Miami

Songwriter Willie Clarke, more noted for his songwriting with Clarence Reid, created this self-contained band around vocalist Robert Moore; the other players were Freddie Scott (drums), Warren Thompson (guitar), Andrew Curran (guitar), Bobby Williams (organ), Willie Jackson (bass), George Perry (bass), and Clarke (percussions). Personnel changes occurred, Tony Z (Zamagni), for one instance, comped with them in the late '70s before leaving for something more musically challenging.



Amid cutting three albums, Miami served as the house band for TK Records' family of labels and played on sessions for Little Beaver, George McCrae, Gwen McCrae, and Betty Wright, among others. Their first album, The Party Freaks, came out in 1974 and featured catchy jams like "Party Freaks" and "I Can See Through You"; a second LP, Notorious (1976), spawned their popular "Kill That Roach" (a reflex-phrase in tropical cities like Miami where roaches grow big as butterflies and even fly on occasions). TK's owner, Henry Stone, fattened Miami's recording budget for the second album, enabling the employment of strings, horns, and a new member: Jesus Gonzales.

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