R.I.P.: Hamilton Bohannon, Motown and Disco Artist

Hamilton Bohannon

The US disco, funk and soul musician Hamilton Bohannon, who backed Motown’s greats before starting a respected solo career, has died.  Je was 78, according to the Newnan, GA Times-Herald.

No official cause of death has been released.

Bohannon was born in Newnan in 1942, the son of a working-class family who ran a barbershop and cafe. He started drumming – initially on family furniture – and began playing professionally after moving to Atlanta following high school, including alongside his friend Jimi Hendrix at the city’s Royal Peacock venue.

He was hired by Stevie Wonder as his live drummer and came into the orbit of Motown Records, who later employed him as a bandleader. His group Bohannon & The Motown Sound backed numerous label stars on tour, including Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, the Temptations, and Diana Ross and the Supremes.

After Motown moved to Los Angeles, he stayed in the label’s first home of Detroit and started a solo career, beginning with 1973 album Stop & Go, and eventually released 19 studio albums by the end of the 1980s. He struggled to cross over in the US pop market – only one of his singles reached the Top 100 – but he became a mainstay in the disco boom of the mid-1970s onwards with tracks like Let’s Start the Dance.

In a discography ranging from 1973 to 1990, Bohannon released 22 albums. As a pioneer of disco and funk, his sounds have been sampled by the likes of Jay Z, Snoop Dogg, Craig Mack and Kool G Rap.

In February 2020, Bohannon released his last single – "Bohannon Combination Gumbo Mix”.


The sounds coming from WAOK in Atlanta fed Bohannon’s passion for music with the latest hits from Johnny Ace, Etta James, Ray Charles and The Clovers.  Bohannon fell in love with drums after watching The Bobcats – a Dixieland jazz group with members from the Bob Crosby Orchestra – on television.

By the time he was in seventh grade, he formed his own group – the Bob Dads. Dressed to the nines, the group looked as sharp as they sounded. Anything that came across the WAOK airwaves, the Bob Dads learned and performed for anyone willing to listen.