Cameo
Cameo started in New York City in 1974, back when they were still called the New York City Players — until the actual Ohio Players said “absolutely not,” and they had to switch it up. Led by the forever‑iconic Larry Blackmon, the man who turned a red leather codpiece into a cultural event, Cameo became one of the most unstoppable funk machines of the late ’70s and ’80s. They came out the gate on Chocolate City Records, dropping early funk burners like “Rigor Mortis” (1977) and “I Just Want to Be” (1979), then leveled up in the ’80s with that tight, electronic, Minneapolis‑adjacent sound that made them untouchable.
By the time they hit “Word Up!” (1986) and “Candy” (1986), Cameo wasn’t just a band — they were a whole personality. Blackmon’s nasal vocals, the rubber‑band basslines, the synth stabs, the choreography that looked like synchronized electricity — it all turned them into funk royalty. They racked up multiple gold and platinum albums, dominated R&B charts, and influenced everyone from early hip‑hop producers to modern R&B groups who still steal their drum patterns.
Cameo never broke up — they just became one of those legacy acts that pop up, tear down a stage, and remind everybody that funk didn’t die, it just put on a red codpiece and kept moving.
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