Sonny Knight & The Lakers
One would thing that the runaway success of Daptone artists like Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley would have spurred any '60s-era R&B singers who could still perform out of hibernation. Jackson, Mississippi, born soul vocalist Sonny Knight was raised in St. Paul and gravitated towards music at a young age.
By the time he was 17, the singer had released his debut single under the moniker Little Sonny Knight & The Cymbols for New Teenage Records in 1965. While his music career was put on hiatus during a three-year stint in the army followed by several more traveling and working around the U.S. Knight actually lived in the Bay Area for three years starting 1971, living in Oakland while working on the docks for Montgomery Ward and briefly studying music at Laney College.
While he became involved in the East Bay music scene enough to sing with a local cover band and cross paths with local legends like Buddy Miles and Larry Graham, Knight would move back to St. Paul mid-decade after getting his commercial truck driving license, a job that would sustain him when music wasn't paying the bills over the next few decades.
The singer stepped away from music for most of the '80s, but in the '90s Knight was invited to work with members of vocal group the Valdons on a new project called the Bachelors that would re-introduce his soulful pipes to Twin Cities music fans. When Minneapolis-based reissue label Secret Stash Records put out the compilation Twin Cities Funk and Soul: Lost R&B Grooves from Minneapolis/Saint Paul 1964-1979, it led to a revival of interest in the Valdons and other '60s artists from the region, including the Valdons who made Knight a new member.
The following year, Knight would team with Secret Stash founder Eric Foss (who plays drums) who put together seven-piece backing band the Lakers. With Knight's gruff vocals and high-energy delivery taking center stage, the ensemble's debut effort I'm Still Here hearkens back to the classic '60s proto funk and boogaloo sounds of James Brown and Dyke and the Blazers while occasionally touching on the gospel-soaked soul ballad style of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding.
Ahead of the upcoming release of the concert recording Do It Live, a double LP that documents the group's electrifying R&B revue onstage, Knight and the Lakers come to the Independent Sunday for a show that is sure to have the crowd drenched in sweat by the end of the night. Like-minded local rare R&B enthusiasts Gene Washington and the Ironsides open the show.
Sonny Knight & The Lakers
Sunday, Sept. 20, 8 p.m. $15-$17
The Independent