The Hollywood All Stars

Left to Right: Back – William “Boogie Man” Hubbard, Calvin Valentine; Front – Herbert Bryant, Ben Wilson, Donald Valentine. The Hollywood All Stars, 1988-89. (Photograph by Lawrence Jasud. Courtesy of the High Water Archive)
Left to Right: William “Boogie Man” Hubbard, Ben Wilson, Don Valentine, Calvin Valentine. The Hollywood All Stars, Overton Park Shell, Memphis, 1988. (Courtesy of Dr. David Evans)

Formed in 1974, The Hollywood All Stars came about due to several circumstances, the first being the former bands of Ben Wilson and Calvin Valentine breaking up. The second is that these two would then meet and perform regularly with Leroy Hodges’ Funky Four (sometimes along with keyboard player William “Boogie Man” Hubbard as well), thus forming a connection that would eventually lead to the formation of a band following Hodges’ death later that year. (Coincidentally this same event would lead to the formation of another High Water group, the Fieldstones.)

The next few years would feature a rotating cast of new players, though Wilson, Valentine, and Boogie Man would always make up the core of the group. The band would also slowly expand, adding in saxophones, and eventually settling on “Chicken” George Walker as their consistent drummer. By 1976 the band was playing regular Sunday night gigs at the Brittenum’s Corner Lounge at the corner of Airways and Brooklyn, a position they would hold for ten years, only ending with the club’s closure.

The band would see further changes in 1981, after a series of illnesses that left saxophonist Gilmore Daniel largely unable to perform. The band decided to pick up a second guitarist, Lee Roy Martin, thus giving the band a new sound. This new sound would be recorded by High Water in 1982. This would unfortunately be one of their last acts as a band, though. By the end of the year, the band had largely split, with part of the band splitting off to form the Blues Busters, and the remainder working to add in new members to keep the group playing throughout the rest of the 80’s. This iteration of the band would remain active, though, going on tour in France in 1988, and in Peru, Ecuador, and Venezuela in 1989.