The Los Angeles resident started making a name for himself in the R&B world in the '70s, when he operated a South Central L.A. nightclub called the Total Experience (which was located on Crenshaw Boulevard, one of the most famous thoroughfares in L.A.'s African-American community). The Total Experience was often described as an R&B equivalent of the Roxy (a well-known club on West Hollywood's Sunset Strip), and like the Roxy, Simmons' venue tended to book artists who weren't big enough to headline the Inglewood Forum or the Long Beach Arena, but could still attract several hundred people on a given night. Simmons also owned a recording studio in the '70s, and by the end of the decade, he founded Total Experience Records (which landed a distribution deal with Mercury/Polygram). One of the label's first signings was the Gap Band, who Simmons met through soul singer DJ Rogers (known for his 1975 smash, "Say You Love Me"). Before meeting Simmons, the Gap Band had been struggling; their first two albums, which came out in 1974 and 1977, received little attention. But thanks to Simmons, the Gap Band's fortunes improved considerably in 1979, when Total Experience Records put out the group's third album. Boasting the smash hit "Shake," that self-titled LP made the Gap Band superstars. "Shake" was the first of many smashes that the Gap Band recorded for Simmons' label; in 1979 and the early- to mid-'80s, the trio was huge thanks to a string of major hits that also included "I Don't Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Oops)," "Steppin' Out," "Burn Rubber," "Humpin'," "You Dropped a Bomb on Me," "Early in the Morning," "Outstanding, and "Party Train." The Gap Band wasn't the only well-known act that recorded for Simmons' label in the '80s; Total Experience Records was also the home of the male/female duo Yarbrough & Peoples, who weren't as big as the Gap Band but did enjoy major hits with "Don't Stop the Music" in 1980, "Don't Waste Your Time" in 1984, and "Guilty" in 1985. Because Simmons was a successful, R&B-oriented entrepreneur and label owner, there were those who compared him to Dick Griffey (president of Solar Records) and the Kenneth Gamble/Leon Huff team (who founded the '70s gold mine known as Philadelphia International Records). However, Total Experience Records didn't have as large a roster as Motown, Philly International, or Solar, and Simmons didn't oversee a stable of multi-platinum stars -- the Gap Band was the only Total Experience act that had at least ten major hits. Nonetheless, his contributions to R&B in the '70s and '80s were impressive -- and in the early 2000s, hip-hop producers were continuing to sample his work with the Gap Band and, to a lesser degree, Yarbrough & Peoples.

Total Experience Records was a record label founded by Lonnie Simmons.

 

