The Universal Togetherness Band were a student group
led by Andre Gibson. In the spring of 1979 he put together a group
after seeing a flyer by Chicago's Columbia College engineering
department looking for a band to record in their studios. Between 1979
and 1982 they used the studio to record their songs for no cost.
Although Mercury records showed an interest in releasing their
recordings nothing materialised. Their recordings went unreleased for
30 years until Numero Group stumbled across the group via a recording
of an 80s TV show "The Chicago Party" on which they performed live.
They tracked down Andre Gibson with a view to releasing some of the
groups recordings. In 2014 Numero released a self-titled album on the
group on digital, vinyl and CD.
Soul Direction has obtained approval to release two of the tracks from the
album, "I Want You" and "Call For Love" on 7" vinyl
Andre Gibson is from Chicago and was influenced to pursue music at
the age of six after seeing the great Jackie Wilson perform at The
Regal Theatre. He was also further influenced by The Temptations and
Stevie Wonder. However it was his maths teacher
Artee 'Duke' Payne
who was the saxophonist/flutist for Odell Brown and the Organ-Izers
(who were signed to Cadet Records) who nurtured him. Not deflated by
UTB's lack of success,
Andre Gibson
still records music to this day at the age of 66.
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