Ivy Joe Hunter - Sad News

[Kevin Jones]

Another sad loss. Ivy Joe Hunter passed away last Friday in Detroit. A great musician and also a brilliant writer of so many of the Motown classic songs. He was part responsible for writing my all time favourite, Ask The Lonely. He was in the UK only a few weeks back as part of the Funk Brothers tour with Jack Ashford. A very talented and a very nice guy. Sincere condolences to his family.

Kev Jones

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/10922203/detail.html

[Eddie Hubbard]

Another sad loss. Ivy Joe Hunter passed away last Friday in Detroit. A great musician and also a brilliant writer of so many of the Motown classic songs. He was part responsible for writing my all time favourite, Ask The Lonely. He was in the UK only a few weeks back as part of the Funk Brothers tour with Jack Ashford. A very talented and a very nice guy. Sincere condolences to his family.

Kev Jones

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/10922203/detail.html

Thats really sad news Kev , especially as he'd only just visited the UK .I feel I must mention however ,that Joe Hunter and Ivy Joe Hunter are two different people , hope you don't mind me correcting this error .Best Wishes ,Eddie

[Rob Moss]

Hope Ivy Hunter hasn't read this. The great Joseph E. Hunter is the man in question.Detroit piano man extrordinaire. I wish people who don't know what they are talking about wouldn't post threads like this. This guy couldn't have seen 'Standing in the shadows of Motown'. Do yourself a favour pal - watch it. Closely.

[Simon T]

Hope Ivy Hunter hasn't read this. The great Joseph E. Hunter is the man in question.Detroit piano man extrordinaire. I wish people who don't know what they are talking about wouldn't post threads like this. This guy couldn't have seen 'Standing in the shadows of Motown'. Do yourself a favour pal - watch it. Closely.

Hi Rob

Can you expand on things to clarify the situation (for most of us who don't know)?

Thanks

Simon

[Dave Thorley]

Hope Ivy Hunter hasn't read this. The great Joseph E. Hunter is the man in question.Detroit piano man extrordinaire. I wish people who don't know what they are talking about wouldn't post threads like this. This guy couldn't have seen 'Standing in the shadows of Motown'. Do yourself a favour pal - watch it. Closely.

Over many years this has been a constant confusion and even when explained people still get it wrong

Ivory Jo Hunter-Blues singer on Atlantic

Jo Hunter-Founding member of the Funk Brothers (Aka the late Joseph E. Hunter). Also producer for Ed Wingate and on so many indie 60's and 70's Detroit tracks.

Ivy Jo Hunter-Motown producer and singer. Produced Dancing in the streets. Also owned, a bunch of indie Detroit labels in the 70's and 80's, including Red Light, Ivy.

[Guest Jimmy Scriv]

Hope this helps, taken fron Yahoo Groups Motown Ring.

It was a sad day for Motown fans today as three-time Grammy winner Joe

Hunter of the Funk Brothers was found dead in his Detroit apartment. He was

79.

While the cause of death was unknown at press time, he was diabetic, and his

son said it appeared he was trying to take some medicine when he died.

Hunter, whose jovial personality and snappy dress sense delighted his fans,

had just returned on Sunday from a European tour with fellow Funk Brother

Jack Ashford.

Born in Jackson, Tenn., Hunter moved to Detroit just before his 12th

birthday, although he never lost his Southern accent or charm. He was a raw,

rootsy piano player who started out in the 1950s backing up acts such as

Jackie Wilson and Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, but he could play jazz

or Professor Longhair and Fats Domino-style New Orleans piano as well.

Hunter was Berry Gordy Jr.'s first hire, to back up acts such as Smokey

Robinson and the Miracles on piano in the late '50s, as Gordy mustered a

staff for what would become Motown Records. Hunter also served as Motown's

first bandleader in those very early days.

His soulful, bluesy piano is the first thing you hear on the Marvin Gaye

song "Pride and Joy."

That piano work was an integral part of such songs as Martha and the

Vandellas' "Heat Wave" and "Come and Get These Memories," but after Motown

left Detroit in 1972, like many musicians, Hunter took what gigs he could.

"He was like a father to me and a buddy," said A.J. Sparks, who became

alarmed when he hadn't heard from Hunter since his return from Europe.

Sparks called Hunter's son, Joe Hunter Jr., who went in with Detroit police

and found his father. "Please tell people that we need their prayers,"

Hunter Jr. said.

"He will be welcomed in heaven," said fellow Funk Brother Bob Babbitt.

"I just called his name today," a stunned Martha Reeves said today.

"Joe was one of a kind," said Bert Dearing, owner of Bert's in the

Marketplace and Bert's on Broadway. Hunter not only played his clubs, but

Bert's in the Marketplace was a favorite hangout.

