Henry Garner, Jr.

Co-founder of World Music Entertainment LLC, is the drummer in the soul and R&B group, Rose Royce. Henry along with Rose Royce gained international recognition in the 1970s for Billboard R&B top hits such as “Car Wash”, “I Wanna Get Next to You”, and “I’m Going Down”.  Their influence can be heard by the many artists who cover their top singles, such as Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige and Madonna, just to name a few.

Henry was born on October, 16^th, 1954 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Henry moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1960s and attended Washington High School. It was during that time when he made the decision to pursue his passion for music, and joined Washington High School’s marching band as a drummer. This decision will eventually lead him to help form the group known today as Rose Royce.

The Los Angeles-based group, Rose Royce, originally comprised of Henry Garner (drums), Terral “Terry” Santiel (congas), Lequeint “Duke” Jobe (bass), Michael Moore (saxophone), Kenny Copeland (trumpet, lead vocals), Kenji Brown (guitar, lead vocals), Freddie Dunn (trumpet), and Victor Nix (keyboards). The group began in the early 1970s with members from the Watts and Inglewood areas of Los Angeles under the name Total Concept Unlimited, and later as Magic Wand. They auditioned for Motown’s soul star Edwin Starr and he hired them as his backup band.

The group’s association with Edwin Starr enabled them to interact with numerous music industry personalities. One, in particular, was Motown producer Norman Whitfield. Whitfield gradually became associated with the group by hiring it for recording sessions; the group also worked with Yvonne Fair, the Undisputed Truth, and the Temptations through Whitfield’s influence. After a couple of years of seasoning, the group began production on its debut album under Whitfield’s supervision. Also during this time, MCA Records was seeking an artist for the soundtrack to the movie Car Wash. Whitfield convinced executives that the band was more than competent for the job. The resulting soundtrack for Car Wash was a major success, yielding three Billboard R&B Top Ten singles.