The Chambers Brothers




Unlike some acts billing themselves as such, The Chambers Brothers really were brothers. Growing up in a share cropping family in one of the most impoverished parts of Mississippi, the four siblings, George, Joe, Lester and Willie, first started to sing at the Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Lee County. After his discharge from the U.S. Army in 1952, the oldest brother, George, moved to South Los Angeles and was soon joined by the other three. Here, the foursome began performing throughout Southern California, with George on bass guitar, Willie and Joe on guitar and Lester on harmonica. They toiled in obscurity for years before switching to a more Gospel/Folk sound in 1961.

In 1965 they added a drummer to the group, a White man named Brian Keenan, and moved more toward a Rock/Soul act. The group attracted national attention when they appeared at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and were soon booked into the psychedelic venues of Electric Circus and both Filmore East and West, as well as The Apollo Theatre. They recorded their own version of The Isley Brothers' hit, "Shout" for the Vault label, but it went largely unnoticed.

The band was signed by Columbia Records in 1966 and an early version of "Time Has Come Today" was hastily recorded late that year. Unfortunately, it was rejected by the label. Instead, a more orthodox single called "All Strung Out Over You" b/w "Falling In Love" was released on December 19th, and became a regional hit. The success of that initial single gave the band the opportunity to re-record "The Time Has Come Today" in 1967. This time it became title song of their first album, "Time Has Come", and reached #11 on Billboard's Hot 100 in the Fall of 1968. The L.P. featured an 11-minute, psychedelic version of the song. Although they released several more singles over the next few years, only "I Can't Turn You Loose" managed to make a dent on the charts (#37 in 1968), although they did reach the Soul charts a few times.

The original group went their separate ways in 1972, but the four brothers came together again for a 1974 album, "Unbonded" that failed to sell. The quartet continued to tour on and off and were signed to support Maria Muldar ("Midnight At The Oasis") on her "Gospel Nights" album, as well as making commercials for Levis blue jeans.

Early in 1980, Lester relocated to New York where he formed a band with ex-Electric Flag bassist, Harvey Brooks. Willie and Joe found work as session men and George went back to singing Gospel music. The Gospel group, The Chambers Family Choir stayed a priority for the brothers. Former drummer Brian Keenan started up his own recording studio in Connecticut, but suffered a fatal heart attack on October 5th, 1985 at the age of 42.

In 2006, guitarist Willie Chambers brought the house down when he sat in with a group called Vince And The Invinceables at a benefit concert for Arthur Lee of the group Love. Lester Chambers and his son Dylan continued to turn clubs, concerts and festivals into Rock 'n' Roll church with his Lester Chambers Blues Revue. In 2013, the 73-year-old musician was back in the news again after he was attacked on stage by a female fan after dedicating a song to slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin, shortly after the man accused of his murder was acquitted.

In 2016, Willie and Joe reformed The Chambers Brothers with their nephew Jerry Warner on bass, Crazy Tomes on guitar, and L.A. drummer Jon McCracken. Brother George would also occasionally turn up at shows in the Los Angeles area. Sadly, George passed away on October 12th, 2019 at the age of 88.