AWB is regarded as one of the best soul, R & B, and funk bands alive. Though first known for the timeless instrumental mega-hit ´Pick Up the Pieces´, the band´s strength consistently lay in its songwriting, stretching across several gold & platinum albums and triple Grammy nominations with Atlantic Records. They were the first Brits to simultaneously top the USA Top 100 Singles, Albums, and R&B Singles charts, before taking similar international and UK honours.
Paradoxically, given their Scottish roots, the six-piece took the instrumental influences of US Jazz greats Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Hancock, The Crusaders etc., and R&B heroes such as Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Al Green, and Stevie Wonder - and molded their own authentic soulful blend, embraced ever since by black and white audiences alike, worldwide. While a good number of tracks, such as ‘Cut The Cake’, ‘Queen Of My Soul’, ´Let´s Go Round Again´ attracted major chart action as further hit singles, many other album cuts, like ´Schoolboy Crush´ became deep sampled and turntabled as ´rare´ grooves. AWB´s samples run into the hundreds, and so their contribution to Hip-Hop and modern R&B is unquestioned. Ballads, such as ´Cloudy´, ´A Love Of Your Own´ and ´If I Ever Lose This Heaven´ stand as some of the finest soul tracks ever.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of their breakout success with ´´AWB´´ and the group will be performing much of that record throughout their 2015 dates as a salute to one of R&B music´s classic and most influential albums. A 19-CD box set of their complete studio recordings was released in 2014, on Demon Records. The Average White Band - with Scots originals Alan Gorrie and Onnie McIntyre alongside noted US musicians Rocky Bryant (drums), Freddy V. (saxes), Rob Aries (keys), and Brent Carter (vocals) - continues its place at the pinnacle of soul music to the joy of widely eclectic and multi-generational audiences everywhere.