Guitarist worked on string of Motown classics, setting template for urban soul
His mother bought him his first guitar – for $15 – on condition that he learned to play it.
Wah Wah Watson (Melvin Ragin) Guitarist b December 8, 1950 d October 24, 2018
Wah Wah Watson, the guitarist Melvin Ragin, who has died aged 67, was the little-known name behind some of the best-loved, most-hummed R&B music ever recorded; among the songs he played on were Let’s Get It On, by Marvin Gaye, Papa Was a Rolling Stone, by the Temptations, and Rose Royce’s disco classic, Car Wash.
The last two were produced by Norman Whitfield, the presiding genius in Motown’s studios as the label engaged with psychedelia, and it was he who in 1971 gave the 21-year-old Ragin his break on a session accompanying Edwin Starr. Adjudged a success, Ragin became a regular sideman with the
Funk Brothers, Motown’s inhouse backing group in Detroit.
There, Ragin heard the unusual effects that guitarist
Dennis Coffey was fashioning with a wah-wah pedal for the Temptations on tracks such as
Ball of Confusion. The pedal was a relatively new gadget, which allowed musicians to create gliding, sliding sounds. The effect was akin to that of crying – hence the name, which Ragin then adopted as his musical persona.
Jimi Hendrix had been an early proponent of the pedal, for instance on Voodoo Chile, and its rhythmic potential was soon to become familiar (and much imitated) through Charles Pitts’ playing on the theme from Shaft. Yet Ragin was frustrated at first by its limitations and became adept at producing a wider, more subtle range of sounds with it.
These were heard first in 1972 on Papa Was a Rolling Stone, with Ragin’s prowling guitar creating a template for urban soul. He also played on Marvin Gaye’s masterpiece, the album What’s Going On, before adorning the singer’s paeans to desire, Let’s Get It On, and I Want You, with licks expressive of lust’s pangs. A decade later, in 1983, Ragin toured with Gaye for what proved to be the latter’s last live performances.
Melvin Ragin was born in Richmond, Virginia. His father was a preacher; his mother bought him his first guitar – for $15 – on condition that he learned to play it.
After appearing with a local group, the Montclairs, Ragin moved to Detroit. There he found work with the large band led by Hamilton Bohannon, which often provided backing for Motown stars. Another of the orchestra’s guitarists was the teenage Ray Parker Jr – long before he recorded
Ghostbusters – who became a friend and musical collaborator.
When Motown’s owner, Berry Gordy, abruptly moved the label from Detroit to Los Angeles in 1972, Ragin followed, at first just to secure four days of work on Rare Earth’s LP,
Ma. He ended up settling in the state.
During the 1970s, he featured on records such as ABC by the Jacksons, I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor and Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall. He also appeared on Blondie’s album Autoamerican (1980).
In 1977, he released a solo LP, Elementary, the cover of which showed him playing up the Holmesian theme by sporting a deerstalker and meerschaum pipe. Although the advent of the synthesiser led to less demand for his skills in the next decade, he became a muchliked member of Herbie Hancock’s ensemble, despite a reputation for making particularly cutting jokes about other musicians.
The pair met during the recording of Let’s Get It On, and Ragin went on to appear on several Hancock albums, including the soundtrack to Michael Winner’s Death Wish (1974).
Following the resurgence of urban soul at the turn of the millennium, Ragin began to be heard on recordings by new R&B singers, among them Angie Stone, Maxwell and Alicia Keys. In 2000, he featured on the soundtrack to the remake of Shaft.
He is survived by his wife, Itsuku Aono, who announced his death in Santa Monica, California. ‘‘Wherever he is, he’s groovin’,’’ she said in a statement. – Telegraph Group