Mandré

Active during the late '70s and early '80s, Mandré was a <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Motown%22">Motown</a>-supported alias of one-man funk band Michael Andre Lewis. Prior to making his helmeted funk hero a reality, the Omaha, Nebraska native was a close associate of <a href="spotify:artist:2E9nO9Zav9FjjlFVVtMWdw">Buddy Miles</a>, worked with <a href="spotify:artist:3DznKagEU8yMQZR9z33Da5">LaBelle</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6uB4Ax6mlzohDTLqLOJ6Vl">Johnny Guitar Watson</a>, and led the band Maxayn, a platform for partner Maxayn Lewis. After he replaced <a href="spotify:artist:3EB0uKE2lGw6BB1UFJrONl">George Duke</a> in <a href="spotify:artist:6ra4GIOgCZQZMOaUECftGN">Frank Zappa</a>'s band, as heard first on Zoot Allures (1976), Lewis signed to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Motown%22">Motown</a> and made three out-there albums for the label: Mandré (1977), Mandré Two (1978), and M3000 (1979). By his label's standard, these were not commercially successful recordings. The debut, promoted with full-page trade magazine ads that announced "The Masked Marauder Is Among Us," and featuring a duly nutty cover of <a href="spotify:artist:6ra4GIOgCZQZMOaUECftGN">Zappa</a>'s "Dirty Love," generated little interest. Its "Solar Flight (Opus I)," an instrumental disco-funk exploration, was played at David Mancuso's Loft parties and maintained a six-week stay on Billboard's Soul Singles chart. Only the third album touched the Soul LPs chart. Few heard Mandré 4 (1982), released on Lewis' FutureGroove label, due to a false warehouse fire alarm that set off sprinklers and destroyed most of its small pressing. Lewis hung up his helmet -- which had been created by costume designer <a href="spotify:artist:0byjUAhu2iUrMWUtLaHGoG">Bill Whitten</a>, who later made <a href="spotify:artist:3fMbdgg4jU18AjLCKBhRSm">Michael Jackson</a>'s famous white glove -- but continued to work behind the scenes and was deeply involved with emerging studio technology, including the design of Roger Linn's LinnDrum. The Netherlands-based Rush Hour label reissued Mandré 4 on various formats in 2010. Lewis died two years later in Shreveport, Louisiana. Digital reissues of the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Motown%22">Motown</a> albums appeared in 2014, the same year the Polish <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Fever+Dream%22">Fever Dream</a> label pressed compact disc copies of the debut. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi