August Darnell (born August 12, 1950) – Don't Take My Coconuts (1983)

This superb funk jam by King Creole and the Coconuts was written and produced by Darnell, the group's lead vocalist, guitarist and front man.

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The multi-talented singer/songwriter, musician and producer August Darnell led Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band and King Creole and the Coconuts.

Before going any further, you must read Michael Gonzales' definitive Longreads profile on Darnell from 2019, “Wonderful Things: The Kid Creole and the Coconuts Story.”

Born Thomas August Darnell Browder in the Bronx, he was exposed to a multicultural mix of musical influences as a child. He formed his first band The In-Laws in the mid-sixties with his half-brother Stony Browder Jr. A decade later in 1974, they came together again to form Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, blending swing with Latin and disco rhythms. By this time he had adopted his middle names as his stage name, August Darnell. He was the group’s bassist and main lyricist.

Other members were vocalist Cory Daye, drummer Mickey Sevilla, and percussionist Andy Hernandez, aka Coati Mundi. The group’s debut self-titled LP was released in 1976. It contained their biggest hit “Cherchez La Femme,” which went to #1 on disco charts, reached #27 on the Billboard Hot 100, and peaked at #31 R&B. The album went gold and was nominated for a Grammy.

They released two more albums with their original lineup. Their second LP, Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band Meets King Penett (1978), contained solid tracks including “I'll Always Have A Smile For You” and its closing cut “Auf Wiedersehen, Darrio.”

As Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band was winding down, a spin-off was formed by Armando “Sonny” Bonilla, who played percussion with them for several years before leaving the group in 1978. The sole LP by Don Armando’s Second Avenue Rhumba Band was released on ZE Records in 1979, executive produced by Darnell and ZE co-founder Michael Zilkha. The stellar jam “Deputy Of Love” was its single, featuring Fonda Rae on lead vocals, which hit #1 on both Billboard’s U.S. and international disco charts. It was the last #1 disco hit of the seventies, although it did not make either the R&B charts or Hot 100.

In 1980, Darnell adopted a new stage persona, Kid Creole, whom he described as “a flamboyant, devil-may-care bon vivant.” Along with his then-wife Adriana “Addy” Kaegi and Coati Mundi, the trio formed the group Kid Creole and the Coconuts. Kaegi led the group’s female backing vocalists the Coconuts, whose lineup eventually stabilized as herself, Cheryl Poirier, and Taryn Hagey.

They made their national television debut in November, 1980 on Saturday Night Live, performing “Mister Softee” and “There But For The Grace of God Go I” (co-written by Darnell in 1979 during the brief period when he was a member of Machine). Another of their early performances was captured on film in Downtown 81, starring Jean-Michel Basquiat, which was shot in 1981 but remained unreleased for two decades.

The group’s first three full-length albums were Off the Coast of Me (1980), Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places (1981) and Tropical Gangsters (1982), released in the U.S. as Wise Guy.

Originally intended by Darnell to be his first solo album, he instead faced pressure from his label ZE Records to release it as a King Creole and the Coconuts LP, which he eventually did. It became the group’s best-selling album, reaching #145 on the Billboard 200. Overseas, it was a huge hit, reaching #3 on the UK charts and platinum sales figures.

Its three singles also hit the UK top-ten, starting with the laid back yet funky “I'm a Wonderful Thing, Baby” (#4), continuing with the straight-ahead funk blast “Stool Pigeon” (#7) which Darnell wrote, and the Caribbean pop-flavored “Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy” (#2), also written solely by Darnell. In an interview years later, he claimed the royalties from “Annie” alone would be enough for him to live on.

But despite its success, Darnell considered Tropical Gangsters aka Wise Guy to have been a betrayal of his artistic vision. “I couldn't listen to that album for a long time because I thought it was a cop-out,” he said in 2008. “It was a compromise but then you get massive success, money, lots of travelling and great lifestyle and you say: ‘if this is what it takes...’ ”

In 1983 the group released a three-song EP titled Don’t Take My Coconuts, produced by Darnell.

Its superb funk jam title track was written by Darnell and also released as a single in some markets, with a remixed version of the group’s stellar “Going Places” (1981) on the B-side. However, “Don’t Take My Coconuts” did not chart except for in the UK where it reached #86.

Further info:

“Wonderful Things: The Kid Creole and the Coconuts Story,” by Michael A. Gonzales, Longreads, December 18, 2019.

#soul #funk #disco #KidCreole #AugustDarnell