"If I couldn't find any other musicians, he was always willing to come and

do a one-man show. He'd play blues, jazz he worked all my clubs."

Dearing said there will be a gathering of musicians, fans and friends for

Hunter at Bert's in the Marketplace after funeral arrangements are set.

Bruce Resnikoff, president of Universal Music Enterprises, the parent label

of Motown, issued a statement: "Joe Hunter's piano and stellar leadership

helped birth the 'Motown Sound.' You can't miss Joe's piano on those great

early hits. The first of the Funk Brothers, his terrific riffs and

easy-going musicianship will live forever."

The glamour of Motown wore off quickly for Hunter after the '60s. When

Philadelphia musician/historian Allan Slutsky set out to find all the Funk

Brothers in the 1980s, he found Hunter playing for tips at the Troy

Marriott. Hotel guests had no idea who he was.

"Joe was kind of a throwback character, an English country gentleman in an

R&B blues body," said Slutsky, whose book and film "Standing in the Shadows

of Motown" chronicled the Funk Brothers' saga.

"He would come off with that backwoods thing, talking about corn likker and

stuff, but then he would quote Shakespeare," Slutsky added.

After the documentary film "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" was released

in 2002, the Funk Brothers' soundtrack album won two Grammys in 2003. In

2004, Hunter and the Funks were awarded with a Lifetime Achievement Award at

the Grammys, and the group toured for several years.

Hunter's life wasn't all about rhythm and blues and Motown. He was a

longtime supporter of the late Mother Waddles. His son confirmed that up to

the end of his life, Hunter was on-call to go anywhere to play for the

Mother Waddles mission.

While the Funk Brothers had splintered into several different groups in

recent years, Hunter and his colleagues, who played in Motown's Studio A at

2648 W. Grand Blvd. in Detroit, would never again be nameless players, the

musical engine behind all the hits.

"It makes me really happy that I got to see Joe get his place in the sun and

get a little bit of his dream," said Slutsky. "In the beginning of the

movie, he said when the dust settled (from Motown), it was all over for him.

That proved to be wrong. He got his dream in the last part of his life."

In addition to his son, Hunter is survived by a daughter, Michelle, and

three grandchildren.

[BrianB]

Hope Ivy Hunter hasn't read this. The great Joseph E. Hunter is the man in question.Detroit piano man extrordinaire. I wish people who don't know what they are talking about wouldn't post threads like this. This guy couldn't have seen 'Standing in the shadows of Motown'. Do yourself a favour pal - watch it. Closely.

Replies like this are the very thing that turns people off Soul Source. If every one knew everything then there wouldn't be a Soul Source at all.

Thanks for deflecting us away from the real issue. That one of the top guys has died. Not many of us met him, nor many of the others who have died over the years, but we feel a loss. Thats what the thread is about. We feel for them.

We don't need belittling for not having the same knowledge as what seems to be a priviledged few.

[Kevin Jones]

Thanks to BrianB. I did mean Joe Hunter of the Funk Brothers fame. Maybe I got a little carried away in my eagerness to post the thread. Thanks to Dave and Eddie also for claryfing things.

[Guest johnm]

After reading about the "standing in the shadows" dvd I remembered I bought this for the wife at Christmas.

Found it still in the cellophane wrapper and watched it last night excellent....

[Rob Moss]

Posting information that a person has passed away, when he hasn't, is not only demeaning and insulting to that person, but insensitive, distressing and disrespectful to the family and friends of the person who died.

To say that someone is 'priveleged' because they have gone to the time, trouble and expense of flying to America to meet our heroes is clearly ridiculous. To further suggest that people are put off Soul-Source because some of us have the timerity to correct blatant mistakes made by uninformed people who clearly do not know what they are talking about, indicates just how removed from reality the people who defend them really are.

This is not about one upmanship or superiority - it is about respect, dignity, truth and accuracy. Joe was a warm, sensitive and extremely talented individual who will be sorely missed. May his spirit live on into perpetuity.

[BrianB]

Posting information that a person has passed away, when he hasn't, is not only demeaning and insulting to that person, but insensitive, distressing and disrespectful to the family and friends of the person who died.

To say that someone is 'priveleged' because they have gone to the time, trouble and expense of flying to America to meet our heroes is clearly ridiculous. To further suggest that people are put off Soul-Source because some of us have the timerity to correct blatant mistakes made by uninformed people who clearly do not know what they are talking about, indicates just how removed from reality the people who defend them really are.

This is not about one upmanship or superiority - it is about respect, dignity, truth and accuracy. Joe was a warm, sensitive and extremely talented individual who will be sorely missed. May his spirit live on into perpetuity.

Bloody hell, you've done it again!!!

[Rob Moss]

Just received an email from Mike Terry - Joe will be laid to rest on Saturday 10th February in Detroit. R.I.P.