The Funk Brothers‘ Wah Wah Watson, who backed such Motown legends as Marvin Gaye, The Temptations and Smokey Robinson — as well as Michael Jackson after he’d moved on to Epic — died Wednesday at age 67.
The Richmond, Virginia native joined The Funk Brothers in 1968. His Motown high point was using the wah-wah pedal — which gave him his stage name — on The Tempts’ “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.”
After the house band broke up when Motown relocated to L.A., Watson played behind Rose Royce on “Car Wash,” Gloria Gaynor on “I Will Survive” and Michael Jackson on “Off the Wall.”
Born Melvin Ragin, Watson worked less frequently once R&B artists leaned more on synthesizers and less on veteran players. Still, his later-day resume included sessions with Brian McKnight, Maxwell and Me’shell Ndegéocello.
The greatest compliment may have come from Sade‘s producer and sideman Stuart Matthewman. He told the Red Bull Music Academy, “I wanted to sound like Wah Wah, who played with Marvin Gaye… He was my favorite guitar player.” (Rolling Stone)
Source: CS / CS
