The Gap Band

Brothers Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson formed The Gap Band in 1967 and went on to notch 15 Top 10 R&B hits and influence a generation of hip-hop and R&B acts who drew on (or sampled) their music. • The brothers caught a break when fellow Oklahoman Leon Russell asked them to back him on his 1974 album Stop All That Jazz, which came out the same year as The Gap Band’s debut, Magicians Holiday. • The Gap Band hit their peak by the end of the ’70s, beginning a streak of seven consecutive Top 10 albums on Billboard’s R&B chart with a self-titled LP in 1979. That same year, they notched their first Top 10 single, “Shake”, which reached No. 4 on the R&B chart. • Their 1980 LP The Gap Band III was their first No. 1 on the R&B chart. The album also yielded their first chart-topping R&B single, “Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)”. • The trio had another No. 1 R&B hit with The Gap Band IV in 1982, which sent three singles up the charts: “Early in the Morning” and “Outstanding” each reached the top spot, while “You Dropped a Bomb on Me” peaked at No. 2. • Gap Band VI in 1984 also reached No. 1, the group’s last album to top the R&B chart. All three singles made the R&B Top 20, with “Beep a Freak” reaching No. 2. • In 1988, The Gap Band contributed a pair of songs to the blaxploitation film parody I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, including the title track, which reached No. 14 on the R&B chart. • The band landed its final No. 1 R&B hit the following year with “All of My Love”. In 1992, Charlie Wilson ramped up a solo career, and The Gap Band scaled back their activity, resulting in just three non-charting albums that decade. • Robert Wilson was 53 when he died of a heart attack in 2010.