GAP Band
Formed in 1967, The GAP Band was a funk powerhouse during the 1970s and ‘80s, scoring 15 top 10 R&B hits…most notably their classic 1982 hit “You Dropped a Bomb on Me” that broke into the pop charts.
Comprised of three multi-instrumentalist brothers, Ronnie, Charlie and Robert Wilson (all Tulsa natives), the band got their start performing as kids in the Pentecostal church where their father was the pastor and their mother was the pianist.
After playing clubs around Tulsa for several years, the GAP Band—whose name is derived from three streets in Tulsa’s historic African American business district, Greenwood, Archer and Pine—got a boost when Leon Russell asked them to play on his 1974 release Stop All That Jazz. Russell then signed the group to his Shelter Records label. The band eventually moved to Los Angeles, where they were picked up by Mercury Records, scoring their first top 5 R&B hit, “Shake,” in 1979.
Donations to support the the OKPOP Museum may be made to the OKPOP Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.
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OKPOP
422 North Main Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74103
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