Remembering Sugarfoot

Public Memorials to Sugarfoot

The death of Ohio Players’ frontman Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner on Jan. 26 represents a loss to both the music industry as a whole and to a region in which his innovative blend of funk, jazz and soul helped create what came to be known as “the Dayton Sound.”

Among the band’s huge hits in its heyday in the ’70s were “Love Rollercoaster,” “Skin Tight” and “Fire.”

Born in Hamilton, Bonner performed until the end of his life, most recently with a splinter group called Sugarfoot’s Ohio Players. He died at age 69 in Trotwood after a battle with cancer. According to his granddaughter, Shaile Foster, his family is planning a public memorial in Cincinnati next month.

“The same way I started recording music back then is the same way I do now,” Bonner told radio host Warren Stevens in 2010 in a backstage interview at The Palace Theatre in Columbus when he was asked if he’d had to alter his style over the years and change with the times.

“I’m never going to change. I’ll always be me,” Bonner responded, adding that he probably couldn’t get away with changing the style that had made him famous.

We invited a few of those who knew Sugarfoot —and were influenced by him and the Ohio Players — to share thoughts, reminiscences and tributes.

Group ‘put Dayton on the map’

“The Ohio Players musically put Dayton on the map, and a big part of the attraction was the iconic singer playing a double-neck guitar and sporting his signature puff Afro hairstyle often dangling over one eye.

I nominated the Ohio Players for the Wright-Dunbar Walk of Fame in 1999 because of the stellar accomplishments of these hometown hit-makers who left Dayton and conquered the world. Their brand of urban funk hit the national airwaves and made the music world take notice. After their premiere album “Pain,” the Players never looked back. The band inspired a wave of Dayton funk and R&B artists to follow suit.

As a teenager growing up in West Dayton in the ’60s and ’70s, one couldn’t help but be exposed to the infectious sound of the phenomenal Ohio Players. In a city boasting a wealth of young, talented musicians, the Players were a local entertainment staple by popular demand. Performing at nightclubs, high school auditoriums, Union Halls, and more, Dayton audiences couldn’t get enough of the Ohio Players’ hard-driving R&B sound.

With the awesome combination of Sugar’s unique vocal drawl and fierce scat techniques, one of the tightest horn sections in the business, Marshall Jones’ cool, funky basslines, and soaring falsetto-harmonies, the Ohio Players mesmerized music lovers from Dayton to London, and from Japan to Australia.

Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner was a magical presence onstage and off. He was frequently imitated for his unique vocal styling and iconic personal flair. These qualities belied an outstanding virtuosity on guitar that was heavily blues-influenced and funk inspired. Sugar was a true artist, thoughtful and talented, and he will be sorely missed by his legions of fans.”

— Michael L. Sampson, project director and co-curator of the 1998 exhibit “Something In The Water: The Sweet Sound of Dayton Street Funk” at the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center. Sampson is also the director of the Land of Funk Museum and Hall of Fame, scheduled to open in March in the Wright-Dunbar neighborhood.

‘He made the guitar sing’

“Sugarfoot played a really mean guitar, he made the guitar sing in a lot of ways you didn’t think it could. He made his mark on music history by playing the major role in a group that pioneered the funk sound. A lot of their music was very sensual in nature but they did it in a way that was not as overtly sexual as you see in a lot of today’s R&B and hip-hop music.

The Ohio Players were a black group that got their start in the African-American community, but when they made their records they went main-steam and were embraced by anybody who loved that kind of music. There were a lot of white kids that listened to their music and bought their recordings.

Dayton was the home of the first FM radio station specifically targeted to an Afro-American audience. At the time WDAO was a 50,000-watt station that covered a 75-mile area. By the time the Ohio Players were ready to break out, DAYO was HUGE and very few cities in America had a prominent FM soul music station. They were one of the first stations in the country — perhaps the very first — to play the Ohio Players. And back then, when DAYO played a record, the other prominent soul stations would sit up and take notice!”

