In the summer of 1968, tenor saxophonist/vocalist
Emilio Castillo met Stephen "Doc" Kupka, who played baritone sax. Castillo had played in several bands, and hired Kupka after a home audition on the advice of his father. Within months the group, then known as
The Motowns, began playing various gigs around
Oakland and
Berkeley, attracting audiences from minority and counterculture communities. In order to play
Bill Graham's
Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, the band changed its name to Tower of Power, which then stuck. By 1970, the renamed band—now including
trumpet/arranger Greg Adams, first trumpet
Mic Gillette, first saxophone Skip Mesquite,
Francis "Rocco" Prestia on bass, Willie Fulton on guitar, and drummer
David Garibaldi—signed a recording contract with Bill Graham's
San Francisco Records and released their first album,
East Bay Grease. Rufus Miller performed most of the lead vocals on this debut album. This album included the hit single "You're Still a Young Man", which peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was Stevens' pinnacle vocal performance before leaving the band. Emilio Castillo, who co-wrote the tune with Stephen Kupka, told Songfacts that the song was based on a true story about him and a former girlfriend who was six years his senior.
Tower of Power, released in the spring of 1973, was the third album for the band. It featured soul singer
Lenny Williams on lead vocals and
Lenny Pickett on lead tenor saxophone.
Bruce Conte replaced guitarist Willie Fulton and keyboardist Chester D.Thompson also joined the band during the recording of the album. The album spawned their most-successful single "
So Very Hard to Go". Although the single peaked at No. 17 on the
Billboard Hot 100, On
Urban Renewal (1974), the band moved more toward
funk than soul; however, they continued recording ballads as well. Williams left the band in late 1974, and was replaced as vocalist by
Hubert Tubbs. The band's airplay on chart radio declined. During the late 1970s they briefly tried recording disco-sounding material. They fully recovered and returned to the active lineup later that year. == Collaborations ==