Ohio Players - Leroy Sugarfoot Bonner

**mellow_q** · 01-27-2013, 01:28 AM

I haven't seen anything official from a reliable news source yet, but it's all over Facebook that he passed. Other artists [[Ruby Andrews, Glenn Jones) are even chiming in. Dawn Silva stated that she heard it from a reliable source.

**jboy88** · 01-27-2013, 01:50 AM

It's also been confirmed by one of his nieces on Twitter! Sad to say, it's staring to look legit.

**Jerry Oz** · 01-27-2013, 03:48 AM

That's sad to hear. The Ohio Players have their own place in the hearts of many . who dug them. My prayers go out to his loved ones.

**paladin** · 01-27-2013, 08:09 AM

heard the bad news earlier yesterday.....

**marv2** · 01-27-2013, 02:14 PM

Very sad. I loved the Ohio Players and their music since I was a kid and Sugarfoot was a big part of their sound and image. He will be missed. Thank you Sugarfoot for all the great music and memories man.

**marv2** · 01-27-2013, 02:15 PM

http://www.soultracks.com/story-sugarfoot-dies

**tsull1** · 01-27-2013, 02:32 PM

This is not the news I wanted this morning, but I got it. I'm a huge Ohio Players fan, by far my favorite funk group. Sugarfoot brought us many, many great tunes. Thanks for the memories.

That song about "day the music died"? This is the day the funk died.

**tsull1** · 01-27-2013, 03:10 PM

From the Dayton newspaper blog. Good reading:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs...leroy_su.html/

**splanky** · 01-27-2013, 03:55 PM

When I saw this first thing this morning I didn't respond because there was no link to a
reliable source and I thought it might be just another hoax. How many times have we been down that road before? I got kinda angry and ignored the forum for most of the day. I'm
prone to trust the folks over at soultracks and now I am saddened beyond belief. Sugar
was one of the most influential musicians on my consciousness , taste and life as a young
man. In later years I was lucky enough to meet him once at a concert he and the group did
in Central Park. He was grand. I wish he had more time but right now I just want to say
goodbye, Mr Bonner...RIp...

**marv2** · 01-27-2013, 04:21 PM

**soulster** · 01-27-2013, 07:42 PM

R.I.P. Have fun on that Love Rollercoaster in heaven!

**daddyacey** · 01-28-2013, 12:42 AM

Sorry to hear this. I just saw an advertisment last night for The Soul Train cruise ,and Sugarfoot was supposed to be one of the groups on it.
R.I.P Mr Bonner .

This is truly a sad day.

**splanky** · 01-28-2013, 07:47 AM

I'm still waiting on major media to report on this but I just have something I want to say.
I never really cared for Love Rollercoaster. Along with Marvin Gaye's Got To Give It Up,
Earth Wind and Fire's Boogie Wonderland and James Brown's Living In America it's on my
own personal list of "favorite artist's hits you didn't particularly like much"...Sugar's extra
funky workouts like Skintight got me and he was a master of a sub-genre I like to call
the " Funk Ballad". I Want To Be Free was a freaking masterpiece. His jazz-blues guitar work
on pieces like Heaven Must Be Like This , Alone and Good Luck Charm knocked me the funk
out and that's how I'll remember him. It's too bad few celebrate those kinds of things today...

**stingbeelee** · 01-28-2013, 12:23 PM

Major media has reported:

January 28, 2013 at 10:30 am
Ohio Players frontman 'Sugarfoot' Bonner dead
By Dan Sewell
Associated Press

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz2JHuROXK8

Cincinnati — Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner, frontman for the hit-making funk music band the Ohio Players, has died in southwest Ohio. He was 69.

The Ohio Players, known for their brassy dance music, catchy lyrics and flamboyant outfits, topped music charts in the 1970s with hits such as "Love Rollercoaster," "Fire," "Skin Tight" and "Funky Worm."

A spokeswoman for a Newcomer Funeral Home in the Dayton suburb of Kettering said Monday morning that the family hadn't scheduled any public services. There was also a posting about his death on his current band's Facebook page. No other information was released immediately about his death Saturday.

Born in Hamilton, Ohio, Bonner teamed up in the 1960s with core members of a group called the Ohio Untouchables to form the Ohio Players. The band had a string of Top 40 hits in the mid-1970s, and continued to perform for years after that. He had remained active in recent years with a spinoff band called Sugarfoot's Ohio Players.

"Humble yet charismatic, soft-spoken and of few words, the weight of his thoughts, lyrics and music has influenced countless other artists, songs and trends," stated a posting attributed as an "official family announcement" on the Facebook page of Sugarfoot's Ohio Players. "He will be missed but not forgotten as his legacy and music lives on."

Marshall Jones, the bass player and a founding member of the Ohio Players, called his bandmates "a bunch of the most creative people — especially Sugarfoot — that I have ever been around."

"It's kind of crazy," Jones, 72, told the Associated Press of Bonner's death. "I'm still feeling fragile."

Jones said after years of playing music, the band's sudden stardom, with No. 1 singles and huge crowds in venues such as the Superdome in New Orleans, was stunning.

"I sit back now, and it was all a brilliant blaze," he said. "I think 'Damn, did I do that?' It was just 'Zoom!' That was a starburst. And like all things like that, it fizzles."

Jones said he, Bonner and other band members were delighted and flattered when "Love Rollercoaster" gained new fans through a 1990s cover by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Bonner had said he learned about music in Hamilton, where he was the oldest of a large family, playing harmonica, learning guitar and sneaking into bars as an adolescent to play with adult musicians. He said he ran away from his home some 20 miles north of Cincinnati at age 14, and told the Hamilton JournalNews in 2009 that he had only gone back there once. He explained he had bad memories of growing up poor.

He wound up in Dayton, where he connected with the players who would form the band. Their lineup changed at times, but featured horns, bass, guitar, drums and keyboards.

"We were players. We weren't trying to be lead singers, but we became one of the first crossover singing bands," Bonner told the Dayton Daily News in a 2003 interview. He said he initially played with his back to the audience, because he didn't want to get distracted.

While the band used sexual innuendo, Bonner said he didn't relate to some of the explicit lyrics and attitudes of later pop music and rap.

"There is nothing but the old school and the new fools," he said. "It's a shame the way these artists are preaching badness to a drum beat."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz2JHutKr77

**mark speck** · 01-28-2013, 10:32 PM

RIP, Sugarfoot, and thank you...

Best,

Mark

**stephanie** · 01-28-2013, 10:45 PM

Im so sorry to hear this he was one of my favorite frontmen. I hope we hear something from Walter Junie Morrison on the matter, RIP Mr OWWWWWWWWWWWWWW....I know Larry Blackmon is sad right now. My favorite jam is Heaven Must Be Like this.