The Fatback Band: 'Everything was just raw energy'

The disco-funk band were prolific in the 60s and 70s and laid the foundations for modern rap. Here, founder Bill Curtis tells their story

“Street Music is what I always called it because it came from the top off my head and we never rehearsed,” says a spry, 84-year-old Bill Curtis, the longtime session-drummer and maestro behind The Fatback Band. “Everything was just raw energy. Most of the guys had no idea until it was time to do it. That’s how we made all our first records.”

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