- Johnny Pate
Infobox musical artist
Name = Johnny Pate
Background = non_performing_personnel
Birth_name =
Height =
Alias =
Born = Birth date and age|1923|12|5|mf=y
Height =
Died =
Origin =Chicago Heights, IL , U.S.
Instrument = bass
Genre =Chicago soul , Pop
Occupation =Arranger
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Associated_acts =The Impressions
URL =
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Past_members =Johnny Pate is an important figure in
Chicago soul as well as pop/R&B music as aMusic arranger /producer.History
Born in
Chicago Heights, Illinois , in 1923, Pate learned to playpiano andtuba as a child. Later while serving in the Army, he picked up the bass and learned arranging. He had stints with Coleridge Davis andStuff Smith in the '40s.During the '50s, he was the resident arranger for the in-house band of
Club Delisa . Recording for Federal as the Johnny Pate Quintet, the bandleader/arranger/bassist had a hit with "Swinging Shepherd Blues," which hit number 17 R&B onBillboard 's charts in spring 1958.In the early '60s,
OKeh Records producer/A&R directorCarl Davis (Walter Jackson ,Major Lance ,Ted Taylor ,the Opals ) wanted a unique sound and enlisted Pate to write arrangements for the label.The Impressions era
Pate and
Curtis Mayfield andthe Impressions first teamed in January 1963 recording the ballad "Sad Sad Girl and Boy," which mid-charted inCashbox magazine 's charts. The next single, the rousing "It's All Right," parked at number one R&B for two weeks and hit number four pop in fall 1963; it was followed by "Talking about My Baby," "I'm So Proud," "Keep on Pushing". The "Keep on Pushing " LP peaked at number eight pop in fall 1964. Pate produced and recorded most of their hits atMurray Allen 'sUniversal Recording Studios in Chicago.The success of The Impressions led ABC-Paramount, the label that the group was signed with, to open a Chicago office on 14th and Michigan and appoint Pate as A&R director in 1964. One of the acts he signed,
the Marvelows , had hits with "I Do" (number seven R&B) and "In the Morning." "I Do" was written by group membersMelvin Mason ,Johnny Paden ,Frank Paden ,Willie Stephenson , andJesse Smith . The song was a number 24 pop hit for theJ. Geils Band in fall 1982. Other acts signed to ABC-Paramount through the Chicago branch were the Trends, the Kittens, and former VeeJay Records star Betty Everett ("Nothing I Wouldn't Do").Post-Curtom
In 1968, Pate began doing arrangements for Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label (the label's slogan was "We're a Winner"), whose roster included Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions and
the Five Stairsteps . Pate left the label in 1972 and worked on numerous recordings including the classic 1978 quiet storm forerunner LP "Words and Music " by TV/movie/stage actressLonette McKee onWarner Bros. Records . Pate also made soundtracks for films including "Shaft in Africa ".In 2006,
TNC Records released an 80th Birthday album in tribute to Pate. His song "Shaft in Africa", was sampled by producerJust Blaze , for the out-of-retirementJay-Z single "Show Me What You Got ". It was later sampled by producer K-Def forDiddy 's "We Gon' Make It" featuring Jack Knight.External links
* [http://patesplace.net Johnny Pate's official web site]
* [http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:dnm1z82a8yv1~T0 Johnny Pate] atAllmusic
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