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Formed in 1971 in Detroit, Michigan, Black Nasty was a funk rock band inspired by the futuristic sounds of Funkadelic and Parliament. The band was mentored by musician, singer, songwriter and independent record executive Johnnie Mae Mathews, who supported and encouraged her son, drummer Artwell Matthews, when he formed a band with his bass-playing cousin Mark Patterson in the mid-1960s. The band was originally called Raw Integrated Funk and was more focused on rock – an early incarnation of the band featured Ted Nugent – but Matthews encouraged them to pursue a style that embraced R&B. Their first single was a cover of the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hanging On”, released on the independent Tank Records. Detroit soul singer/songwriter Sir Mack Rice, who had recently started writing songs for Stax Records, recommended Black Nasty to the label. The group signed Stax Records subsidiary Enterprise and released three singles – “Black Nasty Boogie (Part 6)”, “Gettin’ Funky Round Here” and “Talking to the People” - plus the socially-conscious album Talking to the People. The album, which blended funk with a harder rock edge, was not a success and they were dropped from Stax. Changing their name to Nazty, they released a few singles before settling on the name ADC Band and scoring a Top 10 hit in 1978 with “Long Stroke”.
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