Chi-Lites celebrate star with concert
September marks one year since The Chi-Lites formally became part of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The Chi-Lites featuring Marshall Thompson, which closes out the 2022 summer concert season Sept. 4 at Country Club Hills Theater, celebrates the group’s star on the Walk of Fame and Thompson’s 80th birthday.
The outdoor show is produced by 100 Street Sam.
“One of my friends called me and said, ‘Why don’t you bring your star back to Chicago so all your friends from school and everybody can see the star? They’ve seen the star on television, but they’ve never seen the star in person,’ ” said Thompson, who splits his time between the Southland and Las Vegas.
“We’re showing a two-minute movie of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, then we’ll have Jeff Foxx from SiriusXM radio. We’ve got him playing his bass during ‘Jungle Boogie.’ Then he’ll bring us onstage.”
Foxx, a host of “Soul Town” on SiriusXM, first performed at a Chi-Lites concert in July in Oakland, California, and was one of two guest speakers for the September 2021 dedication of the 2,702nd star on the Walk of Fame in the category of recording.
Actor Jimmie Walker also was a guest speaker at the ceremony honoring The Chi-Lites, where Thompson accepted the group’s star, and former original members of the group — the late Creadel “Red” Jones, the late Robert “Squirrel” Lester and the late Eugene Record — were remembered.
“I know we had No. 1 songs and Billboard-charting singles,” Thompson said. “But I wasn’t looking for it. I wasn’t looking to get that star.
“That really made me happy. That was a dream come true.”
The Chi-Lites’ lineup for the Country Club Hills concert includes lead vocalists Mack Miller and Warren Tipton; bass singer and background vocalist Fred Simon; and background singers Tara Thompson, who is Marshall Thompson’s wife; Diana Simon; who is Fred Simon’s wife; and Anthony Thomas.
“They’ve done a great job on the road with me and I really appreciate them,” said Thompson, who sings on all the songs, plays melodica on “Oh Girl” and also performs on the keyboards for The Chi-Lites.
“We’ll be going through 75 minutes’ worth of hits.”
Performing rhythm and blues as well as soul, The Chi-Lites are known for songs such as “Oh Girl,” which reached No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard’s Best Selling Soul Singles chart, and “Have You Seen Her,” which reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart.
The group also charted with several other singles, including “The Coldest Days of My Life (Part 1),” “(For God’s Sake) Give More Power to the People,” “Give It Away,” “A Letter to Myself ” and “Stoned Out of My Mind.”
“We just want everybody to come on out and support hometown talent with the Hollywood Walk of Fame star,” Thompson said about the south suburban show, which he called a homecoming.
He added that he is grateful to fans who have long supported The Chi-Lites, who grew from combining members of the Chanteurs and the Desideros when Thompson was still in high school and were known as the Hi-Lites, as well as Marshall & The Chi-Lites, before settling on just The Chi-Lites as the group’s name.
“I’m glad that they bought all of our records to help us get on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,” “Thompson said. “I wish my mother and father were here to see that because they were top entertainers themselves.”
In more recent years, younger audiences discovered the Brunswick Records artist through the character Tony Soprano singing along to “Oh Girl” in an episode of the TV show “The Sopranos” and Beyoncé’s hit “Crazy in Love” sampling The Chi-Lites’ “Are You My Woman (Tell Me So).”