Rob Parissi, the founder and lead singer of Wild Cherry, also wrote their only hit – Play That Funky Music, which was a no. 1 hit single in the US in 1976 and reached no. 4 in 1990 after Vanilla Ice released it as a single (Ice Ice Baby was the B-side ). He was inspired to do so after the band’s drummer recounted hearing a fan shout at a gig ‘Are you white boys gonna play some funky music?”
According to Wikipedia, there have been 14 members of Wild Cherry over the years, with Parissi the only ever-present. I’m not sure if Eddie Fitzpatrick (trombone) knew this, and the mainly teenage band he put together for the below performance featured only the 13, but I’d be surprised if Wild Cherry ever had as much fun playing it.
