Tower Of Power

After playing at a Tuesday night audition at the Fillmore in 1970, Tower was signed to Bill Graham’s San Francisco records and their first album, East Bay Grease, was recorded. All of the compositions were original tunes written by Castillo and Kupka. Their next album, Bump City, was recorded on the Warner Brothers label, and this led to a string of hits and memorable albums that include many of the songs that TOP fans come out in force to hear, even to this day. Over the years, the Tower of Power Horns have recorded with hundreds of artists as diverse as Aerosmith, Elton John, Little Feat, Phish, Santana, Heart, and many others, forever infusing the radio airwaves with Tower’s musical DNA.

Tower celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2008 at a very special reunion show at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. In addition to the ten current members of the band, another 20 musicians and vocalists that at one time held a position with the band appeared with them. The show was filmed and released on DVD. Of the ten current members, Emilio Castillo, Rocco Prestia, Stephen Kupka, and David Garibaldi are four of the band’s founding members. With Mic Gillete rejoining the band in August of 2009, there are now 5 original members in the current lineup.

Each year Tower of Power tours the United States, Japan and Europe, playing to sold out crowds all over the world. 2009 saw the release of the Great American Soulbook , a collection of classic soul tunes, and the 40th Anniversary Concert DVD.