The Lockers, pioneering West Coast dance troupe

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*Rest in Peace to Lockers Co-founder, Don "Campbellock" Campbell

The Co-Founders of The Campbellock Dancers/The Lockers were Don Campbell & Toni Basil (Choreographer/Recording Artist).
Adolfo “Shabadoo” Quinones (Dancer/Actor “Ozone” from the films- Breakin’ and Breakin’ 2-Electric Boogaloo), Bill “Slim The Robot”, Williams Fred “Mr. Penguin”, Berry (Rerun from What's Happening) Leo “Fluky Luke” Williamson and Greg “Campbellock, Jr.” Pope were the other original members

Performances​

Don “Campbellock” Campbell, either with his group (The Campbellockers/The Campbellock Dancers/The Lockers) or by himself has appeared in over 100 plus performances either live or on network television with the following entertainers: Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Carol Burnett, Doris Day, Dinah Shore, Merv Griffin, Bill Cosby, Roger Miller, Johnny Carson, dikk Van Dyke, Tim Conway, Rich Little, Hugh Hefner, Aretha Franklin, John Denver, Roberta Flack, Mac Davis, John Davidson, WAR, Lily Tomlin, Michael Landon, Richard Pryor, Bette Midler, Donny and Marie Osmond, Parliament Funkadelic, The Ohio Players, The Jackson 5, Cheech & Chong, Whodini, Kurtis Blow, The Fatboys, Newcleus, Run Dmc, Toni Basil, Tony Tee, Rennie Harris, Boogaloo Sam and The Electric Boogaloos, Popmaster Fabel, Mr. Wiggles, Crazy Legs and The Rocksteady Crew, Peewee Dance, and a host of others.

Television shows​

Don “Campbellock” and His Group (The Campbellockers/The Campbellock Dancers/ The Lockers) presented groundbreaking performances on the following Television shows and Specials: ABC’s “Roberta Flack: The First Time Ever ( as The Campbellockers), The Carol Burnett Show (as The Campbellock Dancers), The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson (first as The Campbellock Dancers, then as The Lockers), What’s Happening (as The Rockets and by Himself), ABC in Concert, The Grammys, The Oscars, Saturday Night Live (as The Lockers, being the first non-musical group to ever perform on the show), their own TV special celebrating the new fall season of 1975 on NBC called “Saturday Celebration” featuring Micheal Landon, Sigmund and Johnny from “Sigmund The Sea Monster” and The cult cartoon classic ‘Hey,Good Lookin’, by directo Ralph Bakshi (as The Chaplains). Don and his various troupes went on to amass well over 100 credits to their name before calling it quits in the early 80’s

 

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* from 9:16 to 14:30, Toni discusses The Lockers

Spoiler: *transcript of Lockers segment

Margaret Fuhrer:


I want to talk about the fact that—this is a facet of your career that not enough people know about, is your work with The Lockers, with Don “Campbellock” Campbell and The Lockers, and how you were some of the artists who really helped bring street dance into the mainstream in the ’70s. What was so revolutionary about that group and about what you were doing?


Toni Basil:


Well, as I said, I was up on Sunset Strip in those dance contests. I was on the wrong part of town. And then it was the end of the ’60s. There was no dance contests. But I was just chomping at the bit, because I always knew, there’s always something going on.


So, I called a girlfriend and I said, “Find me the best kid on your…” It wasn’t “Hollywood a Go-Go” because I think that was finished…I can’t remember which TV show it was, that still had kids dancing on it. I said, “Find me the best dancer, because I need to catch up.”


She found me this guy named Lamont Peterson. Lamont, he taught me the bump, because the bump was very popular at the time, and a dance called the runaway, which turned into freezes and poses, which turned into waacking. He was one of the first guys.


He said, “There’s a guy named Don Campbell. He’s doing this dance call the Campbellock.” One day at the Osco’s, Don flew in the side door with two other people, dressed in striped socks and knickers. And I thought, well, this is the best thing I’ve seen since James Brown. It was the most unique and it was spectacular.


Later on, about a year later, I got a call from the dikk Clark Production Company, because I had worked for… look, I had been doing stuff through the ’60s. They said, “Remember this guy, Don Campbell, that you were talking about, that you showed us a video of?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “Are there more of them?” I said, “Well, yeah, there are people that lock.” They said, “Can you get that together for the Roberta Flack special? Because she’s crossing over. We can’t get Alvin Ailey’s company because we’ve got a union problem. Are your guys in the union?” I said, “No, they’re not in the union.” They said, “Great.” And that was the beginning of The Lockers.


Margaret Fuhrer:


That is wild, that it was an alternate for Alvin Ailey. Oh my goodness, what a story.


Toni Basil:


Yeah.


Margaret Fuhrer:


One of the genius things that you did with The Lockers was to connect street dance directly to concert dance, and to ballet, specifically. That version of the “Little Swans” dance that you did, was it for “SNL” the first time?


Toni Basil:


It was for “SNL” the first time. The Lockers were on the second “SNL.” Penny Marshall and Rob Reiner were the hosts. Then the next time, I had talked to Lorne about a film idea that I had, which was merging…I’m telling you, plant seeds. You plant seeds, and all of a sudden you get a call from Lorne, “Hey, remember that idea? We do films now on Saturday Night Live. Would you be interested?” I went, “Yeah.” So that was that first Swan Lake.


Then the second Swan Lake that I was nominated for an Emmy for, was on “The Smothers Brothers,” which was in the late ’80s. That’s when I merged with the four Little Swans, boogaloo, popping and locking. We inspired all these street dancers and street dance to come: “Oh my god, we can earn a living at our craft.” So yes, we inspired a lot of people.


Of course, I think even though “Soul Train” was happening and blowing everyone out of the water seeing “Soul Train,” I think the thing is, is that it was putting a group together with that kind of music and presenting it like the opening acts that I saw at the Chicago Theater. Like my mother’s act, which was vaudevillian—it was an opening act. It was an opening act. We opened up for Sinatra eventually, at Carnegie Hall.


Margaret Fuhrer:


Oh, wow. Why do you think that kind of cross-pollination, melding those different worlds, is important?


Toni Basil:


Well, for us, for me at the time, it was important because I thought, you know what? Now we’ve established that street dance is a viable American art form, but have we really established that it is up to concert dance? Are they still considering it out there, “street kids,” that street is something crazy? I knew if I choreographed something to classical music, with classical dancers, and that the street style could hold up next to it and be a perfect fusion. I knew that would be the next step of changing the perception of street. It was. It absolutely was

 

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*Rest in Peace to Adolfo "Shabba Doo" Quinones

Original Soul Train Dancer Shabba-Doo Recalls Soul Train Days! | American Soul​

Soul Train
Mar 30, 2019

After making the move from Chicago to L.A. with "Soul Train," Adolfo "Shabba Doo" Quinones co-founded the legendary dance troupe The Lockers and became a Hollywood staple.

 

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*Rest in Peace to Greg "Campbellock Jr. Pope

Greg “Campbellock” Jr. - Interview​

Hardcore Detroit
Nov 30, 2020
Rare Interview with Greg “Campbellock” Jr. Pope RIP Footage: Courtesy of the Groovaloos