Buddy Conner

John “Buddy” Conner, born and raised in Berkeley, California, was by inclination a jazz vocalist, good enough to have toured with Earl “Fatha” Hines and singing at the Monterey Jazz Festival, to working with musicians like organist Jimmy Witherspoon and tenor saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. But in the 60s he flirted with R & B, and recorded a couple of singles. The first was for Galaxy subsidiary Early Bird "Half-Way Loving". A few years later he recorded for independent producer Joey Jefferson. Jefferson clearly thought enough of it to issue it again in a slightly remixed form, and then for a third time under the name of The World's Funkiest Band on his California Gold label. After a short spell away from the music business Conner returned to make quite a name for himself amongst the West Coast jazz fans before his death 3rd September 2004 aged 74.