The Fantoms

1970s soul group from New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Fantoms formed in 1968 as a consolidation of a one-off 15-piece ensemble formed by then-high-school student and keyboardist William Norflin and a funk band led by tenor sax player Milton Lewis. The still large unit, 10 people in all, featured a rhythm section of Arther “Tidi” James on bass, Arther Bell on Guitar, William “will” Norflin on keyboards and Winston Shy on Drums; a four piece horn section of Emmanuel “Boo” Herrera and Milton Lewis on alto and tenor sax, Ronald Mitchell on trumpet and Alphonse Davis on trombone and two lead singers, Ronald Trudeau and Anthony Rainey. The original line-up splintered in 1969 when Uncle Sam conscripted their bassist, tenor and alto sax players. Robino Barnes then joined on bass and the Fantoms continued without a permanent guitarist.

This line up stayed fairly consistent, with the exception of a few temporary guitarists including Walter “Wolfman” Washington, from 1969 to 1972. In 1973, Milton Lewis left to form another band called the Family Underground, taking with him Ronald Trudeau, Ronald Mitchell and Winston Shy. William Norflin kept the name the Fantoms and continued on with Robino Barnes, Anthony Rainey and two new members, horn player Maxie Washington and second bassist Rodney Lagard. The two bass player concept did not work and Barnes departed. By now Rainey had become a competent guitar player and began pulling double duty. From this point until the Fantoms disbanded in 1979, Norflin, Rainey and their manager, Robert Morgan remained the nucleus of, and the driving force behind, the band. Maxie Washington and an alto sax player named George Pack also remained until the Fantoms split.