Monaco was also responsible for helping get Ask Rufus their deal on ABC Dunhill. They booked Ask Rufus, with Paulette McWilliams and also The Rotary Connection with Minnie Riperton.
Early careerīob Monaco was part of a booking company known as Ashley Famous with Jim Golden. Chaka had been performing at the Pumpkin Room on the south side of Chicago, with a local Chicago group called Lock and Chain, led by drummer Scotty Harris. Paulette also got Chaka a gig with the group formed by Chicago's Cash McCall called Lyfe. After the band members hesitantly submitted, Paulette remained with Ask Rufus for a few more weeks to teach Chaka all of their material. When Paulette decided she was leaving Ask Rufus, she went to the band and told them she had the perfect singer to replace her she had also asked Chaka if she was interested.
Chaka would come to most of Ask Rufus gigs when they were performing in Chicago. Paulette McWilliams and Chaka Khan had met and became the best of friends through their spouses Howard Towles and Hassan Khan. Willie Weeks was in turn replaced by Dennis Belfield, James Stella by keyboardist/vocalist Ron Stockert and Lee Graziano by Andre Fischer (former drummer with Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler). In 1971 the band signed a contract with Epic Records recording an album that wasn't released after which Epic dropped their contract in early 1972. At this point, Ciner came back to replace Pilder and Willie Weeks was added on bass after Colbert left. In 1970, after switching their management to Bob Monaco and Bill Traut, the group's name changed again to "Ask Rufus", the name taken from the title of the advice column in Mechanics Illustrated.
They re-emerged in 1969 under the name "Smoke".
#Rufus band plus#
After much success, Colbert and Graziano (without Loizzo who pursued a successful production career) created a new group, adding later day "Breed" members Kevin Murphy on (keyboards) and Paulette McWilliams (vocals), plus James Stella (vocals) and Vern Pilder (guitar) from the bar band "Circus". In 1968, The American Breed (Gary Loizzo, Al Ciner, Charles (Chuck) Colbert and Lee Graziano) had a top ten hit with the classic rock single, "Bend Me, Shape Me,".