Roots of Sly and the Family Stone

Macfarlane Gregory Anthony Mackey, known professionally as Tony McKay and Exuma, was a Bahamian musician, artist, playwright, and author best known for his music that blends folk, rock, carnival, junkanoo, calypso, reggae, and African music stylings.

The Ikettes were a female backing vocal group for R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner, performing primarily as a trio, though occasionally expanding to a quartet. The group originated in 1960 when Ike Turner recruited members of Art Lassiter's backing trio, the Artettes—Robbie Montgomery, Frances Hodges, and Sandra Harding—to record "A Fool in Love" with Tina Turner after Lassiter failed to appear for a scheduled session. Following the success of the single, Turner formed the Ike & Tina Turner Revue and assembled a new backing group, soon known as the Ikettes.

Catch a Fire is the fifth studio album by the reggae band The Wailers, released in April 1973. It was their first album released by Island Records. After finishing a UK tour with Johnny Nash, they had started laying down tracks for JAD Records when a disputed CBS contract with Danny Sims created tensions. The band did not have enough money to return to Jamaica, so their road manager Brent Clarke approached producer Chris Blackwell, who agreed to advance The Wailers money for an album. They used this money to pay their fares back home, where they completed the recordings that constitute Catch a Fire. The album has nine songs, two of which were written and composed by Peter Tosh; the remaining seven were by Bob Marley. While Bunny Wailer is not credited as a writer, the group's writing style was a collective process. For the immediate follow-up album, Burnin', also released in 1973, he contributed four songs. After Marley returned with the tapes to London, Blackwell reworked the tracks at Island Studios, with contributions by Muscle Shoals session musician Wayne Perkins, who played guitar on three overdubbed tracks. The album had a limited original release under the name The Wailers in a sleeve depicting a Zippo lighter, designed by graphic artists Rod Dyer and Bob Weiner; subsequent releases had an alternative cover designed by John Bonis, featuring an Esther Anderson portrait of Marley smoking a "spliff", and crediting the band as Bob Marley and the Wailers.

Gypsy was an American progressive rock band from Minnesota, formed as The Underbeats (1962–1968). Gypsy was the house band at the Whisky a Go Go, West Hollywood, California from September 1969 to April 1971 and were known in 1970 for their US Billboard Hot 100 single "Gypsy Queen Part 1", which peaked at #62. The track "Dead And Gone" was played extensively on KSHE 95 in St. Louis MO, KADI-FM in St. Louis MO, and KWK St. Louis. Most of Gypsy's music was composed and written by guitarist and singer Enrico Rosenbaum. Drummer Bill Lordan went on to play with Sly & the Family Stone and a long career with Robin Trower. Keyboardist James Walsh continued the band in various incarnations as The James Walsh Gypsy Band. The James Walsh Gypsy Band had one Hot 100 entry in 1978 with, "Cuz, It's You Girl" which peaked at #71.