We Want The Funk Festival With Jeffrey Osborne, the Average White Band and Loose Ends

The 5th annual We Want the Funk Festival, which takes place at The August Wilson African American Cultural Center (AWAACC), 980 Liberty Avenue, on December 8-9, 8:00 pm, will once again celebrate the rhythm-driven musical genre that evolved from the R&B, soul, and jazz scenes of the 1970s and continues to influence today's artists.

This year's edition features two groups from The United Kingdom and a soulful singer from New England – proving that the music is still funky from either side of the pond.

On Friday, December 8, 8:00 pm, 75 year-old singer-songwriter Jeffrey Osborne brings his towering tenor voice to The AWAACC stage to deliver four decades of hits that garnered him four Grammy nominations and five gold and platinum albums. Born in Providence, RI, to a large family, his father, local trumpeter Clarence “Legs” Osborne, sat in with Lionel Hampton and Duke Ellington and was his son's first musical inspiration.

When he was 15, Osborne played drums with the O'Jays for two weeks and later joined a group called Love Men Ltd., which changed their name to LTD. Osborne moved with them to Los Angeles and went from being their drummer to their lead vocalist in the early seventies.

Osborne was LTD's front man for more than 10 years and recorded several albums with them, including Love to the World, Something to Love, Togetherness, Devotion and Shine On. Their hits included the soulful songs “Love Ballad,” “Stranger” and “Where Did We Go Wrong?” as well as the funky cuts “Back in Love Again,” and “Holding On (When Love Is Gone).”

In 1982 Osborne went solo, recorded 12 albums and released a string of Top 40 and international hits that included “I Really Don't Need No Light,” “On the Wings of Love,” “Don't You Get So Mad About It,” “Stay with Me Tonight” “Only Human” and “You Should Be Mine (The Woo Woo Song).”

Now in his seventh decade, Osborne is active as ever, performing and touring. His latest album, Worth It All was released in 2018 and features “Work It,” co-written by his son, Jeffrey, Jr. Osborne founded the Jeffrey Osborne Foundation and The Jeffrey Osborne Celebrity Classic in 2012, which benefits non-profit organizations that support music and art programs for children and provide safe havens for families in need.

AWAACC teams up with the legendary DJ Sly Jock, and his daughter/radio personality, Kiki Brown, both part of the 75-year legacy of WAMO 107.3 FM, formerly 106.7FM. Sly Jock and Kiki will host and kick off the We Want the Funk Festival.  Following the Jeffrey Osborne concert, The OFFICIAL After Party features DJ Nick Nice, also a WAMO radio legend. Admission to The OFFICIAL After Party is included in the ticket price for Jeffrey Osborne, and only open to concert ticket holders. The party begins immediately after the concert and concludes at 1:00AM.

Get ready for a funkified UK invasion on Saturday, December 9, 8:00 pm, when Loose Ends featuring Jane Eugene and The Average White Band take The AWAACC stage.

The London-based trio Loose Ends was formed in 1980, and its original members included vocalist Jane Eugene, guitarist Carl McIntosh and keyboardist and founder of the group, Steve Nichol. Their sound was a zesty blend of techno, soul, R&B, funk. Their 80's hits included “Hangin' on a String (Contemplating),” “Slow Down,” “You Can't Stop the Rain,” and “Don't Be a Fool.”

From 1984 – 1990, Loose Ends released five albums: A Little Spice, So Where Are You?, Zagora, The Real Chuckeeboo and Look How Long. The band went through many personnel changes – Eugene and Nichol left in 1990, and McIntosh went on to record the group with several singers including Laurneá Wilkerson, Linda Carriere, Christine Levin and Sunay Suleyman. Eugene brings a United States-based edition of Loose Ends to The AWAACC that will no doubt be as funky and formidable as the original group.

In Dundee, Scotland, young Scottish boys listened to the music of James Brown and other Black American R&B artists in the sixties and seventies including Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye and James Brown. Baptized in soul, those boys grew up to become The Average White Band (AWB).

For five decades, they've been laying down some no-nonsense hardcore albums like AWB, Soul Searching and Show Your Hand, and their funk and soulful ballads “Pick Up the Pieces,” “Cut the Cake,” Schoolboy Crush,” “Love Your Life” (sampled by A Tribe Called Quest) “A Love of Our Own,” and “Cloudy,” with original member Hamish Stuart's grainy, gorgeous vocals, still vibrant after all these years. AWB had the audience dancing and singing along to every song when they performed at the 2022 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival Presented by Citizens.

No doubt, they will have the same effect when they come to The AWAACC's We Want the Funk Festival. Today, the band is still going strong, albeit with new personnel, but AWB proves that the funk is always on the one, wherever it comes from.

For tickets and more information on the We Want the Funk Festival, log on to www.awaacc.org.

Major support for AWAACC's operations is provided by Richard King Mellon Foundation, Henry L. Hillman Foundation, Heinz Endowments, and the Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD). AWAACC's programming is also made possible by generous support from its donors. For a complete list, please visit awaacc.org.

The August Wilson African American Cultural Center is a non-profit cultural organization located in Pittsburgh's cultural district that generates artistic, educational, and community initiatives that advance the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson. One of the largest cultural centers in the country focused exclusively on the African American experience and the celebration of Black culture and the African diaspora, the non-profit organization welcomes more than 119,000 visitors locally and nationally.

Through year-round programming across multiple genres, such as the annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, Black Bottom Film Festival, AWCommunity Days, TRUTHSayers speaker series, and rotating art exhibits in its galleries, the Center provides a platform for established and emerging artists of color whose work reflects the universal issues of identity that Wilson tackled, and which still resonate today. www.awaacc.org.

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