Music
Joe Hunter
1927–2007 · pianist, bandleader, arranger
First leader of the Funk Brothers (1959–1964), who recruited James Jamerson and played piano on "Shop Around", "Do You Love Me" and "Heat Wave".
- Born
Jackson, Tennessee- Died
Detroit area, Michigan
aged 79- Birth name
- Joseph Edward Hunter
- Detroit years
- c. 1938–2007
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Hunter's family moved from Tennessee to Detroit when he was 11. After army service, where he played in a jazz band with Elvin Jones, he worked the Detroit jazz clubs and toured with the Midnighters. Motown recruited him in 1958, and as its first studio bandleader he brought in many of the musicians who became the Funk Brothers, James Jamerson and later Earl Van Dyke among them. His piano is on the Miracles' "Shop Around", the Contours' "Do You Love Me", Marvin Gaye's "Pride and Joy" and Martha and the Vandellas' "Heat Wave". He left in 1964 to freelance as an arranger, working for Detroit's Golden World and Fortune labels and artists such as Edwin Starr and John Lee Hooker. He wrote a memoir in 1996, toured with the surviving Funk Brothers after 2002 and is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Highlights
- First bandleader of Motown's studio band (1959–1964)
- Recruited James Jamerson and Earl Van Dyke
- Piano on "Shop Around", "Do You Love Me" and "Heat Wave"
- Memoir Musicians, Motown, and Myself (1996)
- Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award 2004 with the Funk Brothers
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Recorded here · 1959–1964
Motown Museum
Played on Motown sessions in Studio A, the basement room the musicians nicknamed the "Snake Pit".
Buried here · 2007
Mount Olivet Cemetery
His grave.