Happy birthday to Larry Blackmon of the group Cameo, born May 24, 1956.
Cameo has a permanent place in R&B history as one of the great funk groups, with both decades of great hits and sense of fun that was infectious. Originated in The Big Apple in 1974, the group was over a dozen players strong, with strong horn and rhythm sections, and the name the New York City Players.
They were signed by Chocolate City Records in 1976 and changed their name to the much better name Cameo. With Larry Blackmon and Tomi Jenkins generally sharing lead vocals, the group’s debut album was a hit and featured the smash dance number “Rigor Mortis.” It began a string of R&B charters that made Cameo a consistent funk performer, but not necessarily a leader in the R&B/Funk movement.
Happy birthday to Larry Blackmon of the group Cameo, born May 24, 1956.
Cameo has a permanent place in R&B history as one of the great funk groups, with both decades of great hits and sense of fun that was infectious. Originated in The Big Apple in 1974, the group was over a dozen players strong, with strong horn and rhythm sections, and the name the New York City Players.
They were signed by Chocolate City Records in 1976 and changed their name to the much better name Cameo. With Larry Blackmon and Tomi Jenkins generally sharing lead vocals, the group’s debut album was a hit and featured the smash dance number “Rigor Mortis.” It began a string of R&B charters that made Cameo a consistent funk performer, but not necessarily a leader in the R&B/Funk movement.
That all would change with the turn of the decade, as Cameo inched higher up the charts with albums like Alligator Woman and Knights of the Sound Table, before they broke out with “She’s Strange,” a most unusual and entrancing song that went top 10 on the R&B charts and even became a pop hit. It also set the stage for 1985’s Single Life, an across the board smash that featured two charttoppers, “Attack Me With Your Love” and the group’s signature song, “Word Up.” They followed the next year with another huge hit, “Candy.”
Cameo continued recording, with lesser success, into the 90s, but remained a concert favorite. The group split in the early 2000s but came back together at various times in the 10s, and continued to tour in both multi-act funk shows and even in a brief Las Vegas residency. They released the fun song, “El Passo,” in 2019, which came and went quickly, but was true to the Cameo legacy.
The current version of the group consists of Larry Blackmon, Anthony Lockett and Aaron Mills.
We wish a very Happy Birthday to Larry Blackmon!