On the 18 December 2023, the sad news of the passing of the legendary music connoisseur, Amp Fiddler, was announced. Detroit soul legend Joseph Anthony Fiddler, anka Amp Fiddler, passed away at the age of 65.
Also a musical educator, Fiddler launched music production school Camp Amp when living in Los Angeles in the ’80s. When he moved back to Detroit, the school came with him, and he would often encourage kids from the local area to get involved. The likes of Dilla, Waajeed and Andrés were all tutored by him.
When you listen to the music of Joseph ‘Amp’ Fiddler your ears are picking up something a little different; authentic funk straight from the heart of Detroit in a sea of beige imitations. But then you don’t play with two of the greatest RnB groups ever created (namely Enchantment and Parliament/Funkadelic), teach J Dilla how to use the MPC60, and write and record music with the likes of Prince and Seal without knowing how to make very, very fly soul music.
In the late 80s and early 90s, Amp became a little-known but instrumental figure in Detroit’s rise to hip hop notoriety, by using his first advance to buy an Akai MPC60, and teaching then-teenage J Dilla how to use it. ‘Amp Dog Knights’ features 2 tracks co-produced by Dilla. The tracks date from a famous Zip disk that was stolen from him and recovered by Amp. Dilla then gifted him the beats to use by way of thanking him for his mentorship.
