Funkboy aka Ivan Bodley is a bass player and music director for the stars. He has performed with 50 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and counting. He has been musical director for Sam Moore (Sam & Dave), Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, The Shirelles, The Crystals, The Tokens and has performed with Sting, Elvis Costello, Temptations, Solomon Burke, Ben E. King, Percy Sledge, Eddie Floyd, Rufus & Carla Thomas, Bo Diddley, Buster Poindexter, Uptown Horns, Paul Rodgers, Wynonna Judd, and David Foster. Funkboy is a magna cum laude graduate of the Berklee College of Music and an inductee into the New York Blues Hall of Fame. To date, he has traveled to 29 countries around the world and played to audiences of up to 82,000 people in performance settings ranging from jazz duos to 150-member symphony orchestras. Appearances include Carnegie Hall (featured soloist with the Rock Concerto), Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize (with Cracked Ice led by Crispin Cioe), 12 Broadway shows including “Rock of Ages,” “Spider-Man,” “Hedwig & the Angry Inch,” “Kinky Boots,” “Fun Home,” and “Ain’t Too Proud,” Obama Inaugural Ball featured in the Barry Levinson documentary “Poliwood,” Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Today Show, Emeril Live, Imus in the Morning, Charlie Rose, Live with Regis & Kelly, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Istanbul State Symphony and Israel Symphony Orchestras. So you can see that this Funkboy is a FunkMAN of the world.
All the above happenings come with more stories than one could imagine. Luckily for us, Funkboy has put many of them down into his new book: “Am I Famous Yet? Memoir of a Working-Class Rock Star”. I had the opportunity to catch up with him recently to garnish a little insight into some of the types of tales told within the pages (the ones he shares will certainly tease you into wanting a little more). He tells stories of circles being complete in a way where they seem drawn by fairy dust and an incredible gig, for two. That’s right…Just two people. Not only is this a page turning, but it is a head-shaer as well, people never stop amazing and I am thankful we had FUNKBOY’s keen observational skills taking notes. We also dissect his new tune (and first of hopefully many) on Color Red Music called “Crab Walk” and find out what it was like creating the music during a wacky time in the world.
