Opening Page Photo: Left Anthony Hawkins, VC L. Veasey, Charles Hawkins 2005

BLACK MERDA WAS THE FIRST, AFRICAN-AMERICAN (ALL BLACK)ROCK BAND, WHO WROTE, PERFORMED AND RECORDED THEIR OWN MUSIC DURING THE LATE 1960'S AND EARLY 70'S AND ARE REVERED AS CUTTING EDGE PIONEERS OF THEIR OWN UNIQUE BRAND OF PSYCHEDELIC ROCK. CONTAINING DIVERSE MUSICAL ELEMENTS, THEIR UNIQUE STYLE OF MUSIC HAS BEEN CALLED FUNK-ROCK, BLACK-ROCK, PSYCH-FUNK, FUNK, FOLK-ROCK, BLUES-ROCK, BLACK PSYCHEDELIC-FUNK AND A HOST OF OTHER NAMES AND IS HARD TO CATEGORIZE COMPLETELY, AS YOU CAN SEE BY SOME OF THE ADJECTIVES USED TO ATTEMPT TO DESCRIBE IT ABOVE!

ALTHOUGH THEIR RECORDINGS WEREN'T ADEQUATELY PROMOTED WHEN ORIGINALLY RELEASED BY CHESS RECORDS. THEIR SINGLE "CNYTHY-RUTH (1970)", ALBUMS "BLACK MERDA (1970)" AND "LONG BURN THE FIRE!(1972)" ARE HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER AND ARE CONSIDERED CULT CLASSICS BY A GROWING NUMBER OF INTERNATIONAL RECORD COLLECTORS AND A MUSHROOMING INTERNATIONAL FAN BASED CULT FOLLOWING.

"BLACK MERDA" (PRONOUNCED BLACK MURDER) MEANS "THE KILLING OF BLACK PEOPLE" AND WAS CREATED IN THE LATE 1960'S TO BRING ATTENTION TO THE WIDESPREAD KILLING OF BLACK PEOPLE DURING THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA

ORIGNALLY THE BAND'S NAME WAS SPELLED “BLACK MURDER” THE SPELLING OF “MURDER” WAS CHANGED TO “MERDA” BUT IS STILL PRONOUNCED “MURDER”.

The Original Members were: Anthony Hawkins Lead Guitar, Writer, VC L. Veasey Bassist, Guitar, Writer, Charles Hawkins Guitar, Writer and Tyrone Hite, Drummer (Deceased)

Hi I'm Anthony Hawkins, I'm VC L. Veasey and I'm Charles Hawkins Welcome to our ReverbNation page, enjoy