Its two major acts were The Gap Band and Yarbrough & Peoples. It originally began in 197 7 as a production company whose artists recorded for Mercury Records before becoming a label in 1981. From its inception in 1981 to late 1983, Total Experience was a subsidiary label of Mercury's parent company, PolyGram. In 1984, the label changed its distribution from PolyGram to RCA Records. History Personnel Acts [5] Key Producers Key Writers See also References In the 197 0s, Lonnie Simmons operated a club on Crenshaw Boulvevard in South Central Los Angeles called The Total Experience, similar to the West-Hollywood Roxy Theatre. [2 ] Eventually he invested in a recording studio by purchasing the property previously occupied by Sound Recorders Studios on the corner of Yucca St. and Argyle Ave. in Hollywood. Simmons then launched his production company, and met the Gap Band through a friend, singer D. J. Rogers. He then had the idea to reduce the official lineup of the group from twelve members to its sibling trio of Ronnie, Charlie and Robert Wilson. After signing the Gap Band to Total Experience Productions, and securing them a label deal with Mercury Records in late 197 8, Simmons himself personally produced the Gap Band's albums during their tenure, and co-wrote their breakthrough song, "Oops Upside Your Head". While in Texas in 197 7 , Gap Band leader Charlie Wilson discovered Alisa Peoples & Calvin Yarbrough, who were performing as part of the band, Grand Theft. [3 ] Charlie convinced Lonnie to give the couple a chance, which paid off in 1980, when they released the song "Don't Stop the Music", which topped the R&B charts. This Contents History 6/20/2019 Total Experience Records - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Experience_Records 2/4 was immediately following the Gap Band #1 R&B song "Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)". Both of those albums went gold, and two of the Gap Band's albums went platinum. The first three Simmonsproduced Gap Band albums, as well as Yarbrough and Peoples debut album The Two of Us were released by Mercury. These recordings were solid enough to give Simmons credibility to establish his production company as a full label, and he officially launched Total Experience Records in 1981. Gap Band IV, released in early 1982, was the first Total Experience album release. The success of Gap Band IV, Robert "Goodie" Whitfield's debut album Call Me Goodie (also released in 1982), 1983's Gap Band V: Jammin' and Yarbrough and Peoples' Heartbeats resulted in a lucrative distribution deal with RCA Records in early 1984. At the tail-end of 1984, A Total Experience Christmas was released, featuring songs by five of the label's acts, as well as two of the label's writers. [4 ] Even though the Gap Band and Yarbrough & Peoples still had high charting records through the mid-80s, the successes were ephemeral and they resulted in far fewer sales. Lonnie signed a plethora of new acts in 1984- 85 and two established acts: Switch and Billy Paul. None of these acts managed to have any success with Total Experience. The Gap Band released 4 albums: Gap Band VI, Gap Band VII, Gap Band 8, and Straight from the Heart before moving on to Capitol Records in 1989. Yarbrough and Peoples left the label in 1986, and moved back to Texas, where they married in 1987 . In 1987 Total Experience lost their distribution deal with RCA and carried on as an independent label, faltering soon after. The label's post 1984 holdings now belong to Minder Music, while its PolyGram distributed holdings belong to The Island Def Jam Music Group.

CavinLeon Yarbrough (born January 22, 1954) and Alisa Delois Peoples (born June 29, 1957) both grew up in Dallas, Texas, having known each other since they were young children, as they had met taking piano lessons, after which they remained friends throughout their childhoods.[1] In the mid-'70s Yarbrough was on tour in the band of Leon Russell and met the Wilson Brothers, who would go on to formThe Gap Band. Upon returning to Dallas some months later, the twosome started the band Grand Theft, both as featured keyboardists as well as vocalists. In 1977, the Wilson Brothers had just joined Total Experience Records as the Gap Band and went down to Dallas to perform a concert. Later that night, trying to unwind after the show, the Wilsons caught the twosome's act,[1] and as a result, Lonnie Simmons invited the couple to Los Angeles where they began playing in clubs around Southern California. Two years later, they signed their own recording contract with Total Experience and recorded and released their debut album, The Two Of Us.[1] which contained "Don't Stop the Music," topping the US Billboard R&B chart in early 1981, knocking their label-mate's song "Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)" out of the top spot.[1] The song went on to chart higher on the Billboard Hot 100 than any of the other songs released on the label up to that time. In addition, the corresponding album went Gold and peaked at #16 in the Billboard Hot 200 album chart.[1] Across the pond in Europe, theUK release of the song reached #7 in the UK Singles Chart and was also certified Gold.[2] The duo continued on with its R&B success throughout the 1980s, with four more Top 10 R&B hits entitled "Heartbeats" (R&B #10 in 1983), "Don't Waste Your Time" (Pop #48, R&B #1 in 1984; #60 UK), "Guilty" (R&B #2 in 1986; #53 UK), and "I Wouldn't Lie" (R&B #6 in 1986; #61 UK), all of which brought the band success.[1] After Guilty, their final album for Total Experience, Yarbrough and Peoples left the label in 1986. They married in Las Vegas on January 18, 1987, and tiring of the Southern California grind, returned to their hometown of Dallas and started their own music production company, Yarbrough & Peoples Productions. Today, they continue to write, produce and perform concerts, mentor other gifted newcomers, and otherwise continue to leave their indelible stamp on the music industry. In 2009, they both appeared in the Off-Broadway musical, Blind Lemon Blues, at the York Theatre, New York, where Cavin Yarbrough portrayed Lead Belly.[3] They were featured on an episode of TV One's Unsung on September 2, 2015.