Discover Creative Funk: The Underrated Funk & Soul Legends

One of the most underrated bands in the history of funk and soul music, Creative Funk was the brainchild of brothers Deek and Gary DeBerry. Gary started playing piano at 9, then stand-up bass at 13. Then he joined a jazz band in junior high school and played for talent shows and every assembly. The two brothers later added an alto sax and played a lot of Parks & Recreation gigs, which led them to the Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. They called themselves the "Mighty Fantastics" and came in second place to an R&B James Brown-type group who were older. Gary was only 14 years old then, but grateful to have played at the famed Apollo. 

In high school, Gary met an outstanding guitarist, and they started a band called Creative Funk that eventually led him to the Apollo again, this time as an artist with a record out that was making waves. That record, 1972's "Ready Made Family," which Gary composed with his older brother Deek, was strongly supported by his New York family and community. The single sold 25,000 units plus in New York City and the surrounding areas. Gary credits his brother Deek for being instrumental in helping him get the band going, and the two started their own record label, Creative Funk Enterprises. 

The band Creative Funk was truly an outstanding cast of players that included Gary on bass, Richard Currence (drums), Robert Banks and Walter Etheridge (guitars), Andre Johnson (trumpet, flugelhorn), Michael Johnson (saxophone), Denzil Miller (keyboards, trombone), and a talented trio of vocalists in Diane Jenkins, Veedette Williams, and Clarence Bassett. This great combination stayed together for four years and eventually parted ways in 1975. 

Primarily a live band, Creative Funk only recorded a handful of singles as a band on their own label, but the music was exceptional enough to cement their standing in R&B history. Deek and Gary kept the Creative Funk label alive and continued to put out releases by a bevy of talented artists such as a solo Jenkins, The Limelites, Funk Machine, Jimmy Castor, Zero Hour, DJ Kool, Scratchmaster Chuck T, and many others, well into the 1990s. Gary became a much-in-demand session bassist after the band split and went on to play with flutist Bobbie Humphrey, Norman Connors, Jean Carne, Stanley Turrentine, and a host of others. Gary is still going strong today and continues to treasure his memories of having been a big part of one of the greatest independent funk bands in the history of R&B.