could have ben in a really good pron movie back in the 70's.
Por esa canción mi perrita me mordió… Luego d 5 años después me rio…
Beating on the school desk, me and the boys. Vaux Jr. High. N. Philly
Finally found the song from that one Better Call Saul episode
This song makes me want to try and get myself fired from work.
Great record !!!!!!!! The LIVE version is not near as good. I can picture Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry movie tracking down the killer Scorpio!
Classic Music The greatest ❤️
Sux 226. Song doesn't suck tho.
Guitarist Dennis Coffey and most of the musicians on this track were members of The Funk Brothers, Motown's legendary house band. They include, bassist Bob Babbit, pianist Earl VanDyke, drummers Uriel Jones and Richard "Pistol" Allen and percussionist Eddie "Bongo" Brown.
One of the best Conga solo ever recorded as well.
terrible sound quality / compression
Thank you Bob Odenkirk
Back in 2002 I re
This song was on the jukebox they rolled into the gym for our after lunch…Jr High school Kimberly WI…man, blowing my mind!
They're low flow toilets Jimmy!