Artist's albums
Time Has Come: The Best Of The Chambers Brothers
1996 · compilation
Oh My God
1972 · album
New Generation
1971 · album
Right Move
1975 · album
Yes Yes Yes
2020 · album
The Chambers Brothers Live In San Franciso 1965
2016 · album
Live!
2015 · album
Live from San Francisco
2015 · album
Now! (Digitally Remastered)
2014 · album
The Chambers Brothers Greatest Hits
1970 · compilation
Feelin' the Blues
1970 · album
Sunshine
2009 · album
Unbonded
1973 · album
Feelin' The Blues
1970 · album
The Chambers' Brothers Greatest Hits
1970 · compilation
Now! (Live)
1967 · album
West Coast Love-In
1967 · album
Shout!
1968 · album
Groovin' Time
1968 · album
Shout!
1968 · album
A New Time - A New Day
1968 · album
People Get Ready
1966 · album
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Biography
Like their West Coast contemporaries Sly & the Family Stone, the Chambers Brothers shattered racial and musical divides to forge an incendiary fusion of funk, gospel, blues, and psychedelia which reached its apex with the perennial 1968 song "Time Has Come Today." The Chambers Brothers -- bassist George, guitarist Willie, harpist Lester, and guitarist Joe, all of whom contributed vocals -- were born and raised in Lee County, Mississippi; the products of an impoverished sharecropping family, the brothers first polished their vocal harmonies in the choir of their Baptist church, a collaboration which ended after George was drafted into the army in 1952. Following his discharge he relocated to Los Angeles, where the other Chambers Brothers soon settled as well; the foursome began performing gospel and folk throughout Southern California in 1954, but remained virtually unknown until appearing in New York City in 1965. The addition of white drummer Brian Keenan not only made the Chambers Brothers an interracial group, but pushed their music closer to rock & roll; a well-received appearance at the Newport Folk Festival further enhanced their growing reputation, and they soon recorded their debut LP, People Get Ready. As the Chambers Brothers toured rock clubs (including the famed Fillmore in San Francisco) and R&B venues (most notably the Apollo Theatre) alike, their music increasingly embraced elements of both; after recording 1968's Shout! for the Vault label, the group signed to Columbia to issue Time Has Come Today, scoring a major pop hit with the title track, an 11-minute psychedelic soul epic in its original album incarnation. The follow-up, A New Time - A New Day, yielded another Top 40 hit, a cover of the Otis Redding classic "I Can't Turn You Loose," but subsequent efforts, including 1969's Love, Peace and Happiness and 1970's Live at Fillmore East, failed to maintain the commercial momentum. Upon completing 1972's Oh My God!, the Chambers Brothers disbanded, only to reunite two years later for Unbonded. Right Move appeared in 1975, and although no new studio records were forthcoming, the group regularly performed live in the decades to follow, with the brothers also pursuing individual projects; the Chambers Family Choir, a gospel group including the siblings' children, remained a priority as well. George Chambers died on October 12, 2019 at the age of 88. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi