The band came about when in the mid-1960s, 17-year-old tenor saxophonist Emilio Castillo moved from Detroit, Michigan to Fremont, California. He started a band called 'The Gotham City Crime Fighters' which evolved into 'The Motowns', specializing in soul music covers.
During 1968, Castillo teamed up with baritone saxophonist Stephen Kupka (later dubbed 'The Funky Doctor'), bassist Francis 'Rocco' Prestia and trumpet/trombone player Mic Gillette. They moved to Oakland, and together they began writing and performing original material. One of their early influences was soul artist James Brown. They changed the band's name to 'Tower of Power' and began playing frequently in the San Francisco Bay Area.In 1970, Tower of Power (by then including trumpeter/arranger Greg Adams, and drummer David Garibaldi) signed a recording contract with Bill Graham's San Francisco Records and released their first album, ‘East Bay Grease’. Augmented by percussionist/conga/bongo player Brent Byars, they moved to Warner Bros Records. Here they released 1972's ‘Bump City’, which included the single "You're Still a Young Man" a song co written by Emilio Castillo, and based on a true story, concerning a former girlfriend who was six years older than him, and peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 in that year, plus 1973's ‘Tower of Power’, proved to be breakout albums for the band.
Tower of Power, released in the spring of 1973, was the bands 3rd album, and, is the group's most successful album to date, peaking at #15 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. The album was also RIAA certified as a gold record (for sales in excess of 500,000 copies). The album also spawned their most-successful single "So Very Hard To Go". Although the single peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, it landed in the Top 10 on the surveys of many West Coast Top 40 radio stations, hitting #1 on many of them. The album also charted two other singles on the Billboard Hot 100, "This Time It's Real" and "What Is Hip?" The latter is possibly their most enduring song.
1974's Back to Oakland spawned another hit, "Don't Change Horses (in the Middle of a Stream)", which reached #26 on the Billboard Hot 100, plus "Time Will Tell", which charted at #69.
On some of their releases in the mid-1970s, such as Urban Renewal (1974), the band moved more toward funk than soul; however, they continued recording ballads as well. After vocalist Lenny Williams moved on, the band's days of chart radio airplay declined. During the late 1970s they briefly tried recording disco-sounding material. Leader Emilio Castillo said in an interview that the band's brief foray into quasi-disco music was at the request of Columbia Records, who had the band under contract at the time.
Tower of Power still tour extensively today, and there have been many changes over the years. At least 60 musicians have toured or recorded with the band over its 40-plus-year existence. These include Saturday Night Live musical director/saxophonist Lenny Pickett, drummer David Garibaldi, bassist Rocco Prestia, organ master Chester Thompson, saxophonists Richard Elliot and Euge Groove, and early guitarist Bruce Conte. Conte's cousin, BALCO founder Victor Conte, also played bass guitar in the band from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. Former lead vocalist Rick Stevens was sentenced to life in prison on three counts of first-degree murder after leaving the band, while Rufus Miller performed most of the lead vocals on 'East Bay Grease'.
Bruce Conte rejoined ToP in 2006, replacing veteran guitarist Jeff Tamelier. He departed after slightly more than a year, citing personal recording projects and health issues. For this relatively short period, ToP had five of their 11 'Back-in-the-Day' members 'Back-on-the-Stage'.
Following Conte as guitarist was Charles Spikes (while auditions for a permanent player were held), then Mark Harper, who offers powerful and accurate harmony vocals.
Tower's 'So Very Hard To Go' was featured in the soundtrack of the 2002 film City of God, as well as Will Ferrell's Semi-Pro.
The TOP horns toured with Huey Lewis and The News during the mid-1980s. They joined the 'Sports' tour to support Lewis' highly successful album of the same name, and recorded on several of his albums. Lewis enjoyed the experience so much that he later hired other horn players to replicate the sound. Lewis has also collaborated on a few of the Tower of Power's songs.
Tower of Power have made guest appearances on other major recording solo artists' albums. They guested with Little Feat. In 1993 the band was featured on Luis Miguel's Aries, in a cover of "Attitude Dance" titled "Que Nivel de Mujer". Most recently, Tower of Power has been featured on Josh Groban's Awake, during an instrumental break in "Machine".
Horn section collaborations
The ToP horn section has appeared on other artists' recordings, including a live performance with Little Feat in 1977 at the Rockpalast, on the song, "Rocket in my Pocket", which helped catapult Little Feat's album that was subsequently released as one of the best live albums made. The horns from TOP also supported the Monkees, Santana, Elkie Brooks, Elton John, Linda Lewis, rad. (Rose Ann Dimalanta), John Lee Hooker, Rod Stewart, Jefferson Starship, Heart, Huey Lewis and the News, Spyro Gyra, Lyle Lovett, Poison, Phish, Toto, Pharoahe Monch, and Aerosmith. Tower's early song, 'So Very Hard To Go' was featured in the soundtrack of the 2002 film City of God, as well as Will Ferrell's Semi-Pro.
Recent work
Tower of Power has been recording and touring continuously since 1968, and the band maintains a very busy tour calendar. In 2008 they celebrated their 40th Anniversary with shows in San Mateo, California in August, and a huge show at the Fillmore in San Francisco on October 18, 2008. At that show many former band members appeared onstage, and the entire event was recorded for a DVD to be released in mid-2009.Tower of Power has released 19 albums over the years (compilations and regional variations not included), the latest being 2009's homage to classic soul songs The Great American Soulbook.
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