Lakeside (band)

Formation and early years

In early 1969, The Nomads met The Montereys, and formed a band and a singing group consisting of lead guitarist and founding member Stephen Shockley, Mark Wood, Tiemeyer McCain, Tony White, and Brian Marbury. The two groups played together in musical revues in the tri-state area of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.

When The Montereys left the Tri-State area later in 1969 to pursue opportunities in New York City, Stephen Shockley and The Nomads remained behind. Mark Wood, the other Nomads, and Stephen Shockley soon added other instrumentalists; the result was The Nomads and The Young Underground. In 1971, The Nomads and The Young Underground took on a new, singular identity: With the addition of Thomas Shelby and sister of Mark Wood's sister Shirley Wood, they became Ohio Lakeside Express. In 1971, the group became acquainted with Eddie Thomas of Curtom, a record label owned and operated by Mr. Thomas and his partner, Curtis Mayfield. Eddie Thomas left Curtom to form his own label: "Lakeside", which he named after the south-side of Chicago. Lakeside, the label, signed Ohio Lakeside Express, the band, with the band soon dropping "Ohio", and ultimately the "Express" as well, in favor of "Lakeside". Eddie Thomas had a number of producers expressing interest in producing an album for Lakeside, but nothing materialized at this stage in their career. That would soon change, as Shirley chose not to pursue her singing career - so they added a new singer named Ricky Abernathy.

At "Mavericks Flats", another of the big-time venues of the day, by now they added another vocalist (Otis Stokes) to replace Ricky Abernathy, and a new percussionist (Fred Lewis). The group was seen by Dick Griffey, a promoter handling successful artists like Stevie Wonder. Impressed by the group, he offered his friendship and advice, and began informally managing Lakeside in early 1974. It was also in 1974 that Lakeside met Frank Wilson and signed a deal with Motown. Things seemed to be looking up for the band. Unfortunately, Motown was promoting/prioritizing other groups, and shelved what they had produced for Lakeside. When Frank Wilson left Motown in 1976 for ABC Dunhill, Lakeside went with him.

It was in 1977 that Lakeside's success really started to accelerate. That year, the group, going by the name Lakeside released their self-titled debut album, which featured the single, "If I Didn't Have You". It was also around this time that the group debuted on Soul Train, performing a Beloyd Taylor and Peter Cor composition "Shine On", which helped pave the way for what was to come. As fate would have it the time had come for Lakeside to be a major player in creating the next chapter, with the addition of barefoot drummer Fred Alexander Jr. At this time the group was being approached by Whitfield Records, Motown and Solar Records. In the end, the band chose Solar Records, owned by Dick Griffey, with stable mates The Whispers, Shalamar, Midnight Star, Klymaxx, and Carrie Lucas.

Major label success

What was to come involved Dick Griffey, the producer who had befriended and managed Lakeside since 1975. In 1978, Mr. Griffey started Solar Records. At that same time, Norman Whitfield had been courting the group to sign with his Whitfield Records, but Dick offered the group a chance to write and co-produce their own music, which Norman was not willing to do. With that, the group decided to sign with Dick's new label. Parting amicably with Frank Wilson, Lakeside became a part of the Solar family. At this point, the band released their next album, Shot of Love later in 1978. Their first Solar album featured songs all written by members of the band and co-produced with Solar staff producer, Leon Sylvers III. With this album, the band began to find major success on the R&B charts, when the single "It's All the Way Live" reached #4.

The band, at this point consisting of bassist Marvin Craig, drummer Fred Alexander, percussionist Fred Lewis, guitarist Steve Shockley, keyboardist Norman Beavers, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist and lead vocalist Otis Stokes, additional lead vocalist Mark Wood, background vocalists Tiemeyer McCain and Thomas Shelby found their niche with a sound that stemmed from years of playing together. The band dressed in costumes on their album covers, including pirates, 1920's police officers, cowboys, Arabian knights, and even Robin Hood.

Despite the success of Shot of Love and "It's All the Way Live", the next album, Rough Riders, didn't fare as well. However, the following album, 1980's Fantastic Voyage, exceeded all expectations. Its eponymous single, "Fantastic Voyage" went to reach number one on the R&B charts. The tune remains the band's biggest hit, also hitting the pop charts (their only hit to date to do so), where it peaked at number 55. They followed this hit up with a remake of the Beatles' song, "I Want to Hold Your Hand", which made the R&B Top Ten again.

Subsequent to the Fantastic Voyage album, Lakeside would go on to release six more successful ones. More hits on the R&B charts kept the group going until their change in the late 1980s.

Tyrone Griffin - one of the later members of Lakeside - has a son in the music industry, Tyrone Griffin, Jr.- known to the public as singer Ty Dolla $ign.

"Classic" line-up

Other members