'Because Stepney died in 1976 at the tragically young age of 45, the world didn’t get to hear the music he made himself. During his lifetime, he never saw the recognition he brought to others.' | ReclaimedSoul
, recorded and released in Chicago by Chess subsidiary Cadet, I realized that Stepney could quite possibly still be with us—he could even be in my city. This was pre-Google, so the mystery swirled in my head for a year or so before the answer manifested in my grandmother’s basement: the notes on the orange, blue, and black inner sleeve of Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1976 album,listed Stepney as cowriter, coproducer, and arranger, as had EW&F’s three previous albums.
It’s nothing short of startling to hear this classic jam laid out in its embryonic formation—just a Moog solo and overdubbed keys supported by a Latin-tinged drum-machine cadence. The rest of is just as surprising and revelatory. Stepney’s three daughters—Eibur, Charlene, and Chanté—note that before his untimely death, he intended to release a solo album, to finally foreground himself after so much work in the background.
In May, I moderated a conversation on the porch of the Hideout with Eibur, Charlene, and Chanté, organized by International Anthem as the first event in a series the label called the Summer of Stepney. “I didn’t know about how long-standing the work would be, but I thought it was amazing and beautiful work, and my mother did too,” recalled Eibur, Stepney’s oldest daughter. “My mother complimented him all the time on his effort and the caliber of the work that he was doing.
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