Commodores

Commodores are an American funk and soul band formed in 1968 by a group of students, most of them freshmen, who met at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama. They signed with Motown in 1972 after first gaining attention as an opening act for The Jackson 5, and went on to become one of the label's flagship groups through the late 1970s and into the mid-1980s.

The band built its reputation on a versatile catalog that moved fluidly between funky, horn-driven dance numbers like «Brick House» and lush, romantic ballads such as «Easy», «Three Times a Lady» and «Still», the latter two both reaching number one on the US charts. Lionel Richie's tenure as a Commodores songwriter and lead vocalist helped define much of their signature ballad sound before his solo career took off in the early 1980s. Even after Richie's departure, the group continued recording, scoring further hits like «Nightshift», a tribute to Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson. Commodores hold a lasting place in soul and R&B history as one of Motown's most commercially successful bands of the era, admired for the seamless range between dancefloor funk and radio-friendly balladry.