The Meters were a band that performed and recorded from the late 1960s until 1977. They were based in New Orleans. While the band never enjoyed huge popular success, it was nonetheless greatly admired by cognoscenti and is considered one of progenitors of funk in the 1970s.
Art Neville, the group's frontman, launched a solo career around the New Orleans area in the mid- 1950s, while still in high school. The Meters formed in the late '60s, and became the house band for Sansu Enterprises, an Allen Toussaint-owned label. In 1969, the Meters released "Sophisticated Cissy" and "Cissy Strut", both major R&B chart hits. "Look-Ka Py Py" and "Chicken Strut" were also hits the following year. After a label shift in 1972, the Meters had difficulty returning to the charts, though they played on many important records by Dr. John, Paul McCartney, King Biscuit Boy, Labelle and Robert Palmer.
In 1974 Paul McCartney invited the Meters to play at the release party for his Venus and Mars album aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. At this event, Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones was impressed by the Meters. They released a critically-acclaimed album, Fire on the Bayou, in 1975, and The Rolling Stones invited the Meters to open for them on their Tour of America. This was followed by a collaboration with George & Amos Landry and the Neville Brothers, The Wild Tchoupitoulas. The band broke up in 1977 after Toussaint claimed the rights to the name and they played as various incarnations of the Neville Brothers and with other bands.
