top of page

      Joe Jammer

             &

           ​The

The Olympic Runners

Radio interview - Joe Jammer
00:00 / 00:00

Live radio interview

  with Joe Jammer

The Olympic Runners were a 1970s British funk band, put together by record producer Mike Vernon who also played percussion, andfronted by singer George Chandler. They also included multi-instrumentalist Pete Wingfield, and had a number of hit singles in both theUS and UK.

In 1973, Mike Vernon, a British record producer and founder of Blue Horizon Records, put together a group of session musicians to play on an album with blues musician Jimmy Dawkins, to be recorded at Olympic Studios in London. The musicians included keyboard player and vocalist Pete Wingfield, singer George Chandler, guitarist Joe JammerbassistDeLisle Harper, and drummer Glen LeFleur of whom Chandler, Harper and LeFleur were also members of jazz-funk band Gonzalez. When Dawkins' arrival was delayed, the musicians recorded a funk track in the spare studio time. Vernon then sold the track, "Put The Music Where Your Mouth Is", credited to The Olympic Runners, to London Recordsin New York, and in 1974 it became a hit on the US R&B Chart, reaching # 72

Following its success, the musicians recorded an album, including the track "Grab It" which also made the R&B charts. They recorded a second album, Out in Front, in 1975. A third album, Don't Let Up, soon followed, together with a succession of singles. The 1976 album Hot To Trot has been cited as their finest. Wingfield described the recording process:

"Barry Hammond the engineer would always keep a 2-track quarter-inch tape running so as to catch us jamming between takes - then we'd use that jamming as the basis for the next track. It was painless, we made album after album that way, it only took a couple of weeks out of the year, and we were selling records! For the first few years the band were completely anonymous - people assumed we were a US act..."

Their commercial success diminished in the US at the same time as it grew in the UK, and their biggest successes in the UK charts came in 1978-79, with the hit singles "Get It While You Can" and "Sir Dancealot". In 1979 they also performed the theme tune for the film The Bitch, starring Joan Collins, which gave them a third UK Top 40 hit.

 

The Bitch

Party Package

Hash Browns

Put The Music Where Your Mouth Is

Partytime Is Here To Stay

Drag It Over Here

                         

                   The Olympic Runners - Topic

 

                     https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt6jwjAdzM1lsWVmJQFQfwQ

  The Runner's Reunion 2013

The Runners with Benny King, sound Engineer Olympic Studios 2013

Runners re-unite at one of Joe's gigs in Surrey 2013

    The Album 'My Favourite Funk' with 20 Olympic Runners Tracks is available at: www.sopromusic.com

 Joe Jammer is

Sponsored by

Joe Jammer uses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Customer Reviews

 

 

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

BEST SOUND ENGINEERING, EVER...!

By Carlos Urrego on September 4, 2010

 

THIS ALBUM, RELEASED IN THE MID-SEVENTIES ON LP FORMAT WAS TO ME, AND STILL IS THE BEST RECORDING EVER FROM A STUDIO.
THE MUSIC ITSELF IS VERY RYTHMICAL, LIVELY AND FUNKY, AND ALL THE MUSICIANS AND THEIR INSTRUMENTS PRODUCE THE MOST DETAILED AND HARMONIC SOUNDS.
ONLY A HANDFUL OF RECORDINGS IN MUSIC HISTORY HAVE SIMILAR OUTSTANDING SOUND QUALITY AND CLARITY AS THIS ALBUM.

Comment  Was this review helpful to you?  YesNo

 

 

Classic Funk

By Rebus on November 8, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is bargain bin music from the 70's that blew me away then and now! Great funk, by a bunch of white guy's. These combined albums are by far their best effort's and reflect classic funk like no other group I have heard.

Comment  Was this review helpful to you?  YesNo

 

 

Funky Funky Funky

By Patrick on November 6, 2013

Verified Purchase

I know this CD is kinda dated, but the music is timeless.
I've been shaking it all over the house ever since I got it and put it on.....
Band is tight and love the guitar work of one "Joe Jammer"
Hey, I'm not done, play it again!

Comment  Was this review helpful to you?  YesNo

 

 

Five Stars

By Harold C. Barber on February 1, 2015

Verified Purchase

Yes this pure unadulterated funk

Comment  Was this review helpful to you?  YesNo

 

 

Five Stars

By TOSHIYUKI OYAMA on November 14, 2014

Verified Purchase

good

Comment  Was this review helpful to you?  YesNo

 

See all 5 customer reviews (newest first)

Write a customer review

bottom of page