— Jason Michaels, WHIO-Radio news anchor, music history expert, on the board of the Dayton Broadcasters Hall of Fame and a radio DJ in the ’80s

‘I knew that I was in the presence of greatness’

“I met Sugar about 30 years ago when I first started working with the late, great Roger Troutman. I was invited to the annual Zapp Band/Troutman Family Reunion Party and I remember someone saying, ‘There’s Sugarfoot!’ I had a flashback of myself as a teenager in Toledo, sitting in front of the stereo reading the liner notes on various 45’s and album covers that definitely included The Ohio Players.

When we were introduced, he flashed that signature “Sugar” smile and I knew that I was in the presence of greatness! There was always mutual love, admiration. and respect for each other and our God given gifts. I was truly honored when he invited me to do a duet with him. I will miss him, but his warmth, kindness and genius will never be forgotten. My love and prayers go out to his family, friends and fans.”

— Shirley Murdock, R&B/gospel recording artist

‘He was a man that was humble’

“I was one of the Ohio Players and became lead trumpet player in 1981 after Ralph “Peewee” Middlebrooks was in a car accident and was injured and couldn’t play because of the dental implants he required. So he went back on the saxophone.

What I remember most about Sugarfoot was his nice sense of humor. He was a man that was humble and never really bragged a lot about himself.

He told me when he was a young kid, he washed walls in a mental institution and cut grass in a zoo.    He said one day when he as cutting grass he ran over a snake and quit right then. He said he knew he could play the guitar and said he never worked another “regular” job in his life.

He was very disciplined and we practiced eight hours a day, five days a week when I started. We got a job at Harrah’s Casino in Lake Tahoo over a Labor Day weekend in 1981, and I remember I was worried because we really didn’t have a set list for a show. But what amazed me was that Sugarfoot just winged the whole thing, he just put together a song list and off-the-cuff he just entertained the people during the whole show. He was brilliant and we got rave reviews!

He was a great musician and he could play any genre — blues, jazz, funk. On the personal side, he was very private and never talked a lot about himself. He was very professional.

In my opinion he is every bit as big as Elvis. His music artistry to Dayton should be compared to the Wright brothers bringing aviation to Dayton.

We should honor his great legacy by naming a street after him.”

— Dean Simms, Springfield, a member of the Ohio Players from 1981-87

‘He was the soul of the group’

“How did he get his nickname? He said when he left Hamilton and came to Dayton, he was 14 years old and started playing with the older guys. He was the youngest kid on stage at the time, and they would call him a “tenderfoot” or a “sugarfoot” because he was the youngest.

His style was unique, it was rooted in the Mississippi Delta blues. The way he approached the guitar is unparalleled. He was the frontman of the Ohio Players and in performance he was the soul of the group.

He was absolutely self-taught, he was gifted and loved to entertain. He was always encouraging and kind to other musicians. He was instrumental in helping every R&B and funk group that ever came out of Dayton.”

— Bigg Robb, emcee of the Zapp Band, Dayton

‘His music fed his soul’

“Sugarfoot brought a blues sensibility to funk music, his voice captured both anguish and satire. He was having fun but also talking about the pain and beauty of the black experience. A young black kid who heard Sugarfoot sing, heard a voice that captured the complexity of their lives. He had a great, soulful voice.

In ‘I Wanna Be Free,’ you can hear the sound of freedom in his voice, a kind of yearning. In “Love Rollercoaster,” you hear his satirical voice, a call and response when you hear him say: “Say what?”

He was a very generous person, when I came to his house in Dayton to interview him for the first time in 2007, I brought my bass guitar with me, and he proceeded to give me a lesson on how to play the blues.

He was the kind of artist that could rise to any opportunity he had to express himself — when he was given a ballad to sing, he would knock it out of the park. His music fed his soul just like it fed ours.”

— Scot Brown, professor of history and Afro-American studies, UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles)