Muhammad Ali (January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) – We Crown The King (1980)

One of The Greatest songs ever written in Ali's honor was this incredibly funky, impossible to find masterpiece by the Detroit group Le Stim.

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Muhammad Ali changed the world he lived in by using the platform his championship boxing career gave him to speak out for freedom, justice, and equality.

See our earlier post on Ali for more on his legendary life and career.

One of the funkiest songs ever written in his honor was the incredibly rare “A Tribute To Muhammad Ali (We Crown The King)” (1980) by the Detroit group Le Stim.

It was written by Detroit songwriter Herbert Andrei Duncan for Le Stim founder and lead singer Donald Jennings, who took five years before agreeing to record it in 1980 with a 17-piece band in a session produced by Duncan. Original copies of this impossible to find disco-funk masterpiece sell for hundreds of dollars. It was self-released on Nacnudah International Records, the only title ever issued under that label name.

The track was finally reissued in 2018 by indie label Melodies International.  Its press materials stated that “according to Jennings, Muhammad Ali did hear the track back then and liked it!  Le Stim were in touch with Ali’s management and were about to meet him on a number of occasions which unfortunately didn’t work out.”

Happy Heavenly 82nd Birthday to The Greatest.

Further info:

“Le Stim’s coveted 1980 Detroit disco tribute to Muhammad Ali gets first vinyl reissue,” The Vinyl Factory, 2018.

Cassius X, by Stuart Cosgrove, Lawrence Hill Books, 2020.

#soul #funk #disco #LeStim #DonaldJennings #Muhammad Ali