The 5 Stairsteps, generally known as “The First Household of Soul,”  had been an American Chicago soul group made up of 5 of Betty and Clarence Burke Sr.’s six kids: Alohe Jean, Clarence Jr., James, Dennis, and Kenneth “Keni”, and briefly, Cubie. They’re greatest identified for the 1970 track “O-o-h Baby”, listed #392 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Best Songs of All Time.

The Chicago group was dubbed “First Household of Soul” due to their profitable five-year chart run; the moniker was later handed on to The Jackson 5. Initially a teenage five-member brothers and sister vocal group made up of the youngsters of Betty and Clarence Burke, The 5 Stairsteps (named by Mrs. Burke who thought her youngsters seemed like stairsteps when lined up based on their age) featured lead singer Clarence Jr., Alohe, James, Dennis, and 13-year-old Kenneth (“Keni”). Many of the members attended Harlan Excessive Faculty. Clarence Sr. was a detective for the Chicago Police Division. He backed the group on bass guitar, managed them, and co-wrote songs with Clarence Jr. and Gregory Fowler.

After profitable first prize in a expertise contest on the Regal Theater, The 5 Stairsteps obtained recording contract affords. A detailed neighbor and household pal was Fred Money of The Impressions, who launched the group to Curtis Mayfield. Signed to Mayfield’s Windy Metropolis imprint, which was distributed by the Philadelphia primarily based Cameo Parkway report label, their first single was Gregory Fowler’s ballad “You Waited Too Lengthy” b/w “Don’t Waste Your Time,” a Mayfield track. A double-sided hit in Chicago, the A-side, “You Waited Too Lengthy,” charted quantity 16 within the Billboard R&B chart in spring of 1966. Across the finish of 1967, Cameo-Parkway folded and Windy Metropolis switched to Buddah Data by former Cameo-Parkway government Neil Bogart, who joined the brand new label as co-president. The group’s second album, Household Portrait (full with a montage of Burke household pictures), was recorded and produced in Chicago by Clarence Jr. With the addition of their three-year-old brother, the group grew to become The 5 Stairsteps & Cubie. Household Portrait yielded two hit singles, “One thing’s Lacking” and a canopy of Jimmy Charles and the Revelletts’ hit “A Million to One.”

 The group typically toured with the Impressions. After signing with Buddah Data, the group was as soon as once more generally known as The 5 Stairsteps.

Within the spring of 1970, the group launched their largest hit, “O-o-h Baby” (written by Stan Vincent), which hit quantity 14 R&B and quantity eight on the Billboard Scorching 100. This disc bought over a million copies, and obtained a gold disc awarded by the R.I.A.A. on August 1970.[2] The flip aspect of the only, a canopy of Lennon–McCartney’s “Pricey Prudence,” charted at quantity 49 R&B. The next 12 months, the group resurfaced as The Stairsteps with two charting Buddah singles: “Didn’t It Look So Straightforward” and “I Love You-Cease.”

 The group appeared within the 1970 film The Isley Brothers Dwell At Yankee Stadium, a documentary of a profit live performance filmed on the well-known dwelling of the New York Yankees that includes The Isley Brothers, The Brooklyn Bridge and varied different Buddah Data affiliated artists. Within the early Nineteen Seventies, the group was identified merely as The Stairsteps. Alohe was nonetheless with the group. Cubie by no means actually sang with the group, however would develop as much as be a preferred dancer with the Dance Theater of Harlem and so forth. Billy Preston launched The Stairsteps to The Beatles, and the group signed with George Harrison’s Darkish Horse label distributed by A&M Data. Alohe left the group in 1972 to start a religious journey, and later would attend faculty, graduate and work at Emory College at which she was additionally a visitor speaker. 

An album, Second Resurrection, was launched in February 1976, produced by Preston, Robert Margouleff, and the Stairsteps. “From Us to You,” written by Clarence Jr. and Keni Burke, was the group’s largest hit since “Ooh Baby,” peaking at quantity ten R&B in early 1976. The follow-up single, “Pasado”, additionally coated by the group Pockets, obtained airplay in Chicago, New York, and different markets. Keni sang, performed bass, and wrote each songs on the third single, “Inform Me Why” b/w “Salaam.” in January 2014, the album was reissued on cd in Europe by the Solaris label, as was Keni Burke’s eponymous Darkish Horse album.

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