Norman Whitfield RIP

Even though we didn't get around to it at the time, it would be wrong of us not pay our respects to the late, great Norman Whitfield, who very unfortunately died last week.

Whitfield was a hugely influential member of the Motown 'Hit Factory', penning such seminal tracks as Heard It Through The Grape Vine, War, and Papa Was A Rolling Stone, and producing artists such as Gladys Knight, Marvin Gaye, and the Temptations.

His story goes that he only ended up in Motor City because his parent's car broke down on the way home from a wedding in California, and so in Detroit he stayed. In 1961, Whitfield joined Berry Gordy's Motown lable as head of Quality Control, where he was tasked with the enviable job of listening to, and then grading forthcoming releases.

It was here that he must have honed his ear for a tune, and by 1964, he was writing and producing his own tracks, including Needle In A Haystack, by The Velvelettes.

By 1968, Whitfield's work, particularly with the Temptations had a noticable psychedelic influence, and Whitfield credited Sly Stone for showing him that production was the 'science of sound', a mantra that producers - be they funk, soul, disco, rock and roll, or electronica - have lived by ever since.

In the early 1970s, a trend for psychedelic soul had taken hold of black music, and once again, Whitfield pioneered the movement with his new project, The Undisputed Truth.

Amongst their eight album discography, was 1975's Cosmic Truth, a multi-layered, boundry-pushing LP of spaced out soul, drum tracks, acid folk, and soundscapes, including the hypnotic UFO, and a cover of Neil Young's Down By The River.

It was this LP, Cosmic Truth that made us realise that we did have our own take on what dance music meant, and inspired us to get off our arses and play the music we loved, whether people new it, or it had a 4/4 beat, or it was over 110 bpm or not.

You could say we were shown the Cosmic Truth...

And whilst the passing of Norman Whitfield is very, very sad, we have a huge amount to be thankful for. So instead, we'd like to celebrate his life... And to show what fun they were having in their hayday, here's a clip of the Undisputed Truth performing Boogie Bump Boogie, from 1976.

Norman Whitfield, born May 12 1941; died September 16 2008.

Where ever you are... Keep it Cosmic x