Big Tony and Trouble Funk have served as ambassadors for DC’s Go-Go music for over 40 years, with performances nationally and internationally. The band formed in 1978, and the lineup coalesced around bassist and vocalist Big Tony Fisher, trombone players Robert and Gerald Reed, drummer Emmet Nixon, percussionists Mack Carey and Timothius Davis, guitarist Chester Davis, trumpeter Taylor Reed, keyboard player James Avery, and saxophonist David Rudd. The group earned a loyal fan base for their notoriously can’t-miss live act of extensive jams organized around audience-friendly vocal tags and call-out hooks. Keyboard player Robert “Syke Dyke” Reed passed away at age 50 on April 13, 2008, from pancreatic cancer. Undeterred, Big Tony and Trouble Funk kept on grooving around the city, playing often, even into the ‘90s and 2000s, for nostalgic partygoers and the musically curious. Today, Big Tony and Trouble Funk remain a figure on the Washington D.C. area live music scene, and you can catch them doing their known songs and new creations. Big Tony and Trouble Funk have toured the US, Canada, Europe, and Japan, performing with artists such as Foo Fighters, Chick Corea, Stanley Clark, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Los Lobos, UB40, James Brown, War, Elvis Costello, Big Boys, Minor Threat, LL Cool J, and many others. Most notably, Big Tony and Trouble Funk performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. for “Taking The Stage,” celebrating the opening of the National African American Museum of History and Culture, hosted by Oprah Winfrey and attended by President Barack Obama and other dignitaries. They also performed at Madison Square Garden with UB40, RFK stadium and Cal JAM with the Foo Fighters, and Merriweather Post Pavilion with Snoop Dogg. Big Tony and Trouble Funk produced several hit records on their own record label, as well as being a major artist on Sugar Hill Records, Sony UK, and Island Records. This show-stopping group has had their music sampled on many hit records by artists such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, Teddy Riley, George Michael, and many others resulting in not only certified gold records from Kelly Roland, platinum awards from Will Smith and 2 Live Crew but Big Tony and Trouble Funk becoming one of seven contributors selected by the Hip-Hop Museum to earn Hall of Fame status after being honored as “one of the most sampled groups in music history.” Big Tony and Trouble Funk have recently headlined shows at Wolf Trap Pavilion three years in a row. They co-headlined the “What the Funk” Tour in Indianapolis, and the band plays on it. Soon to celebrate their 50 years in the music industry, Big Tony and Trouble Funk shows no signs of slowing down now.