The Pharaohs Don Myrick,
Louis Satterfield, and Rahmlee Michael Davis recorded in the early 1970s with the formation
the Pharaohs, from which two albums have been re-issued on CD:
The Awakening, recorded in 1971, and a live album,
In the Basement, recorded in 1972.
Formation Maurice White met trombonist and bassist
Louis Satterfield while performing at Chicago's Chess Studios. At that time Satterfield was working at Chess as a musician, where he played on hit songs such as
Fontella Bass's "
Rescue Me." The duo later collaborated as part of the Pharaohs. After leaving Chess to play in the
Ramsey Lewis Trio, White went on to start up a band known as
Earth, Wind & Fire. He eventually expanded the band's sound to include a horn section called the Phenix Horns. Two of Satterfield's bandmates from the Pharaohs, saxophonist
Don Myrick and trumpeter Rahmlee Michael Davis, joined the horn section, along with trumpeter Michael Harris. It was Harris' control and precision in the instrument's upper register that helped define the section's sound. The group was less beholden to middle register three and four-part harmonies (the trademark of
Chicago's
Lee Loughnane,
Walter Parazaider, and
Jimmy Pankow), instead favoring a more
staccato, rhythmic, borderline percussive approach similar to the sound being popularized by trumpeter/arranger
Greg Adams in
Tower Of Power (though notably excluding the contrapuntal baritone saxophone spits favored by Adams). This sound was ideally suited for White's increasingly dance-oriented songs. Examples are 1974's "
Mighty Mighty" from
Open Our Eyes and "
September", which prominently features a fast-moving unison line played in three octaves (Satterfield in the lower octave, Myrick and Davis doubling in the middle octave, and Harris in the upper octave). Myrick was also developing a distinctive solo voice. Though
Ronnie Laws and later
Andrew Woolfolk, Laws' replacement, were intended to play the featured instrumentalist role in the band's live shows, Myrick eventually won over some of those duties for himself. 1979 saw the arrival and almost immediate departure of trumpeter Elmer Brown, who plays lead trumpet in the 1979 live concerts in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Budokan, Japan.
Collaboration with Phil Collins In 1981, the foursome joined
Genesis drummer
Phil Collins and producer
Hugh Padgham in the studio for the recording of Collins' debut solo album,
Face Value. Five of the album's 12 tracks featured horns, with a sixth (a rendition of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows") featuring electronically manipulated samples of the section. Myrick's alto playing is featured on "
If Leaving Me Is Easy", as are Harris' and Davis' signature flugelhorn lines. The section also joined Genesis at Fisher Lane Farm Studios, in Surrey, England, on the song "
No Reply at All" on their album
Abacab, as well as on "
Paperlate", a song from the band's EP
3×3 which was also included on the US release of the album
Three Sides Live. The foursome developed a strong kinship with Collins and elected to join him on tour and for the recording of subsequent albums, while still intermittently performing and recording with
Earth, Wind & Fire. 1982's
Hello, I Must Be Going! saw a feature instrumental piece, "The West Side," penned for Myrick by Collins. Prior to 1989 Collins did not use dedicated backing vocalists in his live band, relying instead on instrumentalists. While guitarist
Daryl Stuermer and bassists
Mo Foster and
Leland Sklar sing sporadically, the horn section sings and plays percussion on virtually every song that does not feature horns. During the extended intro to "Hand In Hand", the foursome join Collins at the front of the stage for a vocal call and response. Harris also contributed a brief co-lead vocal on the closing number, a rendition of
the Isley Brothers's "It's Alright". Myrick is seen playing a sax solo at the end of Collins's video for "
One More Night". Following the 1985–86 tour, Harris departed the group and was replaced by
Harry Kim. The horn section saw a diminished role in the live show. Collins began employing backing vocalists and occasionally dedicated percussionists. Following the 1990 live album/video
Serious Hits… Live! Myrick also departed, largely due to continued struggles with drug addiction. He was replaced by erstwhile EWF co-saxophonist Andrew Woolfolk. By the time of the recording of 1996's
Dance into the Light, the Phenix Horns had dissolved. They were replaced by the Vine Street Horns, featuring Phenix Horns replacements Woolfolk and Kim along with 2nd trumpet Daniel Fornero and trombonist Arturo Velasco. In 2000, Collins
sued two members of the Phenix Horns, Louis Satterfield and Rahmlee Davis, to recover overpayment of royalties over 6.5 years. Due to an accounting error, Satterfield and Davis had been paid a 0.5% royalty for their contributions to the
Serious Hits... Live! album while Collins' management contended that the pair should have been paid only for their contributions on five tracks of the 15-track album. The court ruled in favor of Collins but awarded only half of the $384,000 he sought. Satterfield and Davis were not required to pay back any money already paid out, and the $192,000 damages were to be paid from future royalties. ==Breakup of the group==