When you melt R&B, rock, funk and heavy metal you get a sound that is dangerous… provocative… passionate… you get Mother’s finest, a band known for its cutting edge music and live performance.
Formed in 1970, they began with vocalist Joyce “Baby Jean” Kennedy and Glenn Murdock (guitar,vocals) ,guitarist James Gary”Mo” Moore, bassist Jerry “Wyzard” Seay, adding keyboardist Michael Keck and drummer Barry “B.B.Queen” Borden and settled in Atlanta Later added were John Hayes on guitar and Dion Derek on drums.
After being “discovered” by Tom Werman at CBS, the band signed with the label in 1976 and recorded 5 albums.The band gained cult following in Europe. In 1983, after the release of” Iron Age” probably their hardest and most enduring record, the band desintegrated. Kennedy subsequently released 2 soul albums for A&M Records. Wizzard linked up with Rick Medlocke’s Blackfoot.
The original line up re-formed in 1989 and released a live album “Subluxation”, to critical acclaim. Mother’s Finest became a big influence for artists such as Living Colour, Prince, Van Halen, Mellisa Etheridge, touring with diverse acts such as The Who, P-Funk, Aerosmith, Earth Wind and Fire, AC-DC, Marvin Gaye, Black Sabbath, The Commodores, Lynard Skynard and Chaka Khan. So long considered ahead of their time, it seems that the times have indeed caught up with Mother’s Finest. The band has experienced three decades of success with more to come in the new millennium armed with the classics that started it all, as well as new material in the funk-rock tradition. With self-produced tracks and collaborations with Swedish group Clawfinger, Vernon Reid and Omar Hakim the band is pumped to move into the new millennium.
Mother’s Finest was just recently inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and are currently on tour in the United States with another European tour planned for this spring.