The Sylvers

The left-handed grandmaster of funk was born in New Orleans, and before he joined Earth, Wind & Fire in 1973, he played with the Ike and Tina Turner Revue and Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band.

Like Maurice White, McKay was an in-demand session player who performed with such diverse artists as Sammy Davis Jr., the Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson, Gladys Knight, Andy Williams, Isaac Hayes, and the Silvers.

And he utilized a variety of guitar techniques from some of the best elements of American music.

And besides his deep pocket and stimulating sense of groove, listeners cannot help but appreciate his ability to lock in between Verdeen White's bass guitar and Freddie White's drums.

Because you asked me this before.

Mine was Boogie Fever by the Silvers.

There you go.

Yeah, you stole mine there for a second.

Daddy was a cop

on the east side of Chicago.

Mine was Boogie Fever by the Silvers.

There you go.

Like I'm saying, I took a lot of that for granted just because I could do it.

The family band broke up when I was seven and James went off to start playing keyboards with the Silvers.

He got married, Jeff started his first, his own rock band.

So there was a period between age 7 and 12 where I didn't play in the band.