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Donald Byrd was a trumpeter and vocalist who was known for his work in Jazz, funk and Rhythm & Blues. He was also an instructor at Howard University in Washington D.C.
In 1973, a group of his students put together a jazz-funk fusion group, named it after him, and asked him to join.
He did...and The Blackbyrds were on their way to a solid career--releasing 11 albums and 12 singles over the years.
Most of those singles reached a respectable "middle" of one chart or another, but one of their songs became a "Great Song of 1975."
"Walking in Rhythm" was a sparkling R&B song that was quite simply about a man on his way to visit his girl. The overall rhythm made it sound like the group was actually "walking," which just added to the "cool groove."
The song was a Top 10 hit on THREE Billboard charts: R&B (#4), Adult Contemporary (#5) and The Hot 100 (#6). In Canada, it reached #4 on the AC Chart and #14 on the Top 40.
Again, they had a number of other modest hits, so The Blackbyrds were not really a one-hit wonder, but if you're going to be remembered for just one song, "Walking in Rhythm" is certainly the perfect choice:
It's a "Great Song of 1975!"
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