Invisible Man's Band ~ All Night Thing 1979 Disco Purrfection Version
To find out about the Invisible Man's Band, one has to take a step back to a soul group of five young men who were called The Five Stairsteps. The five members were brothers James, Dennis, Kenneth, Clarence Jr and Alohe Jean, one more brother, Cubie was briefly a member. Born to Betty and Clarence Burke in Chicago, Illinois the boys group was a family affair, with their police detective Dad playing bass and managing them. Once the boys took the top prize at a local talent show, several labels expressed interest in recording them. Enter Curtis Mayfield who signed the group to his Windy City label and set about recording Curtis Mayfield songs produced by him. That set them on the path to victory over on the soul charts. Their most popular pop song is "O-o-h Child" from 1970 that peaked at #8, after that they struggled with the lower reaches of the Hot100 Chart, some as Bubbling Under tracks, any song charting higher than 100. The band broke up in 1976, but Clarence had an idea to record an album as Invisible Man's Band and got Keni, James and Dennis to work with him on it. At the centerpiece was "All Night Thing", a soulfully funky disco song recorded in 1978, released in 1979 and peaked at #10 in January, 1980. A second album was recorded for Neil Bogart's Boardwalk Records and released in 1981, "Really Wanna See You". Fate was not kind to them as Bogart was already stricken with cancer and was not able to provide them with the proper management and promotion so the album tanked, as did the singles, "Rated X" and "Really Wanna See You". Thier last waxing was from 1983, a one off single "Sunday Afternoon". Keni went on to produce and write songs as well play bass for Sly & The Family Stone, Natalie Cole, Narada Michael Walden, Ramsey Lewis, The Emotions, Diana Ross, Gladys Knight, Curtis Mayfield and Bill Withers where he co produced Bill's "Lovely Day".