Creative Funk - 70s Label Discography

On Friday we noticed that Essential Media Group digitally reissued a 'modern' Northern Soul gem "I Need You" (vocal and instrumental) by Diane Jenkins.  The version released is the 'standard' version as there is another, rarer, version which has a short spoken intro and also a different arrangement that many prefer, so we've included a YouTube clip posted by Ted Massey below. 

A little anecdote, the song was written by Sam Culley who was a member of The Diplomats who morphed into Skull Snaps whose self-titled GSF album is a collectors item (that's been reissued multiple times and we are proud owners of an original acquired from John Anderson's Soul Bowl back in the day still in it's shrink warp) and had several tracks played on the scene.

The flip side to her first single "Anniversary" was "Tow-A-Way Zone" which was popular enough in the mid 70s to gain a UK issue by President imprint Crystal in 1975.

A bit of further investigation on the artist uncovered this statement by Ian Levine who discovered "Tow-A-Way Zone" and gave it exposure at the Blackpool Mecca in the early 70s which was posted on Soul Source in 2012 from an older post on a forum ANS.

"I tracked down Creative Funk label owner Deke DeBerry. He's now living in Carolina. His brother Gary DeBerry still lives in New York, and was the bass player in Creative Funk.

Back in 1976, Sheila Hart and I went with them all to an open air concert upstate New York for radio station WLIB. Diane Jenkins performed with Creative Funk, and I got introduced to the audience. It was what was called a "Picnic In The Park". We'd made "Tow Away Zone" such an underground hit at Blackpool Mecca and the Northern Soul scene, that they'd asked me to explain what sound we were into, and so "I Need You" was born, as an attempt to create something that the Northern Soul Scene would also like. Anyway, forward to 1999. We were desperately trying to find Diane for the "Strange World Of Northern Soul".

Gary DeBerry tracked her down to a block of flats in Brooklyn and got her phone number. But she wouldn't return any messages. He said he'd heard she was a bit of a junkie, but didn't know if this was true or not. In the end, he went over to Brooklyn twice, but couldn't get her to even answer the door. I left many pleading messages on her answer phone, but to no avail. As I said...... The STRANGE world of Northern Soul."

Creative Funk was an Albany, NY, based label (distributed by Bell) owned by brothers Gary Lamont De Berry Sr. and Deek DeBerry who were also both members of the band Creative Funk and Jenkins was their lead singer. 

The label released 8 singles between 1973-75 before the band Creative Funk split in 1975. Bassist Gary went on to play with Bobbie Humphrey, Norman Connors, Jean Carne and Stanley Turrentine. Deek died in 2007. The label seems to have been reactivated in the mid 80s

We discovered that also on Friday (and some earlier) Essential Media Group has actually reissued all of the Creative Funk label's 70s output digitally so rather than just posting "I Need You" we thought it well worth posting all of them and have ordered them chronologically by original release in the playlist below.

In addition we've included a later recording by Creative Funk which we believe was released in the 80s  (not dated on Discogs and not listed on 45Cat) which is an in-demand deep funk recording which featured Veedette Williams on the vocal B side and is allegedly the hardest one to find in the label.

NB we've included Funk Machine "Soul Santa" for completeness as, if you overlook the festive title, then it's a tight funky number.

Creative Funk Discography 

Creative Funk

1972-09 - Ready Made Family / Funk Power [#12,000] (NB A side feat. Diane Jenkins)

1973-?? - Moving World / Breezie's [#12001]

Diane Jenkins

1973-?? - Anniversary /Tow-A-Way Zone [#12002]

1973-?? - Gee Baby, What About You / Recycle [#12003]

Funk Machine

1973-?? - Soul Santa - Part I / Soul Santa - Part II [#12004]

Diane Jenkins

1974-02 - I'm A Woman / Sweet Wine, Music, And My Imagination [#12005]

1975-?? - I Need You / I Need You [Instrumental] [#12005]

The Limelites / Creative Funk Orchestra

1975 - Before The Next Teardrop Falls / Theme: Before The Next Teardrop Falls [#12008]

Creative Funk

198?-?? - The Whole Groove / The Whole Thing [#CF-1201]

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