Motown's Immotals - Funk Brothers honored with Hollywood Walk of Fame star

Eddie Willis, surviving member of the Funk Brothers, attends a ceremony honoring the musicians with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 21, 2013 in Hollywood, California. / Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images

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Jack Ashford (R) and Eddie Willis, surviving members of the Funk Brothers, attend a ceremony honoring the musicians with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 21, 2013 in Hollywood, California. / Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images

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Singer Stevie wonder plays a harmonica as Jack Ashford and Eddie Willis (not pictured), surviving members of the Funk Brothers, attend a ceremony honoring the musicians with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 21, 2013 in Hollywood, California. / Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images

The band that made grooves for the stars now has its own Hollywood immortality.
A star commemorating Motown’s Funk Brothers was revealed in the sidewalk on the Hollywood Walk of Fame during an upbeat but emotional ceremony this afternoon.
Before a large assembly of fans, media and Motown figures — including Stevie Wonder — a beaming Eddie Willis and Jack Ashford stood with Hollywood civic officials as the star was unveiled at 7065 Hollywood Blvd.
It’s the 2,493rd star on the 18-block Walk of Fame.
Thirteen members of the Motown studio band — all but three of them deceased — were named as official star honorees by Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler.
"The Funk Brothers were a closed club — we suffered together, we laughed together, we argued together, and we made hit records together," percussionist Ashford said during a brief speech. "We didn’t make hit records for white people. We didn’t make hit records for black people. We made hit records for everybody on the planet, and that’s the excellence we strived for."
Willis choked up as he remembered his fellow players.
"The Funk Brothers are looking down at us. They’re here," he said. "Sorry — every time I start talking about these guys I get so emotional."
With Willis and Ashford positioned on the red carpet where the star awaited unveiling, family members representing musicians James Jamerson, Johnny Griffith, Joe Hunter, Bob Babbitt and others stood behind the podium looking on.
Ailing guitarist Joe Messina watched the ceremony online from home in Michigan, said Stu Miller, the Los Angeles car dealer who led a $25,000 fund-raising campaign to secure the star.
Former Motown A&R man Mickey Stevenson paid tribute to the group that performed on countless Motown hits.
"These guys were just magic," he said. "The gift came from upstairs, but the touch they formed together."
For Motown fans, it was another step toward justice for a band whose musical contributions were long overlooked. Largely uncredited on Motown records during the 1960s, the Funk Brothers came to wider acclaim only after the award-winning 2002 documentary "Standing in the Shadows of Motown."
The Funks certainly aren’t the first Motown act to receive a star: Hitsville luminaries from Diana Ross to Marvin Gaye have been memorialized in the Hollywood sidewalk through the decades.
But news of the Funks' honor has drawn outsized attention among music fans and on social media, seen as an overdue shot of glory for a Motown underdog.
The Funk Brothers' star is positioned alongside those of ace musicians Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk and Herbie Hancock.
"Today is a day for all musicians, because this is a musicians' star," said Ray Parker Jr., the session-man-turned-pop-star who helped the fund-raising effort make its goal. "And if you’re from Detroit it’s even better, because it’s for Detroit musicians."
Wonder had spoken first, urging politicians to reemphasize music education in schools. Programs in many parts of the country — including Detroit — have been scaled back during the past two decades.
"We can’t just talk about the legacy," he said. "We must do something even greater than that — we must continue the legacy by allowing the world to hear even more great musicians."
The Funk Brothers who were commemorated today by the Hollywood Walk of Fame:
Richard "Pistol" Allen (drums)
Jack Ashford (percussion)
Bob Babbitt (bass)
William "Benny" Benjamin (drums)
Eddie "Bongo" Brown (percussion)
Johnny Griffith (piano, keyboard)
Joe Hunter (piano, bandleader)
James Jamerson (bass)
Uriel Jones (drums)
Joe Messina (guitar)
Robert White (guitar)
Eddie Willis (guitar)
Earl Van Dyke (piano, keyboard, bandleader )